Apple's HomePod(opens in a new tab) comes with a long list of fine print. If you own an iOS device, subscribe to Apple Music, can live with Siri's limited capabilities, care about music quality, and you're OK with dropping $350 on a smart speaker, you'll love HomePod. It's phenomenal.

But if you don't meet these exact requirements (i.e. you use Android or prefer Spotify), you should stop reading right now because HomePod's shortcomings will only frustrate you.

By all accounts, HomePod is late to the smart speaker game. Amazon pioneered the product category in 2014 with the Alexa-powered Echo(opens in a new tab) and Google launched its own version, the Assistant-equipped Home(opens in a new tab), in 2016.

With such a late start, I wondered if there could still be room for Siri and HomePod. I didn't think so at first. Like many people, I already own an Echo and Google Home, don't subscribe to Apple Music, and felt HomePod's price was too high.

However, after almost a week of listening to HomePod at work and at home, I've come to really enjoy it for what it does best: play music. Spending $350 on a speaker may not seem like a good value, but it's no different than paying a lot for really nice headphones.

Hands down, HomePod is the prettiest smart speaker currently available, and showcases yet again how Apple is the master of industrial design.

Whereas the Echo looks like a black Pringles can, Google Home resembles an air freshener, the Sonos One(opens in a new tab) is just a bulge of plastic, and the Google Home Max(opens in a new tab) is an unapologetically big ol' woofer, HomePod looks and feels purposefully designed for homes.

Its soft mesh fabric exterior and wonderfully considered braided cable makes it more cozy furniture than cold machine. Seriously, HomePod belongs in a Crate & Barrel catalog.

Apple sells the speaker in white and Space Gray. Both look great, but I'd spring for the Space Gray if you're worried about dust showing up on it. I've yet to see any excessive dust buildup on my Space Gray review unit, but I've also been moving it around between the office and my apartment, so I can't say how things will be after a month.

The rotund HomePod speaker is also smaller in person than online pictures make it look. At 6.8 inches tall and 5.6 inches in diameter, it's just barely larger than a Sonos One. It weighs 5.5 pounds, which is heavy for such a little guy, so definitely be careful not to drop it on your toes. 

Also in typical Apple fashion, HomePod has no buttons (no real physical buttons, at least). There's just a glass touchscreen (more like touchpad) on the top. When you say the "Hey Siri" voice command, a rainbow-colored circle pops up to show the assistant heard you and is listening. And when a song's playing, you get virtual + and - buttons for volume control. You can also tap (play/pause), double-tap (next track), triple-tap (previous song), and press and hold (activate Siri) on the top. Otherwise, the glass top remains blank.

Setting up HomePod is a breeze: Just place an iOS device (needs to be running at least iOS 11.2.5) next to it and a card will pop up (just like pairing AirPods). Tap through the instructions and within a few minutes you'll be controlling HomePod with a "Hey Siri" voice command.

Playing music on HomePod is as easy as saying "Hey Siri, play Shake It Off," or "Hey Siri, play some Guns 'N Roses," or "Hey Siri, play some music for working out." There's a whole bunch of music-related things you can tell Siri to do, but they'll only work if you subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match(opens in a new tab), the latter of which uploads songs in iTunes that you ripped from CDs (or otherwise acquired over the years) to your iCloud Library.

Though Siri's voice controls are designed to work with Apple Music, it's not total doom and gloom if you use Spotify or Pandora or any other music service.

You can still stream music from an iOS device or Mac over AirPlay, but Siri voice controls will be extremely limited. With Spotify on my iPhone AirPlayed to the HomePod, I could still ask Siri to tell me the name of the song and who sings it. Additionally, I could also use Siri to control the volume and skip to the next song (but not the previous song). But if you want Siri to play a song, album, or playlist directly from Spotify, it can't.

That said, I wouldn't recommend buying a HomePod to AirPlay from another source. AirPlay is laggy and my iPhone X frequently dropped its connection with the HomePod. It's just not a good experience. AirPlay 2 is supposed to fix latency issues, but it didn't make the cut for HomePod's launch. Apple says AirPlay 2 will be added in a future software update along with stereo pairing.

The best part of using Hey Siri voice commands is how well HomePod picks them up. The speaker's array of six microphones are pretty darn sensitive and have super hearing.

Whereas I'm always shouting out Alexa's name to be heard across the room or when the music is loud (my neighbors probably think I'm mental), I never had to yell out "Hey Siri" while using HomePod. I could say the command in my normal voice without directing it towards HomePod, and Siri would recognize it even over music that was playing at 100 percent volume. Siri even heard me when I whispered at it.

I can't say the same for the Google Home Max. It couldn't hear me say "Hey Google" from two feet away when I had the volume cranked up all the way.

In college I was required to take a course called "Intro to Music Appreciation" as part of my general education credits to graduate.

"Hearing music is not the same as listening to music," my professor said on the first day of class. "Most people hear music, but they don’t listen to it."

I'd forgotten about this class and her words until I started listening to music on HomePod. After only a few songs, I started to hear things in my music that I'd never noticed before. My ears opened up and I began to pay attention to the different parts of a song, clearly and effortlessly hearing the separation between vocals and instruments. I was listening to music again instead of merely hearing it.

I thought my mind and ears were playing tricks on me (or maybe it was the placebo effect), but then I compared the HomePod to other smart speakers (second-generation Echo, Google Home, Sonos One, Google Home Max) and it quickly became clear: HomePod really does sound outstanding.

Speakers usually follow a general rule: The larger they are, the better they sound. This is because there's more room for things larger woofers and tweeters — all of which help push more air for louder, clearer, more impactful sound.

HomePod somehow defies its size and sounds like a much larger speaker. It throws around loud, distortion-free sound with deep, rich bass that you'd normally get in more expensive, audiophile-grade speakers.

Apple achieves such incredible sound thanks to the spiffy technology it's crammed inside of HomePod. From the top to bottom sits a 4-inch "high excursion woofer," an array of six-microphones, and a seven-array tweeter at the base. Apple's own custom A8 chip controls all these parts to deliver consistent, room-filling sound, even when you move HomePod around the room (unlike other speakers, HomePod automatically calibrates itself to its environment).

Together, these parts produce a warm soundstage that's so acoustically pleasant that it almost feels as if an artist is performing in front of you most of the time.

I was blown away by how clean "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, a song with a wide range of audio levels and layers, sounded across the board. I could easily pick out the sharp piano bits from the drums and electric and bass guitar with no effort. I expected the highs to fall apart at higher volumes like they do on the Echo and Google Home, but was surprised at how well HomePod preserved it all.

Anything by Adele and Sam Smith sounds terrific. I almost shed a tear listening to "Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith. Nothing seems lost or muddled in the track; the slow finger-snapping, the choir, the front-heavy bass — they're all distinctly audible.

Rap classics like "99 Problems" by Jay-Z and "In Da Club" by 50 Cent sound more vibrant than I've ever heard before. Less fuzzy sound and more clarity between verses; in "P.I.M.P." I could hear 50 Cent's breath pop while he's spitting lyrics.

Songs with big bass like "Where Are Ü Now" by Justin Bieber and Jack Ü and "Finesse" by Bruno Mars (feat. Cardi B) pack some serious punch, but not in an overpowering kind of way. It's another testament to the impressive sound separation HomePod is capable of. The same songs on Google Home Max play louder with more thumping bass, but it, along with the vocals, get crushed and distorted at louder volumes. Apple says HomePod's A8 chip overcomes distortion by analyzing the next 30 milliseconds of a track while it's playing, adjusting the bass so it doesn't break up.

And if you enjoy classical music — holy cow, you're in for a real aural treat. Bach's "Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007" performed by Yo-Yo Ma just glides on HomePod. This cello composition is one my favorites and it sounded lighter, airier, and more delicate on HomePod versus the other speakers, which were a little more two-dimensional.

Not to mention, HomePod sounded great no matter where I placed it. Music sounded as pure in the middle of our huge photo studio that's surrounded by glass walls as it did on my desk in my bedroom and on a bookshelf in my living room. I tried to trick HomePod into sounding worse by placing it on various surfaces like a fabric-covered ottoman and an aluminum rack, thinking the acoustics would be noticeably different, but it sounded the same to my ears.

By now, it's a running joke that Siri is so far behind Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant that it'll never catch up. I had hoped Apple would surprise me with a much smarter Siri in HomePod after delaying the speaker's launch from last year, but that wasn't the case.

To be fair, Siri actually does quite a bit besides controlling Apple Music. You can ask Siri to check the weather, get sports updates, read news briefings, provide translations (English, French, German, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese), answer general knowledge questions, set reminders, create notes, send and read your text messages, and more.

Siri can also control your HomeKit-enabled(opens in a new tab) smart home devices (smart lights, thermostats, smart locks, cameras, etc.). I connected an iHome smart plug to my bedroom lamp and a Lifx Wi-Fi smart bulb to my living room using the Home app on my iPhone, and had no issues turning them on and off individually ("Hey Siri, turn on/off bedroom light") or connected together in a "scene" ("Hey Siri, I'm home") using voice controls.

These are all basic features I expect from a smart speaker and maybe that's enough for you. Still, I couldn't help but feel I wanted more from Siri, especially when Alexa and Assistant-powered smart speakers are demonstrably more capable.

It's annoying that I can't tell Siri to set multiple timers, check my calendar, or make phone calls even though it has access to my contacts. You can use HomePod as a speakerphone, but you still need to transfer the call from your iPhone, which kind of defeats the point of owning a hands-free device.

It's also maddening that HomePod only connects to one iCloud account and Siri can't recognize different voices. On the Google Home, the Assistant can identify up to six different voices and deliver personalized information specific to their accounts. So if you have multiple people in your household using HomePod, they'll all have to share things like shopping lists, reminders and notes of whoever's iCloud account is connected to it. (At least those personalized features are turned off when the account holder's iPhone leaves the local Wi-Fi network, at least somewhat mitigating confusion.)

I'd also love to be able to control an Apple TV and turn my TV on and off with Siri from my HomePod. Another thing(opens in a new tab) Google Home does that HomePod doesn't.

There's a long list of things I want Siri to copy from Alexa and the Google Assistant, but at the very least let me call my mom when I'm cooking, request an Uber or Lyft when I'm packing up for a trip, or order a pizza when I'm feeling lazy.

It's possible Apple could add calling later — the Echo and Google Home didn't have the feature at launch either — and open up Siri to third parties in a future update like the way they created the App Store a year after the iPhone launched. I just wish HomePod had these features from the start since it's playing catch-up.

There’s no beating around the bush that HomePod is expensive, doesn’t have as many features as an Echo or Google Home, and really only works with Apple Music.

But after listening to HomePod, my Echo ($90) and Google Home ($100) now sound like trash. It's like downgrading from a BMW to a Toyota Camry. The Alexa-powered Sonos One comes close to HomePod and sometimes sounds better (especially when two are paired in stereo mode); it's cheaper ($200 for one and $350 for two) and louder for sure, but songs on the One get all mushy and distorted at higher volumes. Google Home Max produces the loudest sound and bass of any smart speaker, but it's also more than double the size of a HomePod, costs more ($400), and doesn't sound as good when cranked up.

By contrast, HomePod really hits the sweet spot. It's as compact as a Sonos One, gets nearly as loud as a Google Home Max, and produces what I feel is the best sounding audio across all music genres. It brings the bass, but still satisfies the rest of the sound spectrum.

So Apple's HomePod is actually a good value... if you only take into account the sound quality. But not everyone's going to appreciate it and pay more just to have best-in-class sound. Most people will be satisfied with a "good enough"-sounding smart speaker like the Echo or Google Home. 

Ultimately, deciding whether HomePod is right for you comes down to your level of music appreciation, your budget, and what you want out of a voice assistant. I can't decide that for you. If, like me, you've always wanted a good sound system but aren't willing to invest in thousands of dollars of equipment, HomePod is a shortcut well worth considering — even if that means switching to Apple Music(opens in a new tab).

And here's the thing: If you decide to take that plunge, you're not necessarily committing to Siri for all of your home voice needs. It's not like you can't just plop an Amazon Echo or Google Home right next to the HomePod. Because while Apple's rotund little speaker may be an audio powerhouse, as a everyday assistant, Siri is still an apprentice.