Smart speaker for Apple Music

Gregor Samsa

So I’m looking for a smart speaker for home. Mainly to play stuff from Apple Music (not just stream from my phone), but also a bit of the virtual assistant stuff. I basically want anyone in the house to be able to listen to my Apple Music library whether I’m there or not.

HomePod seems like the obvious choice, but I’m a bit put off by it not being available here. Will it work with my Irish Apple account? Any issues with Siri? I’m not too impressed with Siri I’m my iPhone, to be honest. I also get the impression that Apple aren’t fully committed to the HomePod - I kind of keep expecting them to quietly drop it from the lineup.

The other option is a Sonos One. It’ll play Apple Music via an Alexa skill. I don’t have any experience of Alexa or Google Assist. I have more confidence that Sonos will continue to produce these devices than Apple and the HomePod.

I was looking at the Echo Plus too, but it’s basically along the same lines as the Sonos, in that you’d be running Apple Music via Alexa, just with lesser audio quality from what I can tell.

So what say you? Which one would you go to and why? Or is there anything else I should be considering?

iniall

I’ve had a HomePod for about a year now and it’s been great. Works very well with Apple Music and the sound is really very good. Everyone in the family can use it (I’ve removed it from my Apple Music preferences, so the kids’ songs don’t count towards my listening history). Siri is... well, Siri. It would be handy if Apple came out with a HomePod app, but it’s probably unlikely as it would mean you’d use Siri less.

My FIL has a non-voice assistant Sonos set up and while the sound is good, the Sonos app really sucks.

whippet

I’ve three homepods in the house now .. two in stereo pair in the living room and one in my home office ... sound is great ... the whole family share it and I use it for Skype calls etc in the office

turfthrower

Yeah, I bought a HomePod in Belfast a year and half ago at full price, and then got a second one on eBay for around 200 euro. When it arrived it was perfect, so I have a stereo pair in my kitchen, and they're absolutely fantastic. The sound quality is astounding, and there's zero hassle with operating one in Ireland. Just plug it in and it works.

To be fair, I haven't done any exhaustive comparison of other smart speakers, but if you're in the Apple ecosystem, then it's kind of a no-brainer. I keep meaning to get another one for my home office - I listen to music through my mac speakers but the bass out of a HomePod is great. It's quite hard to go back once you've listened to them.

Blazer

Had the Sonos one and gave it up. Great speaker , great sound but airplay was hit and miss on it and falling back on their app to play music sucked.
Sold it eventually.
Will go for the HomePod next I think as you know AirPlay will work for it.

scuba8

IKEA have two speakers at present ( one incorporating a table lamp ) that are integrated with Sonos. They contain some of the Sonos drive units. They are reasonably priced.

Gregor Samsa

scuba8 wrote: »

IKEA have two speakers at present ( one incorporating a table lamp ) that are integrated with Sonos. They contain some of the Sonos drive units. They are reasonably priced.

Wow, interesting!

https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/news/symfonisk-collection-pubaafe6500

I think i'm going to go with a HomePod for the kitchen, but I can certainly see these being useful elsewhere in the house.

Somedaythefire

I have a Sonos One and it's perfect with Airplay. Haven't had the problems mentioned above.

murpho999

I got the Amazon Echo Plus last month.

It was on sale on Amazon for £110 and included a Philips Hue white bulb as the speaker contains the required Zigbee hub.

Apple Music works really well with Alexa, and Alexa is definitely a smarter assistant than Siri.

Speaker quality is more than decent but probably not as good as the Homepod, never seen or heard a Homepod so can't personally compare.

However, the price is much better and the speaker has more features and capabilities and I'd strongly recommend it.

Eire Go Brach

whippet wrote: »

I’ve three homepods in the house now .. two in stereo pair in the living room and one in my home office ... sound is great ... the whole family share it and I use it for Skype calls etc in the office

Stereo Pair. What's that exactly?

whippet

https://guce.engadget.com/copyConsent?sessionId=3_cc-session_fddf62c1-1e29-4560-b8e3-01c2969de88b&inline=false&lang=en-US

its using two speakers 'as one' - in stereo ... really great when you have a large room.