I bought a HomePod 2 a couple hours ago, from my local Apple Store.
While I was in the store, I tested out their display model (just a single HomePod, not part of a stereo pair) with some music I've been playing for years so I knew what it should sound like, though I couldn't send my music to the HomePod using my iPhone XS via AirPlay, since for some reason the display model wasn't configured to work with AirPlay, so I had to use Siri to request the tracks I wanted, which probably got them from Apple Music. The store's HomePod sounded decent.
When I got my HomePod home, I set it up in my medium-sized bedroom, placing it on top of a big speaker about a foot from one wall, which placed it about seven feet directly in front of where I normally sit, and about one foot higher than my ears. I used Airplay to send the same tracks to it as I'd done with the demo model in the store, but this time I was able to use the Music app on my iPhone XS running iOS 16.3 (latest), and then using the Music app on my Macbook Pro running macOS Ventura 13.2 (latest).
The sound quality was muffled. Bass was OK, but even it sounded muffled.
I thought maybe the problem was that an extra step was required to get the Music app's EQ settings to be used by the HomePod, so in the Music app's "Equalizer" window on my Macbook, I reselected the custom EQ setting I normally use. This made no difference, so I tried several of my other custom EQ settings, and a few of Apple's EQ presets, but again this made no difference. The same thing happened on my iPhone when I selected the Music app in Settings, and tried its EQ presets. It seemed the HomePod wasn't responding to my Music app EQ changes at all, so I did some Internet searches to see if I was doing it wrong, but I found comments that some time in 2019, Apple seems to have disabled this option, in favor of the HomePod's automatic room adjustment function--no matter what your Music app's EQ settings are on your iOS or macOS device, the HomePod doesn't know about them, but instead it seems to default to some preset EQ that doesn't even sound like a flat EQ, and makes some adjustments depending on what its microphones detect about the room.
Then I played a couple of the same tracks by asking Siri on the HomePod to play them. It again probably got them from Apple Music instead of my iPhone or my Macbook. They sounded better, almost decent, but still a little muffled. Maybe tracks sent from Apple Music use some EQ setting that the HomePod is better able to work with.
Then I moved my HomePod off of the top of the speaker I'd placed it on, moving it about a foot and a half lower onto the arm of a couch next to the speaker, so that the HomePod was now about a foot below my line of sight/ears, and on a soft surface to see if this would make the tweeters in the HomePod brighten up a bit. This seemed to improve the sound a little, but maybe only because the tweeters were now firing more directly into my ears than they were when they were a couple feet higher. But the sound still wasn't as good as I was hoping, and as I continued to play several other tracks, I found some that sounded pretty awful through the HomePod.
Whatever it's doing, it sounds bad enough that I'll be returning this HomePod unless it can be gotten to use my EQ settings from my iPhone and/or my Macbook, or unless I find that something extra needs to be done to get it to properly adjust to the room it's in. I prefer to use the Music app on my iPhone and my Macbook, instead of always requesting music from the Apple Store via Siri, since the Music app gives you more control, you can see track names, lyrics, etc., and some of the music I've got isn't available from Apple Music.
Does anybody know about this EQ issue with HomePods?
