Comment by newscracker | Hacker News Reader

Comment by newscracker | Hacker News Reader

Too pricey, as many others have noted. I was waiting for this model to consider upgrading from the previous generation, but I can’t justify it at this price. I guess this is why recently Apple included the Apple TV service within the lowest/basic iCloud+ plan in most countries. There’s no way to justify the cost of this new device plus the high cost of the Apple TV content subscription, which has its own drawbacks (the catalog is too small in comparison to other services, Apple still releases episodes once a week, and adds annoying ads for its shows and movies at the start of an episode or movie).

I don’t see Siri AI as a big positive differentiator when compared to third generation Apple TV 4K from 2022. Anecdotally, Siri AI has gotten slower and worse from the time the *OS 27.x were released.

Apple TV is the smoothest way to navigate, run apps, etc., without having to use whatever sluggish tracking crap that comes with Smart TVs. I’ve never connected my TV to the internet and Apple TV is the main input source for it. Combined with a couple of HomePods and eARC, it works fine for the most part. Combine with NextDNS (for DNS and system wide tracker blocking) alongside Tailscale, and you’ve got a nice setup.

The biggest downside of Apple TV is tvOS, which doesn’t get much developer time within Apple. This hits harder for Apple’s own apps, which tend to be of poor quality and have no attention paid to bug reports for years.

Hilariously almost all my Apple TV's are mounted to walls behind screens, so as neat as the far-field mics are, I can't see them working terribly well when they're behind the TV.

Anyway I'm happy with my current units. If I was outfitting a new living room I could see this new one, but for the time being I'm not rushing out.

My (single) Homepod Mini reacts to voice commands from any room in my 86 square meter apartment. When the doors are open, I can talk to it basically through the wall, without raising my voice.

Do not underestimate modern audio technology.

I mean, how would this be an upgrade?

I have a $12k Trinnov processor that’s quite good at audio, handles 4k@120 and 8k. $299 Apple TV still can’t pass through audio or do anything better than 4k@60?

I didn’t get to spend $12k on a Trinnov by overpaying for the little things. Apple is high. I don’t know who this is for.

Does it come with specially shielded and gold plated hdmi cables to go along with the rest of the 12k snake oil?

Why would it need gold plated anything? It's all digital, all the way to the speakers. Or was that not a serious question? Perhaps you are thinking I spend $10k on speaker wire or devices to alter my listening rooms "quantum field"? No. I have an expensive digital processor because things like room correction work and the trinnov is the only kit that works with HDCP inputs and produces digital output. It's not that hard to do, it's just hard to do legally.

Hence “snake oil” — gold plated digital cables are an unfortunately huge market for people with too much money and too little sense.

I’ve listened to a bunch of these “audiophile” setups (usually owned by retired boomers with bad hearing in untreated rooms) and while 60k of amps does look good i really struggle to believe that anything other than the speakers makes much difference.

Having done that, my opinions are simple;

A good set of floor standers connected to pretty much anything will sound good.

Basic room treatment will go far enough for everyone unless you’re running a sfx studio or something and even then…

Anything over 320 mp3 is basically pointless, but the better masters you get on some of these 24/96 platforms make it probably worth the subscription (sometimes).

I prefer good headphones.

And this is how i’ve avoided spending 6 figures on audio gear :)

Trinnov is not snake oil though.

I agree with you on the untreated room and 60k amps (just buy hypex), I have a room that is designed by a professional and treated (massive traps completely covering all the walls and ceiling). Most people can’t dedicate the space to that type of setup though - particularly as it completely changes the look of a room.

But something like Trinnov can make a difference to even that setup - its what the acoustician will some days testing and tweaking particular as all speaker designs have flaws. Not that I have one yet, I didn't have the budget for it so I am making do with a cheaper alternative - but DSP for treated rooms makes a noticeable difference.

Yeah, I'm in opposite situation. Mine is in a regular living room. Certainly can't afford a house with a dedicated theater. I've got some unobtrusive panels but the worst reflection point is against a giant glass window. So instead of +$500k for a bigger house, it's $12k for a trinnov. Don't even need a professional. The trinnov has a 4-mic array that you plug in to the back and place it where your head is going to be. It plays sounds from all the speakers; measures frequency response of every speaker; measures all reflection paths; absorption. The four mics form a tetrahedron, so it also measures speaker position in 3D. Then when you're listing to anything it just adjusts for all that. It's just physics at this point. I have 30 year old Meridian speakers: each speaker has a DSP, 2 DACs and three 75-watt amps; one amp per driver. Can't afford new ones: the modern equivalent are $12k per pair. The trinnov is the cheapest solution that allows HDCP content in and plain (unencrypted) SPDIF out. So my path is digital right up to the 2 DACs in each speaker, and everything analog was designed as a unit. The $12k trinnov is the one that ditches the analog stage entirely - so you don't have to pay for the gold-plated XLR sockets =) Instead, it's 2x AES/EBU DB25. You get SFP cages for network! Ok, maybe the SFP cages are snake oil =)

Presumably it is for the 99.999% who didn't spend $12k on a Trinnov.

That's my point. If I'm not willing to spend $299 on a device with the same spec, audio/visual wise, as the previous $149 generation, who would be? Who here needs AI in their streaming services endpoint?

What 8k or 120 fps 4k content is even available?

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