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Apple HomePod
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- 7 reviews
- 2 likes
- Verified
Upgraded without regret
I upgraded from a HomePod mini which I was using in an open plan kitchen living. The original HomePod made such a big difference. Siri hears and respond better now and the sound quality really is phenomenal. It looks like a feature without standing out.
If you have a larger room and use HomeKit - this is an essential!
Purchased in May 2021 at Apple Australia for $441.10.
Can’t imagine going back to not having one
Excellent. Used all day everyday for not only music, but also the many Siri controlled functions. Also works really well as a hub and have my lights and lamps connected to it. Integrates well with Apple products but could see issues if you weren’t all Apple. Not the case here
Purchased in June 2020 at Officeworks Physical store.
- 2 reviews
Easy set up? You’ve got to be joking.
We’ve had a HomePod for 3 weeks and have yet to get it working. By working I mean play the music we want to play. Siri is a poor interface.
Purchased in May 2020 at Apple Online store.
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- 80 reviews
- 72 likes
- Verified
You must live in the "Apple universe" for this one!
Had been looking at the HomePod as a replacement for two bluetooth speakers I had purchased some time ago. The problem was the HomePod is rather expensive and I would (clearly) need to replace two bluetooth speakers with two HomePod’s ...making it doubley expensive. I really didn’t want to be “upgrading” from stereo to mono sound.
Fortunately, there was a recent significant price cut on these speakers at a number of “big name” retailers (strangely only Apple themselves maintained the full price) so I took the plunge and purchased two white one...
Read mores. Setup was easy (you must have an iPhone though) and I soon had them installed and working together as stereo speakers. There was no complications during the setup (voice guided) but did have to wait for both to do an initial software update before becoming operational. You can place them pretty much anywhere (within range of a power outlet) and they will check the surroundings and modify their sound based on their location (ie are they next to a solid wall or soft cushions etc). The speakers consist of a meshed cylindrical barrel (around the size of a thick toilet roll) with no external ports and the only cabling being a fabric covered 240v lead in the same colour as the unit itself (black or white). There are also no visible external controls but when plugged in they can be physically started and stopped by tapping the centre top of the unit. Tapping once will cause them to start playing where they left off previously and also lights up a plus and minus symbol on either side of the centre top. This is for stepping up and down through the volume and either speaker controls will control both when you have two of them paired in stereo like I have. Tap the centre top again and it turns off (both if two units paired in stereo) While you can control on/off and volume up/down together from from either unit, the primary method of control is through the “Siri” voice assistant. I though the units might fight with each other as to which units respond but Apple seems to have sorted it so when paired together, only one unit will respond to you. I must mention at this point that the capability of the HomePod(s) is severely limited if you don’t have a subscription to Apple Music. Without this, you must have a subscription to Apple Match to access music previously purchased from Apple. Without either of these two things, what you have is VERY expensive voice assistant which itself has limited capabilities (more of that later). Assuming you do have an Apple Music subscription, there are numerous way to listen to music on the HomePod. Apart from requesting a specific song or album to be played (via use of “Hey Siri”), you can tell it to play a particular genre of music such as, “play some jazz” or “play some soft background music”.
Purchased in April 2020 at Officeworks Online store.
Good quality sound, slow response and Siri is just not good enough
I’ve got two HomePods, which I’ve owned now for about 7 months. I’m completely immersed in the apple eco system and so HomePods made sense. Siri; Apple Music; integration with the iOS home app. After living with them now I can say I’m really frustrated and disappointed overall. As a speaker system the sound they deliver is good - better than good really - deliver awesome tones and fill the room. Having access to my Apple Music library is also a plus. But that’s where it stops.
Siri often is slow to reply - doesn’t play the song that’s ...
Read morebeen asked of it. He is totally dumb, and Alexa (which I also have) absolutely is more useful as an in home voice assistant. Siri can just take forward the same functions in your iPhone. Actually, he cant even do that. At least 35% of the time you ask Siri a question and the response is ‘I cant answer that on homepod’. Alexa who’s always on standby waiting (almost begging me to ask her a question!) will have the answer at least 95% of the time. (I’m not exaggerating here, genuinely there is a whole world of difference between the capability of Alexa as a smart in home AI over Siri). Siri is also slow to respond, and I’ve noticed a significant amount of bandwidth gets sucked up on my broad band. At times, the two HomePods go out of sync. Today each one played two different songs at the same time of their own accord. Since the iOS 13 update, Siri has got more confused over whether I want to talk to the HomePod; iPad or my iPhone. I honestly (if I could justify starting again) would go for a high quality Alexa integrated speaker system. Siri is just not good enough, and now some of the Sonos speakers deliver their sound way better than the HomePod.Purchased in May 2019 for $500.00.
- 4 reviews
Great product, music sounds great
Bought one of these for downstairs and within a few days bought another. Music sounds great, she works the lamp and sometimes she can't answer what we want. Serves its purpose for what we wanted
Purchased in December 2019 for $440.00.
The reviewer stated that an incentive was offered for this review
- 15 reviews
- 7 likes
Average item at premium price
I like Apple products, and have a number of them, I have not been greatly impressed by HomePod. Speaker is good but not brilliant, and I’m sick of having to yell “hey Siri” , it can be quite deaf! I’m not finding it useful at all. Lately if I ask it to do something all of my devices react, not as clever as I had hoped.
Purchased in January 2019.
- 6 reviews
- 1 like
Sound quality is Substantial, Everything is till trash
Yes, the sound quality is good but home pod itself is a confined piece of junk. Siri is still illiterate and disabled. It is evident that the person who programmed this device was a 3 year old girl who just walked across someones keyboard and typed some jargon code. Siri only responds when im not talking to her.
Purchased in August 2019 at Apple Online store for $499.00.
Great sound!
I bought the HomePod so I could listen to music and the radio, mainly in the kitchen. I’m a musician and a hifi enthusiast, so sound quality was my main requirement. The HomePod sounds great. Far better than something this size should. It sounds better than the PMC-DB1 speakers I had setup in the kitchen with a little amp (that system was worth around $2,000!). I took it into the lounge room for a shootout with my proper sound system where it did pretty well despite being both mono and about 1/10th the price.
I use Apple Music, so Siri has bee...
Purchased in May 2019 at JB Hi-Fi.
Find out how Apple HomePod compares to other Speakers
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- 3 reviews
Great sound!
Can not fault the Apple HomePod. I have two in a stereo pair with an Apple TV. Sound is amazing and works really well with Apple HomeKit where I can control some of the lights in my home.
Purchased in February 2019.
- 3 reviews
- 1 like
Hey Siri only works 50% of the time
AUD499 for what really is a piece of poo.
The positives:
The sound quality is amazing. That's it. There's nothing else good about it.
The bad:
The software is GARBAGE!
"Hey Siri" only works 50% of the time (if that).
Works fine when you press the button to force it to listen but otherwise you could be screaming at the stupid thing from 1 metre away and still no response. If I wanted to scream at things I'd have more kids.
Sometimes "Hey Siri" will respond on my iphone instead when the Homepod and iphone are sitting 1m from each other. This shouldn't happen.
...
- 7 reviews
- 13 likes
- Verified
Amazing sound and integration let down by Siri
The sound on this speaker has to be heard to be believed, its seriously worth the $499 alone. Pair it with a second now AirPlay 2 has been released, its just mind blowing. The ability to stream from any apple device instantly, in conjunction with multiple room support to other Homepods or Apple TV's is fantastic. I use my HomePod to control my Philips Hue lighting system, its great for this, very fast and responsive. The microphone can actually hear me from upstairs so controlling my upstairs lights is easy too (ok, so I may have to repeat myse...
Read morelf on occasion) Siri has improved since it's release slightly, but still lags far behind Google Assistant on the Google Home for example, I keep one of each and use the one I think will give me the best answer (hint: usually Google!)
- 12 reviews
- 1 like
- Verified
Great Speaker
The sound quality is excellent and being a house that's heavily Apple-centric it was the logical choice for us.
- The sound quality is outstanding.
- Aesthetically it's pleasing. Surprisingly heavy and feels quality built, looks good, and tucks away unobtrusively or can stand alone as a point of interest.
- It's ridiculously easy to set up (plug it in and place your iPhone next to it.)
- Siri makes it very convenient to play your favourite song or podcast (via Apple Music) or you can stream from a device.
- You can also control HomeKit powered smart devices with Siri, but we don't have any so can't comment on that.
In any case, as a voice powered speaker, it gets 5 stars.
...
- 3 reviews
- 2 likes
Superb quality speaker, Siri not so great
You can either buy a great home assistant (google home, amazon alexa) with mediocre sound or you can buy a great sounding speaker (apple homepod) with a mediocre assistant (siri). I mainly wanted a speaker that produced stunning sound and the homepod does this.
It's no secret that Siri is a bit thick, but hopefully future firmware updates can fix this. Siri on the homepod works great for setting timers, alarms and alerts. Beyond that it's was a bit useless.
After trialling apple music for a couple of months as an accompaniment, I cancell...
Read moreed the subscription and use the speaker with Spotify. Spotify does a much better job if picking music I like than siri and apple music did and half the time Siri couldn't understand what I was asking. So summing up, if you care about the quality of the sound over being able to get a restaurant review. Then homepod is the speaker for you.
- 7 reviews
- 3 likes
- Verified
Fantastic sound quality makes for revolution in home stereo use
The sound quality is very impressive, subtle notes and a clean thumping bass possess the clarity of high end audio. The $500 price tag makes the home pod a serious investment I think is worth every dollar. The build quality is typical of Apple products, even the power cord is a superior quality. The unit includes a powerful processor which is yet to provide the full potential of Siri with plenty of scope for major updates. Indeed this is a sound system that is currently dependant of Apples ecosystem and enormous collection of music. The natural...
Read more speaking interaction with Siri far exceeds the robotic sounds of the rival smart speaker systems. With enough power to fill a small house with a massive array of music delivered on demand with such clarity is impressive. Buy it and you won’t be disappointed unless you can’t wait for the Siri upgrades. I have smart lighting and also use the HomePod Siri to control the lights with voice command. With a new software update coming soon, you will be able pair 2 HomePods for true stereophonic sound.Find out how Apple HomePod compares to other Speakers
Know better, choose better.
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Details
| Category | Speakers |
|---|---|
| Price (RRP) | $469.00 |
| Manufacturer Warranty | 1 year(s) |
- GTIN14: 00190198504500 and 00190198504531
- GTIN13: 0190198504494
- GTIN12: 190198504531
- MPN: MQHV2X/A and MQHW2X/A
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