Homepod mini right pod this time?

Hardware
26

It’s interesting that you said the sound didn’t impress you. That seems to be the one thing most people think is good about the HomePod. The rest, well…

Last night I recorded two minutes of a conversation with the HomePod because I knew my kids would laugh.

‘Hey, Siri, when do the Missouri Tigers next play?’
‘Which team? Auburn Team, Clemson Tigers, LSU Tigers, Memphis Tigers, or Missouri Tigers?’
‘Missouri Tigers’
‘Which team? Auburn Team, Clemson Tigers, LSU Tigers, Memphis Tigers, or Missouri Tigers?’
‘Missour-uh Tigers’
‘Which team? Auburn Team, Clemson Tigers, LSU Tigers, Memphis Tigers, or Missouri Tigers?’
‘LSU Tigers’
‘Which team? Auburn Team, Clemson Tigers, LSU Tigers, Memphis Tigers, or Missouri Tigers?’
‘Detroit Tigers’
‘Which team? Auburn Team, Clemson Tigers, Grambling State Tigers, Jackson State Tigers, LSU Tigers, Memphis Tigers, Missouri Tigers, Pacific Tigers, Princeton Tigers, Tennessee State Tigers, Texas Southern Tigers or Towson State Tigers?’
‘Kansas City Chiefs’
‘The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team located in Kansas City, Missouri. Shall I keep going?’

The same question to my phone gets the same answer but provides a list on the screen (complete with university logos). Which then is followed by ‘I found this on the web’.

Apparently Siri wasn’t aware that she wasn’t presenting a list. So should the next one be a HomePod Show?

I think I’ll get a mini for the kitchen and to compare the sound.

27

Yeah, i am with you on the “sound quality”. The sound is nice in a Bose kinda way, i.e. not true represnation of what was recorded but an attempt to make a prettier sound. As a single speaker, for just general sound, it is great. But as an audiophile, no i cannot like it. Set up in a stereo configuration is worse as the sound stage/image is not clear at all.

(We also have some google devices and the sound quality of those are terrible, no comparisson to Apple)

Still i like these pods for not too serious music and siri connectivity - as long as the latter works well enough.

1 Like
28

$99 is great for me - I’ve been in the market for a little speaker and it’s bound to sound great.

Not a Siri “power user” or HomeKit user - I’ll probably use it for the weather and reading messages out loud to me. Probably the two things Siri actually does correctly all of the time :joy:

29

Hmm. (Conversation captured using dictation on my Mac)
“Alexa when’s the Missouri Tigers next game”
“The football game between Vanderbilt and Missouri kicks off on Saturday, October 17 at 4:30 PM the game will be played at Memorial Stadium at four field in Columbia on SEC network.”

(Another reason I’m sticking with the Echos. Note that it doesn’t like “play next” apparently thinking that I’m referring to some song I want it to play!)

30

Which is wrong, by the way. COVID at Vandy postponed the game to December. I don’t think I’d take points off for that, though.

31

I have a stereo pair of HomePods in my living room and one in my bedroom. mixed with multiple sonos speakers. I will be getting 1 HomePod mini for my kitchen.

32

It always depends on where you “come from”. If you are used to €29 bluetooth speakers, tiny headphones, etc., the HomePod, Bose or Beats will sound “awesome”.

If you listened to music on really great gear, Bose, HomePod and Beats are average at best.

Right now I have huge 3-way speakers in my living room (120cm, almost 4feet), driven from a proper amplifier. My current headphones are from Beyerdynamic.

Coming from there, Bose, Beats and HomePods are underwhelming. If you look at the nuances, soundstage, etc…not even close. So, I would never buy a HomePod to listen to music.

And to clarify: i never said they were bad gear. If you have no audio gear, cheap speakers…huge improvement.

34

No highs, muddy mids, phat bass must be Beats then…

35

Received my HomePods Minis right this moment! I was looking for secondary connected speakers throughout my flat so that I could keep the music or podcasts going clearly as I’m doing stuff moving from room to room. So I was ready to settle for “just okay” sound compared to big boy HomePod sitting in the lounge, and the big unknown was sound quality, of course. Well, I am very, very happy with the Minis. They sound really well for such small devices. Of course, they can’t compare with my studio speakers nor to the big one, but the prices of those beasts are nowhere near 99€,. For a small connected speaker, it’s an amazing purchase. When I move to a bigger house sometime next year, I’m afraid these things will multiply… :sweat_smile:

4 Likes
36

Got the two I ordered today as well and totally agree about the sound. As I was waiting for them to be shipped I ran across a couple of reviews that made me a bit nervous but set mine up as a stereo pair and think they are phenomenal! So far they seem to work as advertised and like you there just might be more of these in my future. The next set might go to my office.

2 Likes
37

The two I ordered just came in today, and I’m happy with them. I had pretty low expectations. I have a Wonderboom and I just wanted these to sound equally as good. I think they sound a bit better, and they’re easier to pair and use with all of our iOS devices. :+1:t2:

The one thing I’m a bit baffled about though is why the black HomePod Mini comes with a white charging brick. This feels completely un-Apple like, and really sticks out like a sore thumb when you’re using one of these in the kitchen where the plug is in plain sight. :man_shrugging:t2:

5 Likes
38

@kennonb I had the same reaction to the brick. So minor, but it’s striking.

I am also delighted by the two Minis we received yesterday. One unexpected gain: Hey Siri is so much faster, and more robust to boot. Phones and watches take double or triple the time for some reason! Also for some reason, the HomePod can handle “Hey Siri add grocery item to Paprika 3”, while the Watch cannot.

Something reviews really fail to capture is that there’s no other option if you want robust Shortcuts support. It is so nice to have!

4 Likes
39

I picked up two yesterday. I just wanted something to sit on my desk and play music and trigger homekit. So far the sound is better than I expected. Not as good as normal HomePod but defiantly good enough for a work desk setup, also not bad for playing sound via the Apple TV app. Tiny little things, so they are easy to fit on a desk or out of the way. I’d say a success.

2 Likes
40

Interesting. Now I have to go up and look at mine because I paid no attention to what color the charging bricks were.

41

I’m considering a HomePod Mini for my kitchen and one for my bathroom.

But I’m just curious how well the HomePod Mini is doing with people? Is it any good for music? And how does it do in a damp environment like a bathroom?

42

I purchased two for use in my office at work. They are fine for that purpose. I have the original HomePods in my study at home.

2 Likes
43

Hello,

I recently tested the mini in a bunch of places around the house, including my study.

In the bathroom it was fine but I did find because it is made out of some cloth material, it did get a little wet (not the right word) from the steam coming out of the hot shower. So, I removed it from the bathroom and ultimately returned because I wasn’t sure if it will survive long term.

I will also encourage you to get the black one for the kitchen because the white one can gets dirty easily.

The sound coming out of the HomePod mini is shockingly good for its size. However, The bigger HomePod is better and so is the Sonos One. I actually have a Sonos one in my bathroom for almost a year and it’s been working fine.

May not be relevant but I also tested the HomePod mini in a stereo setup for my study:

Hope this helps.

1 Like
44

Did you see any signs that the Mini wouldn’t survive in the bathroom?

45

the cloth wrapping the mini got damp so i didn’t feel like it will survive in the long run and i didn’t want to baby the device especially in the bathroom. it may survive, don’t get me wrong. i was testing from the perspective of whether it can replace the sonos one so i can move the sonos one else where.

1 Like
46

I purchased 3 HomePod Minis…Bedroom, Office, Living Room (adjacent to the Kitchen). Sounds great. Previously I had a bunch of Echo Dots. They sound much much better than the Echo Dots. My only complaint so far is that I mainly use Spotify so it’s not a built-in option with Siri. I have to AirPlay it. I know Pandora has allowed for the integration. I heard that in 14.5 we can change the default music option so who knows. I have been trying to get use Apple Music, but eh its not the same experience.

1 Like