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Comment by whycombagator | Hacker News Reader

Related, but if you want a non spying speaker (i.e a network connected speaker with no mic) - Sonos make a mic free version of their entry level speaker: One SL. It supports Apple Airplay 2 and two One SLs can be paired for studio sound.

However, it is more expensive than the HomePod mini, not wireless (needs to be plugged in), & although it integrates tightly with iOS it can’t be as smooth as HomePod probably is (I haven’t tried the HomePod myself).

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I just made another comment down the thread[1], but Sonos spies on you plenty, even without a mic.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24680614

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24773717

Sonos spies on your usage instead of your audio, and is nowhere near the Homepod in terms of sound quality.

Huh? Seriously? Maybe the little Sonos One isn't, but they make some hardware that rather clearly outperforms the Homepod.

Well maybe not the ~$400 Homepod, but who knows how it will stack up against the $99 one.

Sure there’s some level of tracking, but that wasn’t my point. My point is that it’s mic free

Also, Sonos speakers from my research outperform HomePod in terms of sound - but if you have data to suggest otherwise feel free to share

Can't comment about the sound quality.

As far as privacy however, I definitely understand people's worry about the mic, but honestly I think it distracts from really looking at the data tracking practices and how much data is collected even without a mic. See [0]

I'm curious about Apple's data tracking, but based on their marketing page alone it definitely feels like they've given it a big consideration and it's not an afterthought. I cannot say the same for Sonos unfortunately. (I assume Google/Alexa etc are worse, but I don't use those, and didn't dig into it).

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24680614

The HomePod Mini also needs wall power, so it’s just as wireless as the Sonos speakers.

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