HomePod Review: Is it Really Worth the Price Tag?

This is a very good review. Thanks for posting it. I already have my smart speaker setup, but it's good to hear opinions from a fellow blind person who has used the speaker.

I have two Sonos Ones. I've had them for about a year. If I had the money, I might actually get the HomePod for one room and use the Sonos speakres in one as a stereo pair. Sadly, probably not a good idea.

I read that as well. Pretty impressive. The thing is if it actually had more music services than just Apple Music, I would probably break down and get one. However, while you can airplay from an Apple device to the speaker, why should you have to use two devices to play music? Hope that makes sense. I'm sure the HomePod will improve over time; after all, this is just the first generation. I think it definitely has promise.

I've played with the Homepod and yes it is a little bit tempting since I primarily use Apple music. I don't think it's quite worth replacing my Sonos One yet. I like how the homepod gives you the option of using Air Play, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I like how I can get Alexa to play stuff from other radio services (awesome for sports on sirius xm), but I run into the same issue everyone complains about on the homepod. Since I use Apple music, I can't use Alexa to play it. And since Air Play 2 isn't out yet, I have to use the Sonos app, which doesn't give me access to my curated playlists. Also, I dearly mis being able to play podcasts, Netflix and YouTube on a good speaker. Air Play would allow that.

Hello, thanks for a great post. I think about purchased one or 2 HomePods to use a stereo feture in the future wwhen the software update will be produced to everyone. I think that it's very cool products to use and I very excited to see what is this and what's the ability to use in the home. I am very disappointed from Siri ability, and I'm expecting to get more futures from this price tag.

Perhaps in the future apple will make Siri better but just paying $300 or more for it is not worth it. I like my Alexa second generation for music. I am sure Amazon will look what apple did with the speeker and perhaps next year will come out with another Echo that will provide the same for less. Beside the apple is homepod is primary speeker and second AI, unlike echo primary is AI and second speeker.

The Homepod leaves a white ring behind on some wooden surfaces. See the link below for the story. This would be something we wouldn't notice so perhaps putting it on something to protect your furniture would be a good idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CmaxFMIHBM&feature=youtu.be

Apple's Home Pod is supposed to adjust the sound based on the room. Have you tested this? Or anyone else? How will the speaker perform, for example, in a bedroom compared to a living room, or in a Church? If I had the money, I would get one, but I don't, so I won't, yet. Thanks for a great review.

I ended up returning my HomePod.

It wasn't a clearcut decision. But, there were just one too many niggles; one too many ways in which it felt like a pre-release product; one too many times that the user experience left me frustrated.

The Good:

• It physically feels like a quality product.
• The audio quality is good (although I wasn't as “blown away” as reviews had led me to expect).
• Setup is extremely easy.
• Use with Apple Music is generally good (but see below).
• Control of HomeKit devices worked well and added some value and utility.
• Detection of the “Hey Siri” command was generally good (but see below).

The Bad:

• Too many times when the HomePod does not respond to the “Hey Siri” command.
• Siri is too limited in what it can do on the HomePod.
• There needs to be support for other services (in my case, I so wanted support for TuneIn and Overcast).
• Too many times when Siri would not get the artist, genre or playlist correct.
• Having HomePod setup and control through the Home app could be fine, but not when the settings are split in to 3 very distinct locations in that app. It's confusing and simply not intuitive.
• To replace something in our current setup (and to fit with our use case), the HomePod needs a USB connection and an audio line-in (and possibly its bluetooth chip enabled).

But, for our use, the biggest issue is that the HomePod simply doesn't lend itself to a multi-user setup. We have 4 in our house; all with our own iCloud accounts and Apple Music playlists and listening history. There is simply no way at the moment to make this work well with the HomePod )for example, three of the four can't do something as seemingly simple and natural as ask to have one of their own playlists play).

The potentially good news is that nearly all of what I dislike about the HomePod could be fixed or improved through software updates.

However, I have to judge the HomePod on what it offers me right now, and not what it might offer me in 12 months time. And, being frank, I have far less confidence than the OP that we will see significant improvements to Siri any time soon; or that Apple will open the HomePod to more services.

I do not think apple will ever open any apple product to all. They like to be in control regarding their products. This is why they are behind amazon and google in AI. Sad but there is so. I like apple.

Hi.
Thanks for a really great review.
The Homepod is not available in my country yet. But when it is, I look very much forward to hear the sound quality. I'm impressed how Voiceover works on the touch screen.
I won't get the Homepod, simply because it is too limited, and I can't use it for what I want.
1. No AUX minijack input. Apple is making the most expensive smartspeaker, and it don't have a minijack input. Really stupid and limited in my opinion.
2. Apple want to go wireless, but they don't offer Bluetooth. Just, why? Why limit their smartspeaker like this?
3. The Homepod lags when it comes to services. I have a ton of music on an external harddrive, and I don't use Apple Music, which I find expensive. No way of connecting the speaker to online radio, a network harddrive or any computer in generel, only if you are using Airplay. So I don't see how I can use this speaker.
4. No connection to my tv either. If the idea is that the Homepod should be the main speaker in your house, then it makes no sense. I'm currently using Sonos, and need a speaker for my kitchen. The Homepod won't work with my current setup, and if I switched to the Homepod, I'll be very limited.
5. Using two Homepods in stirio or in two rooms does not currently work. Why do people have to wait for that?
6. As mentioned, I'm using Sonos. Great accessibility, great features, yes there could be more, but Sonos is not that much limited like the Homepod. If I buy a Sonos One, the newest Sonos speaker, I will get a speaker with voice assistance. This does not currently work in my country, but it'll support Siri just like the Homepod in the future. It currently supports Google Assistance and Alexa. Yes you'll get better sound quality on the Homepod, but then you could just buy some bigger Sonos speakers.
I really like the Apple products, most of them, but I'm disappointed by the Homepod. The Homepod is great for those who are using Apple Music and podcasts and for those who don't find the speakers functions limited.

Hello,
here in italy homepod hasn't come yet; I was expecting it and I felt very disappointed - i read your review and also listened to David Woodbridge's podcast about it.

Well, I expected much much more from this, knowing how much it costs, because I have a starting point: an app which is no longer available because social networking services have changed their APIs and my close friend who developed that app, could no longer interact with music and socials in that way.
It was called "i am social music news", formerly known as "streaming killed the radio star"
and, briefly, i could perform gestures:
tap. play-pause
swipe right/left: skip/previous song
swipe up/down: volume up/down
hold: help
two fingers tap: read current song title
and also that app was announcing song titles and authors -in appropriate language- before songs started, and also reading weather forecast and news from selected sources and socials, if set up from the options.

Sandro created a much smarter app I think, it's a pity it is no longer possible to have such results
my homepod dream was like that, in a smart speaker

Holger mentioned that Apple likes a closed system. However, apps from Microsoft developers and charging stations that are not from Apple can be used on iPhones and other iDevices. As for the Home Pod, if you need a pair of them to produce stereo, and the software is not available to do this yet, that sure is a big expense for the future. It would be approaching $800 without the device from which it gets it's info. If you're using an iPhone 10, you're nearing $2,000 if you have a 256 gig phone. I would wait for the price to hopefully go down and the feature list to go up before I spend that kind of money on a system.

It would be interesting to compare the homepod to the google home max.

There are youtube videos compairing the homepod, google home max, and the UE Boom and while homepod had great sound, the loudest out of the ones they were using in that video was the google home max by far.

They even said it's so loud that it gets distorted when cranking it up to 100.

Obviously, those videoes aren't going to give you a proper idea of the sound, but it's enough to give you some sort of feel.

It's all about what you want in a speaker.

I haven't jumped onto the smart speaker bandwagon yet, since at the moment all it seems to be is a pissing contest between these companies.

@BigCat: Wow, thanks for your comparison with the Sonos Play5. I'm amazed to hear that the Homepod sounds better. Just, wow...
I wander if the Homepod will work as a computerspeaker for a Mac if you're using Airport. A pretty expensive computer speaker, but that would be cool...

Hi! Even though I am an Apple Music subscriber and tend to listen to music and podcasts through the apps of the same name on my iPhone, I can't imagine myself buying a HomePod. It isn't available in France yet anyway, and, even when it is, the price is not easily affordable for me. I have never been tempted by smart voice-activated devices anyway, and I don't even use Hey Siri on my iPhone: it's interesting to know that the HomePod can be operated without Siri, though. Another thing which disappoints me about several of the high-quality speakers that I have heard of is, that they are mono, so you need to buy two speakers of whatever kind, Sonos or Homepod or whatever, to get stereo, which isn't even possible with the HomePod yet. However good the sound is, I admit I prefer stereo to mono, whatever I'm listening on, especially for music. I'm not saying the homePod is bad, not at all, and I hope all of you who have bought HomePods enjoy using them, but I personally feel that the HomePod is not the speaker for me: for the foreseeable future I will probably stick with my little Bose SoundLink Mini bluetooth speaker, which has good sound in my opinion, as well as giving me stereo without having to buy a second one. But there's a place for all kinds of speakers out there, so, if the HomePod is available in your country and you want one and can afford it, go ahead and buy it!

Hi Clare. Just to clarify something for you. I am speaking only regarding the Sonos speakers, but just having one doesn't mean it plays in mono. It is a single unit that lets you hear the contents of both left and right channels. However, if you have two and pair them up, it modifies the sound so that you hear the left channel in one and the right channel in the other. I can't speak for the rest of the speakers out there, but just wanted to clarify this for you. Hope that makes sense.

I think Apple is a bit late to the smart speaker party since Amazon's Alexa-enabled devices have been around since 2014 so it's going to be an up hill battle for Apple since in my opinion Alexa is far better than Siri. I'd be interested in how the sound of the home pod compares to the Echo. I will not be getting a home pod since I already have an Echo.

I sprung for a homepod yesterday and am blown away with it. Yes, it doesn't support third party music services natively but that doesn't affect me. I've been an AM subscriber since it came out and I love being able to finally ask my speaker to play songs or shuffle my entire collection. I also like how you can control the hp in the music app or control center. No separate app needed. I don't like the Sonos app interface despite it being 100% accessible, and not being able to shuffle my collection with that app was a huge nock against it for me. AirPlay 2 mitigated this somewhat, but I still had a lot of drop outs with it. I also realized that half the Alexa skills I enabled I never used. Most of what I used were games, and of the other ones I used I can accomplish the same thing with Air Play and the new shortcuts app. The hp is certainly not for everyone, but it fits my use case perfectly. Time to put the Sonos One on Ebay.

Awesome review! I am going to be receiving my HomePod tomorrow. I am very excited, as I am an Apple Music subscriber, and I use apple podcasts. I am very excited about handoff on the HomePod as well. Again, awesome review!

I have a echo that is great. It is the one that is about 7 or 9 inches told and I like it because she is there. You can not do much with the one from apple. Just music.