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Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

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Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#171

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

What's OG?

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#172

Speaking of smart speakers, I'm moving to a new flat and I'm looking for some good old dumb speaker setup. The smartest that I'd let it get would be a Bleutooth dongle. As a recovering Audiophile, I'm gonna stay away from r/audiophile lest they temp me to sell my kidney to afford that extra 5% in "acoustic fidelity." Seriously, I'm happy with the 95%. Now, how do I go about putting together that sound system? Or in A…

A pair of cheap(ish) active studio monitors will probably give you the best price:performance ratio: https://www.sweetwater.com/c405--Active_Monitors

I can vouch for the JBL 305Ps sounding pretty damn good. If you aren’t keen on spending that amount, though, the Presonus Eris line looks decent, as well.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#173

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

One complaint about the original was that it was super locked into Apple's ecosystem, which seems valid to me. And the new one supports Matter, so that's an improvement

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#174
Lots of complaints here but I personally love my OG HomePod. It sounds fantastic which is what I'm looking for out of a speaker. I personally have zero issues with Siri. It's basic but that's all I really need; all I use Siri for is turning on music, measurement conversions when cooking, and adding things to my various reminder lists ("Hey Siri add cucumber to my shopping list").

I am a little surprised that it's more or less the same device re-launched but the more I think about it I'm not really sure what I expected. It's a speaker, its' main requirement is to sound good and the OG HomePod sounds great. I can't think of many other features you can add to the speaker itself.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#175

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

I cannot get siri to text my Mom. I say “text Mom” and it would respond “what do you want to say to Dad?”. Both my parents are explicitly set to be Mom and Dad in my contacts, but Siri has its own logic for determining who I mean as “mom” or something. Siri is the worst part of the Apple ecosystem by far.

> Both my parents are explicitly set to be Mom and Dad in my contacts

Maybe it would work if you set one to Mom and the other to Dad. I understand the intent of being inclusive, but sometimes one must pragmatically bend like a reed to avoid exhaustion.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might try it with the stereo setup for the home cinema tv setup. I agree on everything about Siri. Though in the kitchen I bought those 100 bucks Ikea Sonos made speakers that sound amazing too. Much cheaper... One issue though is that I can not pass thru audio over the Apple TV, so the cinema setup would only work when using the Apple TV.

This should work if you enable ARC (must be enabled on Apple TV settings, and on your HDMI switching device. You also need to use an ARC compatible HDMI cable and to be using the ARC port on your "switching" device, since often there is only one such port. This is how I have it set up and my HomePod outputs all inputs that come into my TV.

My Sony Bravia TV auto-detects ARC and will pass it to my Sonos. I didn’t have to change my Apple TV settings.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#177

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

What's OG?

“Original Gangsta,” i.e., original.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#178
post #33

I would love to hear the inside story about why the old one was discontinued and it took so long for the v2. The HomePod mini is the "first device" we have given to our children. No screen, I am comfortable with apple privacy, access to music and podcasts, etc. The mini has shockingly good sound for $100 and what it is.

"The mini has shockingly good sound for $100 and what it is. " It's really something, isn't it? I mean, I'm an audio nut with genuine crazy-person speakers in my living room, but goddamn if that single mini Homepod in our bedroom isn't stupid good.

[deleted]

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#179
post #148

HomePod is the most annoying piece of technology that I still frequently use. I was an early buyer of the first version, but this update doesn't address any of the complaints that I have about it: 1. No audio line-in! It's a $300 speaker, it sounds great...sometimes I'd like to be able to just plug something into it. If you have a record player, you have to have a separate set of speakers for it, because this thing w…

>3. Siri tries (and frequently fails) to identify me and my wife by our voice, and then won't do things (like turn off the music, find our iPhone, etc.) because she can't figure out who we are. I've never had this issue in my household. Have you tried re-training it?

Shouldn’t we give him the benefit of the doubt over the HomePod?

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#180
post #119

Speaking of smart speakers, I'm moving to a new flat and I'm looking for some good old dumb speaker setup. The smartest that I'd let it get would be a Bleutooth dongle. As a recovering Audiophile, I'm gonna stay away from r/audiophile lest they temp me to sell my kidney to afford that extra 5% in "acoustic fidelity." Seriously, I'm happy with the 95%. Now, how do I go about putting together that sound system? Or in A…

Where I'm from everyone is using Genelec speakers.

Difficult to answer the question without knowing the OP's budget, but I agree on the Genelec line. $700 for a pair of their smallest powered speakers, and they sound great. What you are getting from these little speakers would have been considered quite exotic a few decades ago: individually-driven speakers with active crossovers and equalizers. For a couple thousand dollars you can put together a system that would have cost more than a house 25 years ago.
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