Welcome to my review of the Apple HomePod. I must admit when I first read all about this new speaker from Apple I was skeptical.
First, lets take a look at the key specs.
Key Specifications
– Dimensions:172 mm high x 142 mm wide
– Weight 2.5 kg
– Colour Space Grey or White
Audio Technology
– High-excursion woofer with custom amplifier
– Array of seven horn-loaded tweeters, each with its own custom amplifier
– Six-microphone array for far-field Siri
– Internal low-frequency calibration microphone for automatic bass correction
– Direct and ambient audio beam forming
– Transparent studio-level dynamic processing
Audio Sources
– Apple Music
– iTunes music purchases
– iCloud Music Library with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription
– Beats 1
– Apple Podcasts
– AirPlay other content to HomePod from iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV and Mac
Audio Formats
– HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV and FLAC
Touch Surface
– Tap or hold + or – for volume up/down
– Touch and hold for Siri
– Tap to play/pause music or Siri
– Double-tap to skip
– Triple-tap to skip back
So as I mentioned, I was skeptical to say the least. So unboxing the HomePod is like any other Apple product. A wonderful experience including the setup. The other thing I noticed is how damn heavy the HomePod was for its size.
Apple make technology simple at times, and setting this up was a breeze. See video below. When the HomePod powers on, you hear a thud. That is the first time you realise this little speaker is capable of delivering some deep bass.
If you read the specification above, there are lots of fancy words used. However, what matters is how good does it sound and does Siri actually work. I am astonished at how good the sound is for such a small speaker. Even listening at low volumes, it is a treat. Jazz is delightful. The room is filled with wonderful vocals and instruments. In fact, I tried lots of different genres and all were great. Sometimes, the mids got lost, but honestly you cannot go wrong with this. Siri works well and pretty quickly too.
I don’t have an Apple Music subscription, but as a back up, I do have iTunes Match subscription on top of my Google Play Music. This means all my 10,000 songs can be accessed instantly. Using Airplay, I can listen to any other music source from my iPad. I can even ask Siri to move to the next track on my iPad.
Of course, the HomePod nows works with HomeKit. Now lets take a look at the video review.
Video Review
Conclusion
If you have an Apple TV, iPad or iPhone then this is for you! If you also have an Apple TV music or iTunes Match subscription then this is a no brainer. The HomePod is so much better than I ever thought. Amazing!
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