Which Smart Speaker Is Best for You?

The Apple HomePod mini and Amazon Echo Pop are two popular and inexpensive smart speakers that offer music playback, smart home control, and more. I’ve used them both, so here we’ll contrast both options to help you infer which one is best for you.

A Closer Look at the Specs

To begin, let’s take a look at some important specs of both the HomePod mini and Echo Pop, so you can get a better idea of both speakers.

Design: Both Smart Speakers Look Great

When taking a look at the overall design of both the HomePod mini and Echo Pop, there are some obvious differences, but it’s hard to ascertain the best choice. Both options are small and compact speakers designed to be placed almost anywhere.

The HomePod mini is covered with seamless and high-quality mesh and is made to supply 360-degree sound to a room. It weighs a little less than a pound and is 3.3 inches tall. You can select from one of five eye-catching colors. On top of the speaker is a small touch control panel with volume control and more.

The Echo Pop is also a colorful and svelte smart speaker. It’s 3.6 inches tall with fabric covering the front-firing speaker. It’s much lighter than the HomePod mini, tipping the scales at a little less than 7 ounces. On top of the speaker are a number of physical buttons for volume control, a microphone toggle for privacy, and more. There are four color options to select from.

While the HomePod mini design is great, the Echo Pop also holds its own. Both speakers look great in my home, and fit right into my decor.

Audio Quality: The HomePod mini Takes a Big Win

Since a popular way to use smart speakers is for music playback, many buyers are looking for the best sound possible. While the Echo Pop and HomePod mini are both small, Apple’s option blows away Amazon’s smart speaker when comparing sound quality.

When listening to the HomePod mini, the sound is crisp, clear, and truly fills the entire space. Bass response is also great. Even in mid-size rooms, the audio quality is deceptively good and makes you question how it could come from such a small speaker. It takes the same high-quality audio from the larger HomePod and puts it in a smaller package.

Audio quality from the Echo Pop is just OK. It’s comparable to other smaller Amazon Echo speakers appreciate the Echo Dot, but not as good. Some of that is due to the speaker design. With the front-firing speaker, you’ll need to be in the sweet spot to notice the best audio quality. Everywhere else, especially encourage away from the Echo Pop, audio is tinny. Lyrics are sometimes also difficult to discern, especially at higher volumes.

While I still savor listening to music on both the HomePod mini and Echo Pop, I always make sure to select Apple’s speaker when I’m ready to listen to tunes for a long period or while I’m moving around a room. The Echo Pop is best for music playback for short periods when you’re sitting right in front of the speaker.

Siri vs. Alexa: Alexa Comes Out on Top

Sure, you can communicate with both the Echo Pop and HomePod mini with controls on the speaker. But the virtual assistant powering them is the best way to do almost anything. Whether you want to play a song, turn on your lights, or something else, doing it with a simple voice command makes any action simple and easy. And when comparing Alexa on the Echo Pop to Siri on the HomePod mini, Amazon’s option is the best.

It’s still far from perfect, but Alexa easily beats Siri in a number of ways. It provides some great features you should be using on the Echo Pop appreciate the ability to make Alexa speak slower or faster and using brief mode to supply fast answers. Those are two examples of ways that Alexa is truly a customizable virtual assistant. Even for the most mundane questions, Alexa usually understands and responds correctly. You can also take advantage of tens of thousands of Alexa-powered skills that allow you to do everything from order a pizza to play a game of Jeopardy.

Even though Siri has gotten better over the years, it is still a step behind Alexa. When asking to even do a simple task, appreciate play a song, I still get annoyed when Siri doesn’t grasp or plays the wrong title. It’s a passable way to use the HomePod mini, but it could still be much better. I have both Siri and Alexa around my home, but will always default to the Echo Pop’s assistant when needing to ask a question.

Smart Home Hub: HomePod mini Reins Supreme, Again

Another way to use a smart speaker in your home is as a smart home hub. Both the HomePod mini and Echo Pop make it easy and simple to control any device you can visualize, from smart plugs to thermostats, with a simple voice command.

The Echo Pop, and Alexa, can be used to control many more products than the HomePod mini and Siri. But the HomePod mini is the best choice to control smart home products and to use in smart home automations.

The HomePod mini offers two big advantages compared to the Echo Pop. The first is a built-in temperature and humidity sensor. With that information, you can use the HomePod mini as part of an automation. For example, if the temperature becomes higher than a preset level, a fan will automatically turn on. Apple’s smart speaker also sports sound recognition that will send a notification to you if a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm goes off in your home.

If you have an existing eero Mesh Wi-Fi system, the Echo Pop does have a handy use as an extender that will broaden coverage by an additional 1,000 square feet without needing to buy another eero unit.

With their increased interoperability between smart home products, the Echo Pop and Alexa are my favorite ways to control smart home products. If you’re looking to purchase a smart home product, it will likely work with Alexa. That can’t be said for the HomePod mini and Siri due to Apple’s stricter security requirements. Being able to extend my eero network with the Echo Pop instead of buying another hardware unit also really saved some cash.

Price: Echo Pop Provides the Best Value for Your Buck

When comparing the price of the Echo Pop and HomePod mini, the Echo Pop definitely comes out on top. While the Alexa-powered speaker retails for $39.99, you can often find it on sale during many times of the year, appreciate during Prime Day and the holiday season. During those times, you can easily purchase four or five Echo Pops for the price of one HomePod mini at $99.

In contrast, just appreciate other Apple products, sales on the HomePod mini are few and far between. So be prepared to pay full retail price when making a purchase.

With that wide difference, the Echo Pop provides the best combination of value and great features.

Making the Best Choice Between the HomePod mini and Echo Pop

Even though it might not have top-notch audio quality and compatibility with other Apple products, appreciate the HomePod mini, the Amazon Echo Pop is truly the best choice between these two smart speakers. Being able to harness the power of Alexa in your smart home without breaking the bank makes it hard to pass up.