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Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

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Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#71

Post by macintux »

tomxor wrote: post #68
macintux wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m satisfied that a significant number of audiophiles have said that they feel the HomePod produces good audio. The numbers seem to back that up.

We live in an age of lo-fi hi-bling, high consumer numbers from people who consider themselves experts in audio quality because they have a soundbar and a subwoofer don't really count for much. I don't expect you to be convinced by me, but maybe one day you will experience some nice audio on a good system and then have a personal baseline to understand why calling something this small "audiophile quality" seems silly…

To me, the key is that Apple has created something with astounding sound quality for its size. And flexibility. And price point.

If they scale it up it could very well be truly spectacular.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#72

Post by sk5t »

S_A_P wrote: post #50
mrob wrote: post #36

>I'm an EDM guy and demand a certain performance to 20hz, which homepod lacks. I've checked a lot of dance music and never found anything with meaningful 20Hz content. It's extremely rare for "deep bass" to be lower than 40Hz. The only genre I can think of that often has very deep bass is pipe organ music. EDIT: Movie soundtracks also commonly have <40Hz content for sound effects.

Pipe organ music can commonly reach down to 16 hz or so, but for those looking for (slightly) more current music containing truly deep bass here are a few options: Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the moon. The Heartbeat in the introduction contains significant energy in the 20-40hz range Bass Mekanik- Each of his releases includes some music but also features a test section which will play frequencies with labels as to thei…

Of similar vintage to Bass Mekanik, The Crystal Method's "High Roller" has some very deep, musical bass in the first minute. This bass is lost entirely by most MP3 encodings. Makes for a good reference point for both subwoofers and music sources!

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#73

Post by sk5t »

tomxor wrote: post #57
lobster_johnson wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What $349 speaker will beat the HomePod and provide the same features? Omnidirectionality and built-in AirPlay have to be considered. The HomePod is a single speaker that can fill a room with no additional amp, receiver or subwoofer. Comparing the HomePod to a class A amplifier is nonsensical. Nobody is pretending it's competing with that segment.

> What $349 speaker will beat the HomePod and provide the same features? None, I'm not considering those features, only audio quality. > Comparing the HomePod to a class A amplifier is nonsensical. Nobody is pretending it's competing with that segment. The author is implicitly: > The HomePod is 100% an Audiophile grade Speaker Your absolutely right, it is nonsensical, it's _physically_ in a different class all togeth…

You are aware that "class A" and "audiophile" are not synonymous, yes?

I've got one or two respectable 2-channel audio systems around the house (although I remain solidly in the "cables matter almost not at all + the room matters a lot" camp) and am willing to consider that Apple may have produced a very nice-sounding active speaker for $350 a pop if they decided to. Consider how much more manufacturing scale and tech reach Apple has, compared to, say, Dynaudio or a boutique room correction software shop. Give it a fair shake before remounting the audiophile high horse.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#74

Post by thirdsun »

falcolas wrote: post #16
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. Al…

I disagree as well. Any decent audio engineer will know that placing tracks, instruments and certain elements slightly, or widely, off-center is essential to a good recording.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#75

Post by EADGBE »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #41
mrob wrote: post #36

>I'm an EDM guy and demand a certain performance to 20hz, which homepod lacks. I've checked a lot of dance music and never found anything with meaningful 20Hz content. It's extremely rare for "deep bass" to be lower than 40Hz. The only genre I can think of that often has very deep bass is pipe organ music. EDIT: Movie soundtracks also commonly have <40Hz content for sound effects.

I always understood ~20Hz to be relegated more for inaudible movie effects like you mentioned. Usually contributing to the feeling of dread, fear, and anxiety in horror movies, etc. It’s news to me that one might need 20Hz for purely an audio track, especially in the home. I would understand at a concert or something but to demand it from a single small self-contained unit like that sounds like looking for love in al…

Ah yes, the subwoofer rattling sound. Dreadful indeed. Can kinda take me out of it.

I wonder if the "undertone series" for a bass hits this, since a low E on a 4-string already is at the ~40hz range. Definitely something that's felt, more than heard, as you mention.

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#76

Post by S_A_P »

sk5t wrote: post #72
S_A_P wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pipe organ music can commonly reach down to 16 hz or so, but for those looking for (slightly) more current music containing truly deep bass here are a few options: Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the moon. The Heartbeat in the introduction contains significant energy in the 20-40hz range Bass Mekanik- Each of his releases includes some music but also features a test section which will play frequencies with labels as to thei…

Of similar vintage to Bass Mekanik, The Crystal Method's "High Roller" has some very deep, musical bass in the first minute. This bass is lost entirely by most MP3 encodings. Makes for a good reference point for both subwoofers and music sources!

Agreed. Also a really clean recording, though somewhat over squashed dynamics. But love those drums...

Re: Apple HomePod – The Audiophile Perspective and Measurements

#77

Post by tomxor »

sk5t wrote: post #73
tomxor wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What $349 speaker will beat the HomePod and provide the same features? None, I'm not considering those features, only audio quality. > Comparing the HomePod to a class A amplifier is nonsensical. Nobody is pretending it's competing with that segment. The author is implicitly: > The HomePod is 100% an Audiophile grade Speaker Your absolutely right, it is nonsensical, it's _physically_ in a different class all togeth…

You are aware that "class A" and "audiophile" are not synonymous, yes? I've got one or two respectable 2-channel audio systems around the house (although I remain solidly in the "cables matter almost not at all + the room matters a lot" camp) and am willing to consider that Apple may have produced a very nice-sounding active speaker for $350 a pop if they decided to. Consider how much more manufacturing scale and tec…

> You are aware that "class A" and "audiophile" are not synonymous, yes?

Yes, it was just an argumentative counter example to the Class-D amp that will inevitably be used by this item.

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