You have to wonder what are they really trying to accomplish now but glad it’s revived still
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Old vs. New HomePod Buyer's Guide
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I think they are going to get support into 2025. Apple will give it two or three years from when it stopped selling them.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
A "think different" consideration: if you split the "dumb" from the "smart" parts, the "dumb" parts can serve you audio for upwards of 10-20 years, sounding as good way out into the future, long after the "smarts" may have been obsoleted by OS updates.
In other words, consider buying great speakers with no smarts. Those will have very long useful life if you take reasonable care of them. Software will not be able to obsolete them. And you can choose your own quality, your own size of speaker, etc that best fit your own situation vs. "one size fits all."
To get mostly the same smarts, you have multiple options:
The big benefits to this approach are:
Speakers are not like computers and iDevices. They can sound just as good 10-15-20 years after purchase. Software should not obsolete them before the dumb parts have actually had it. A corporate maker of speakers giving up on them should not obsolete them either.
In other words, consider buying great speakers with no smarts. Those will have very long useful life if you take reasonable care of them. Software will not be able to obsolete them. And you can choose your own quality, your own size of speaker, etc that best fit your own situation vs. "one size fits all."
To get mostly the same smarts, you have multiple options:
- You have Siri in your iDevices. Link the dumb speakers to an Airplay 2 receiver/amp and then throw anything you want to them using Siri on the iDevice.
- Siri is also available in AppleTV. Hook AppleTV to the receiver and use Siri to play whatever you want on those speakers.
- Siri is also available in Macs. Use Siri to throw ANYTHING you want to play on your Mac through your receiver to those speakers.
- For non-audio "smarts" like setting a calendar appointment and similar, use Siri on any other Apple product to do that. HomeKit automations work fine with existing Apple devices too.
The big benefits to this approach are:
- the smarts can go bad (by OS evolution or just Apple giving up on this product) and you can still enjoy the speakers for upwards of a few decades. Else, like all other Apple things tied to Apple software, there is high probability you'll find yourself in a "throw baby out with the bathwater" situation long before the "dumb" portion can go bad. Example: 5K screens in iMac 27" with an OS obsoleted Mac or outright dead Mac "smarts" in them. That monitor is still a great 5K monitor. But you can't do anything with it without a fairly complicated, hardware hack.
- decoupling from direct dependency on Apple smarts means that anything can play on these speakers vs. only those services that Apple wants to support and/or not support. No walled garden constraints. Anyone wishing for an AUX input for that kind of flexibility can readily have it with this approach.
- The addition of a receiver means anything else that benefits from playing audio on your best speakers can do so. For example, cable/satt box? Over-the-air Antenna television? Gaming consoles? Blu-Ray player? Radio? Satt Radio? Someone brings over a camcorder with video you must see? Someone brings over their ancient VCR so you can watch old, old home movies stored on VHS? Someone brings over a turntable and some vinyl albums? Karaoke machine? Someone has some great new songs on their Android phone they want you to hear? etc. ANYTHING that produces audio that you would like to hear on your best speakers are in play through a very flexible receiver-based system. Try much of that within the tightly-constrained, walled garden.
Speakers are not like computers and iDevices. They can sound just as good 10-15-20 years after purchase. Software should not obsolete them before the dumb parts have actually had it. A corporate maker of speakers giving up on them should not obsolete them either.
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Considering the S8 was rumored to be a rebranded S7 (which was already a rebranded S6), I now wonder what the difference is between S7 and S8. If they were exactly the same thing, Apple would have said that the Homepod contains the S8.
So, what’s the S7 like, performance-wise, is it worth more than the A8?
There are not a lot of benchmarks one can perform on the Apple Watch but the S7 seems to be doing the Sunspider 1.0 Javascript test in 1800ms vs just 350ms for the A8. Not a great sign given how slow the OG HomePod felt! But Webkit tests are somewhat irrelevant here. The S7 is reportedly based on the Thunder architecture, the efficiency cores of the A13. If anyone has more info, I’d be interested to see if the S7 compares to the A8 in any way…
So, what’s the S7 like, performance-wise, is it worth more than the A8?
There are not a lot of benchmarks one can perform on the Apple Watch but the S7 seems to be doing the Sunspider 1.0 Javascript test in 1800ms vs just 350ms for the A8. Not a great sign given how slow the OG HomePod felt! But Webkit tests are somewhat irrelevant here. The S7 is reportedly based on the Thunder architecture, the efficiency cores of the A13. If anyone has more info, I’d be interested to see if the S7 compares to the A8 in any way…
Hmm, looking at the specs, it’s possible the original is better. More mics and more tweeters, and my guess is a faster chip, too.
S6, S7 and S8 are all based on the A13 Bionic. Seems very likely that the S8 is an improvement on the A8.
For Karaoke you need onboard power in the Neural Engine. Which speaks for A15, compare prices of AppleTV.
I highly doubt the A8 is better than the S7. 2013 vs 2021.
Edit: I just looked into it. The S7 definitely beats the A8.
This article is nonsense. Fewer teeeters and fewer microphones. So what? We have no idea if they are fewer but much higher quality tweeters. We have no idea if the microphones are better or worse. Spec sheets are not the end of experience.
The only thing we know is that the wifi is worse but given that the data being carried is only music and so small maybe that makes it play better with thread or doesn’t make any difference because of the data. On paper it looks “worse” but might be meaningless.
The only thing we know is that the wifi is worse but given that the data being carried is only music and so small maybe that makes it play better with thread or doesn’t make any difference because of the data. On paper it looks “worse” but might be meaningless.
Nope. It’s 6.6”. Does macrumors have an editor? The posts are just low energy clickbait these days.
New HomePod
- 5.6 inches tall
You won't find reliable data on the topic as the Apple S-series of SIPs are unavailable in devices that let you run any accurate, comparable benchmarks. It will all be guesswork. The cores are based on the Thunder architecture from efficiency cores on the Apple A13 so it will be newer in design. But we are still comparing the efficiency cores of the Apple A13 with the performance cores of the Apple A8. It's not as simple as we can look at the performance of the efficiency cores in the Apple A13 and conclude that the Apple S6 and S7 SIP will perform the same just because it's based on the same architecture. The Apple S-series SIPs are designed for a different purpose than the Apple A-series SoCs. For instance, the Apple A13 featured four efficiency cores, while the Apple S6 and S7 SIPs only feature two cores.
There is little information on the Apple S-series of SIPs, like details on its cache design, memory bandwidth etc. The Apple S7 SIP is an entirely different package compared to the Apple A13. It has fewer transistors, while it features WiFi and Bluetooth on the package. Something has to give. Hard to even know if it features any Neural Engine etc. Without knowing these details it's impossible to do a heads-to-heads comparison between the Apple A8 SoC and the Apple S7 SIP.
I like the idea of the Homepod as an Apple bluetooth speaker, but I can still buy a Logitec UE Boom 3 or Megaboom or a decent Bose bluetooth speaker for less. They will sound great and I don't care about the smart integration with Siri and all that stuff. I never use Siri anyway on any of my devices. And my home isn't wired for any of that either. I'm not interested.
That said in Canada the new Homepod is about $100 less than the old one was even before adjusting for inflation, so in that sense the new one is a better value.
The Homepod Mini has a more attractive price, but for a bit more you can get something that sounds a lot better.
That said in Canada the new Homepod is about $100 less than the old one was even before adjusting for inflation, so in that sense the new one is a better value.
The Homepod Mini has a more attractive price, but for a bit more you can get something that sounds a lot better.
The burning question is why did it go from WiFi 5 to WiFi 4? 🧐
Your post misses out on the convenience of HomePods, I can't put a receiver/amp and two speakers in my kitchen but I can put two HomePods on opposite sides of the kitchen just fine. I have single HomePods in three bedrooms, the setup you're talking about would be overkill.
Technology is moving toward making things more and more convenient for people.
The beauty of HomePod is it's standalone. You don't need other devices (other than WiFi internet) when you want to listen to music.
Simply say something, like: "Hey Siri, play blues" and you'll get all you can eat blues music without doing anything else.
Spot on assessment.
HomePod is always on, waiting for a verbal command to play whatever kind of music you want to listen to. No other devices are necessary (other than an active WiFI internet).
Told you this is a downgrade, even the reviews are saying it now. Downgrading stuff and particular a basic module as the Wi-Fi is a shameless move to make.
This goes two ways, either the sales are still bad and they gonna nix it and have dumped the remaining inventory with this Gen 2.0 or there will be a 2.1 with only Wi-Fi upgraded to WiFi6E to support higher quality music (force upgrades).
This goes two ways, either the sales are still bad and they gonna nix it and have dumped the remaining inventory with this Gen 2.0 or there will be a 2.1 with only Wi-Fi upgraded to WiFi6E to support higher quality music (force upgrades).
I would love to understand the thought process of the 2 people that gave your comment a thumbs down.
The Home Pod was a failure even with the $50 price drop, and this model offers LESS in sound. The tacked-on features with temperature sensor exist in $60 Echo speakers and do not warrant any consideration into the price.
This needed to be $199 or less to not be dead on arrival as the only fool that would be this thing (that is still limited outside the Apple echo system and powered by the clinically-retarded Siri) are the thumbs down people.
The original Home Pod got a few ticks above a Sonos One in reviews but with a $150 price difference making the slight increase hard to justify comparing price, and I am really curious how it will review against the $200 Sonos One now that its been slightly gutted - which has an entire echo-system of sound bars and other speakers, lets you choose their own voice control for music or to install Alexa or Google Assistant.
$600 to have a pair of these? Yeah, no. Even if they upped the Sonos by $20 for Apple Tax, but $100?
Pricing numbers calculated with inflation:
2018 2023
$349 $417
$299 $357
$249 $299
Or 19.4% inflation for the period.
Apple covered inflation for us.
2018 2023
$349 $417
$299 $357
$249 $299
Or 19.4% inflation for the period.
Apple covered inflation for us.
Why not wait until you're able to listen to one, before coming to the conclusion they're disappointing?
No doubt in my mind the new HomePod will sound at least as good as my 5 original and 2 mini HomePods. And wouldn't be surprised if it sounds better.
Is it any less locked down than the original (which is what killed the original?)
Can you link it to other music services, can you Bluetooth/Cast music to it from various devices?
Is Siri now a LOT better when using this device?
Has Apple learned anything from the failure of the last device?
Can you link it to other music services, can you Bluetooth/Cast music to it from various devices?
Is Siri now a LOT better when using this device?
Has Apple learned anything from the failure of the last device?