There are “audiophiles”(whatever they are) and then there are people who make a living doing this whole sound thingy(which some call audio). There seem to be a few who commented on this thread. They are completely correct in the fact that Apple’s HomePods are, well, crap. I know that some will disagree with me on this but the fact remains. Apple hasn’t done anything positive for music ever. This spatial audio that they’re pushing is destroying music.Well no, of course not. But that’s down to the culture of hi-fi audiophiles as much as anything.
1) You can’t easily hook up analog or non-Apple audio sources to HomePods. (There are ways of doing it, but they’re involved and possibly more trouble than it’s worth.)
2) The whole computational audio business is pretty antithetical to the audiophile/audiophool mindset. It’s very much like car gearheads’ preference for manual transmissions over automatic transmissions, audiophiles want to be able to fiddle with their speakers to get the perfect setup (and to buy new gear to elevate their setup*). That all is stuff you don’t get with a more automatic solution like HomePods.
3) They’re Apple. The audiophile market is as much about status as anything else, in my experience. It’s about being able to name drop a notable brand like Sennheiser as much as anything, and Apple’s not expensive enough, not exclusive enough, and doesn’t have the strong history of audio reputation.
* In many ways, the audiophile hobby strikes me as being very similar to ultralight camping. Sometimes, it seems like practitioners of ultralight camping spend more time focusing on shaving ounces than actually being outdoors camping. Oftentimes, it’s also about buying expensive ultralight gear to chase clout. There’s definitely an element of this in the audiophile community.
I don’t have the time at this moment to finish my thoughts but I will be back.
I’m baaack.
I have been mixing for over 25 years. Music recording and mixing, also, for tv/movies, dialogue editing, music editing, rerecording engineer, on occasion supervising sound editor and more.
I have a policy of no names and/or anything else online that would identify projects or people so that conversations don’t devolve into pissing contests.
Has anyone asked the OP what he/she listens to or what she/he is used to listening to music on?
These are by far the most important questions. What are the expectations of the OP?
Let’s start there.
Oh, btw, women more often than not, have better ears and make better mixers. I’m jealous.
Last edited: