Apple Homepod
It comes as no surprise that the Homepod is beautifully made and looks classy. It’s a bit smaller and much heavier than you might imagine – dense in the manner of dark matter.
There are seven tweeters spaced around the base of the unit. The woofer is close to the top and fires upwards, reflecting mid and bass frequencies off the bottom of that glossy panel so they are distributed around the device. It’s an energetic driver, capable of moving 20mm from peak-to-peak – extraordinary excursion for a compact driver in a wireless speaker.
Under the top panel, shielded from the bassy battering it receives from the woofer below, is Apple’s A8 processor. For a wireless speaker it’s quite the powerhouse. That processing power is used for Siri, of course – but is also employed to analyse the Homepod’s surroundings and the music being played to ensure you always hear the speaker at its best.
Fortunately, it seems the Homepod has a good grasp of the intentions of a track. At no point do we play a piece of music that sounds anything other than absolutely correct. That’s not to say it’s a perfect delivery, but the Homepod is great at honing in on and delivering the essence of everything you play through it.
It’s all well and good having a bass driver that can shift serious air, but keeping it controlled at the same time is a tricky business. The Homepod manages it expertly.
At the other end of the frequency range, the expertly judged treble delivers the snap and detail of the high hat without ever sounding bright or aggressive.
At the most congested points of a track, the Homepod becomes a little muddled – some rivals offer more clarity in their organisation. But for scale, drive and excitement, the Apple speaker is superb.
What’s more, you don’t need to pump up the volume to get the Homepod singing. Even at low volumes the core excitement is retained, with plenty of bass weight and punch. It’s also capable of going very loud, though, and remains composed and unflustered even at maximum volume.
You can combine two Homepods in a stereo pair – the performance is better than expected. Though it still isn’t perfect, the addition of multi-room support and, to a lesser extent, stereo pairing has closed two big gaps in its feature set.
You need to be a dedicated Apple user to consider the Homepod, but if so, it’s the party-rocking, musical horizonbroadening smart speaker you’ve been waiting for.