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Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

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Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#11

Post by sambeau »

sidibe wrote: post #3

Great marketing to let an obvious fan (check his history) who loves writing get an early look at your product.

He was very open & clear I thought:

"I also paid full price for this HomePod, with my own money. I paid for all the equipment to measure it with, and I own every speaker in featured in this review."

This is very clear too:

"Neither KEF, nor Apple is paying me to write this review, nor have they ever paid me in the past."

This wasn't necessary, in my opinion, but again is very open:

"At the same time, I’m a huge apple fan. Basically, all the technology I own is apple-related. I don't mind being in their ecosystem, and it’s my responsibility to tell you this."

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#12

Post by jakebasile »

sidibe wrote: post #8
jakebasile wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does it say they got it early? It's plausible this was done over the weekend.

https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/7t51a2/nda_is_u...

Looks like he got to play with it for an hour. TFA is his measurements from multiple hours of use at his house.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#14

Post by pohl »

jakebasile wrote: post #4
herodotus wrote: post #2

What surprises me most are the rave reviews in the absence of stereo (coming later), which I always thought was de rigueur for audiophiles. I look forward to those future reviews.

I love music but I don't consider myself an audiophile. After having written off the HomePod yet trying one for a weekend - I cannot wait for the stereo upgrade. It is astonishingly good as a speaker.

Same here. I love music and good sound, but I don't go down the audiophile optimization rabbit-hole – for many reasons, but mostly because one quickly gets to the point of diminishing returns.

I was surprised by the HomePod. It's much smaller than I had imagined, and sounds much better. I think I might get another one when the Airplay 2 update comes out.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#15

Post by muninn_ »

sambeau wrote: post #11
sidibe wrote: post #3

Great marketing to let an obvious fan (check his history) who loves writing get an early look at your product.

He was very open & clear I thought: "I also paid full price for this HomePod, with my own money. I paid for all the equipment to measure it with, and I own every speaker in featured in this review." This is very clear too: "Neither KEF, nor Apple is paying me to write this review, nor have they ever paid me in the past." This wasn't necessary, in my opinion, but again is very open: "At the same time, I’m a huge apple…

Not to mention, you can still be a fan and objective in your review of a product. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#16

Post by falcolas »

herodotus wrote: post #2

What surprises me most are the rave reviews in the absence of stereo (coming later), which I always thought was de rigueur for audiophiles. I look forward to those future reviews.

I'm a bit surprised as well, but I've also recently realized how few songs actually benefit from having stereo mixes, given they're almost all added in post processing. It matters even less for a room-wide speaker, when the listener is not at a fixed point.

That said, stereo can matter, but only when the recording itself was done in stereo. Proper stereoscopic recording is pretty cool to listen to with headphones.

All my opinion, of course.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#17

Post by berberous »

herodotus wrote: post #2

What surprises me most are the rave reviews in the absence of stereo (coming later), which I always thought was de rigueur for audiophiles. I look forward to those future reviews.

Well, they are excited because the speaker performs excellently. I suspect many audiophiles will wait until they can get it to work in stereo, but when it does, the reviews should be the same since it’s just two of the same.

Also, I doubt most audiophiles would use it as their primary listening source, but it may be the perfect solution for additional listening areas.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#18

Post by gehwartzen »

Osmium wrote: post #6
herodotus wrote: post #2

What surprises me most are the rave reviews in the absence of stereo (coming later), which I always thought was de rigueur for audiophiles. I look forward to those future reviews.

That's part of the point: it has a 7-tweeter 360º array that is used to add directionality to the sound. Obviously won't compare to a true stereo pair, but it's not nothing either. Personally speaking, I'd take great mono over sub-par stereo any day anyway.

This is part of what I don't understand; directionality of sound is a concept understood to be in reference to the listener (or point of measurement). So what exactly is the homepod doing? Since the listener could always be moving within the room is it dynamically tracking and adjusting? I assumed it just optimized the sound for the room in a more generalized sense (i.e eliminating weird reflections, dead spots, etc)
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