New HomePod Available

[Cmaier]

But when is "sound anywhere around the house" even really that useful?

It depends on your house and who lives there. My wife likes to sit in the living room and listen to music, then move to the family room and listen to music. When she sits in the home office there’s a homepod, there, too, where she sometimes listens to music. My daughter has a mini in her bedroom that she uses sometimes, too.

On Halloween I used a stereo pair relocated to just behind my garage door so that whenever my ring camera saw anyone approach, it played a Halloween playlist for 5 minutes.

And, once in awhile we have guests over and we can play background music throughout the house. That said, I also use my Marantz receiver with airplay and much better speakers for Apple Music from time to time, and I never used the HomePods for audio with Apple TV.

 

[Citysnaps]

But when is "sound anywhere around the house" even really that useful?

For my wife and I, it's useful. We have seven; 5 originals, and two Minis. My wife the artist has an original in her studio. I have an original in my office/studio. There's a stereo pair (original) in our living room (next to a pair of A5s.), and another in my garage woodshop. There's a mini in the kitchen and one in a repurposed bedroom my wife uses as an office.

If it were 99% audio 1% smarts I'd be more into it.

That's kind of where we are. 99% of the time it's something like. "Hey Siri, play NPR", or "Hey Siri, play music", or "Hey Siri, Play Nardis by Bill Evans", or Hey Siri, play Paul Butterfield."

I don't think I have ever used them in any kind of general smart speaker context. For grins, just now, I tried "Hey Siri, what's the cube root of 5, 294? I presume the answer she gave was correct.

 

[Citysnaps]

On Halloween I used a stereo pair relocated to just behind my garage door so that whenever my ring camera saw anyone approach, it played a Halloween playlist for 5 minutes.

That's clever!

 

[Cmaier]

That's clever!

It did require using homebridge running on a raspberry pi to bridge the Ring’s motion sensor to Homekit, but you can do the same thing with any of a number of $30 homekit motion sensors.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Yes! I don't know why they killed it in the first place and kept its inept little brother around.

I have 2 of the originals and one of them died about a year ago. At the time the official response was your SOL.

 

[Citysnaps]

It did require using homebridge running on a raspberry pi to bridge the Ring’s motion sensor to Homekit, but you can do the same thing with any of a number of $30 homekit motion sensors.

I might try something like that next year.

I have a camera mounted on our front porch. And a spare Cat6 cable running along the porch eave that I can use to send audio to a speaker from the audio output of the MacMini that runs the people detection software from the camera's video feed.

And... could also use it to play audible warnings ("The police are on the way" or whatever) if someone is messing around on the porch late at night. Just thinking out loud. Would be nice when we're away on vacation.

 

[casperes1996]

On Halloween I used a stereo pair relocated to just behind my garage door so that whenever my ring camera saw anyone approach, it played a Halloween playlist for 5 minutes.

And, once in awhile we have guests over and we can play background music throughout the house. That said, I also use my Marantz receiver with airplay and much better speakers for Apple Music from time to time, and I never used the HomePods for audio with Apple TV.

I do like that usage

Also, have an old Marantz amplified that runs my vinyl record player. Think it's from the 70s - got it from my dad. One of my microphones is also from Marantz (new-age, not an oldie-goodie) - My experience is that it's very solid equipment.

That's kind of where we are. 99% of the time it's something like. "Hey Siri, play NPR", or "Hey Siri, play music", or "Hey Siri, Play Nardis by Bill Evans", or Hey Siri, play Paul Butterfield."

My percentages were more about how I imagine the design focus being than the uses of the products. Computational audio stuff, hand-off, Siri - it's clearly designed and marketed as a smart speaker with some degree of emphasis on smart.

 

[Cmaier]

I do like that usage

We project ghosts that fly around on the garage door, and the little kids from the neighborhood come to play with them. It set off my Ring, and I started playing music through the ring (by holding my iphone up to my ipad). Then it occurred to me… there has to be a better way

 

[Eric]

This is one area where Apple has never been able to keep up with the competition, it's too high end and lacks the ubiquity of the Amazon Echo or Google Home.

 

[Pumbaa]

This is one area where Apple has never been able to keep up with the competition, it's too high end and lacks the ubiquity of the Amazon Echo or Google Home.

Couldn’t agree more.

I’ve been using AirPlay to play multi-room music in my apartment since the old 11g Airport Express. I love AirPlay. AirPlay 2 is even better. Yet I never considered getting a HomePod…

Though… If/when the Mini gets its temperature and humidity sensors enabled and sound recognition added, I will probably get myself a couple.

 

[mollyc]

Couldn’t agree more.

I’ve been using AirPlay to play multi-room music in my apartment since the old 11g Airport Express. I love AirPlay. AirPlay 2 is even better. Yet I never considered getting a HomePod…

Though… If/when the Mini gets its temperature and humidity sensors enabled and sound recognition added, I will probably get myself a couple.

i don't have a homepod, but the mini did get those things added.

 

[Pumbaa]

i don't have a homepod, but the mini did get those things added.

View attachment 21319

Thanks, but I won’t consider them added until they are actually possible to use.

A promise that “Sound Recognition will be available in a software update later this Spring” is simply not enough. I need that feature to be there when I buy it.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Thanks, but I won’t consider them added until they are actually possible to use.

A promise that “Sound Recognition will be available in a software update later this Spring” is simply not enough. I need that feature to be there when I buy it.

yes for sure. as poorly as the dumbbells work in our house I am not holding my breath.

 

[Citysnaps]

This is one area where Apple has never been able to keep up with the competition, it's too high end and lacks the ubiquity of the Amazon Echo or Google Home.

I think that's OK, and that there's a decent sized market of those who do not want google in their home.

Our HomePods work great for our music needs in our home, getting a lot of use everyday.

 

[Pumbaa]

yes for sure. as poorly as the dumbbells work in our house I am not holding my breath.

The HomePod Mini is a poor replacement for a dumbbell. Way too light.

I’ll wait for the feature to be added and some reviews to drop. Hopefully your house is the problem, not the dummy speakers.

 

[mollyc]

The HomePod Mini is a poor replacement for a dumbbell. Way too light.

I’ll wait for the feature to be added and some reviews to drop. Hopefully your house is the problem, not the dummy speakers.

i understand you want to wait, but those features are in beta now, so hopefully not too long.

 

[Cmaier]

i understand you want to wait, but those features are in beta now, so hopefully not too long.

I tried updating mine to the beta last night, and it downloaded, said it installed, and when it as done the HomePods all still think they are on 16.2 (instead of 16.3 RC), and they believe they are up-to-date. Home.app reports 16.3 in the “recent updates” list.

So *shrug.*

If they don’t successfully update when the real release comes, I may have to factory reset and re-add in the home.app to try again.

Would be nice if there was an easier way to perform updates - i.e. a manual way like there is on iOS.

 

[ArgoDuck]

I must say that being an audiophile most of my life ive been pleasantly surprised by the minis for everyday stereo-pair use with our tv. My partner became disenchanted with our bulky class A amp and speakers as they didn’t fit the interior vibe she was developing, but liked the look of the mini. My expectations in terms of sound were very low, which no doubt helped!

For smart use, not so much. But maybe they’re evolving in the right direction?

 

[Cmaier]

I must say that being an audiophile most of my life ive been pleasantly surprised by the minis for everyday stereo-pair use with our tv. My partner became disenchanted with our bulky class A amp and speakers as they didn’t fit the interior vibe she was developing, but liked the look of the mini. My expectations in terms of sound were very low, which no doubt helped!

For smart use, not so much. But maybe they’re evolving in the right direction?

For what it’s worth, the original HomePod sounds much better than the minis, so hopefully so do these version 2’s.

 

[ArgoDuck]

^ I’m eyeing up the HomePod 2 right now…if only they came in yellow, to suit my accents in my workspace