Far too much bass in HomePod: can it be reduced?

Just one thought on use of “equalizers”, if you have to apply too much to compensate then I would say something is fundamentally wrong with the general setup/room interface. Some might be happy with that state of affairs, I would like to find what was throwing things out so much though, each to there own.

Best of luck.

Another point about equalizers is that when and if you reduce energy at a frequency you reduce all signal around that point, even if it is wanted signal. Consumer eq has little in the way of selectivity about what you can turn down, or up. Apples eq is as bad as the others are.

One of the important specifications for an equalizer is its Q, in simple terms the filter width, how big an area is affected by pushing the slider. In pro equalizers are 1/3rd octave equalizers, which is a fairly narrow band, it is the minimum requirement in my view (a 1/3rd octave eq has upwards of 30 bands, or it is not really a third octave equalizer) consumer eq's usually have 10 or less, the adjustments cover wide bands bands that will almost certainly contain information that should be heard. Set all eq to flat, then move the speaker around to every useful place it could be placed in. If you still don't like the way it sounds get rid of it, all further signal modification will be detrimental.

My day job is Concert Production, equalizers (both graphic and parametric) are a regularly used tool, but these are real equalizers, not the awful things that appear on home hifi rigs. My ears are starting to fail me now (too much time in front of the PA I assume) but I can still hear how it should be.

Real equalizers cost a lot, far more than a HomePod does, which is probably why there are none in a HomePod or anything else made for consumer use.

Yes, I think Alley_Cat is correct. The equalization is being done on the playback device (streaming source), not within the HomePod. I'm surprised that the AppleInsider article (or author) didn't recognize this distinction.

In any case, it makes sense that you can adjust the equalization from the streaming device, since the HomePod doesn't even have to know that it is being done (it just plays whatever is sent to it).

I am an audiophile, and couldn't be more astonished by the speaker's lack of clarity and sound separation. It's baffling, 99% of post-embargo reviews extolled HomePod's clarity and sound separtion as being second-to-none.

Moreover, the equalizer function in Settings > Apple Music no effect on HomePod output, whether one connects via Wifi or Airplay. I've worked it desperately, hoping that something, anything might wring decent sound from this device. That said, quality speakers should sound great without equalizing, or at most, an equalizer setting of "flat" for volume control.

I agree with one reviewer's observation that HomePod sounds like Beats--dull, base-heavy and muffled. I was expecting HomePod to sound like my AirPods, which are quite excellent. My AirPods do respond to Apple Music's equalizer, but I never need use it.

I have an Apple store appointment tomorrow, hoping that a diagnostic reveals it to be defective, and can be replaced with a unit that lives up to the hype.There's no other excuse for it's abysmal quality.

Why would iTunes' equalizer have any effect at all on HomePod's abysmal output? Furthermore, I've worked with the Apple Music equalizer for an hour, hoping to wring something decent from this disappointment of a speaker, to no effect.

Moreover, a decent speaker shouldn't require equalizing.

I hope an Apple store visit tomorrow will reveal this unit to be detective. There's no other excuse for it's "wrapped inI mean no disrespct. My bitterness is founded in disappointment. My expectations have run high since June 2017. My air pods,2017. My AirPods, from which I had expected nothing, have proven to be quite excellent. I was hoping for similar output from the HomePod. Instead, it sounds like a pair of Beats 3 Solo: dull, thudding, muddy, worthless.

Have to disagree with you, a good speaker benefits from good equalization to allow you to iron out the irregularities caused by walls, floors, ceilings etc. The problem is that iTunes does not possess a good equalizer.

This is probably a silly question, but have you tried using the EQ? I'm assuming you're using an iOS device, but you could also be using a Mac or something.

This is a fairly good guide for the most common configurations:

https://www.guidingtech.com/57944/customize-eq-settings-apple-music-spotify/

Also Macworld if you prefer:

https://www.macworld.com/article/2090554/tweak-your-ios-audio-with-eq-settings.h tml

I went through this with my Bose Bluetooth speaker brick, but I've found that the HomePod has slightly more mid- and high-end out of the gate, so I haven't had to tweak the EQ at all so far. The big test will come, for me, when I go to listen to my podcasts and audiobooks. That's where I need the highs and mids for vowel recognition. I have mild high-frequency hearing loss so...yeah. Totally understand the "holes."

Hope that helped!

You may need to get a second opinion on this one. If anything, it is light on bass in order to nail it with accuracy. I'm old, have severe tinnitus, and know that I can't hear the high frequencies like I used to. But as someone that used to have subwoofers in their car back when I could hear real well, I can tell you with complete certainty, that there IS NOT too much bass with the HomePod. The processor and bass mic are monitoring it with near perfection. I am blown away.

Csound1 wrote:

...a good speaker benefits from good equalization to allow you to iron out the irregularities caused by walls, floors, ceilings etc...

I beg to differ, having spent years carefully selecting the components for my audio system to obtain the level of quality I now have, by far the biggest challenge was the speaker/room interaction. The other units were chosen for there timing, pace and definition, but with speakers you have to consider additionally how they interact with the room you have, placement can influence that greatly and how they are supported, but I've come to realise that some speakers that works great in one system and room just don't in another.

That's why you simply can't audition speakers in the shop (or in isolation from the rest of your system), even in a specially prepared demo room, yes, it can help you narrow down your choice but which will ultimate work the best has to be assessed when connected to your system in your room.

Altering the signal going into them will change the sound characterises but as you previously pointed out usually at a cost elsewhere in the spectrum because you simply can't be selective enough in what you are trying to alter, even with the best of equipment.

Now I know I'm talking about audiophile equipment, and a £350 speaker linked to your computer is some what different, but I still feel the same approach to matching the sound is valid, especially when quite a few are reporting such big differences in sound quality. I just think trying to pull the sound back by alerting the signal is not a good way to go, by far the best is to try and find out the cause and see if it can be eliminated, and if not possible accepting the fact that the speaker might not be right for you.

One thought that has just occurred and would answer why there are reports coming of such varied performance, could the self tuning ability within the speaker itself be behind the issue, after all it's basically equalizing the sound automatically, what if it can't cope with certain extreme environments that are asked of it!

And for those interested, my system - Linn LP12/2M Black Cartridge , Naim Pre and Power Amps, Naim CD and Spendor Speakers, all bar the cartridge flying the flag, British 😁

Chronic Town wrote:

I am an audiophile, and couldn't be more astonished by the speaker's lack of clarity and sound separation.

I'm really not sure what people are expecting for the price and personally think comparison to audiophile equipment is misleading - when you look at the 'cover off' picture it does look well built with an impressive number of components inside but again at the cost it cannot be using exceptional components when there are so many, unless Apple are making a substantial loss using this as a vehicle to promote Apple Music - it'd be interesting if someone does a tear down and estimates component costs.

As to your observations, have you compared any similarly priced one box solutions as it'd be a shame if HomePod produced a very coloured, bass heavy sound, aimed at particular genres only rather than a reasonably accurate sound for the price.

demann63 wrote:

But as someone that used to have subwoofers in their car back when I could hear real well, I can tell you with complete certainty, that there IS NOT too much bass with the HomePod. The processor and bass mic are monitoring it with near perfection. I am blown away.

I guess there will be individual opinions on the weight of bass for a given speaker, but it's also possible that the auto-calibration software is buggy or that the components involved in monitoring are bad for some people.

A good question, and for now, the only way to adjust the EQ is to do so on the device that you use to stream music using AirPlay. For the Mac you could use the Equalizer on iTunes and on iOS, the Music app also has EQ settings in the app settings. You could choose "Bass Reducer". I tried asking Siri to reduce the bass when playing music directly on the HomePod, but Siri said it can't adjust that setting 😟