“Okay, everyone. Strap in. This is going to be long,” WinterCharm writes via Reddit. “After 8 1/2 hours of measurements, and over 6 hours of analysis, and writing, I finally ran out of wine.”
“I am speechless. The HomePod actually sounds better than the KEF X300A,” WinterCharm writes. ” If you’re new to the Audiophile world, KEF is a very well respected and much loved speaker company. I actually deleted my very first measurements and re-checked everything because they were so good, I thought I’d made an error.”
“Apple has managed to extract peak performance from a pint sized speaker, a feat that deserves a standing ovation,” WinterCharm writes. “The HomePod is 100% an Audiophile grade Speaker.”
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, HomePod is that good. Better-than-KEF good and, therefore, great!
Just wait (a bit) until HomePods can be paired!
That’s the good news.
That the following paragraph is able to be written is an indictment of Apple’s management, or lack thereof, regarding Siri, an area where the company had a multi-year head start that they promptly squandered via lack of focus, laziness, distraction, and/or confusion:
As a product, the HomePod is also held back by Siri. Almost every review has complained about this, and they’re all right to do so. I’m hoping we see massive improvements to Siri this year at WWDC 2018. There is some great hardware at play, too. What’s truly impressive is that Siri can hear you if you speak in a normal voice, even if the HomePod is playing at full volume. I couldn’t even hear myself say “Hey Siri” over the music, but those directional microphones are really good at picking it up. Even whispers from across the room while I was facing AWAY from the HomePod were flawlessly picked up. The microphones are scary good — I just hope Apple improves Siri to match. — WinterCharm
