Music Missing Background Vocals + Instrument Elements

Hello CaseyS_124,

If you are an Apple Music subscriber, and using the Dolby Atmos feature, let's temporarily disable it using the steps below to see if that is a contributing factor in this behavior:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Home app.

2. Tap the Home button .

3. Tap Home Settings.

4. Under People, tap your name.

5. Tap Apple Music.

6. Turn Dolby Atmos on or off.

You can also find those steps in this resource: About Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos in Apple Music

If you aren't an Apple Music subscriber, or if that persists with Dolby Atmos disabled, do you experience the same behavior with other types of media?

Let us know, and we'll keep moving forward from there.

It’s maddening though because it should work right away all the time! Apple really needs to fix something!! They came out with these new HomePods. I just have one mini. But people that invested in two new, big HomePods…..

I find, with Dolby Atmos enabled, on my HomePod some Atmos albums sound excellent. Like Herbie Hancock Speak Like A Child, Liz Phair Soberish, Police Greatest Hits, Alice In Chains Dirt and Facelift … and some sound like what you’re saying … missing instruments amped vocals and missing background vocals … like Rush Moving Pictures, Pearl Jam Gigaton. The latter were albums that came out right when Dolby Atmos was introduced and the former came out months or a year after. I personally keep Atmos enabled and if it doesn’t sound good on my HomePod, I reserve them for my AirPods.

I’m sorry. Bedroom was the actual name of my HomePod, not the room assigned. Also, when you go to the home app, you tap on the airplay menu anywhere to get the check mark by iPhone. What’s important is to clear the selection so you can get a random song chosen to play. It sounds amazing once you get this:

Hello CaseyS_124,

If this only occurs when Dolby Atmos is enabled, then there may be an issue with the content. We'd recommend contacting Apple Support directly so they can look into this a bit more.

Regards.

I’ve noticed most everything is altered some way, really, on my new HomePod. There are two settings for Dolby Atmos being on for an iPhone. In the home app and in the phone settings. The best I get is Atmos to “always on” in settings and off in the home app. It seems with Dolby Atmos all on the spatial mix map gets in the way and boosts center and drops sounds far from center (layman terms ya). I don’t know if this is an error??🤷🏻‍♂️

Ok I got it. Put the airplay in the now playing pull-up menu of the Apple Music app to “iPhone”. Then completely close the Apple Music app. Open the Home app and tap on the HomePod icon. Pull up the airplay menu under the album artwork. It should be on “iPhone” and then switch it to the HomePod on the airplay menu. Then close the airplay menu and press play and it should randomly choose a song selection. Minimize the home app but don’t close it. Open the Apple Music app again. Go to now playing airplay menu and select your HomePod and the Apple Music app should play the previous random song that was chosen in the home app and “iPhone->Bedroom” (or other room assigned to HomePod) should appear. Then you can play any great sounding Dolby Atmos music with atmos toggled on in phone settings and toggled on in the Apple Music settings in the home app

**I’d like to note that I’m getting the Dolby Atmos fidelity in a correct sound map (not the spatial audio you get in headphones)

also I’m actually listening to Abbey Road in Dolby Atmos without any gaps on my HomePod!!!👍🏻

I got to the point where it would switch off Dolby atmos no matter what I did. But then I went to the settings for the control center and toggled off control center access within apps and toggled off home controls in control center and now it sounds great all the time without doing anything above! Yay for me! Anyone here?!🙃⛺️🦥

I got it sounding great with Dolby Atmos enabled. I tapped around on the airplay pull-up menu and got this readout and got full, great sound (bedroom is my HomePod)

Check that Liz Phair’s Soberish sounds bad

im sorry. In the home app airplay menu tap on iPhone to clear the selection so the HomePod can choose a random song

I think the trick is to get the “replace” prompt in the home app now playing screen. I don’t know exactly how I get it but at some point it just starts sounding awesome