New Music Friday 11/20/20
New Music Friday 11/20/20
HomePod mini review, new apps, and new songs
New Music
Songs
Augustana - “Take”
Fickle Friends - “Million”
Classixx & Local Natives - “Weekends”
The Juliana Theory - “Can’t Go Home”
Kitten - “What Year Are We In?”
Katelyn Tarver - “Hundred”
Albums
Future Generations - Darling EP
XYLØ - Outsiders Club EP
Phoebe Bridgers - Copycat Killer EP
Terror Jr - Rancho Catastrophe
Ludwig Göransson - The Mandalorian Chapters 9-12
Review - HomePod mini
The original HomePod has been one of my favorite Wi-Fi speakers. It’s compact enough to be placed anywhere around the house and sounds really fantastic. Its $299 retail price has been hard to justify in the face of so much competition, but in a vacuum, it’s wonderful. I’m bullish on Apple’s speakers for a few reasons, but primarily because they are good audio speakers first and foremost.
With that context, the HomePod mini is a perfect follow up. The price is competitive enough. The sound is great for the orange-sized speaker. Holding the mini in your hand, it feels impossibly small. This $99 cue ball, or eight ball, depending on what color you prefer, feels like a perfect complement to the larger HomePod.
HomePod mini will sound best in smaller spaces. The thing I like best is that songs always sound respectable. There is a balance and overall frequency proportion in the mini that speakers like Nest Audio miss. Is the bass on the mini amazing? Not really. But it’s present and only tries to do what its physical size will permit. Here are some other thoughts after a few days of use.
HomePod mini is perfect for a bedside nightstand, bathroom counter, small kitchen. It shines in smaller spaces.
Siri’s voice is weirdly hard to hear — this might be a bug that gets resolved soon. The volume is fine for music, but Siri’s volume is low and doesn’t change with the volume control.
It seems to be able to “hear” commands as well as any other assistants. The mics are great.
A stereo pair works well and probably sounds more than 2x better.
The touch-to-transfer the sound from an iPhone is fun and works well. (Same for touching the speaker again to take the sound back from it.)
For the HomePod mini primarily as a speaker, here are some buying choices I would make.
I would get a HomePod mini over a Nest Audio, each costing $99.
I would probably get a Sonos Play One for $199 over two minis for $198 simply because Sonos provides more integrated audio options. (The Sonos speaker also incorporates AirPlay.)
If the HomePod were $249, I get that over two minis for $198.
Even without cost constraints, I think I’d get a HomePod mini for a bedroom. It’s the right size and provides the most privacy-conscious.
Apps
Voisey is like TikTok for audio.
Noisy will generate music through AI for your Discord channel.
Humit is a social network focused on music.
