For a deep dive into the big sibling of the new HomePod mini ($99), please refer to our review of the original, full sized Apple HomePod (and our six month follow up). Many HomePod features found at launch and in updates can be found on the new mini.

With the mini, Apple’s smart home ‘Homekit’ features have been improved. Even silly Siri is better and she has added a useful ‘Intercom’ feature. Security, as always from the mothership, is a priority. No ‘anything goes’ Alexa.

There are literally hundreds of reviews on the web and YouTube videos with in depth looks at the features of the mini. I’ll list some important ones below then jump right into our brief, with focus on its use and sound.

Small, but mighty. Fits our decor and is unobtrusive. Plus, Siri has crazy ears. She can hear me even when talking quietly from forty feet away.

Features & Specifications

Apple Music
iTunes music purchases
iCloud Music Library with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription
Apple Music Radio or episodes on demand
Radio stations from TuneIn and iHeartRadio
Apple Podcasts
News briefings (loved my CBC News read back every morning—watch the levels, though, on early morning listening; it was invariably much louder than my set volume percentage for Siri)
AirPlay other content to HomePod mini from iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV or Mac
802.11n Wi-Fi
Direct guest access
Thread
Bluetooth 5.0
U1 Ultra Wideband chip for device proximity (after the spectacular M1 chip debut and the chips found in iPhone, iPad and the new AirPods Max—review up next week—is anybody going to bet against Apple owning this ecosystem space for years to come? Qualcomm, Microsoft, etc, already have orders in place to emulate and copy, but are far behind); for computational audio, the mini utilizes the S5 chip found in the Apple Watch 5.

The main event, with a full-range driver and dual passive radiators and on the bottom, a custom acoustic waveguide for, what Apple calls, ‘a 360º sound field’. — The main event, with a full-range driver and dual passive radiators, and on the bottom, a custom acoustic waveguide for, what Apple calls, ‘a 360º sound field’.

My Use

The unit is available in Space Grey or White—mine was white. About the size of a softball, it’s quite a small surprise when unboxed. The mini weighs 348g and is 84.4mm high and 97.9mm wide.

Setup is almost instantaneous with an iPhone. Truly, idiot proof. Just hold the iPhone close and Siri will detect you and direct you. Other than the flashing, Star Trek lights on top, nothing much happens visually. It’s a setup and forget it device. Where the mini really shines is the outstanding computational audio (with voluminous, quality sound that should not be possible from such a tiny sphere) and the four very sensitive mics which recognized my voice while the unit played very loud Mahler, even from other rooms.

I’ve toyed with and reviewed speakers with Google Assistant and Alexa—both were not my cup of tea. Alexa, especially, I found far too intrusive and inaccurate. The dedicated Amazon and Google speakers, both much larger than the mini, did a good job filling the room, but considering the size difference, there was not much in it. Let’s face it, punters (let alone audiophiles) are not buying these types of speakers to replace their highly valued music only sources.

For what it attempted to achieve, the original HomePod was excellent. But expensive, relatively. It was not a hit for Apple. The mini is a completely different animal.

As such, I can highly recommend the mini for anybody in the Apple ecosystem. At $99, it’s a winner. You can buy more than one, stereo pair (not with the original HomePod), etc. The awful Apple Music compressed bitrate doesn't really matter on the mini, but you can also use Amazon Music and Pandora natively (fun, but both are not much better than Apple sound quality). Golden Boy Spotify used natively is supposed to be in the works soon, but who knows? If you have a Tidal or Qobuz account, and if you don’t, you should, you can AirPlay the stream to the mini. Works beautifully with very little latency. No MQA (Tidal) or HiRes (Qobuz, Primephonic, Deezer, etc) support, of course.

AirPlay from Qobuz on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. Notice the small HomePod mini icon in the volume control bar.

The mini also does the mundane work (phone calls, texts, reminders, calendar, etc) seamlessly. Siri also has a good stockpile of jokes. All these tasks accomplished while Siri interrupts the music gently then returns you to your music or podcast.

Sound

Without trying to sound like an audiophile boor yet again, I must let you know Apple has not produced an audiophile product. Not really a surprise. The very special mini doesn’t suggest this attribution is ever in the musical cards. So, moving on.

Let us judge accordingly.

The S5 processor’s DSP is very fine and allows the mini to get very loud without distortion. It’s quite a trick to fill my large, open plan, main floor living space complete with a 10 foot ceiling. Then, when the volume is down low, the computational audio boosts the bass response so the music still sounds fulsome.

I stayed away from ‘serious’ listening for a day or two to loosen up the driver. Not sure that’s needed. By day 3, I was deep into Qobuz and selecting all my demo favourites.

First up was Dudamel/LA/DG Mahler Symphony No. 9, the 2nd movement, ‘Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers. Etwas täppisch und sehr derb’ specifically. I chose this movement because of its tonal beauty, the juxtaposition between solo instruments (very reedy clarinets and bass clarinets in their low registers) followed by violins playing at the heel of the bow in a very rustic style (Ländler dance). Quite a difficult proposition to pull off with top class DACs and speakers, let alone from the mighty mini. Of course, it didn’t sound like a modestly priced system of separates or even the big HomePod, but it was remarkably cohesive, even refined for such a small speaker. And the timbral contrast, my reason for choosing the excerpt, was surprisingly lifelike.

And, no, I wasn’t inwardly ascribing quality because of loudness. Volume is good enough, but it can play sweetly and roughly. Impressive.

To coincide with the great composer’s 250th birth anniversary (Dec 16th, 1770), I’ve been listening to lots of Beethoven. The new set of his Piano Concertos with Zimerman (photo above) is splendid and sounded crystalline and sparkling through the mini. But it was some relaxed late night listening of some 2nd rate Beethoven, Christ on the Mount of Olives (2nd rate Beethoven is usually 1st rate everybody else) in a spectacular new recording with Sir Simon Rattle and his London gang that really caught my ear.

My wife noted the beautiful timbres the orchestra created and the fabulous performance by soprano Elsa Dreisig—they all sounded wonderful on the mini. This was a joyful and immersive musical experience. That a $99 ’smart speaker’ can create such an event, elevate the music and highlight the performers’ quality is pretty amazing.

Much different but equally valuable in testing, ‘Train Song’ from Holly Cole Temptation is the Canadian bass buster of all bass busters and has Cole leaving her usual jazz style to sing Tom Waits songs. It’s a fantastic tribute album and a style she should revisit. Much of the low bass emphasis was MIA, but the DSP did a good job of a musical balancing act. As such, the ‘feeling’ of bass is there but with the mini’s characteristic ‘hemmed in’ quality.

The bass testing continued with ‘Dead Already’ from the American Beauty soundtrack by Thomas Newman. This beautiful track, all struck marimbas, ringing bongos and whizzing sampling, is visited two or three times by a subterranean bass counterpoint. On my reference system, it’s a jaw dropper. The mini will give you a taste, but it’s only a morsel of the original. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the cut’s volume and musicality.

It was a treat to ask Siri to play something randomly and she complied with an Apple Music track. For some reason, my ‘Hey Siri, play me some music’ request always drew upon another Canadian talent, Ron Sexsmith. ‘Poor Helpless Dreams’ from Exit Strategy of the Soul, far less complicated in layering, sound and musicality than a Mahler Symphony, sounded terrific with the mini’s DSP less taxed. Sexsmith and other balladeers were real treats on the mini. Don’t push it too hard, and it’ll repay in spades.

If you don’t have an Apple Music account and you want to ask Siri for a specific request, you’re getting stiff armed. I don’t mind Airplay and it does work exceptionally well, but if I was going to stereo pair the mini or it was my only musical devi… — If you don’t have an Apple Music account and you want to ask Siri for a specific request, you’re getting stiff armed. I don’t mind Airplay and it does work exceptionally well, but if I was going to stereo pair the mini or it was my only musical device, I’d get an Apple Music subscription.

Conclusion

Among the HomePod mini’s greatest achievements is giving the listener the interpretive & emotional intentions, the gestalt of the music intended by the artist. Many single point speakers miss this essential, unifying experience. So, for $99 and with Apple’s 14 day return policy, why not give the HomePod mini a try? It’s just as perfect an ecosystem fit as every other Apple device, sounds wonderful for its size limitations and even Siri is fun. And, if our original criteria is still in play for the Star Components Award, then, hell yeah, it gets one. Nothing this small and inexpensive should accomplish so much or sound so good. Still no audiophile products, Apple, and that’s fine, but a shiny BIG A for effort and ingenuity.