(Disclaimer: I work at Apple, but was not involved with the HomePod hardware in any way.)
Since Apple gave employees a 50% discount on HomePod during the first 60 days after release, I jumped on it. I’ve had mine since Friday. That reddit review has been seen internally and people are quite happy with independent verification. Apple has had an anechoic chamber for a while — used in the past to make their hardware quieter, but they used it to test and refine be HomePod. The product has been under development for about 6 years.
I’m quite happy with mine, and can’t wait until they get the stereo pair feature working. While one sounds great, two would really be something.
