My dad is a “normal” person when it comes to tech. He’s interested in it, and has strong opinions on Mac vs Windows and iOS vs Android (Apple by a mile on both counts), but he’s not reading about this stuff every day. He uses an iPhone 6s Plus, in no small part because it’s the last iPhone he can get with a headphone jack. He’s also very into audio and has done recording work in the past. My parents’ house is full of Bose products.

At the same time he’s also quite privacy conscious. I asked him what he thought of Amazon Echos last year¹ and he went off about the insanity of putting a hot mic from a company like Amazon in your home. I didn’t dare ask about Google in this regard.

Today I asked him what he thought of the HomePod. “What’s a HomePod?” It would appear the suspicion that this product is not mainstream yet is correct.

So I showed him the product page for the HomePod on Apple.com. He scrolled through it and audibly reacted numerous times. “Wow!” “What?!” He was flabbergasted by the claims in the marketing copy. I grinned and told him “yeah, early impressions say it actually sounds that good.”

He was floored.

Since he had such adverse reactions to the Amazon Echo and Google Home previously, I asked him what he thought of Siri being built into this. He was a little hesitant because it’s still a mic in his house, but he was happier that it was Apple and therefore more trustworthy. He lit up when I told him what it would be able to do. He wasn’t in the market for a replacement for the Bose he has now, but the combination of great sound and smart features seemed compelling.

Then he got to the price and paused. $350 is not unreasonable for a really nice speaker, but he wants me to come over the day I get it to let him give it a shot. I expect he’ll get one soon-ish if the sound lives up to the hype.