“As a testament to Apple’s place in the pantheon of electronics, reviews for a new product from Cupertino come fast and — often — furious. HomePod, Apple’s contribution to the ‘smart speaker’ genre, exacerbates the venomenon, pardon, phenomenon,” Jean-Louis Gassée writes for Monday Note. “Tempting as it is to call out reviewers’ contradictions, ignorance of basics, and reflexive opinions passed as authoritative facts, one might try a more empathetic view of the basic challenges in evaluating speakers, including the not-so-new computational audio category now entering the consumer space.”
“With its HomePod speaker, Apple has once again reshuffled existing genres,” Gassée writes. “As an almost singular representative of the new consumer computational audio devices, HomePod’s slippery algorithms defeat quick and easy reviews.”
“This is where we find a new type of difficulty when evaluating this new breed of smart speakers,” Gassée writes, “and why we must be kind to the early HomePod reviewers: The technical complexity and environmental subjectivity leads to contradictory statements and inconsistent results.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It will take reviewers quite some time to adapt because:
Apple has redefined stereo… About “stereo,” it’s time to Think Different. — MacDailyNews, February 13, 2018
SEE ALSO:
Steve Crandall: Apple’s HomePod is the next big step in home audio – February 13, 2018
Apple HomePod: The audiophile perspective plus 8 1/2 hours of measurements; HomePod is 100% an audiophile-grade speaker – February 12, 2018
Apple’s HomePod is actually a steal at $349 – January 26, 2018
Digital Trends previews Apple’s HomePod: Impressive sound coupled with strong privacy – January 26, 2018
Hands on with Apple’s HomePod: Attractive, ultra-high-quality speaker, an excellent Siri ambassador – January 26, 2018
Apple’s HomePod, the iPod for your home – January 25, 2018
One hour with Apple’s new HomePod smart speaker – January 25, 2018
Apple’s iOS 11.3 beta delivers AirPlay 2 with multi-room playback – January 25, 2018
How Apple is positioning the HomePod and why – January 24, 2018
How I got talked into buying an Apple HomePod despite my reservations – January 24, 2018
Tim Cook says audio quality puts HomePod ahead of ‘squeaky-sounding’ competition – January 24, 2018
Apple’s HomePod arrives February 9th, available to order this Friday, January 26th – January 23, 2018
Apple delays HomePod release to early 2018 – November 17, 2017
Apple reveals HomePod smart home music speaker – June 5, 2017