Review of Apple HomePod

[asliarun]

Came across this review of the Apple HomePod. While the review is extremely light on subjective listening impressions, it is very strong on the technical review and measurements. I was taken aback at the high praise about the HomePod's audio quality. The reviewer (who is not a professional audio reviewer, by the way) actually says that the HomePod sounds better than his Kef X300A which is a $1000 speaker. Others on the internet have also been singing some high praise about the audio quality of the HomePod. The negatives are usually around how poor Siri is and how locked in the HomePod is to the Apple ecosystem. But no negatives on sound quality itself.

It looks like Apple has been able to achieve some remarkable results in terms of audio quality using a combination of exotic DSP and active room correction, horn loaded BMR type speakers (Balanced Mode Radiators as I understand), and 8-9 speakers each having its own dedicated amplifier.

For what it is worth, i have the Amazon Echo which is great in terms of understanding my instructions but quite sub-par in terms of audio quality.

 

[rajudhs]

i got a HomePod few days back, on my trip abroad.
I am blown away by the quality of music and sound stage it generates for the size.

I am now planning to buy a 2nd one to pair them as stereo.

I am blown by the sound stage and music out of 1 Home Pod it self right now.

 

[superczar]

Necro thread - but reviving it after that a friend I reccommended them to called today to tell me how brilliant they are

The reddit link at the top however has some really messed up measurements - the homepod is far from flat...
The bass is quite pronounced at low volumes
However there is some very clever volume variable EQ at play inside - which surely helps with keeping the frequency response a lot better than what one would expect from something so small

For casual background playback , they are absolutely fantastic with excellent dispersion and a very likeable sound. Far better than any of the Alexas I use or for that matter any of the BT doohickeys on the market..
Works very well as a speakerphone too - which is a massive positive when WFH!.

 

[Ehat]

Recently bought a homepod,it is definitely a better product than echo studio.
Punching way above its weight,bass is very good at low volume,surely dsp is in play which apple terms as computational audio.

 

[subbus]

Any one bought a HomePod mini ? 1st hand reviews ?