I wonder if HomePod has a hidden EQ. I ask it to "increase the bass" and Siri doesn't give me any feedback. Like the volume that just increases after you ask it to, it appears that more bass was added but I have no way to measure it.
Unfortunately there's no problem EQ yet - Homepod has the hardware to sound pretty decent, but the default sound is woeful, too muddy, too much mid, the bass is there to "wow" people when they first play it and there's just no top end at all. It sounds like someones thrown their coat over a decent speaker.
The only way to hack the EQ at the moment is to AirPlay from a Mac and use the EQ in iTunes ... this is a much better starting point for the Homepod sound - it still needs a bit of tweaking, perhaps pull 16k down a touch, material dependant and location as well - but I can actual listen to stuff now.
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I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on the HomePod 2, if you have any. This post back in the day hit the nail on the head for me, putting words to why my ear wasn't as impressed with the first HomePod as so many rave reviewers: "It sounds like someone's thrown their coat over a decent speaker."
HomePod 2, as I hear it anyway, doesn't have this issue; I get a lot more clarity and openness. Now, prevailing reviewer opinion seems to be that HP1 sounds better than HP2... I couldn't disagree more. A common criticism is a lack of bass with HP2... but what I hear is more controlled bass (and more capable as well). They complain that the mids are too low and the highs are too bright... your EQ for HP1 corrects for mids that were too high and highs that were too low.
In general, many of your criticisms of HP1 (which really spoke to what I was hearing as well) now seem to be criticisms from the masses on HP2, but in the opposite direction.
I'm quite pleased with how improved HomePod 2 is over HomePod 1. What do you think?
I was very happy for that but still trying to get my playlists to be the same from my late 2015 iMac, to the iPhone and HomePoddid include the reduce bass mode at least.