One second-generation Apple HomePod is great. But it really starts to shine when you put two of them together.
Apple HomePod MSRP $299.00 Score Details DT Editors' Choice “A pair of HomePods make a formidable home entertainment powerhouse.” Pros Cons As I write this, the new Apple HomePod hasn’t even hit store shelves, and I’m already seeing a lot of snarky opinions about it. I get the skepticism: It’s an expensive smart speaker in a market flooded with more affordable options that are “good enough” for most folks.
This speaker is more capable of making itself sound good in just about any environment than the previous version. HomePod is capable of reading the room acoustically. It’s like the Marvel superhero Daredevil in that it can basically “see” the room acoustically. That means that if you put the HomePod in a corner, it will see the corner and adjust the bass output so it isn’t too boomy. It also knows when it is close to a boundary, like a wall, or perhaps jammed between books on a bookshelf, and can change the way it operates.
Finally, the HomePod will now listen for smoke detectors and other alarms, then alert owners when it hears them. Users can then employ the HomePod as an intercom to check on occupants, use a connected camera to check in and make sure the house isn’t burning down, or simply dispatch emergency responders to check the scene.
From the perspective of sound quality, cinematic experience, flexibility, and ease of use, the HomePods stood up very well against the excellent Prime Wireless Pro, and all but blew the Sonos Beam out of the water. In a word? I was thrilled. In many ways, It was pretty freaking awesome. I want to get into the fidelity — the sound quality characteristics of the speakers — in a moment. But before I do, folks, we’ve gotta talk about Spatial Audio.
So, for movies and TV, I felt like the HomePods brought something really special and remarkable. They pulled off Dolby Atmos better than the Sonos Beam and, of course, better than the SVS, since the SVS aren’t designed to fake surround sound at all. And I’d argue the experience was in some ways better than some soundbars with discrete surround speakers — like some of the more affordable Vizio soundbar packages I’ve reviewed. And a big part of the reason why is fidelity.
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