HomePod still not for me

So Apple have reintroduced the full-size HomePod. At $299, the second-generation HomePod does the same thing the first one did, but now the cable detaches from the unit! There’s also a temperature and humidity sensor, so the thing can tell you (and keep track of) the current room temperature. I’m not sure that’s enough new to make it the sales success that the first-generation HomePod definitely was not.

A HomePod mini at $99 does everything the bigger one does. Price is the pain point, not sound quality. Most people who are perfect fine with streaming MP3 over a bluetooth connection wouldn’t care that the HomePod sounds absolutely amazing. $299 for a smart speaker is absolutely outrageous. The niche that the HomePod appeals to is very small. Who the heck have $600 to drop on two of them for a stereo pair? I’m told that’s the fullest HomePod experience you can buy.

It’s for that reason I bought a HomePod mini. Which I’ve since sold. The dealbreaker is these HomePods cannot accept a bluetooth connection. Sending sound to one uses Apple’s AirPlay technology. The problem for me isn’t that you absolutely need an Apple device - Mac or iOS - to use a HomePod. The problem is the AirPlay connection has to be renewed every single time. I wanted the HomePod mini to stay connected to my MacBook Pro constantly.

Unfortunately, that is not possible. Every time I started up the laptop, I have to toggle the sound output back to AirPlay - thereby waking the HomePod up. Having to do that day after day compounds it into a great annoyance. The new HomePod sadly still cannot accept a constant bluetooth connection. Shame, because all the intelligent room-mapping audio stuff is really neat.

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I see you, man.

Stereo sound again

The one thing that’s been missing from my home office setup is a good set of stereo speakers. For the past year I’ve been relying on a HomePod Mini to provide the tunes from my laptop. It does an adequate job, though not without its quirks. The main one being the HomePod does not broadcast stereo sound - it’s just one round speaker, after all. Indeed I could buy a second Mini to make it a traditional stereo pair, but at that point I much rather get a proper set of speakers.

Because the others quirks of the HomePod makes it not so easy to use. The only way to connect to it is via AirPlay, Apple’s proprietary software to beam audio and visual between devices. It’s great when it works, but the consistency is surprisingly poor for an Apple product. Often times I have to reset my MacBook Pro’s sound to send the signal to the HomePod, even though I’ve changed nothing since last use. Sometimes it flat-out refuses to reconnect with the laptop after using the HomePod with my iPhone. Last but not the least annoying: there’s a considerable lag between pressing play and the sound coming out of the HomePod.

I’ve always wanted a pair of large bookshelf speakers for my setup. They look awesome in a retro way, and they can output great volume throughout the spectrum without the need for a secondary subwoofer. I rent my place so I wouldn’t want house-shaking bass anyways. My eyes were set on the well-reviewed Audioengine A5+ for the longest time. However, a chance encounter with the Kanto YU6 page on Amazon - a direct competitor to the A5+ - saw an open-box item for a lot less than MSRP.

So here I am sat on my desk with a pair of the YU6 speakers flanking my Pro Display XDR. They look particularly snazzy too, in the matte white finish. They sound great to my ears, though I’m admittedly not an audiophile of any sort. I’m just happy to have stereo sound again on my desktop.

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They’re huge.

What can the HomePod do?

Does anybody have any solid idea what Apple's upcoming HomePod can do? Anybody? Cause I've got zero idea and preorders starts at the end of this week. For a device that costs $350, I'm not about to plop down that much cash until I know exactly what it does. 

There's so few information out there and no concrete details from Apple outside of the fancy splash-page. Will the HomePod at its most basic work like my UE Boom i.e. playing music off any device via bluetooth? If I'm reading stuff correctly, it looks like it can't: the device is intrinsically tied to the user's iPhone, which I would assume is what enables the HomePod to have Siri function.

I've got an iPhone, but what if I want to stream from my iMac - where all my music is stored? From what I've read about HomePod thus far it seems that's not possible. Are people really going to pay that much money for a device that needs an iPhone to function? Probably! Just have a look at the Apple Watch: literally cannot use it without an Apple smartphone.   

I wish Apple would hold a small demo showcasing the HomePod functions, cause as of right now I'm going to wait for people's reviews before deciding whether to purchase the thing.

Too bad, Apple: I might've preordered the HomePod otherwise.