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> I remember reading one of the story about HomePod team asking Jimmy Iovine's opinion on its audio quality. His reply was his usual " You need more Bass". The

by gwd 6y ago

> I remember reading one of the story about HomePod team asking Jimmy Iovine's opinion on its audio quality. His reply was his usual " You need more Bass". The fact that the author thinks the HomePods have great sound rather makes me doubt his audiophile qualifications. I consistently have to listen to music at a much lower volume than I want because even at a moderate volume, the bass hurts my ears. Listening to classical is even more annoying, as everything is fine until some poor instrument wanders in to the HomePod's "BOOST THAT BASS" range and suddenly the balance is all wrong.

zachwood 6y ago
I returned a homepod after really wanting to like it. I tried several locations, didn't matter, the bass is overpowering. There's a HUGE bass boost. It's unlistenable to anyone familiar with what a relatively neutral frequency response should sound like. I don't know what type of curve they are targeting with all of their auto-eq magic but if you're not going to make it user-adjustable, I don't know why you would choose a bass cannon.
- astrange 6y ago
  HomePod's frequency response is objectively flat when placed in a free space. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/apple-homepod-measurement.8425/ https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/a... https://www.rtings.com/speaker/reviews/apple/homepod https://www.rtings.com/speaker/reviews/apple/homepod You might have reflections or room gain if it's in a smaller space. It'd probably help to put it on a speaker stand.
  - zachwood 6y ago
    Guess I just need to move into a place without walls.
  - gwd 6y ago
    As parent mentioned, I've also tried the speakers in lots of different locations -- on the floor, on a desk, near a wall, not near a wall, in the kitchen, the living room, the study, and the hallway. And I've listened to the same music on my Bose headset (which aren't exactly known for low bass response), and then streamed it over my HomePod; the HomePod was basically unlistenable at any reasonable volume. Maybe it really is just the HomePod managing to hit the bass frequency of every room, and all I need to do is add bass traps everywhere; or maybe all the music I want to listen to is just badly mixed to make up for expected poor bass response on speakers. But it's a bit hard to believe, honestly.
    - zachwood 6y ago
      My experience was the same as yours, I tried every size room and location I could and they were all terrible. The biggest sales pitch for the device is the smart eq that makes it sound good no matter where you put it. The only takeaway I have is that they delivered on this but the tuning target is insanely bass-boosted.
  - gwd 6y ago
    Also, looking closely, the graphs in audiosciencereview.com do show about a 5db increase in volume below 200 HZ, and another set of graphs [1] linked to from one of the comments shows nearly 10db increases for some frequencies. 10db is a pretty significant boost. [1] https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/spinorama-measurements-of-the-apple-homepod.7417/ https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/s...
1123581321 6y ago
HomePod does not boost bass. Take a look at these graphs showing the flatness across the spectrum and the level of deviation and distortion. Whether you like flat frequency response on a speaker that can power the low end is up to you, of course. https://www.fastcompany.com/40530628/apple-homepod-frequency-response-flat-sound https://www.fastcompany.com/40530628/apple-homepod-frequency... https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/7wwtqy/apple_homepod_the_audiophile_perspective/ https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/7wwtqy/apple_ho...
- gwd 6y ago
  First of all, those two graphs don't show the same thing. Why not? Secondly, they both, in different ways, show a distinct bass boost. In the first one, between 100 and 200 HZ, there's a boost of up to 2 dB over 0. The reference studio monitor for that range is below 0. In the second one, from about 330Hz all the way to 7k is very close to 70 dB. Between 120 and 300 Hz, however, it's nearly 80 dB. 10dB is a huge difference in volume, and closely matches my experience of listening to music on HomePods. That's four frequency response graphs so far (see a comment further down the thread) that have been presented as evidence that the HomePod has a "flat" response curve, which, upon closer inspection, actually indicate a distinct bass boost.
  - 1123581321 6y ago
    Good questions/pushback. Audio analysts don't get identical results due to human error, different software, and different room configurations. The HomePod in particular was reportedly difficult to measure due to its shape and inability to plug directly in. For the rest, I think you might be seeing the loudness compensation, which isn't a boost. Here are two measurements from the reddit thread showing how the HomePod responds at different volumes. https://i.imgur.com/dQQYdrI.png https://i.imgur.com/dQQYdrI.png https://i.imgur.com/Iz1HAfu.png https://i.imgur.com/Iz1HAfu.png Here's an overview of that approach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour Another angle might be to read from reviewers who want bass and aren't happy with the Homepod's balance. For example, this reviewer recommends the Sonos Five over the HomePod if you want bass, and provides this measurement comparison to partially demonstrate the difference. https://www.rtings.com/speaker/0-8/graph#15253/4553/1719 https://www.rtings.com/speaker/0-8/graph#15253/4553/1719 A third angle might be to find a speaker with bass you like, and read its measurements. If you have a particular model, happy to look at it together.

by gwd 6y ago

zachwood 6y ago

I returned a homepod after really wanting to like it. I tried several locations, didn't matter, the bass is overpowering. There's a HUGE bass boost. It's unlistenable to anyone familiar with what a relatively neutral frequency response should sound like. I don't know what type of curve they are targeting with all of their auto-eq magic but if you're not going to make it user-adjustable, I don't know why you would choose a bass cannon.

astrange 6y ago
HomePod's frequency response is objectively flat when placed in a free space. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/apple-homepod-measurement.8425/ https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/a... https://www.rtings.com/speaker/reviews/apple/homepod https://www.rtings.com/speaker/reviews/apple/homepod You might have reflections or room gain if it's in a smaller space. It'd probably help to put it on a speaker stand.
- zachwood 6y ago
  Guess I just need to move into a place without walls.
- gwd 6y ago
  As parent mentioned, I've also tried the speakers in lots of different locations -- on the floor, on a desk, near a wall, not near a wall, in the kitchen, the living room, the study, and the hallway. And I've listened to the same music on my Bose headset (which aren't exactly known for low bass response), and then streamed it over my HomePod; the HomePod was basically unlistenable at any reasonable volume. Maybe it really is just the HomePod managing to hit the bass frequency of every room, and all I need to do is add bass traps everywhere; or maybe all the music I want to listen to is just badly mixed to make up for expected poor bass response on speakers. But it's a bit hard to believe, honestly.
  - zachwood 6y ago
    My experience was the same as yours, I tried every size room and location I could and they were all terrible. The biggest sales pitch for the device is the smart eq that makes it sound good no matter where you put it. The only takeaway I have is that they delivered on this but the tuning target is insanely bass-boosted.
- gwd 6y ago
  Also, looking closely, the graphs in audiosciencereview.com do show about a 5db increase in volume below 200 HZ, and another set of graphs [1] linked to from one of the comments shows nearly 10db increases for some frequencies. 10db is a pretty significant boost. [1] https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/spinorama-measurements-of-the-apple-homepod.7417/ https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/s...

1123581321 6y ago

HomePod does not boost bass. Take a look at these graphs showing the flatness across the spectrum and the level of deviation and distortion. Whether you like flat frequency response on a speaker that can power the low end is up to you, of course. https://www.fastcompany.com/40530628/apple-homepod-frequency-response-flat-sound https://www.fastcompany.com/40530628/apple-homepod-frequency... https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/7wwtqy/apple_homepod_the_audiophile_perspective/ https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/7wwtqy/apple_ho...

gwd 6y ago
First of all, those two graphs don't show the same thing. Why not? Secondly, they both, in different ways, show a distinct bass boost. In the first one, between 100 and 200 HZ, there's a boost of up to 2 dB over 0. The reference studio monitor for that range is below 0. In the second one, from about 330Hz all the way to 7k is very close to 70 dB. Between 120 and 300 Hz, however, it's nearly 80 dB. 10dB is a huge difference in volume, and closely matches my experience of listening to music on HomePods. That's four frequency response graphs so far (see a comment further down the thread) that have been presented as evidence that the HomePod has a "flat" response curve, which, upon closer inspection, actually indicate a distinct bass boost.
- 1123581321 6y ago
  Good questions/pushback. Audio analysts don't get identical results due to human error, different software, and different room configurations. The HomePod in particular was reportedly difficult to measure due to its shape and inability to plug directly in. For the rest, I think you might be seeing the loudness compensation, which isn't a boost. Here are two measurements from the reddit thread showing how the HomePod responds at different volumes. https://i.imgur.com/dQQYdrI.png https://i.imgur.com/dQQYdrI.png https://i.imgur.com/Iz1HAfu.png https://i.imgur.com/Iz1HAfu.png Here's an overview of that approach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour Another angle might be to read from reviewers who want bass and aren't happy with the Homepod's balance. For example, this reviewer recommends the Sonos Five over the HomePod if you want bass, and provides this measurement comparison to partially demonstrate the difference. https://www.rtings.com/speaker/0-8/graph#15253/4553/1719 https://www.rtings.com/speaker/0-8/graph#15253/4553/1719 A third angle might be to find a speaker with bass you like, and read its measurements. If you have a particular model, happy to look at it together.