Easy. Quote "It directs sound to specific places in a room, creating immersive 3-D audio." end quote.

I say a) this is exactly what an audiophile would want, and b) HomePod very likely can't do it (simply because it is a physically small device).

Also please notice I didn't dispute that HomePod won't "sound nice". I dispute a) "high quality" and b) "beamforming" capabilities directly mentioned in the linked article.

And as a reminder, another direct quote from the article: "The engineers wanted a product that would pass muster with audiophiles."