Apple has just announced their own Siri smart home speaker

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by raq0915, Jun 5, 2017.

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  1. raq0915

    raq0915 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    \New Jersey
    You guys are much more technical then me, so Im hoping someone could disect these specs. It was quite literally just announced, so as soon as an article pops up, Ill share it
     
  2. Meyer

    Meyer Heavy Metal Parking Lot Resident

    So far, all they are talking about is how it integrates with Apple Music. Hoping that it will support multiple music sources, including our own personal library of music and the devices it is stored on.

    Right now, all I'm hearing from Apple is the usual "we know what's best for you so we will do the thinking for you" BS.
     
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  3. raq0915

    raq0915 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    \New Jersey
    I was very excited for this.... Until they announced the price. $349?! Are they mad?!?!
     
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  4. Meyer

    Meyer Heavy Metal Parking Lot Resident

    Eh, not impressed. I thought it was going to be more of a home entertainment system audio solution from Apple to rival Sonos, but it sounds more like an Alexa with a nicer speaker system.
     
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  5. Meyer

    Meyer Heavy Metal Parking Lot Resident

    Yes, they are quite mad. And they were also saying "if you think one sounds great in your room, wait until you try TWO."
     
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  6. raq0915

    raq0915 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    \New Jersey
    Yep. The fact that the word "stereo" wasnt even mentioned, but rather alluded to, and no mention of surround sound is frightening.
     
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  7. Steve Martin

    Steve Martin Wild & Crazy Guy

    Location:
    Plano, TX
    They did show how you could set up 2 of them and they would be aware of each other for better "stereo" sound field.

    But, so much processing. I doubt it would be a very discrete stereo image.

    I too am afraid there will be no iTunes library support, which would pretty much indicate to me that iTunes libraries are going to phase out over a while to where Apple is "Apple Music" or nothing.
     
  8. raq0915

    raq0915 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    \New Jersey
    I doubt it. They would have to stop selling albums and songs before they could kill iTunes library and we know that wont happen any time soon
     
  9. Steve Martin

    Steve Martin Wild & Crazy Guy

    Location:
    Plano, TX
    I would have to think they support their new "Airplay 2" protocol so you could play to them from iTunes or your iPhone.
     
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  10. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
  11. CraigBic

    CraigBic Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    Information is up on Apple, I think it looks pretty cool I might buy one next year when it comes to New Zealand.
     
  12. countingbackward

    countingbackward Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montreal, QC
    Will we be able to stream lossless to it via Tidal or an upgraded Apple Music service? Or via your own library? That's question #1, to be considered a reasonble alternative to Sonos. Will it be able to play hi-rez? That's question #2, to be considered a reasonable alternative to BlueSound and others that can stream wireless hi-rez.

    If the focus is on Siri automation, with some decent sounding lossy streams for $350...no thanks.

    Edit...we should be able to stream Tidal through our phones or computers with Airplay...but then it would operate just the same as any other WiFi speaker. Apple needs to upgrade Apple Music to lossless, then this could become a killer app (if the speaker is as or more capable than a Sonos Play 5)
     
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2017
  13. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    It uses a technique known as beam forming to personalise the sound for each room and listener.

    Two can also be linked together to form stereo speakers.



    I guess we can conclude it won't be "neutral" sounding. Designed and built for highly compressed computer audio that it compensates for by adding boomy/bloated bass. Basically every BT speaker you have ever heard only design to integrate with the Apple platform. With the added benefit of listening to your every word that it will sell for targeted marketing.
     
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  14. raq0915

    raq0915 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    \New Jersey
    To be fair, Apple has always been at the forefront of privacy
     
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  15. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I've recently heard some very credible and specific stories about conversion around or on an Iphone that turned into banner ads while web browsing.
     
  16. Steve Martin

    Steve Martin Wild & Crazy Guy

    Location:
    Plano, TX
    Their description of the processing sounds to me like some kind of Pro Logic II decoding (but for 3 front channels only). Then based on the shape of the room it sends the center and l/r channels in the "appropriate" directions. Probably as good an approach as you can do from a single speaker, will be interesting to see how it sounds.
     
  17. raq0915

    raq0915 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    \New Jersey
    You may be thinking of Facebook, in which case youd be correct.
     
  18. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    Ok...so immediately in my mind I had the thought of getting one of these things, and the Amazon Alexa, and telling them to talk to each other until they both explode.
     
  19. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

    "Yeah, we're mad like a fox. Never discount the snob factor. Price is a major way we distinguish ourselves."
     
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  20. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA

    That looks BIG
     
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  21. GroovyGuy

    GroovyGuy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Halifax, NS Canada
    No - they are Apple. That is all ...........................
     
  22. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    I would have to agree with Meyer and say that it does sound like Alexa.
     
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  23. uofmtiger

    uofmtiger Forum Resident

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    It is a combination of both. Obviously, Apple has had Siri for longer than Amazon has had Alexa. Apple just hasn't taken it into the home, the way Amazon has. Of course, Amazon didn't have a decent phone, so it was the only way to get people to use their platform.

    This is also a rival to Sonos. No doubt about it. The Airplay 2 capabilities will give them the ability to send audio to multiple speakers in a way that Airplay (1) couldn't. They have already said the Apple TV 4 will be part of that ecosystem (other products will be announced later), so Airplay 2 will work in any system that can accept an HDMI input (and other types of systems via an adapter).

    While the cost is high compared to the Echo devices, it has multiroom audio as a feature and the Echo (currently) does not. Also, people that got a chance to hear it side by side with Sonos, say it sounds very good. You can't say that about the Amazon Echo stand alone devices.

    I should mention that I own three Dots and the price tag of ~$50 each was easier to swallow than $350. I do think their will be a market for this product, though. I think this will be bad for Sonos. They still have some unique features in comparison to the HomePod, but they don't work within the Apple ecosystem, which will hurt them in the long run.
     
  24. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    I chose Sonos partly because it's exclusive access to Apple Music in this product category, and won't be happy if Apple pulls the plug as part of Homepod. They'll be renaming it iPissed.
     
  25. mj_patrick

    mj_patrick Senior Member

    Location:
    Elkhart, IN, USA
    I'm likely to pick one up for the kitchen....
     
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