Apple’s Awe Dropping event introduced the iPhone Air and AirPods Pro 3, but the expected HomePod 3 did not appear. The HomePod 2 will receive new features, yet anyone waiting to replace it still lacks a third-generation option.
Tom’s Guide reviewer Nikita Achanta recommends considering the Denon Home 150 instead. Although it is not an Apple product, she favors its sound, smart-home and multi-room integration, and lower price. In her testing, setting up two Denon speakers for multi-room playback took less than 10 minutes and delivered excellent results.
Denon Home 150: $249 at Amazon
The Home 150 combines Wi-Fi music-subscription support with integration across HEOS speakers and audio components. It also offers stronger bass than many alternatives when used in a surround-sound home theater, making it an appealing Sonos One alternative.
Flexible connections and voice control
Alexa and Siri support let the Home 150 handle reminders and other daily tasks. Siri requires a HomePod in the vicinity, an important condition for anyone planning to use Apple’s assistant. Achanta sees the speaker as particularly useful for households using both assistants.
Streaming services include Spotify, Apple Music and Qobuz. Alongside wireless hi-res streaming and Bluetooth, the speaker provides a 3.5mm aux connection and a USB-A port for music stored on a thumb drive.
Pairing with another HEOS-compatible speaker, such as the Denon Home 350, enables multi-room playback. Speakers can play in sync, or be configured as left and right channels for stereo listening.
Sound that exceeds its size
Achanta regards the HomePod 2 as a good-sounding speaker and expects its eventual successor to sound good too, but found the Home 150 especially impressive. Despite reviewing audio equipment professionally, she had not anticipated such strong performance from this small enclosure.
Its hardware comprises one 1-inch tweeter, one 3.5-inch woofer and two class D amplifiers. A DTS Neural:X upmixer contributes immersive, lifelike three-dimensional audio, described in the review as consistent wherever the listener stands in the room.
Across her listening, Achanta found the lows, mids and highs well balanced without sacrificing bass richness. Twenty One Pilots’ Center Mass and Tally retained their deep, lively basslines. She considers the overall sound profile remarkably close to the more expensive Home 350; the publication’s full Home 150 and Home 350 reviews cover those findings in more detail.
The appeal of multi-room listening
Testing the Home 150 with the Home 350 changed Achanta’s view of whole-home audio. She and her partner could hear the same music while working in different rooms, while still asking each speaker to perform separate tasks—for example, setting a timer on one and requesting a calculation on the other.
Rather than waiting indefinitely for HomePod 3, she recommends the Home 150 for its music playback and quick integration into an existing Apple setup, especially one already containing a HomePod or HomePod Mini.
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Apple
Author photography: Instagram.
