Homepod needs an audio jack
Is there a way to add an internal audio jack to a HomePod? I know the answer but am asking anyway.
Wireless speakers are horrible for musicians working on recordings or transcriptions and the HomePod is no exception.
Apple used to tout itself as making the best tools for creative work.
When writing a score and playing parts back or editing mixing or transcribing a recording, you have to stop, rewind and play short sections over and over.
The delay (latency) with wifi speakers is impossible to deal with. The sound doesn't come out immediately and by the time it starts, the music on the screen (score, wave forms, mixing views etc) has already moved forward.
Transcribing a tune was intolerable because of this.
I had to use my XLR monitors instead but wanted to use my HomePod with a laptop.
I eventually gave my 1st-gen HomePod away.
For non-musicians, the latency isn't a problem because listeners don't care if there's a short delay before the tune starts as long as it keeps playing.
But if it just had a tiny 1/8" audio jack on the bottom....
I'm sure the new HomePod is better. Its Thread wifi + Matter protocol will probably reduce
wifi issues. I'll eventually test its latency on someone else's new-gen HomePod.
But as far as I know, no wireless speaker can yet meet the latency demands described above.
I gave Apple feedback about this a few years ago, but the market is too minuscule to justify adding it, except that Apple includes other rarely-used features in its premium products, e.g., a memory-card reader in recent MBPs.
I'd pay an additional $50-$75? for a HomePod with an internal audio jack.
Come on, Apple. Return to your roots. Add a feature needed for creative work.
Call it the "creativity plug" and tout it in marketing as the best metalized de-ionized sound wave advancement in cylindrical hole creativity.
No one but musicians will ever know its there.
HomePod, 15