iTunes Equalizer not working after 12.8 Update. It does work outside of AirPlay. Anybody experience this?

New development...

After spending 30 min on the phone with Apple support yesterday, the Sr. tech I was speaking with, was stumped.

All the settings and statuses we checked were acceptable, and not the source of the problem.

So, my theory was...something in the MacOS 10.13.6 update broke my eq.

The tech and I decided to try restoring my Mac to a Time Machine backup I had done just before updating.

I did this last night, and viola!

I'm back to using MacOS 10.13.5 and iTunes 12.8.0.150 and all is well.

I can now send Apple Music simultaneously to my HomePod and Mac speakers with a functioning equalizer.

It really makes a nice stereo effect without having to have 2 home pods. 😉

The tech said he will call me back next week to check status.

If my experiment was successful, he would send the issue up the chain of command so the developers can de-bug their MacOS and iTunes update code.

The take-away from all this is...

If you like using iTunes eq with your HomePod, either make a time machine backup before updating, or skip the MacOS 10.13.6 update.

Also keep in mind...

Everyone's MacBook is unique in configuration, what and how apps are installed, and how everything is affected by updates.

Much like how medications affect different people differently, the MacOS update that disabled my eq may not affect your Mac in the same way.

So, the old rule of thumb is reinforced here...

Backup before updating.

Just tried something that makes me think this is a bug and not intentional, or at least is fixable if Apple wants to fix it.

I enabled my Wren (AirPlay capable) speaker while using the HomePod via iTunes+AirPlay. The equalizer started working for the HomePod. There is a almost ten second delay for the EQ to take effect (just as an FYI if you are testing it), this was always true for me though and is not a problem.

When I disabled the Wren speaker, the EQ stopped working.

So I seem to have a very kludgy workaround - enable HomePod and Wren speaker, with Wren speaker volume set to zero.

I just confirmed when I rolled back the firmware on my Airport Express devices from 7.8 to 7.6.9 the problem went away. The 7.6.9 firmware introduced support for AirPlay2. So I believe the problem is related to using the equalizer with AirPlay2 devices.

I have found that if you start up iTunes, make sure that your AirPlay device is up and running, then use the speaker drown down list on the desktop and choose the target AirPlay device - you will be good to go.

You can make this setting more permanent with the "Speaker Preferences" menu item under the drop down.

If you try to send out the sound via the iTunes AirPlay icon things will go wrong. If you initially connect with iTunes AirPlay - and then try to go the speaker route, things might be a little flakey.

The iTunes EQ works for me only when I FIRST set the sound output in "preferences to "Airport Express". Then, I airplay to Airport Express as usual in iTunes. The EQ needs a few seconds to kick in. When the blue dots appear in the sliders you'll know it's working.

I figured out a workaround by first playing iTunes through my MBP. Then I join the Air Play express and then turn my volume down on the MBP setting to minimal. The EQ stays active for the Air Play then, but only as long as I operate in this configuration. A pain and a huge disappointment that Apple has deactivated the EQ feature but at least I am able to have the EQ operational...no wonder Apple's stock is falling!...terrible decision on their part!!

Same issue. I use Airfoil to stream my sources other than iTunes and added iTunes as a source to Airfoil and problem solved.

Same issue with 12.8. Occurs in 10.13.6 and also in 10.14. The EQ just stays blank, doesn't turn on when connected via AirPlay.

I've tried erasing the disk and reinstalling macOS, luckily i got iTunes 12.7.x installed after reinstalling macOS. Works perfectly again. I'd suggest avoiding 12.8 iTunes Update.

I hope this helps.

It seems to be a conflict between MacOS 10.13.6 and iTunes 12.8.

I have a MacBook that is running iTunes 12.8 (latest version) and MacOS 10.13.5, and the EQ works fine.

I have another MacBook running iTunes 12.7.8 and MacOS 10.13.6 (latest version) with a functioning EQ.

As soon as I update either iTunes or MacOS on either machine, to a combination of iTunes 12.8 and MacOS 10.13.6, the EQ becomes non-functional via AirPlay, and I have to do a TimeMachine restore.

This workaround only works if you are using unpaired Homepods. As soon as you pair them it is not possible to choose any other airplay speaker. Unpair them and you can tick two home pods and the airplay speaker and the equalizer will work. This is really messy, hope Apple will sort this.

I found the problem. Or a sort of a solution. If you change your speaker on preferences to your airplay device, the eq starts working again. Pretty inconvenient, but works anyway. And you can always set up a multi device there too and probably include the airplay device in that too. Haven't checked on that.

I see, that my answer was ignored because of my silly mistake of just "replying". Hope this one reaches anyone who is searching for a solution for this problem. However, I don't consider this a solution, merely a work-a-round. But still. This is how I worked this out:

I found the problem. Or a sort of a solution. If you change your speaker on preferences to your airplay device, the eq starts working again. Pretty inconvenient, but works anyway. And you can always set up a multi device there too and probably include the airplay device in that too. Haven't checked on that.

I spoke with an Apple agent today and was informed that the iTunes EQ

feature has been deactivated (without notice) when using Airplay. She suggested sending

feedback at apple.com/feedback. Like I'm sure that's gonna do a lot of

good, but I did it anyway. For me, this "deactivated feature" aka BUG

seems to totally defeat the purpose of using Airplay/Airport Extreme in

the first place if I can't hear my music through my sound system the way

I want to. RIDICULOUS

I'm using an older Mac that can't upgrade beyond High Sierra and iTunes 12.8.x. I've been talking with two Apple Support top-tier guys who've taken me seriously and done their best to help out. The engineers are telling them that the EQ supposedly works in 12.9 (which I can't use), but I see reports here that the problem persists for some of you. I also have an issue where the ability to control iTunes volume using the iTunes Remote app on my iPhone cuts out — either altogether or after briefly working. (My workaround for this is to use Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil and Airfoil Satellite.)

And here's one that's really nuts: The last-played column will not update after playing a song in iTunes IF you are connected to Airplay! This was verified to my guys by the engineers. Is this a big deal? Well, I create playlists where I don't want a song to repeat for x number of days. This used to work fine for me. Now it doesn't. What they tell me is even though their engineers may or may not be aware of these issues, they are not reported often enough to do anything about them. So for all of us, our best bet is to go to https://www.apple.com/feedback/ and make a detailed report. You won't hear back from them directly, but I'm assured that somebody does actually read and respond to these.