First impressions of the Apple Home Pod

Apple unveiled the Home Pod at WWDC and although the press had access to several units at the demo area, the crowd noise meant that there was no accurate picture of how the speaker actually performs. Fortunately, several tech publications got access to the Siri-powered speaker in a proper listening environment. They all heard the same five songs: “The Greatest” by Sia, “Sunrise” by Norah Jones, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder, “DNA” by Kendrick Lamar and a live performance of The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” Here are the first impressions:

According to Mashable, the speakers starts by playing 360-degree audio as part of its learning phase. The speaker then adjusts the audio based on its environment. Mashable said the sound was rich and that once the speaker learnt the size of the room, the volume was consistent throughout the small room.

Here is how Mashable described the audio quality: “The audio wasn’t just loud — filling a room with sound, good or bad, is easy — it was rich. The highs were sharp, but not broken. The lows were deep, sonorous, but not chest-thumping.”

Apple’s demo of the speaker was with two of competing products in the same room. The two competing products: the Sonos:3 and the Amazon Echo were both inferior to the Home Pod in terms of audio quality.

It is clear from both the introduction and framing of the device by Apple, as well as its demo of the device that it wants the device to enter the home as an audio device that is a home hub rather than the other way around.