Apple HomePod speaker review; flew into space!

Since our phones have become smarter, technology manufacturers have taken on home furnishings. Light bulbs, TVs, refrigerators and even toothbrushes now have firmware updates. Recently it was the turn of music. First, cloud services learned to select songs for users, and now you can even talk about presidents and the weather through home speakers. And so I spent a week talking and listening to music with one of the best in its class - Apple HomePod.

Apple HomePod Space Gray (MQHW2) Acoustic systems (speakers) on

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The editors would like to thank the online store iLounge.ua for providing the Apple HomePod for review

HomePod - beautiful and stylish

There's one quality that's undeniable about HomePod: it looks great. It's covered with a seamless mesh fabric that looks great without disturbing the acoustics.

During your first contact with HomePod, you may be concerned that the areas where the fabric is placed could easily be damaged. However, the mesh material has high strength and flexibility. Even if you leave a strong dent on it, the layer will return to its original state.

On the top of the device is a black panel in which Siri appears as a sphere of changing colors. Volume up and down buttons are displayed on either side of the side. HomePod has no other physical buttons—it's controlled by voice commands or touch.

Initially, it appears that the HomePod's power cord cannot be replaced. In fact, the cable can be pulled out of the device, although this is done with great difficulty (Apple does not recommend unplugging it). It is not clear why the company made this decision; this is probably its big mistake. Because of this decision, many may think that the cable is directly soldered to the HomePod.

Despite this drawback, the cord is very reliable. Apple paid as much attention to it as to the device itself.

Apple HomePod speaker – characteristics:

• Display: touch LED.
• Colours: white, grey.
• Homepod dimensions: 172 x 142 mm.
• Communication: WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with MIMO.
• Speaker Support: Yes.
• Acoustics: 7 high-frequency speakers, 1 powerful subwoofer.
• Microphones: 6 microphones + 1 low-frequency microphone.
• Supported OS: iOS.
• Music services: Apple Music.
• Assistant: Siri.
• Bluetooth support: No.
• Smart home: Yes, only HomeKit gadgets.
• Features: Powered by Apple A8 chipset.
• Weight: 2.2 kg.

Apple HomePod

Sound and technology:

When you turn it on for the first time, the HomePod starts detecting its location . It sends 360 sound signals into the surrounding space, thus determining the presence of various surfaces around it in order to use them later in calculating the propagation of sound levels throughout the room.

Apple's Smart Speaker can also automatically detect and connect to other speakers nearby, adjusting their sound to work seamlessly with them to provide the best sound environment.

The speaker connects to Apple devices very easily - just connect the device to the HomePod. As for compatibility with devices from other manufacturers, including Android OS, it is not yet known what other devices will be possible to use with HomePod.

Apple HomePod

When it comes to the sound of the HomePod, when you compare it to other similar speakers like the Sonos Play:3 and Amazon Echo , it's the best of the three, but also the most expensive of the three.

HomePod has high-quality, spacious and clear sound. The only thing is that the bass in some compositions seems too oversaturated when compared with analogues. It can also be noted that the Apple HomePod speaker perfectly copes with its main task, providing excellent sound distribution throughout the room. If we talk about specific examples, HomePod did an equally good job in terms of playback quality with the following songs:

• Like Greatest by Sia;
• Sunrise by Norah Jones;
• Stevie Wonder and Superstition;
• And also DNA from Kendrick Lamar;

Apple's HomePod speaker demonstrates excellent bass quality in combination with vocals and versatility in terms of playing a variety of tracks and music genres. The speaker's built-in 4-inch subwoofer delivers unparalleled bass performance to complement powerful vocals.

It is also worth noting the incredible impression of simultaneous sound from two Apple HomePod speakers. The sound of two Apple HomePod speakers simultaneously creates an indescribable feeling of being truly present at a live concert, and this is even without additional visualization.

All of the above perfectly proves that Apple's HomePod is much more than just a powerful speaker.

As for other technologies, among other things, HomePod has built-in artificial intelligence from Apple in the form of a voice assistant called Siri. Siri gives you the excellent ability to control your speaker completely by voice from anywhere in the room. You can easily play, stop and switch your favorite tracks using voice commands, without having to get up from your seat or go specially to the speaker. HomePod users will also have access to a 4 million music catalog - Apple Music, also using voice commands.

Voice commands are processed by an array of six microphones (for comparison, that's just one microphone less than an Amazon Echo speaker and three times more than a Google Home device).

Apple HomePod

In addition to music functions, the device includes: weather information, iMessage technology, reminders and control over HomeKit-enabled devices.

You can also play your favorite songs using AirPlay on your iPhone, although whether it will be possible to do this also using the Siri voice assistant is still unknown.

The speaker has the same powerful A8 chip as the iPhone, which means good performance when using various commands. The chip will also allow you to control bass settings through real-time modeling, which makes the bass clear and deep and with low distortion.

Also on the top of the speaker there is a color touch panel and an LED display that responds to commands for the voice assistant.

Initial setup

As you'd expect, HomePod configures itself in an almost magical way. Similar to AirPods or Apple TV, you need to connect your phone to the activated device - it will send the Apple ID settings, Apple Music and fill in all Wi-Fi passwords (so as not to enter them manually). After a while, HomePod will begin sending audio signals to sync with your phone.

In the following steps, the system will ask, among other things, to select the room where the device will be located, and also to confirm the activation of the “Hey Siri” function. In fact, HomePod setup is complete at this point.

From the speaker there will be a clear and clear request from the voice assistant to give the command: “Hey Siri, tell me what you can do.” To this question, the assistant will give us several example commands and will wait for further orders.

Working HomePod with Siri

• HomePod is one type of device that can work with a voice assistant, since it has a microphone to accept user commands.
• It's worth noting that, in theory, the number of commands that can be used is limitless. Thus, this system is sure to be an excellent alternative to Google Home. Over time, the number of functions can only increase.

Home app

Once the initial setup is complete, you can control the speaker from the Home app. It contains a corresponding icon with a HomePod miniature. However, before you jump into it and discuss the available features, you should click on the shortcut that resembles the navigation symbol (top left side on the main panel). Once you click on it, you can update your HomePod (it's set to download automatically by default).

The next important element is the ability to block the connection of third parties to HomePod. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from choosing music to play that will be available to everyone connected on the same Wi-Fi network, or only to those with whom you're using the Home app.

Once you go to the HomePod's main settings, you'll find that there are a lot of options you can change. One of the most interesting features is the ability to activate or deactivate the play history, which is responsible for subsequent recommendations to the Apple Music account. This is a useful feature, especially if you're having a small party and want to let guests select music using Siri. As a result, personal preferences will not be affected.

It also supports disabling listening to the “Hey Siri” command. This will appeal to those who care about their privacy.

You can also edit other settings:

• Add to favorites;
• Unblock adult content;
• Sound equalization;
• Signal the use of sound;
• Availability and many other, less important options.

Before setting up you need...

Before you set up your HomePod, you should enable two-factor authentication—you can't sync the speaker with your iCloud account without activating it. This may seem strange or impossible, but it must be done.

The next important thing is to activate the Apple Music streaming service without any action. Yes, you must purchase an Apple Music subscription to get the full HomePod experience. Unfortunately, Spotify cannot be integrated with the speaker in the same way as with Apple Music. However, those who can't part with their current music provider will be condemned to streaming music via AirPlay.

Impressions of use

Although the speaker does not have much functionality, for now the company has enough tasks to improve the user experience. Let's start with the fact that in Ukraine not everyone will be able to use a speaker. The fact is that at the moment Siri on HomePod can only speak and understand English. This means that even for basic functions it would be good to know some minimum set of words and be able to pronounce them correctly. And even with this, if the user listens to domestic performers, asking Siri to play, for example, something from the repertoire of the Tartak group will not work, because the voice assistant will hear consonant English words. A little more lucky, for example, were the groups TNMK (whose name can be pronounced as TNMK) or Boombox, but even with this, Siri simply will not understand the names of songs in Ukrainian or Russian.

If language skills are sufficient, and your favorite repertoire consists mainly of foreign musicians, then the difficulties will not end there. To fully use HomePod, the user will need an iPhone and a subscription to Apple Music ($5 per month for Ukrainian users, $10 for American ones). Of course, you can play music via AirPlay (the device has a Bluetooth 5.0 module, but you can’t stream sound through it) from iOS, Mac and devices from other manufacturers using special software, but intuitively it feels like Apple doesn’t see it that way. It’s much more convenient to ask Siri to play an album, a band, or a specific song. True, there is a small difficulty here: for example, I can visually remember the name of a song, but without a playlist in front of my eyes I simply won’t remember either the name or the author. Especially if it's something new. And in this case you will have to reach for the phone.

On the other hand, this is very convenient when the column does not need to be turned on or physically affected in any way. All you have to do is wake up and say “Hey Siri! I need some music,” and the speaker will immediately play something from your library. This is cool. And if you want something specific, the main thing is that it is in Apple Music or your music collection.

There are still disadvantages. The speaker does not distinguish voices and anyone can activate it. If there are many users, then it is better to leave access to messages and notes closed. And if there are enough jokers among your friends, then you shouldn’t be surprised by the alarm clock in the middle of the night. By the way, the volume of the alarm clock and timer is not adjustable in any way, nor is the volume at which Siri speaks. And taking into account the fact that she always listens and in any case responds to “Hey Siri”, you can accidentally disturb someone in the household. These all seem to be small things, but for some users it can really cause unnecessary inconvenience.

Several times during testing it happened that the speaker simply did not play music. Having asked her to play a certain song, she announced the name of the track and that’s it, silence. She could play other tracks, and then play the desired one, but why she didn’t do this right away is not yet clear. It was also not possible to repeat this mistake on purpose. Again, a software update will fix this. It’s still a little annoying to repeat “Hey Siri” if there are several commands in a row or the assistant did not immediately hear the name of the song correctly, but there is always a reaction.

And how well does HomePod “hear”: if you say something quite loudly through the open doors of the next room, the speaker will “hear” the user even while playing music. This is impressive. In the same room with the device, you can practically not raise your voice, and speak naturally; the sensitivity of the microphones is enough. And if before I didn’t use Siri at all, then on HomePod I was happy to control playback with my voice. Sometimes you can find out about the weather or set a timer. For other tasks (notes, messages), it is still better to use a smartphone; voice assistants are not yet the most convenient options for solving such purposes.

4.5

ITC.UA rating

Pros: Great sound, fairly accurate voice control, nice design, integration into the Apple ecosystem, AirPlay

Cons: Designed to work only with Apple, only Apple Music is supported (which will be a problem for users of Google Play Music, Spotify, Tidal and others), there are questions about the “smart” component, there is no ability to stream music via Bluetooth, only English control language

Bottom line: HomePod is a new device that, as is often the case with Apple, should get better with future updates. If you do not take into account some shortcomings (indistinguishability of voices, inability to control the volume of reminders, support only for English), which will be eliminated over time, then the user will get an excellent playing speaker that also controls Apple Music well. Alas, I cannot recommend it to those who are not iPhone users and do not have an Apple Music subscription. And lovers of voice assistants will probably be more satisfied with competitive solutions with Google Assistant and others, because Siri on HomePod is still limited.

Specifications

HomePod Internals

One cannot help but feel deep admiration and respect for the creators of this speaker. When you look at how small the device is and how much technology it hides inside, it seems like it would be impossible to fit so much into this compact box:

• A tunable amplifier woofer located on the top of the HomePod.
• The seven tweeters (each with their own tuning amplifier) ​​are evenly spaced around the unit, angled slightly upward to avoid bouncing sound off the ground.
• Six microphones for Siri.
• Internal low-frequency calibration microphone for automatic low-frequency correction.

These are just a few of the most important components—there's a whole host of parts inside that make HomePod a truly unique product.

HomePod is a smart speaker according to Apple

We've all read the rumors that Apple is preparing to release a "smart speaker" based on Siri. And some will say that there was no surprise, but we beg to differ - at WWDC, Tim Cook’s team presented their original vision of what a home speaker should be in 2017, and he’s not short of good ideas.

The idea of ​​“smart acoustics” as implemented by Apple rests on three pillars: excellent sound, spatial orientation and your personal music critic in the person of Siri.

Acoustic system

The first thing Phil Schiller emphasized during the HomePod presentation was sound quality. And for good reason - competitors such as Google Home and Amazon Echo either completely ignored this aspect or left it to third parties, offering to connect speakers from other companies.

Considering Apple's rich heritage in music, from the first iPod to Apple Music, it's no surprise that the company's engineers didn't hold back on this issue - hidden under the attractive metal mesh are no less than seven high-frequency speakers, hitting in all directions, and one impressive low-frequency “woofer” designed to “pump up” any room. And already here HomePod begins to show its intelligence - the speaker analyzes low frequencies on the go and adjusts the operation of the “woofer” so that no distortion occurs even at maximum volume.

Orientation in space

However, the real magic begins when you realize that HomePod doesn't just throw sound waves around 360 degrees—with six built-in microphones, it analyzes where you are in the room and adjusts the sound to suit. Therefore, you will not receive unnecessary reflections from the nearest wall, and your favorite track will not turn into an acoustic mess, as often happens when the speakers are located in the wrong place.

HomePod's braininess doesn't stop at playing music—it's also great at listening. Therefore, you should not wait for a pause between songs to give a command to the device. Thanks to the clever algorithms of the built-in A8 chip, HomePod will hear you even from the far end of the room during the loudest song.

Siri is your personal music critic

HomePod can be controlled the old fashioned way - pressing the top “cover” of the device stops or starts music and changes the volume, but the main way to interact with the “smart speaker” is still voice communication. It starts, as expected, with music - you can ask Siri to play a separate song, a selection in a certain genre, or start a playlist of the latest hits. Over time, Siri will remember your preferences and recommend music better than any critic. (This, of course, assumes you have an Apple Music subscription to access all 40 million songs and the latest selections.)

But just like the iPhone, HomePod's voice assistant does much more. He can easily answer questions about the weather, culture, news, and sports. And most importantly, it easily integrates into the HomeKit smart home system. Now you don’t need to launch the application on your iPhone - just ask the smart speaker to dim the lights in the kitchen or turn off the air conditioner - and you’re done.

Already wanted to buy a HomePod and have thought of a great place for it? We, too. One bad thing - in an unusual manner, Apple presented the product six months before its release, so you'll have to wait a little. HomePod sales will start in the US this December at a price of $349. HomePod will be available in white and black.

Where to install?

As mentioned earlier, an important characteristic is the sound quality of the speaker. To achieve it, you must install it correctly. This is one of the very first things that you need to do immediately after purchasing a gadget. Why? Because the quality of sound that reaches listeners will depend to a large extent on the surface on which the speaker is placed.

The most important thing is that this place should be stable and transmit vibration as little as possible. Do not place HomePod on any pads, thin glass surfaces, centimeter-thick shelves, or other places that do not appear stable. It is also important that the gadget has as much space around it as possible and is not limited by various objects.

The last thing to note is that the best acoustic performance will be obtained if you place the HomePod on the floor - the lower it is, the better. With this arrangement, the sound literally spreads throughout the room, heard from all sides.

The worst idea is to place the speaker high (above a meter). If you stick to a maximum height of up to 50 cm, the sound quality will fluctuate within optimal limits.

Subjective sound assessment

Much has already been written about the phenomenal sound that comes out of HomePod. This is mostly true. For example, the same JBL Xtreme wireless speaker, which has fairly good bass, is much inferior to the Apple model.

However, other important characteristics of any speaker are the clarity, depth, richness and detail of the sound produced. That's why it's worth checking out how the HomePod will handle classical music specifically. The cleanliness and detail here will surprise anyone. It will not be difficult to understand which instrument is guiding and which is just an addition and sounds quietly in the background.

It would be a good idea to evaluate the sound of rock or metal at high volumes and check whether the speaker starts to make noise at maximum settings. Nothing like this happens - the sound also remains clear.

However, you can test jazz, blues, pop, electronic music and hip-hop. The device processes each of these genres at a high level. HomePod is an all-in-one speaker. Once you turn it on, it becomes clear that it was not developed in a hurry. Many of the technologies are truly advanced and innovative. Even though the sound automatically adapts to the room the HomePod is in, the listening experience is almost always the same.

Interestingly, it uses a gyroscope to let you know that the device has been moved to another location. The room is then re-scanned to calibrate the sound.

Interestingly, HomePod is a 360-degree gaming device. If you place it in the center of the room, the sound will be almost the same on each side. You need to have good hearing to hear the slightest difference.

Controls - Siri, AirPlay and other functions

The ability to control your music with Siri is perhaps the HomePod's best feature. Without it, this product would have no meaning at all. It's exciting to be able to use your voice to control your home, tell you the weather, send iMessages, and control your music. What’s especially nice is that you don’t have to reach for your phone to do these things.

It has already been mentioned that HomePod has six built-in microphones that are constantly listening and waiting to be given a command. The question arises - why are there so many of them? You'll find this out by setting the volume to maximum (HomePod can be very loud) and simply saying, "Hey Siri." HomePod will mute the music and listen for commands.

Can HomePod's Siri match the iPhone's slope? Most likely, we will be disappointed here; Apple has significantly reduced the functionality of the speaker. Below are some examples of commands that HomePod responds to:

• What's the weather outside?
• Turn on the music…
• Play the song...
• Play the album...
• Who plays this song?...
• Play more music like this...
• Add this song to my playlist...
• Add this to my library...
• Play the latest episode of the ThinkApple Podcast...
• Send a message to…
• Set your alarm for...
• Read the latest news...
• Remind me about...
• Start the countdown...

Of course, there are many more commands - for example, HomePod controls devices integrated with HomeKit. The column will be able to turn on the light, provide information about the current temperature in the apartment and much more. However, Siri, which works on the iPhone, can do much more.

Control

I have a Pioneer stereo and a Soul Republic DECK Bluetooth speaker. This is what I use most at home to play music. I used to want to buy Harman/Kardon SoundSticks, but something always got in the way. All such devices will require physical contact to control them (either a remote control, or you need to press buttons and turn the volume wheel). HomePod is very different from, probably, all the usual music systems.

Let's start with the fact that the column is always on. You can turn it off only by physically unplugging the cord from the outlet. The rest of the time, six microphones will listen to everything that happens in the apartment and wait for the treasured phrase “Hey Siri”, with which any communication with HomePod begins. By contacting the virtual assistant, you can launch music, ask to find a song and play it (the search is carried out in Apple Music and the user’s personal library), launch a playlist or Beats 1 radio.

In addition, “Siri” on HomePod can control devices connected to HomeKit (“smart” lamps, for example), read news from News.app (not yet available in Ukraine), can somehow joke, talk about the weather, set an alarm clock, timer or a reminder, reads messages from Messages on the owner’s iPhone, etc. But the assistant's range of functions is more limited than on the iPhone, so if a command can be played on an iOS device but not on the HomePod, Siri will politely prompt the user to try it there. The brain center for the virtual assistant is the A8 chip, like in the iPhone 6.

Physically on the device you can control playback and volume. When music is playing, symbols will appear on the “screen” to increase and decrease the volume. And by tapping in the very center, you can press pause, switch to the next and previous tracks, and, of course, call Siri. All available settings and resets are done through Home.app on the owner's iPhone.

Naturally, when playing music via AirPlay from iOS devices or a Mac, everything can be adjusted directly in the player, as with any connected acoustics. But even if the user launched Apple Music on the speaker using voice commands, playback can be controlled via Music.app and in the Control Center on iOS, or using iTunes on macOS. When using AirPlay, you should remember about a noticeable delay, which will not allow you to watch a video normally, for example. Therefore, you should rely on HomePod only to play music, and not use it as a speaker for your computer.

AirPlay

HomePod, like any other AirPlay speaker, can be controlled using your iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple TV, and other Apple devices. All you need to do in the settings of these devices is to select the correct sound source. There's nothing stopping you from streaming music from Spotify or other streaming services in the same way. Although it is not as convenient as using voice commands.

It would be worth noting the connection of HomePod to Apple TV. Thanks to this, the gadget will be an excellent replacement for a home theater. People who don't have an extensive set of 5.1 speakers will definitely appreciate the clear, bass-boosted sound that's great for watching movies or TV shows. Interestingly, Siri can stop and restore video from Apple TV.

Another thing that requires special attention is that by connecting these two devices together, there will be no delays between the image and the reproduced sound.

Additional HomePod Features

In addition to these ways to control HomePod, there is a third option. We are talking about the ability to control the music played on the iPhone, not via AirPlay, but via a WiFi network. What does this solution provide? First of all, it will allow two different songs to be played simultaneously on the iPhone and HomePod, making the phone a completely independent device. Secondly, anyone who has access to the current Wi-Fi network can also select songs to play on the speaker. This is an extremely useful feature when meeting with family or friends.

The only negative point is that Apple does not officially support the speaker in Russia and the CIS countries. The speaker was originally released for the American market and you won’t be able to operate it in Russian; you’ll have to learn English.