Google Home Max, Sonos One, Alexa & Apple Homepod

[badbadboy]

It's interesting how the Home smart speaker market is playing out these days. Apple released their Homepod in US, UK, and Australia recently. Rumour is Canada is delayed because Siri is needing some French Tutoring to be part of our Bi-lingual country. Homepod will only play AppleMusic via Siri. Any other service like spotify etc isn't played via Siri but can be played via your phone's app.

Sonos automatically decreased the cost of their One products. I've heard Sonos system in a home theatre set up and was suitably impressed. I have friends that use Alexa for playing music (not great) and as an information source like what is the weather forecast etc.

Personally, I won't be a consumer of any of these type of products because overwhelmingly, the big companies like Apple, Google and Amazon have become to Big Brotherish with their data mining. Having an assistant change the room temperature, arm my alarm, control my lights and monitor my kitchen appliances seems too intrusive to me. Next thing will happen is a drone will deliver my milk because Alexa was told by my fridge that I was running low.

I'm already flush with speakers anyways be it powered or passive; my music is played by me getting off the couch to flip the vinyl or change the playlist on my player. All digital music is connected via 3.5 mm audio cable because BlueTooth or WiFi seems to clip HD music or cuts out completely.

Anyone purchase or considering buying this type of assistant / speakers?

Will you be buying them for making your place a smart place or for streaming music to multiple rooms?


Not surprising, Macrumors gave the nod to Homepod irregardless that Siri couldn't give answers that Google and Sonos readily provided.

https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/homepod/

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/google-home-max-vs-sonos-one,review-5050.html

 

[CanineCowboy]

It's interesting how the Home smart speaker market is playing out these days. Apple released their Homepod in US, UK, and Australia recently. Rumour is Canada is delayed because Siri is needing some French Tutoring to be part of our Bi-lingual country. Homepod will only play AppleMusic via Siri. Any other service like spotify etc isn't played via Siri but can be played via your phone's app.

Sonos automatically decreased the cost of their One products. I've heard Sonos system in a home theatre set up and was suitably impressed. I have friends that use Alexa for playing music (not great) and as an information source like what is the weather forecast etc.

Personally, I won't be a consumer of any of these type of products because overwhelmingly, the big companies like Apple, Google and Amazon have become to Big Brotherish with their data mining. Having an assistant change the room temperature, arm my alarm, control my lights and monitor my kitchen appliances seems too intrusive to me. Next thing will happen is a drone will deliver my milk because Alexa was told by my fridge that I was running low.

I'm already flush with speakers anyways be it powered or passive; my music is played by me getting off the couch to flip the vinyl or change the playlist on my player. All digital music is connected via 3.5 mm audio cable because BlueTooth or WiFi seems to clip HD music or cuts out completely.

Anyone purchase or considering buying this type of assistant / speakers?

Will you be buying them for making your place a smart place or for streaming music to multiple rooms?


Not surprising, Macrumors gave the nod to Homepod irregardless that Siri couldn't give answers that Google and Sonos readily provided.

https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/homepod/

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/google-home-max-vs-sonos-one,review-5050.html

If in the market, I would considered Sonos because their wifi speaker systems seem to have superior sound quality (but they still don't compete with my hard wired speakers).
However, like you, I value my privacy and don't trust the technology to only selectively listen.

 

[thodisipagal]

I got Google Home Mini recently. So far I'm pretty impressed. I find it useful and fun, too. It plays music through its speaker, plays some latest news, plays riddles, tells jokes, tells you time for any place in the world, gives you anwsers to your random questions about history, politics, etc. It plays your smart TV (through Chromecast), plays YouTube, Netflix, etc. It makes phone calls, sets wake up alarm. It even tells you how old you are.

It's got a cute female voice (thankfully for me). And sounds smart. Sometimes, for fun, I tease it - I say, hey Google, I love you. And it goes, awww, I'm over the moon. When I say I want to kiss you, it goes, aww that's sweet but don't entangle in the wire. Lol. When I say, ok, google, let's have sex, it says, I don't know how to help with that yet, but I'm still learning. Bummer. Haha.

All in all, it's useful, fun, and cheap. The novelty may wear off but so far it's fun.

Occasionally it is dumb, especially when I talk about having sex with her/it. Stupid. Haha. So that explains why I go and visit ladies for some nice company.

I wish it had a cute female name instead of just Google.

 

[badbadboy]

Thanks, that does sound like it's useful and fun.

I'm guessing a 'smart sex doll' controlled by google home will be next

What started me on this light research was all the home products that are part of the Google Home or Alexa offerings.

Indoor and outdoor security cameras, light bulbs, thermostats, applliances and generally anything coming along that uses IoT technology. It's going to be pretty interesting moving forward with the different products being adapted by the competitors Amazon, Google and Apple.

I think all three are involved with the auto industry too. Driverless cars, automated homes and basically anyway you work.

 

[LM987]

I don't see the need for all the rooms in my house being connected to one source. I have blue tooth speakers in the rooms I listen to music in. I just connect from my phone & stream to the one I want.
The Theatre room is hardwired and has a kick a$$ system. That's the only place I need great sound. The others are more background when guests are over.
Then if a guest has a playlist we want to hear, we just connect that one to the BT speaker and voila.

 

[Lavinia]

I have Sonos all throughout my home. I have 10 speakers set up. As far as a system like that is concerned, I love it and would recommend it if you don’t mind the automated aspects of it. The sound quality is really decent for a system like this, and being able to play in only select rooms is great. I can also hook my electric guitar up to the bass and rock out. I also have wink and hue. I find them helpful and convenient, but I can see how all of the A.I. Could make one feel a bit like they were being stalked or watched. I’ve often felt like that myself. I like that I can change the colour of my lights with Hue, but I’m capeable of turning a light switch on by myself. I find that with too much automation things just become more complicated than they were intended.

 

[emacky]

I still think Alexis is the funniest, the programming works well. Google Home mini is a bit hit and miss considering the vase amount of data Google has on my daily life. Half the time I ask Google something, it can't do it or locate it.

Still super funny how there was a glitch where Alexia would order stuff off Amazon when it heard the Amazon Ad on TV.

 

[CanineCowboy]

I have Sonos all throughout my home. I have 10 speakers set up. As far as a system like that is concerned, I love it and would recommend it if you don’t mind the automated aspects of it. The sound quality is really decent for a system like this, and being able to play in only select rooms is great. I can also hook my electric guitar up to the bass and rock out. I also have wink and hue. I find them helpful and convenient, but I can see how all of the A.I. Could make one feel a bit like they were being stalked or watched. I’ve often felt like that myself. I like that I can change the colour of my lights with Hue, but I’m capeable of turning a light switch on by myself. I find that with too much automation things just become more complicated than they were intended.

I would totally agree that the convenience, versatility and quality of Sonos is hard to beat and I like how you can select the speakers you want to use. My niece moved into my house in September for university and it allows her to listen to her music downstairs, while I am listening to different music upstairs. Like LM987, the only time I use my hardwired speakers is to watch TV.

 

[badbadboy]

A hard wired system really is the best way to go if better sound is desired. Shielded cable runs, low noise power, good quality connectors with an amplifier that can drive the speakers whether in a 5 or 7 speaker array really is a great listening experience in a Home theatre setup.

For portability, I prefer using a Bose which is on the pricier end of the small portable speaker market. These little speakers have a good balanced sound from Bass to higher frequencies.

When paired to my phone, it can receive calls and has a built in microphone too.

https://www.bose.ca/en_ca/products/speakers/portable_speakers/soundlink_mini_ii.html

Upside is I don't think it can data mine me when it's paired to a porn site