This is the Apple HomePod and at $350,

I have exactly one question, "Why does it exist?"

Now no, I'm not trying to say this is some

useless product or that it is not meant for anyone.

When you consider that the world is filled

with Amazon Echos and Google Homes

that cost 40 or $50, a $350 speaker

that has Siri inside, that's a little bit

of a hard sale for most people.

So in classic Apple fashion, the unboxing is super simple,

no giant stabbing knife needed.

So this has come out today and it's a little bit late.

I think this was originally supposed to come out

late last year.

But the idea here is that this is a very high end,

a very good sounding speaker that just happens to have Siri.

You know what I'll say, this looks really nice.

So it has this fabric mesh all the way around,

it's nice and soft.

It's definitely a little bit of a different look.

Although the power cable's built in, okay.

We also have designed by Apple in California

with what I assume is yes, a single Apple sticker.

Not a lot of accessories with your $350 smart speaker,

but all that matters is how does it actually sound.

Alright, so, $350, a lot of money.

But I will say there actually are some nice things

about the hardware.

So like I was saying, this fabric finish feels pretty nice

and it even comes across to the power cable.

There's a lot of attention to detail here.

What you won't find with the HomePod is anything

besides this power cable.

So there's no USB, there's no Bluetooth.

There's not even going to be any kind of aux input

which now that you think about it,

Apple's killed the headphone jack on everything else.

It makes sense to kill it on the speakers.

What you will see however is a little tiny grid

of LEDs that are below the sorted

frosted panel on the top.

So it's kind of cool, but there's not a proper screen.

It's more for kind of giving you notifications

and sort of a little bit of a colorful thing

when Siri's listening.

Like EarPods, the setup is going to be

pretty straightforward.

So if you have an iPhone and yes,

you're probably gonna want to have

a lot of Apple products for the HomePod to make sense,

you'll see a little setup icon right here.

Do that and it should sync it with the Apple ID.

One thing you probably will want

with the HomePod is Apple Music.

So it does support Airplay so things like Spotify

and YouTube will work.

However, if you actually want it

to work properly just using your voice,

you're going to want to use Apple Music.

They're very specific.

The HomePod is for people who have everything Apple.

Before we get started, I'm going to give

everyone a warning.

The words Hey Siri and Hey Google are about

to be spoken many many times.

You've been warned.

- [Siri] Sorry, I can't search the webpage.

- The main reason to pick up the HomePod though is for music

and at least on paper, this sounds pretty good.

So you're getting seven microphones

that are paired up with an Apple AA chip

which not only are going to be listening for you

to call Siri but also it's going to be able

to tune the music for your specific room.

Now to do that, it uses the total of eight speakers

inside this guy.

So there's seven small speakers

that are spread out all the way around

to be able to give you a full 360 sound,

but there's also going to be a single four-inch subwoofer.

So at this point, if you have Apple Music,

you can just tell it to play a song.

However, if you're like me and use Spotify,

you're gonna have to airplay it from your phone.

So of course you're gonna be listening to this

on YouTube so everything is going to be compressed,

but we do have a microphone here to hopefully give you

a decent idea of what this sounds like in person.

Let's give it a try.

(soulful music)

I will say one thing.

This does a really good job of giving you

that full 360 sound.

No matter really where this is placed,

you're pretty much going to hear

the same thing around.

Something else is immediately apparent.

This guy, even though it's obviously

a very small speaker, has a lot of bass.

(heavy metal bass music)

It's also really apparent that they're doing

a good job of making sure it doesn't bottom out.

So even though there is a lot of bass,

it's not really overpowering the rest of the music.

And even when you crank it up to higher volumes,

it stays surprisingly well put together.

And I guess for a $350 speaker,

you hope it sounds pretty good,

but I'm pretty impressed.

Hey Siri, pause.

One thing I will say is that the microphones do

a really good job even when you're cranking it

to be able to actually hear you pretty well.

However, I think the best way of actually being able

to properly test how well this sounds is put it up

against its biggest competitor.

When I say biggest, I mean biggest,

the Google Home Max.

So if you guys are not familiar,

the Google Home Max is very much

the sort of Google competitor to the HomePod.

And yes, it is much larger, but there's a lot

of things that are going to be very similar.

So this has Google Assistant whereas this has Siri.

They both have multiple speakers inside

that are going to be working together

and they both also do have a version

or the sort of room sensing technology

that will tune the sound based on what kind

of environment that you're in.

There are some advantages to the Google Home though

including the fact that not only does it have

a USB port, but it also supports Bluetooth

as well as Aux In.

So you know if you're not living in 2018 yet,

this has got you covered.

However, the price it runs is kind of surprising.

Whereas the HomePod runs a pretty expensive $350,

Google will charge you $400 for the Google Home Max.

Hey Google, play Hotel California.

- [Assistant] Okay, Hotel California by Eagles.

("Hotel California" by Eagles)

- So at first glance, they're actually

surprisingly different.

So the Google Home Max is louder,

kind of expected with it being a much larger speaker.

However, it completely lacks that 360 directionality

of the HomePod.

So from the side, it's kind of okay,

but from the front, it is very very loud.

Now the HomePod, even though it's a little less bassey,

I think does a much better job of making sure

that you really hear all of the different instruments.

There's a lot of separation between the two.

But let me just do a few other songs

and kind of fully actually test

to see what these guys sound like.

Although to be fair, Hotel California is the only song

anyone actually needs to listen to,

but I guess I could play like two or three other songs

if you really want me to, for some weird reason.

Hey Google, play Like Whoa from Logic.

- [Assistant] Like Whoa by Logic, sure.

Playing on Spotify.

- Okay, so after listening to these both

for a little while, my impressions are pretty firm.

This sounds good.

It's decent in the vacuum, but there's a lot of bass

and it is very directional.

The HomePod, there's just so much more separation.

You hear all the different instruments.

You hear the different vocals.

Like everything is very sort of layered

whereas this, it feels a little bit flattened in comparison.

It's a good speaker, but there's no doubt,

the HomePod sounds phenomenal.

However, that's just one piece of the puzzle.

So sure, if you're just going to buy one

of these for pure audio quality,

you can stop watching now.

But I think what a lot of people are interested in is

how the actual assistants on these guys work.

Hey Google, when do the Olympics start?

- [Assistant] Competitions of the PyeongChang 2018

Olympic Winter Games begin on Wednesday,

February seventh, 2018, and ends on Sunday,

February 25th, 2018, PST.

- [Austin] Hey Siri, when do the Olympics start?

- [Siri] The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held

February ninth to the 25th in PyeongChang, South Korea.

- Hey Google, how many cups in 42 gallons?

- [Assistant] 42 US liquid gallons equals

672 US customary cups.

- Hey Siri, how many cups are in 42 gallons?

- [Siri] 42 gallons is 672 cups.

- Something I'm noticing is that Siri is

a little bit more curt and gives you

like much shorter answers where Google will

actually give you all the detail.

Hey Google, what's the news?

- [Assistant] Here's the latest news.

From NPR News Now, at 3:00 p.m. today.

- [Man] Live from NPR News...

- Hey Siri, what's the news?

- [Siri] Here's the latest news from NPR.

- Hey Google, play the latest episode of Reply All.

- [Assistant] Okay, playing the latest episode

of Reply All, number 42 Blindspot rebroadcast.

- [Man] This episode of Reply All...

- Hey Siri, play the latest episode of Reply All.

- [Siri] Sorry, I couldn't find Reply All

in your music.

If you have an Apple Music subscription.

- No, Podcast.

Hey Google, what do you think about Siri?

- [Assistant] Full respect.

Being an assistant is hard work.

- Hey Siri, what do you think about Google Assistant?

- [Siri] I think the acquisition of information

and intelligence by human beings

through a virtual assistant is a very good thing.

- (laughs) Google's like, Siri's great.

I think the information by human-like beings is excellent.

Alright, so what have we learned?

Well I think that they're actually fairly

evenly matched as far as the assistant side.

So for the basic stuff, they're going to be

very similar for things like turning on

and off your lights or kind of feeding out traffic

or the basic kind of things.

Now I think as you get to be a little more advanced,

I would give the slight edge to Google Assistant,

but I think a lot of people have sort of been

complaining about Siri.

At least based on this, they're not that far off.

Now as far as the music side goes,

it's definitely a HomePod win.

But for me, if you're not going to be

really serious about music, I think it's hard

to recommend either of these.

So in my house, I really like using

the Google Home Minis as well as the standard Google Homes.

They're much less expensive.

Unless you're really serious about the music,

they sound totally fine, especially if you're

really focused on the assistant side.

So should the Apple HomePod exist in 2018?

Yeah, it's actually not bad.