Article: Apple HomePod Review - An Audiophile Perspective

[bobfa]

12 hours ago, bobfa said:

Very interesting to hear someone we respect review the device.  I have disagreed with all of the reviews I have seen to date.  I cannot fathom what Apple is trying to do with the speaker system as far as their direction.  I have read a couple of articles that try to articulate that but nothing rings true.  Apple appears to be creating a “house sound” that may be similar to the Beats brand?  I am not sure, but that will influence everything.  Sort of like what is happening to the B&W D3 speakers that have gotten so forward and harsh.  

 

Now I actually bought three HomePod devices to replace the Amazon Echo devices that were around my home.  Part of that is for a bit better sound quality, part is due to information security or my perceptions that Apple is doing a better job here and has different motivations that Amazon.  

 

I do not find the speaker to be so unpleasant that I would sell it at a loss after two or three days.  (Apple does have 14 day return policy).   I am 5 days into my “trial” and I am still intrigued.  The HomePod is not a “performace listening” system.  It does some really interesting/weird/fun/crazy things with sound and from that aspect I find it fascinating.  This is sort of like DIRAC or other room correction system boxed up in one place and gone wild!.  Apple has chosen a sound signature just like B&W to match their market segment and direction.

 

For background music “playing in the other room” it is interesting.  For quite wind down listening in the evening it is also “ok” I would call the sound signature for this kind of listening THROATY.  It is not about placement of instruments or accuracy it is the simplicity of having music accessible when I want it.  

 

The voice response system is actually well executed, it really hears me well.  Now the domains that are supported are lacking vs some of the competition in that space.   That limitation is somewhat problematic for many.  We are very early days on this. 

 

If I had to fish or cut bait today I would take the HomePods back.  They are too expensive and do not deliver as well as I would like them to on several fronts.  The real question is will I put the Amazon Echos back in place.  I thought that I could live with some of the voice control limits that Apple has vs some of the complexity that Amazon has.

 

Today is not decision day.  That day should be this Friday.....  We will see.

 

—RJF

 

 

I wanted to add a bit more to my thoughts here.  There are two other people in my home; my wife and my son.  We are pretty comfortable with using Amazon Echo devices. In addtion  I have a "REALLY GOOD" main stereo system in the Living Room that fills the first and second floor with music if the doors to the bedrooms are open.    But operating the stereo is a lot harder than talking to a magic box in the corner to tell it to play music.  

 

There are a lot of limitations on Siri and the HomePod that I knew about before purchase. 

 

More tomorrow,...

[Audio_ELF]

12 hours ago, PeterG said:

 

Please--Apple has more than anybody(?) to shift the listening market to low quality sound, degrading the experience for us all. 

I always take issue with comments like this ... Yes: Apple brought iTunes Store downloaded (lossy compressed music) to the masses ... but for the masses this is a STEP UP from the systems they were listening to music on in the past.  Every iPod has sounded better than every (with a few exceptions which were outliers) Walkman or Discman (and non-Sony generic alternatives) which it replaced given similar level of headphone.  Most iPod / iPhone docks sound better than the desktop "ghetto blaster" they replaced.  Most consumers have never had high end audio.

 

In saying Apple ruined "audiophile" you are comparing oranges to ... well Apples!

[Sevenfeet]

13 hours ago, PeterG said:

 

Please--Apple has more than anybody(?) to shift the listening market to low quality sound, degrading the experience for us all.  An iTunes store that pushes singles instead of albums (thus encouraging producers to increase loudness and reduce dynamic range), delivered as low res files (or even lower if you're running low on storage!), onto garbage earbuds that further discourage investments in sound quality and encourage low dynamic range.

 

Love their computers, phones, and tablets; hate what they've done with music

 

You aren't even thinking about the period of time that Apple introduced the iTunes Store.  It wasn't a few years ago.  It was way back in April of 2003.  Back then, the music industry was being decimated by Napster and other sharing technologies.  And if you got your music from there (as so many of us did), it was very low quality stuff....128 kb/sec files, yes but also 64 and 32 kb/sec files too.  You were lucky to find a 320 kb/sec MP3 file of your favorite album.  But the quality was all over the place since you were relying on whatever software people had lying around to do the rips and transcodes.

 

So Apple introduces a store that artists and labels could actually make some money off of, had consistent quality and yes, wasn't illegal piracy (I live in Nashville where this is a very big deal).  They used AAC as a standard instead of MP3 which was higher quality.  But why 128 kb/sec files?  Do you remember what "broadband" internet was on average back in 2003?  I do....speeds were measured in kilobits per second, not megabits per second.  According to Pew Research, only 31% of households in the US had "broadband" which meant that nearly 7 of ten households either had dialup or nothing at all.  Cable modems were just getting out of their infancy period in the late 90s (I had one in '97) but most people had ISDN/DSL from a phone company at anywhere from 128 kbit/sec to 1.5 mb/sec if you were lucky.  So Apple was coming to market in a period where most people still had 56 kb/sec dialup (assuming it was that good) or maybe early broadband.  And just for perspective, Netflix was still a "DVD in the mail" only business.

 

Now fast forward to today...we can debate why Apple hasn't done a CD-quality service like Tidal when they certainly have the technical means to do so.  And Apple has been asking for hi-res versions of music from labels for a while in order to master their 256 kb/sec AAC content.  But it's unknown whether Apple just doesn't want to do it or of the main content providers don't want them to do it.  Ever since Apple introduced the iTunes store, it continued the industry disruption began by Napster from rampant piracy to a single technology player made strong by iPod sales and later, a leviathan by iPhone sales.  Before iTunes, the leading seller of music in the US was Wal-Mart which exerted a large amount of control over the record industry.  Now they traded that relationship for one with Apple where they all feel they ceded even more control of their business model.  Here in Nashville, the music industry is finally growing again in revenue as of 2017 versus years of decline since the early 2000s.  That industry treats Apple with a large amount of trepidation, even though it owes it's very survival to them.  What we've seen in years since 2003 was attempts by the industry to even the playing field by offering advantageous deals to companies like Amazon (before they became a leviathan in their own right) or other content delivery mechanisms.  And one of those other delivery mechanisms was streaming...which ended up disrupting the industry (again!) so here we are.

 

Need anymore proof that the industry just doesn't do everything new with Apple anymore?  How many video (TV/movie) cord-cutting packages are available now, including Google's YouTube but strangely, Apple isn't among them.  They certainly tried bringing one to market ages ago according to the tech press, but Hollywood is afraid of Apple's disruptive power (even more so than Google!).

[DuckToller]

Chris,

I just noticed the "audiophile" adjective is part of the advanced sales scheme for voice controlled products
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/15/sonos-one-review-best-smart-speaker-audiophiles-amazon-alexa
... maybe it would be better (for some appleogist audiophiles) to compare the HomePod vs the Sonos One ...

Cheers, Tom
 

[Sevenfeet]

21 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Thanks for the comments. 

 

Why is my executive summary a problem, given that so much of the press had called the HomePod an audiophile product? I received many emails asking if this was true in my opinion and asking if I had one for review. 

 

Question: Without a reference, how does one rate sound quality? How can I determine what the HomePod sounds like if I don't have a reference? I can't. Anyone who claims they can, is kidding themselves. It's impossible to suggest the HomePod has too much bass if I'm comparing it to another speaker that isn't of reference quality. Sure it may have more bass than the Klipsch, but the Klipsch is by no means a reference either. 

 

I included both my reference system and the Klipsch to satisfy people who wanted to learn how the HomePod compares to a reference and how it compares to something in a similar category. I guess I can't please everyone. 

 

I don't see my speculation as a really big problem. Given the previous measurements posted on reddit and retweeted by Phil Schiller, I couldn't help but think something was amiss. It turns out that something was amiss. As of today, it appears the measurements don't really say what author the suggested and they may be suspect. 

 

I'm not really worried about speculating what Apple is doing or worried that someone is going to sue them. I also don't buy into the idea that Apple is holier than thou as a company. As soon as it stops using slave labor, I might be more open to thinking about it. Apple is beholden to shareholders. Given that fact, all bets are off. 

 

You didn't address my point.  Apple is not calling the HomePod an audiophile product.  The fact that a review or two used the word didn't change that.  And frankly, the world "audiophile" means different things to different people.

 

Which gets me to your next point....what should be a reference?  Well, how about a reasonable accounting for price and intended use?  By your measure, if an automotive journalist reviews a Chevy Tahoe, the "reference" vehicle must be a Bentley Bentayga because both are large SUVs.  No one does that and neither should you.

 

And your speculation is the biggest problem of the article.  You're a respected website visited by thousands who make purchasing decisions based upon the articles and the forum commentary.  I have no problem with you poking holes in the methodology of the review on Reddit, assuming it's on the merits by your own testing or obvious flaws in his methodology.  But to make a leap to accusing Apple of cheating with no proof is journalistic malpractice.  it was unnecessary and detracted from your argument.

 

I'm not saying that Apple is holier than thou.  I am saying that they aren't stupid.  And intentionally making modifications to the DSP algorithms when test tones are played would be class-action lawsuit stupid.   And Apple deals with enough of these lawsuits from frivolous stuff not to invite more of them, and the horrific press that would come from it being a market leader.  And if it were the case, people would find out eventually and lots of people would get fired.

 

Remember Volkswagen?  Nobody wants to be those guys.

 

Slave labor?  If you're referring to Chinese labor practices, that's another conversation for the entire consumer electronics industry.  Again, not a proper retort for this discussion.

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, Sevenfeet said:

not a proper retort for this discussion

I don't believe I could ever satisfy your requirements for a proper retort.

 

We obviously disagree on quite a bit. 

[Sevenfeet]

2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I don't believe I could ever satisfy your requirements for a proper retort.

 

We obviously disagree on quite a bit. 

 

Don't get me wrong....I LOVE good debate.  I just hate poor arguments.

 

This hobby is about as subjective as they come.  But as the operator of site I visit regularly, I rely on you and your team to be critical but fair in your evaluations since the rest of us are consumers in the industry.  If I can't rely on that, they it lessens your credibility elsewhere.

 

One way you could have mitigated my response would have been something like "This isn't a fair fight, but I usually compare everything regardless of price to my CR1's so..."

 

Speaking of cars, this reminds of when Car and Driver back in the 1960s compared the Ferrari GTO to the Pontiac GTO just because of the name.  Were they anything alike?  Not really.  Did they admit the comparison test was completely silly?  Absolutely.  And therefore, the reader could put away their critical eye for a few pages and enjoy the ride, so to speak.

[ShawnC]

Give it a rest. 

[Sevenfeet]

1 minute ago, ShawnC said:

Give it a rest. 

 

Agreed.

[wgscott]

@Sevenfeet:   

 

Since you hate flawed arguments, I think the thing to point out here is that your assumption that Chris is being unfair by comparing the sound produced by the Homepod to that of his "reference" high-end system misses the point.  Chris elsewhere says that a more reasonable comparison of products would be to compare to the "Klipsch: The Three" bluetooth speaker, or a Sonos.  The point of the "reference" system is to have a positive control for unadulterated high-quality sound, not to compare two sets of hardware per se.

 

Unless you have a way to play Eddie Vedder's "Society" that allows you to hear what it is supposed to sound like with a high degree of confidence, then you can't really claim that playback of the same tract through the Apple Homepod sounds distorted.  The high-end reference system allows you to do so with a much greater degree of confidence than, say, a Sonos or bluetooth speaker of comparable quality/cost.

 

As for the DSP, this result surprised me.  The measurement I glanced at made the room response look quite reasonable and flat.  What appears to be happening is that for an actual, known Apple music file, the DSP is adaptive.  It might be as something as simplistic as cranking up the bass based on the "Genre" tag, or it might do something a bit more sophisticated.  That hardly makes Apple the functional/moral equivalent of Volkswagen, and pointing this out isn't an accusation that Apple is cheating. Apple in fact appears to market this as a feature.  Chris is observing that at least in some cases, the adaptive DSP can go horribly wrong.

[Sevenfeet]

1 minute ago, wgscott said:

@Sevenfeet:   

 

Since you hate flawed arguments, I think the thing to point out here is that your assumption that Chris is being unfair by comparing the sound produced by the Homepod to that of his "reference" high-end system misses the point.  Chris elsewhere says that a more reasonable comparison of products would be to compare to the "Klipsch: The Three" bluetooth speaker, or a Sonos.  The point of the "reference" system is to have a positive control for unadulterated high-quality sound, not to compare two sets of hardware per se.

 

Unless you have a way to play Eddie Vedder's "Society" that allows you to hear what it is supposed to sound like with a high degree of confidence, then you can't really claim that playback of the same tract through the Apple Homepod sounds distorted.  The high-end reference system allows you to do so with a much greater degree of confidence than, say, a Sonos or bluetooth speaker of comparable quality/cost.

 

As for the DSP, this result surprised me.  The measurement I glanced at made the room response look quite reasonable and flat.  What appears to be happening is that for an actual, known Apple music file, the DSP is adaptive.  It might be as something as simplistic as cranking up the bass based on the "Genre" tag, or it might do something a bit more sophisticated.  That hardly makes Apple the functional/moral equivalent of Volkswagen.

 

@WGScott

 

Your first two paragraphs...now that's a good retort!  And a good point taken.  Thanks!

 

Yes, Apple's DSP algorithms do seem to be adaptive since it's already been published that they use music and the built in microphones to build it's own curve based upon the room.  And I imagine that there will be some situations and environments it will sound better than others.  To quote the car industry again, "Your mileage may vary".

 

And one more point....David Pogue or Yahoo! recently published a blind test of the HomePod against the Echo, Sonus and Google Home with a group of people including one professional musician who didn't even know what they were listening to.  The result?  The HomePod wasn't the winner (as he predicted since that was his personal favorite).  Again, how we process music is very subjective and it was a fascinating read.

[bobfa]

On 2/14/2018 at 10:50 PM, bobfa said:

 

 

I wanted to add a bit more to my thoughts here.  There are two other people in my home; my wife and my son.  We are pretty comfortable with using Amazon Echo devices. In addtion  I have a "REALLY GOOD" main stereo system in the Living Room that fills the first and second floor with music if the doors to the bedrooms are open.    But operating the stereo is a lot harder than talking to a magic box in the corner to tell it to play music.  

 

There are a lot of limitations on Siri and the HomePod that I knew about before purchase. 

 

More tomorrow,...

Today I sent the HomePods back to Apple.  This decision was predicated on several things. 

 

1. The audio quality is "interesting",...  Apple has created a sound that I describe as uncomfortable. Too much bottom, not enough detail, not enough middle.

2. The integration with Apple services is very weak and it does not work in a multiple person household.

3.  Apple Music works well and I cannot fault it for what it is. The integration with Homepod is very good.  I do not need Apple Music except for this.

4.  The controls and configuration of HomePod in the Apple Home App is just plain odd.  It kind of works but needs a LOT of UI work.

5.  The AI domains are very limited on the HomePod rendering it neutered and less than useful.

6.  Little things are annoying such as the inability to control Alarm volume or type.  The whole timer and alarm controls, weird.

7.  Yes I know that almost all of this is software but I have less patience than I used to.

8.  I have a VERY GOOD system to listen to and I do not need the HomePod for "performance listening"

 

So a bit more narrative is needed here.  First on home automation.  I have rather simple needs that HomePod did not enhance.  I have shared calendars and shared task lists that it could not address or manage well.  I have simple lighting automation that only requires occasional intervention and the is very little need for additional features that the HomePod might bring.

 

I will write more on this later on Friday!  

 

[Spacehound]

 "The  Apple HomePod  - an Audiophile Perspective."

Oh come on. If you were bored you could have gone outside and oiled your motorbike or cut the grass.

 

"Towards a Unified Field Theory - an  Earwig's  Perspective" would make more sense 

 

Voice?

I can make my dCS, Naim, Tannoy system play  the Beatles though Cortana,  but it can't find the "the Third Movement" of something  I can't remember unless I look at the cover art

And anyway it takes far longer  to say all that than touching a screen or clicking a mouse. So  what's the ****ing point?

Gizmology gone mad.

[Spacehound]

On ‎13‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 11:10 PM, DuckToller said:

 ... here in France .....does not accept......due to my accent ;-) ... 

 

Try shouting at it.

When we of the UK had an empire shouting worked fine on the 'natives' 

[Allan F]

Dunno about others but, to me, the whole idea of buying inanimate objects so you can talk to them is call for a trip to the funny farm. Siri was turned off approx 12ms after I got my iPad Mini years ago. If your really need company that badly, get a dog.

[DuckToller]

3 hours ago, Spacehound said:

Try shouting at it.

When we of the UK had an empire shouting worked fine on the 'natives' 

I very much prefer not to be liaised with the small man shouting at my grandfather's generation for giving them an imperial impression. However, strangely enough, most french people assign my accent rather to your brave island than to their eastern European neighbour.

Cheers Tom

[Sevenfeet]

7 hours ago, bobfa said:

Today I sent the HomePods back to Apple.  This decision was predicated on several things. 

 

1. The audio quality is "interesting",...  Apple has created a sound that I describe as uncomfortable. Too much bottom, not enough detail, not enough middle.

2. The integration with Apple services is very weak and it does not work in a multiple person household.

3.  Apple Music works well and I cannot fault it for what it is. The integration with Homepod is very good.  I do not need Apple Music except for this.

4.  The controls and configuration of HomePod in the Apple Home App is just plain odd.  It kind of works but needs a LOT of UI work.

5.  The AI domains are very limited on the HomePod rendering it neutered and less than useful.

6.  Little things are annoying such as the inability to control Alarm volume or type.  The whole timer and alarm controls, weird.

7.  Yes I know that almost all of this is software but I have less patience than I used to.

8.  I have a VERY GOOD system to listen to and I do not need the HomePod for "performance listening"

 

So a bit more narrative is needed here.  First on home automation.  I have rather simple needs that HomePod did not enhance.  I have shared calendars and shared task lists that it could not address or manage well.  I have simple lighting automation that only requires occasional intervention and the is very little need for additional features that the HomePod might bring.

 

I will write more on this later on Friday!  

 

 

All very good reasons.  I have a house full of Apple equipment and for right now, I can't see a place in it for the HomePod since most places in my house that I want music already have it via Airplay to other devices, usually to discreet loudspeakers.  And unlike some of the people here, I haven't heard it yet either so I have no idea if I'll like the sound profile.  I guess I could use it as a glorified speakerphone/speaker for my Mac Pro but that an expensive proposition for that use.

[bobfa]

7 hours ago, bobfa said:

Today I sent the HomePods back to Apple.  This decision was predicated on several things. 

 

1. The audio quality is "interesting",...  Apple has created a sound that I describe as uncomfortable. Too much bottom, not enough detail, not enough middle.

2. The integration with Apple services is very weak and it does not work in a multiple person household.

3.  Apple Music works well and I cannot fault it for what it is. The integration with Homepod is very good.  I do not need Apple Music except for this.

4.  The controls and configuration of HomePod in the Apple Home App is just plain odd.  It kind of works but needs a LOT of UI work.

5.  The AI domains are very limited on the HomePod rendering it neutered and less than useful.

6.  Little things are annoying such as the inability to control Alarm volume or type.  The whole timer and alarm controls, weird.

7.  Yes I know that almost all of this is software but I have less patience than I used to.

8.  I have a VERY GOOD system to listen to and I do not need the HomePod for "performance listening"

 

So a bit more narrative is needed here.  First on home automation.  I have rather simple needs that HomePod did not enhance.  I have shared calendars and shared task lists that it could not address or manage well.  I have simple lighting automation that only requires occasional intervention and the is very little need for additional features that the HomePod might bring.

 

I will write more on this later on Friday!  

 

I do not want to be overly critical about the audio quality of the HomePod.  In my office, the bedroom and when you are a bit further away from it the sound is actually very very good.  I have a long term relationship with high quality audio reproduction and Apple has really done a good job on this thing.  It does stuff that almost any other all-in-one audio component does not do; room correction, and all of that.  For a whole lot of Apple's target market this is a great 1.0 product.  A lot of energy went into this thing.  A single audio component that can play streaming music at this reproduction quality and cost is a good value proposition.  IF YOU ARE IN THE APPLE ECOSYSTEM.  I would like to add an additional caveat you are a single household.  This is almost frictionless for delivering music to the home.

 

I have seen a lot of talk on the tech-blogs about use cases that they think the HomePod can fill.  I have seen a lot of talk about using the HomePod with your TV.  I do not see that as valuable and it really speaks to the fact that most modern TVs have TERRIBLE audio.  Some sort of sound bar system would be a better value.  Now Apple could do the Dolby decoding and stereo pairs and surround simulation with all that computing power.  But without an optical input from the TV the application to this modality is weak.

 

In an apartment or your bedroom one of these gives a lot of musical value. 

 

-------------------

The "AI" and voice control

I am all in on Apple computing products.  I use an iMac for my main computer, Mac Laptops, iPad, iPhone, Watch,  Apple TV, and more..  The way the systems work hand in hand and the overall systems design is a notch above just about anything else.  When Apple bought Siri a lot of us were excited to have Apple work through the privacy and availability.  And the progress on Siri has been laudable.  Apple is not moving fast enough for the tech press and they talk and write a lot about what Siri can do.    The voice response system on the HomePod is nothing short of amazing.  The music can be blaring away and I can talk in a quiet voice and it hears me just fine.   The issue is what it can do with what it hears.  The press is brutal in it's evaluation of the HomePod on this functionality.  If I ask it to play the Beatles it will do that.  Now if you have 10 variants of something from the Grateful Dead I am pretty sure you will run into issues.

 

 This whole thing is a very powerful integration of Computers and Audio.  I know that my wife would like the main stereo system in the house to be this responsive to voice control. This is one implementation of the future of Voice First interaction technology.  More of this will be in our future.  Organizing and delivering the right track out of 40 million is a daunting task.  This is a good start.

 

I am going to stop now for a bit.  There is one more section on information security that I would like to address in that it was part of my reason to bring the HomePod into my systems.  I will finish that up in a while.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Thanks for the detailed updates @bobfa

 

You make some really good points. 

[bobfa]

4 hours ago, bobfa said:

I do not want to be overly critical about the audio quality of the HomePod.  In my office, the bedroom and when you are a bit further away from it the sound is actually very very good.  I have a long term relationship with high quality audio reproduction and Apple has really done a good job on this thing.  It does stuff that almost any other all-in-one audio component does not do; room correction, and all of that.  For a whole lot of Apple's target market this is a great 1.0 product.  A lot of energy went into this thing.  A single audio component that can play streaming music at this reproduction quality and cost is a good value proposition.  IF YOU ARE IN THE APPLE ECOSYSTEM.  I would like to add an additional caveat you are a single household.  This is almost frictionless for delivering music to the home.

 

I have seen a lot of talk on the tech-blogs about use cases that they think the HomePod can fill.  I have seen a lot of talk about using the HomePod with your TV.  I do not see that as valuable and it really speaks to the fact that most modern TVs have TERRIBLE audio.  Some sort of sound bar system would be a better value.  Now Apple could do the Dolby decoding and stereo pairs and surround simulation with all that computing power.  But without an optical input from the TV the application to this modality is weak.

 

In an apartment or your bedroom one of these gives a lot of musical value. 

 

-------------------

The "AI" and voice control

I am all in on Apple computing products.  I use an iMac for my main computer, Mac Laptops, iPad, iPhone, Watch,  Apple TV, and more..  The way the systems work hand in hand and the overall systems design is a notch above just about anything else.  When Apple bought Siri a lot of us were excited to have Apple work through the privacy and availability.  And the progress on Siri has been laudable.  Apple is not moving fast enough for the tech press and they talk and write a lot about what Siri can do.    The voice response system on the HomePod is nothing short of amazing.  The music can be blaring away and I can talk in a quiet voice and it hears me just fine.   The issue is what it can do with what it hears.  The press is brutal in it's evaluation of the HomePod on this functionality.  If I ask it to play the Beatles it will do that.  Now if you have 10 variants of something from the Grateful Dead I am pretty sure you will run into issues.

 

 This whole thing is a very powerful integration of Computers and Audio.  I know that my wife would like the main stereo system in the house to be this responsive to voice control. This is one implementation of the future of Voice First interaction technology.  More of this will be in our future.  Organizing and delivering the right track out of 40 million is a daunting task.  This is a good start.

 

I am going to stop now for a bit.  There is one more section on information security that I would like to address in that it was part of my reason to bring the HomePod into my systems.  I will finish that up in a while.

OK here is my final segment.  I want to talk about information security.  

 

I assume that many on this forum walk around with some sort of mobile device on our pocket all the time. So we are all carrying around a potential "wireless bug".  Introducing another device into our homes that has a microphone and an internet connection does not necessarily increase our security risk, although it has a possibility higher potential to be attacked and compromised.

 

So if you have a device with a microphone it is a potential bug.  The switch on top of an Amazon echo is a software driven push button that tells the computer to turn on the red light and turn off the microphone system in some manner.  The HomePod has a voice command to turn off listening which is again software.  The HomePod has no visual indication that the device is in a not-listening state.  As these are software switches it is possible that they could be compromised.  I would think that with Apple the risk might be lower as they are very vocal about their controls in this space.

 

Now the real meat of the problem is in intent.  Apple intends the voice to control and input data.  They appear to have no incentive to monetize your voice or keep data around.  Their differential privacy system appears to be robust.

 

Amazon sells the Echo devices to keep you in their system and to keep you buying from them.  Their system does use cloud based technologies and the voice information in one form or another is available to them.  You can see on their App or on the website the voice information about what you asked or told the device. There may be more exposure here but it is hard to validate.

 

Google has a different motivation in this.  They want you to GIVE them data about you that they can use to sell to advertisers to target you.  Now they do that by inference but it does feel more intrusive or creepy to see the ads hitting you after a search.  The knowledge about YOU is the product that Google sells to their customers.

 

Microsoft is a new player to this game and their Cortana software is now appearing in devices like the HomePod.  I have no experience with this hardware or how Microsoft implements their software stack.  I am suspect of their motivations.  Windows 10 bothers me a lot!  I find their security statements to be cryptic.

-----

I jumped too fast assuming that Apple did what I want them do to and I was disappointed.  I have never had to return an Apple product. 

 

I am back to using the Amazon Echo devices in my home. They provide a service that I currently want including voice activated music playback although not at the quality level of the HomePod.  The Echo devices are "just good enough" to listen to.  AKA AM/FM radio.

 

Sorry if this seems a bit OT but it is relevant to my potential use cases for HomePod.   

 

-RJF

 

Note that I work in Information Technology and I hold two security certifications CISSP and CISM Retired.

[Aegean]

Well first of all, no-one ever said that it is an audiophile product.

 

Not even people who made it. The rest is nothing but a circular waves that turned into a positive expression and transformed it into something fascinating word so called "audiophile". Hell nowhere it's an audiophile speaker not even close but it puts all other smart speakers into dust. And that's exactly what most reviewers were trying to send the message out.

 

The reason some folks mentioned an audiophile word is just an expression that how good this smart-speaker is that it the best one out there which produces a great sound among the others at the same level. Its a good start from Apple that can be further improved in the future. 

 

It is not going to replace my audiophile gear at all which is more expensive than my Range Rover. But for the purpose HomePod is built, it does its job a lot better than others in the market available today.

 

Sound really is subjective. I like reading many articles/reviews in this forum, and I laugh on many as well, no matter where they are coming from. 

 

Nothing in this world is perfect and nothing will ever be.

[harmonica2]

I was somewhat comforted by this review.  To think that Apple might have rendered all my expensive gear and endless tweaking irrelevant with some technical magic was reminiscent of my other hobby, my Digital SLR.  I own a nice camera and several carefully selected prime lenses that, as recently as a few years ago, would wow my friends with image quality that put their iPhone cameras to shame.  They would encourage me to bring my gear to their weddings and kid's birthday parties so I could provide a few keepsakes.  But lately, not so much.  The iPhone cameras have gotten a lot better and, although my images are still nicer, most would say the iPhone images are "good enough."  It seems that for now we still live in an audiophile golden age where if you do your research you can build a rare audiophile system that you and your friends can enjoy and appreciate its extraordinary realistic sound. Of course, like with cameras, Apple will keep pushing the envelope, and like most golden ages, no one will appreciate this one until it is over.

[Fridolin]

Did anyone try this speaker in his/her bathroom?

 

I plan to place it there when it becomes available in my country.

[twist222]

Chris,

 

Could you share some details on the room placement of the HomePod for your listening tests. Given you seemed to have some fairly uneven frequency response from the  HomePod it would be interesting to hear how it reacted to different speaker placement options. I understand it does have does have DSP capability and some people will place it were the wife gives it the highest acceptance factor but like all audiophiles we will put more effort into speaker placement before undertaking critical listening.

 

Regards

Mark

[The Computer Audiophile]

19 hours ago, Fridolin said:

Did anyone try this speaker in his/her bathroom?

 

I plan to place it there when it becomes available in my country.

 

I didn't try this, but be very cautious. The bass could be overwhelming in a confined space like many bathrooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, twist222 said:

Chris,

 

Could you share some details on the room placement of the HomePod for your listening tests. Given you seemed to have some fairly uneven frequency response from the  HomePod it would be interesting to hear how it reacted to different speaker placement options. I understand it does have does have DSP capability and some people will place it were the wife gives it the highest acceptance factor but like all audiophiles we will put more effort into speaker placement before undertaking critical listening.

 

Regards

Mark

 

 

I tried the HomePod in a couple locations. 

 

1. On my desk about 12-18 inches from the rear wall, with my iMac about 24 inches to the right and nothing to the left. 

 

2. On my preamp about 24 inches from the rear wall and between my amps and speakers.