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Hi,
With HomePod coming February 9th, will BeoPlay be that successful? Will they still manage to sell the non battery powered BeoPlay audio speakers (except A9) ? I think that even BeoSound 1 and 2 could highly suffer... I guess that soon we will learn if HomePod is far superior than BeoPlay (audio quality speaking) and maybe not far from BeoSounds for a much much lower price. And I don't speak about the wireless connectivity dropouts that happen...
What do you think?
Personally I am not keen on the look of the home pod, I have a BS1 in brass and it is beautiful to look at and sounds amazing in the bedroom. Some People will always want something that is more of a statement piece rather than a run of the mill looking speaker
I was contemplating buying an M5 for another room, but the HomePod is very tempting. Given the cost of the HomePod I think I will have to give it a try. At the worse, if the [mono] HomePod does not pass the Kanna Hashimoto "Arigato" song test I can buy another one and have true stereo for just a little more than one M5, and I'll bet it will sound amazing. I will find out. Pre-ordering this Friday.
Since I mostly use AirPlay it will be fine for me.
@benoit
If you ask an Android user, the answer will probably be a loud NO!
If you ask someone, who is used to the possibilities/versatility of the B&O/Beoplay devices
in a NL-network (= including the tv’s), it probably will be a no, too.
However, someone, who just wants AirPlay, will have a strong alternative, I guess...at least if he likes the design of the Hpods.
MM
Location: Flensborg————Danmark
I did read that the Homepod is bass heavy - we’ll see when it’s released. Exciting times for sure.
Most of the reviews I've read for the M5 said that it was also bass heavy!
However, someone, who just wants AirPlay, will have a strong alternative, I guess...at least if he likes the design of the Hpods.
More competition will come when Airplay 2 comes to Sonos. They already have Alexa integration. If you don't have a whole house integrated with B&O, Sonos is a compelling and more inexpensive alternative. No way Sonos has the design finesse of the B&O offerings, however their SW is head and shoulders in a different league than what B&O has today. And Sonos' sound isn't too shabby (no, I'm not saying Sonos competes in the audio quality dept. with B&O, but for what the speakers are designed to do, they do it well for their price).
Will BeoPlay managed to "kill" BeoPlay?
Speakers have never been a core expertise at Apple, although a vast amount of engineers were musicians. For instance iPod HiFi speaker didn't last long as it wasn't the best product on the market, HomePod will clearly win a space in a personal assistant market, plus its wireless and software integration will be far more superior than BO currently offers. Design wise HomePod is rather awkward and resembles a Harman Kardon sub or a previous generation Mac Pro. If customers will be willing to choose better design and likely better sounding systems, BO will have a space. Otherwise corporate Steamroller "Apple" will run on its brand equity fuel and smash all relatively small players like it did with a smart watch market.
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