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Homepod: Great audio, crap delivery!


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Homepod: Great audio, crap delivery!
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2018-11-29, 08:50

I think if I stick to Play1s, it's really not that pricey considering what you get and ease of set-up. I like that they appear to be platform agnostic, there are supports in the system for Airplay2, and Amazon and Google assistants if we should decide to add those. I do have a sub/sat receiver system from our old place that could go into the one separate room on the first floor that lends itself to HT use. But We're sticking to furnishing the large multi-use space for family time/TV/lounging/everything - and that doesn't really need HT. I might get a Beam, just to anchor the TV and because it plays a little deeper than the Play1s... And maybe, a Connect module for the HT room, but I'm just as likely to just sell the sub/sats and receiver or move them to my garage based photo-studio. There's another old PL2 receiver from my parents home that might eventually serve as the back deck sound system. And it's nice that there's an option to connect it to sonos.

Which brings me to the HomePods. Is it possible that they can simply be airplay speakers connected to the same network as the Sonos?

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Yontsey
*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
 
2018-12-01, 10:13

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matsu View Post
I think if I stick to Play1s, it's really not that pricey considering what you get and ease of set-up. I like that they appear to be platform agnostic, there are supports in the system for Airplay2, and Amazon and Google assistants if we should decide to add those. I do have a sub/sat receiver system from our old place that could go into the one separate room on the first floor that lends itself to HT use. But We're sticking to furnishing the large multi-use space for family time/TV/lounging/everything - and that doesn't really need HT. I might get a Beam, just to anchor the TV and because it plays a little deeper than the Play1s... And maybe, a Connect module for the HT room, but I'm just as likely to just sell the sub/sats and receiver or move them to my garage based photo-studio. There's another old PL2 receiver from my parents home that might eventually serve as the back deck sound system. And it's nice that there's an option to connect it to sonos.

Which brings me to the HomePods. Is it possible that they can simply be airplay speakers connected to the same network as the Sonos?
Make sure you get the One and not the Play:One. The Play:One is NOT AirPlay 2 compatible.

You can add a HomePod to a Sonos loop via AirPlay 2. https://www.the-ambient.com/how-to/a...aker-group-351

Die young and save yourself....
@yontsey
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2018-12-30, 07:29

So, I'm starting small. I picked up a two pack of white Sonos Ones at the local electronics shop. To me it's sonically not as good as a number of budget components that could be had for the same price, but all of them take up way more space.* More on sound quality in a moment... Set up is dead simple, the app is stable and intuitive, and Airplay 2 support is great for playing system sounds out of our iPads - my wife likes to show of talent show auditions on youtube. Platform agnosticism is nice too, but I haven't enabled any of the voice features yet, so I have no idea how this will do with Siri/Alexa, nor am I certain I will ever enable these features, since I'm reticent to more have devices listening to me...

They are surprising able to fill my aforementioned space with sound, though in my view they can sound a little harsh above 60-75% volume and treble detail doesn't keep up at loud volumes, though bass is impressive especially considering it's size. The key to sound reproduction with the Ones is to add more of them and throughout the space and tune them rather than try to play less units louder. Four speakers playing half as loud with a little tweak to the bass and treble levels, is probably a better bet. They should add a mid tone adjustment to the software as well. No doubt the larger speakers will play better. I have to think about whether it makes more sense to add another pair or to anchor them with something like a single strategically placed Play:5 and/or move them over to surround duties paired with a Beam TV. Adding all that stuff adds cost in a hurry - but it also fills the whole house with sound very quickly. In fact I grossly underestimated their ability to fill a space. I don't think more then 4 or 5 pieces are needed to evenly distribute sound across the whole first floor.

My favourite feature though, the real standout, is the music service support. I love having access to hundreds of radio stations from around the world, free. It makes me think that the real future of radio is not a question of terrestrial vs satellite, but rather terrestrial IP radio - someone needs to put this on a car stereo device with a low cost data plan - some sort of constant streamed 128-320kpbs use would only add up to a few MB/day - something that should be serviceable for $5-10/month. But I digress, I've been enjoying this more than playing our rather large library of music - been listening to radio stations from my Dad's home town for the last few days. Awesome. I've only set up a few of the services that don't require registration and it's very nice, will set up a few more later. The app searches them all seamlessly.

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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2018-12-31, 12:52

Update. I left me running at moderate high volume for a few hours while I did some work around the place and they seem to improve with a little break-in time and better files.

I also tried out a HomePod in a very crowded Apple store and was impressed by its abilities to overcome the chaos of boxing week shoppers. Purely as an audio device I think it’s better than a single Sonos One, maybe even a pair of them, but it lacks some of the other qualities that make the Sonos so livable.

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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-01-01, 13:47

I really am glad you're putting this stuff in here Matsu! I've been contemplating either a Sonos or HomePod but just can't seem to make the choice. I'm far from an audiophile though I do get all my music lossless digital. Seems like the Sonos is the direction I really do need to head down.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2019-01-07, 09:45

There seems to be a really annoying bug in the latest Sonos software. When you play a playlist from your device, all the songs cut off part way through and skip to the next song. Supposedly all the Sonos were stable before the airplay2 software updates. There are some workarounds from what I read that involve not allowing your device to lock screen/sleep, but this is not a good solution. Wish I had spotted this earlier. Hope they fix it soon.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-01-07, 11:11

I think I would mostly play from a Mac that is always on. Does the bug effect them with the screen saver on?
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-01-16, 09:13

So I have to point this out in here because it seems to be the best place though it could be it's own thread.

Verizon is going to offer free Apple Music with it's two top tier Unlimited plans.. This means I won't have to pay for it finally and will give it a try. I have no plans to make the cost come out of my pocket directly but since the Homepod kinda needs it at least it's a new option for those with Verizon and one of the two plans that it's included with.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2019-02-12, 07:51

Turtle,

I found a solution to the playback issue. Oddly enough, if you simply airdrop from iTunes into the Sonos network, everything plays correctly, it will even find specific zones, so you can select your kitchen or den, or whatever you have set up. The Sonos App on any of your networked devices is even aware of what's playing, where, and the device of origin. I'm going to try a few more settings tonight, but my wife is much happier now that she can play her playlists.

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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-02-12, 20:33

Ohhh.... That is nice. Now I'm going to have to start collecting these things I think. I've been holding out but I'm losing reason to hold out any longer.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-04-03, 22:07

So I jumped in finally today. I ended up just walking in to BestBuy and buying a pair of Sonos One Gen 2s. Same price as matched on sonos.com so I couldn't really complain.

So far I'm amazed at how simple it was to get up and running. These guys did a great job working the app to configure the speakers. I configured the two in the same room so they are configured for R+L Stereo. Again, the setup was a breeze.

The fact that I could connect it to my Plex library on top of my Apple Music subscription makes it far and above what I was expecting. Playing from one source or the other is just awesome.

The music is pretty impressive too. While not the most dynamic speakers I've ever heard they are pretty nice. I'm still debating on $400 worth of nice...but the ease of use an simplicity that even my young kids can manage seem to negate that cost.

I do not have Alexa enabled though. I will not ever enable Alexa either. This was actually a concern for me in buying these. I was actually looking to buy the Play:1s since they don't come with Alexa as an option. Since I can either disable the mic on the device itself I was willing to give it a shot and just return it if it was a problem. In the end I didn't even have to set up Alexa since it requires an app to function. I don't have the app so concern resolved!

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-04-04, 09:30

Apple felt us skipping them for other products again and dropped the price of Homepod today. It's now $300 with no discount or $269 with Military/Vet discount.


Still glad I went with Sonos though. I wouldn't mind Siri listening since she doesn't share my home's audio with anyone...that we know of.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-04-04, 09:34

Did you know Sonos has a Desktop version of their App also! This is so cool because I can now VPN into my house and remote a desktop to make music changes as I want! Of course this really is just to screw with my kids but I'm sure I could come up with a more legit reason this is awesome if I really tried.

Last night when I was showing my wife this I tried to VPN into the house with my iPhone and play the music but it wouldn't let me since I wasn't on the same WiFi network. Now I'll be able to with RDP!

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-04-04, 10:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yontsey View Post
...
You can add a HomePod to a Sonos loop via AirPlay 2. https://www.the-ambient.com/how-to/a...aker-group-351
This article just took away any reason for me to get a Homepod. I've added the speakers to Home app and now I can Siri control my music. I already wear a Watch all the time and my phone and iPad are rarely that far away.

Hmmm..... maybe we should have done a Sonos thread. Apple isn't getting much love in here.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2019-04-04, 11:50

I know Apple is reading these threads. I'm just not sure they're listening. We haven't sold a HomePod in months (since before Xmas), and a $50 drop is not going to do it.

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kieran
@kk@pennytucker.social
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2019-04-04, 14:04

I'm still super interested in these, but I know I can't get my wife on board unless the price drops even further. $250 is a lot for this.

I'm sure there will be some sales later in the year that hopefully get it down to $200. I see that as a much more reasonable price.

I'd really love to get 2 of them as a stereo pair for my Apple TV. Now that would be fun, .

No more Twitter. It's Mastodon now.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-04-04, 14:06

Don't be confused by my discount, it is $300 for these still. Another $100 off isn't likely without being some store like BestBuy giving gift cards with purchase to make it seem like the price is reduced that low.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2019-04-04, 15:07

One has to wonder if them not offering $50 off in a two-for-one deal to promote pairing is stubbornness or actual data — maybe they’re quite satisfied with sales numbers thankyouverymuch.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-04-07, 11:37

So...

I just got another Sonos speaker. I'm hooked. I love these things. This one was a Beam for my bedroom. So nice hearing the TV through real speakers and being able to easily play music through them if I would rather.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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Yontsey
*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
 
2019-04-07, 16:33

Quote:
Originally Posted by turtle View Post
So...

I just got another Sonos speaker. I'm hooked. I love these things. This one was a Beam for my bedroom. So nice hearing the TV through real speakers and being able to easily play music through them if I would rather.
So glad you’re loving Sonos. Like I’ve mentioned, I’ve been hooked for a few years. I have it in 6 rooms and it’s amazing.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-08-07, 00:05

...and I just added a new Sonos speaker to the mix. At $99 I couldn't pass up on the IKEA Sonos baby, SYMFONISK. I even got the wall mounting bracket at $20. Sure it doesn't have a microphone, as though that is a bad thing.

This one is going in my kitchen. I took some pictures of it that I'll add below. I will say a few things about it. It is taller than I expected it to be. It isn't huge, but about 12" x 4" was taller than I expected. Still plays music very well. Since I didn't get home until later in the evening tonight I didn't really test it out. It is actually still sitting on my microwave right now since I didn't feel like mounting it either. I had to share it though. Well worth the $99 for another Sonos though.

The only issue I see is that they didn't align the cord run well for running the cord on the narrow side. Since the molding on the plug is so large, it makes it force and odd curve to be able to fit right in the cord channel. Really a minor thing, but it stood out to me.




Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-08-09, 14:00

I know everyone loves Gizmado, but they did a review of the new speaker and said it's very comparable to the Ones though slightly lower quality audio. Most won't discern the difference is my estimation.

I had the chance to play a wide range of music through this one in my kitchen and it seems to be pretty dynamic. I'm very pleased with the purchase and will certainly use this as my "filler" speaker for things like rear sound or adding to my kids' rooms.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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kieran
@kk@pennytucker.social
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2019-08-10, 10:26

THat's not bad looking at all. I figured IKEA would do a decent job when I heard they were making these.

I'm still waiting to see what Apple does with HomePod. I know they're still crazy expensive, but it really fits what I want in a speaker at the moment. I'm just looking for good sound with the ability to control HomeKit at the same time, without having a speaker from Google or Amazon in the house.

Hoping that it gets at least a bi too an update or refresh or even goes down in price a bit.

No more Twitter. It's Mastodon now.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2019-08-11, 11:57

The thing about using Siri is that I always have a Watch on or my phone with me. I don't need a speaker to listen for me to talk when I can talk to my wrist. I love the idea behind HomePod though. Given I still get Siri with my Watch and Sonos though...

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2020-04-23, 13:32

Thread bump, I was eyeing those IKEA shelf units for the basement gym... but that's not why I bumped the thread. Looks like Sonos is issuing a major software update (Sonos S2) soon. Not all products will be compatible, but they have issued a list, and indicated that the change was needed to support high res audio and future surround formats... Not quite certain that existing products will support the new features, but they will continue to work on an "S2" network. Some products, like Play:5 will not be supported.

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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2020-04-23, 14:51

I didn't realize that was a thing. I think I heard about it... but only in a very general reference from an article or something. Looking through the list of dropped components only a handful will be effected. I'm pretty glad to see that everything I have is still safe. I actually just got a Sub for $550 direct from Sonos through a slick deals thing.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2020-04-24, 09:52

That sub is nice. Sonos sent a questionnaire out a few months before the S2 announcement asking some customers their thoughts on some other proposed products/prices, including called a “core sub” for 399 and Atmos surrounds (for $700/pair).

I know they’re not asking me, but I think I’d like some ground mounted outdoor ambiance speakers from them. Something hardwired and water/frost proof that just disappears in the flower beds...
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2020-11-19, 16:18

Ok, I just got my two HomePod minis delivered and so far it has only been used for normal questions. "What time is it?" "What is my schedules for the afternoon?" etc...

However, it has shined nicely that the HomeKit controls work really well. While I don't have many devices yet, it manages the few I have perfectly.

I am struggling a little with the other family member accounts though. Some of them didn't update their devices to 14.2 so it is limiting them while we suddenly try to make this device do what we want for each member.

I have to say, I love the size. It really is mini and looks great on my kitchen counter where it is now. We still haven't decided where the second one is going yet. Basement for sure, but not exactly sure where in there yet.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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kieran
@kk@pennytucker.social
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2020-11-19, 16:22

I'm super curious about getting these as a pair and using them as a pair for my TV audio. Coming down to $100/each makes it a lot more doable than the $700 for a pair of big HomePods.

No more Twitter. It's Mastodon now.
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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2020-11-19, 16:26

Yeah, I, too, am curious about stereo Apple TV delivery. If that works out, I'll spring for a couple of them.

Otherwise, they're still useless.
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