Poll: ** The Official Apple HomePod/HomePod mini thread **

Are you going to buy an Apple HomePod

  • Yes

    Votes: 28 13.8%
  • No

    Votes: 115 56.7%
  • Possibly, I'll wait and see what the reviews are like first

    Votes: 44 21.7%
  • HomePod mini - Yes

    Votes: 18 8.9%
  • HomePod mini - No

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • HomePod mini - Possibly, I'll wait and see what the reviews are like first

    Votes: 3 1.5%

  • Total voters
    203
Soldato
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Kicking myself I didn't pick one of for £199 now, never thought they'd go back up! (edit : found one at the high street store that announced it was closing shops yesterday, those "Partners" are gonna be upset!)
 
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Commissario
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That’s happened before, the last time they were down to £199, quite a few places had them at that price.

/edit - I’m not saying you’re wrong, just not to read too much into the price drop as it’s happened before.
 
Soldato
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That’s happened before, the last time they were down to £199, quite a few places had them at that price.

/edit - I’m not saying you’re wrong, just not to read too much into the price drop as it’s happened before.

Yeah I get what you're saying. The difference that I see is that they've gone to £199 and stayed there for a good while now. They've have regularly gone down to £199 and then back up ever since they were released.
 
Commissario
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The difference that I see is that they've gone to £199 and stayed there for a good while now. They've have regularly gone down to £199 and then back up ever since they were released.
I'm not seeing that. On the 4th they were still £279 at all the shops I checked and then @HEADRAT posted on the 10th to say they were at £199 again so they went down sometime between the 4th and the 10th. Even if they went down the day after I checked then that's only been nine days.
 
Soldato
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Does anyone though if there is a difference in sound quality with saying "hey Siri play music" vs using my phone/tablet apple music app.

I have always used the apple music app on my phone and selected the HomePod in the airplay setting. Just curious if there would be a difference?
 
Soldato
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Out of curiosity, how would a pair of stereo Homepods sound in comparison to (say) an £100 amp linked to a couple of decent £100 speakers?

I'm looking for people who've experienced both, rather than just saying the Homepods sound great.

I've got a muso-qb at home and though it's decent quality, it lacks a bit of oomph and there's no way of pairing it with a second. Though at £750-odd, I'm not in a hurry to buy another.
 
Soldato
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Out of curiosity, how would a pair of stereo Homepods sound in comparison to (say) an £100 amp linked to a couple of decent £100 speakers?

I'm looking for people who've experienced both, rather than just saying the Homepods sound great.

I've got a muso-qb at home and though it's decent quality, it lacks a bit of oomph and there's no way of pairing it with a second. Though at £750-odd, I'm not in a hurry to buy another.

what I’ve understood when I was doing my research from audiophile forums and reddit was that you probably need to spend £1000 if you want to noticeably beat HomePods with custom setups.
 
Soldato
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what I’ve understood when I was doing my research from audiophile forums and reddit was that you probably need to spend £1000 if you want to noticeably beat HomePods with custom setups.

Thanks - I'll do some digging on those forums. I've always read that when it comes to speakers the laws of physics come into play and you need space in the enclosure to shift air. I'd be interested if £400 worth of homepods could equal a modest separates setup (I don't believe that £1000 figure you've read, but I'd settle for them equaling a 'proper' amp and modest speakers.)
 
Soldato
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This is just so subjective, I honestly think the only way to know is to see if you can demo somewhere. I've been very happy with the noise they produce, for me they are mainly the output for my Apple TV 4K (I do have an issues but I think this is related to my Unifi wireless config. rather than the HomePods).
 
Soldato
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I was really, really happy with the quality of the HomePod sound, admittedly I am not an audiophile, but they sounded fantastic. My main issue was I wanted to use them as a main speaker for my Macbook too, and having to keep switching the output drove me mad.
 
Soldato
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Yeah one of my bug bears with using it with ATV4K is that even though you can set the HomePods to be the output rather than the TV speakers it always seems to toggle back to TV when it goes into standby etc. This feature is in "beta" so I'm hoping that it actually work when properly released.

In terms of the sound I'm happy, they produce a surprising amount of bass for such a small speaker, I'm quite happy with that but others might find it a tad unbalanced/overpowered. They are a neat solution but I guess it depends what other Apple Products you have, they are heavily dependant on the Apple "food chain" in order to get the best/most out of them.
 
Soldato
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Yeah one of my bug bears with using it with ATV4K is that even though you can set the HomePods to be the output rather than the TV speakers it always seems to toggle back to TV when it goes into standby etc. This feature is in "beta" so I'm hoping that it actually work when properly released.

In terms of the sound I'm happy, they produce a surprising amount of bass for such a small speaker, I'm quite happy with that but others might find it a tad unbalanced/overpowered. They are a neat solution but I guess it depends what other Apple Products you have, they are heavily dependant on the Apple "food chain" in order to get the best/most out of them.

Good to hear that it's in BETA, if it does get released and work well I will definitely reinvest in the HomePod Hardware because they look fantastic and sound good enough for my needs. I wouldn't mind a refresh though, and potentially a HomePod Mini.
 
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