I received my two Homepods today and hooked one up for now.
- I am not an Apple Music subscriber
- I do have my iTunes library in iTunes Match
- I mainly listen to my music with iTunes Remote on my iPad using Airplay to the speaker(s) I want it.
- I have no reason to use Siri to select my music, I gather it would be more frustrating with Japanese words and Japanese names which is now a good portion of my library. But it is fun to ask Siri "What's playing" and hear how Siri handles the names and titles.
My first listening session left me very impressed. Everything sounded good, but for me possibly a little bass heavy. Without a direct comparison to anything I am very happy with it. A lot of people think that the price of a Homepod is outrageous, but being a B&O customer I think it is a bargain.
I did move my BeoSound 2 to be next to it to see how it compares to a $2000 system. I was mostly interested in initial impressions.
I used DB Meter Pro on my iPad to get the volume levels as close as I could. I played a song on the HomePod and then the same song on the BeoSound 2. The bass on the BeoSound 2 sounded very subdued in comparison, which made me go to the settings. Bass & Treble - Flat, Position - Wall where it should be. Loudness - off. I turned it on to see if it would brighten up. I wish I could adjust the bass on the HomePod a little, I would turn it down a bit. The BeoSound 2 to my ears has better bass control, but I did find the mids and highs a little better on the HomePod, in general. Sometimes in comparison (on a couple of songs) the mids on the BeoSound 2 appeared somewhat muffled in comparison.
The important test: Kanna Hashimoto's Arigato
I've read that the HomePod is *not* a mono speaker so I was hopeful to hear the word of the out-of-phase word "bakari". On the HomePod the sound level of this word is much lower, although it is clearly there. On the BeoSound 2 the word is either the same sound level or does even appear a bit louder. I think the BeoSound 2 handles cases like this better. I expect it will be fine when I can stereo-pair the HomePod.
Focusing on the vocals test: Alan's Sign
The HomePod is supposed to analyze the song and present the vocals toward you. This song's lyrics are in Tibetan, but you would never be able to know this as the vocals are buried deeply in the instruments and you can barely hear them. Listening to the song on the HomePod is like hearing a slightly different version of the song. There seemed to be a pathway that opened up to the vocals, indeed a very pleasant new listening experience. The bass is handled better on the BeoSound 2, but everything else was wonderful on the HomePod.
This processing is what might be giving an edge to the HomePod in a lot of cases. I still very much like my BeoSound 2, and I won't be doing back-to-back comparisons in my everyday use. I have to admit that if I was deciding between a HomePod or the BeoSound 2 in a store, it would be hard to justify spending quite a bit more for the BeoSound 2, even after buying 2 HomePods. The BeoSound 2 does look fantastic! I do very much appreciate TuneIn being builtin to the BeoSound 2. I do listen to that quite a bit. If the HomePod was a little more open it would be a treal hreat to the existing market. Apple doesn't claim that the HomePod presents the music faithfully, but it does do it in a very pleasant way, at least to me.
