14-inch MacBook Pro speakers sound muffled

So to address your questions as best I can: 1) I am not familiar with “eqMac”; 2) I do not know if you can disable spatial sound with Audio Hijack. You can “fiddle” with the sound (to use a technical term :slight_smile: ), so maybe enough fiddling will result in the sound you want; 3) The name of the product is Audio Hijack, which is one of many products from the vendor Rogue Amoeba; 4) Yes, you would need to have the Session you created running in Audio Hijack for it to have an effect on the sound; 5) While the most common use of Audio Hijack is to record, that is not a requirement. You can just run input to output (in my example System Audio to Headphones–or Internal Speaker, either one) and stick an EQ in between without recording.

Pretty sure they have a trial version. Give it a try…nothing to lose.

At the bottom of the eqMac control panel, did you try clicking the Advanced tab and then select, for example, the Spoken Word preset? (Audio Hijack has a very similar presets.)

The main advantage I can see to eqMac over Audio Hijack is that there is a free version, although of course Audio Hijack has many other features besides an equalizer. I already own Audio Hijack, though, so for me it’s a moot point.

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Audio Hijack looks quite complicated. In eqMac I tried reducing the bass. I didn’t know what else to try. I’ll try it again with the setting you mention and see if it helps. Feeling sort of down about this whole thing because (1) otherwise this new MBP is really nice and fast, etc. and (2) if I give it up, what are my alternatives besides going back to my 2013 MBP?

This is what the bottom of the eqMac advanced tab looks like. I don’t see any presets there…

The other settings you mentioned suddenly appeared. Testing now. Thanks.

Click the drop-down menu (where it says Flat).

The best way to experiment with it is to play something that otherwise sounds too boomy to you, such as someone talking (not music), then try different presets to see the effect they have.

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It’s a miracle! With the Spoken Voice setting the sounds are beautiful and clear now! And overall everything about the sound: volume, musical range and clarify, and the clarity of voices is like a million times better than my 2013 MBP which, as I mentioned, sounds clear but “tinny.”

It’s perfect this way. Why doesn’t Apple provide a basic equalizer like this?

I tested with Netflix and some songs with clear vocals in Apple Music: Please Come to Boston, Try to Remember, Jean - all beautiful.

Thank you. You made my day!

Even the Siri voice sounds nice now! (One issue - I can’t actually invoke Siri anymore.)

Keeping it! :smile:

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I’m glad it worked out.

One other thing – you mentioned Spatial Audio. I don’t know anything about it, but does it affect the sound coming from your speakers? If so, you might try turning it off, as it could be contributing to the boominess.

There doesn’t seem to be a setting for Spatial Audio anywhere.

One other thing about eqMac: when the app is open FaceTime sound (in and out) doesn’t work. If I close the app it works. So eqMac seems to be intercepting it somehow.

It’s easy enough to turn on and off though.

Anyway, Siri completely stopped working - both “Listen for Hey Siri” and the keyboard shortcut. I wonder if installing eqMac somehow broke Siri?

Unfortunately I don’t know, but SoundSource (from Rogue Amoeba), which James Cutler mentioned earlier in this thread, looks like it might be able to be customized for different applications such as FaceTime and Siri.

P.S. My comments about SoundSource per-application customization may be incorrect – I haven’t really looked into it.

I restarted my Mac and Siri was working again. I think it had something to do with system sound input settings and permissions and whatever for eqMac. Haven’t tested FaceTime yet, but since the symptoms were the same I bet it works now. It’s really a great app.

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It’s really confusing though. I did some tests with voice/video call apps.

(1) First, not using a voice/video call app but eqMac is running, and seems to be filtering my Apple Music. However, the Output in preferences shows as MacBook Pro Speakers.

(2) When I try a Zoom call with my sister it’s the same, and also works and the Output doesn’t change.

(3) When I go back into FaceTime the Output changes to MacBook Pro Speakers (eqMac) Virtual and at first neither can hear each other.

(4) But if I quit eqMac the output changes to just Macbook Pro Speakers and we can both hear each other.

(5) But if I then start eqMac again once more the output switches back to Macbook Pro Speakers (eqMac) Virtual and we can barely hear each other. Like one-tenth volume.

(6) Then if I quit again we can both hear each other normally.

After the video call if I start eqMac again I think it’s working with Apple Music but the Output shown in preferences doesn’t change.

It’s a bit of a confusing mess. Still trying to decide whether to return my new MBP M1 Pro or not.

Aren’t others bothered by this sound business at all?

The Music app has one (Window → Equalizer):

Screen Shot 2021-11-10 at 11.08.35

But it’s only for the Music app. You can configure Music to use a different EQ preset for each song in your library, but it has no effect on audio from other sources.

My advice on Boom is to carve out some time to configure it. I think it needs an App.
I recall an iteration of Boom 2(?) usb speaker system is heavily weighted for bass, out of the box, … that might give you some trouble, considering your earlier issues.
I like the subject on Japanese song too, but I doubt we are allowed to go down that path here LOL
:upside_down_face:

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I’ve hoped for a long time something like this would appear in the System > Sound > Output pane, … but alas …

yes, SoundSource allows access to a 10 Band Equalizer and other related sound settings on an app by app basis.

Screen Shot 2021-11-10 at 10.34.19 AM

I see that Finder is even included (under “Special Sources”)
Screen Shot 2021-11-10 at 10.32.49 AM

Possible that the default EQ is for music, not spoken. For music, you want a nice bit of bass. For spoken, you want basically all the low bass removed. So an EQ app, as mentioned, might well help. Take out all the low end (100 Hz and below) when you’re listening to spoken.

Not just mere speech of course, but also for songs where artists are singing.

Don’t others find the new speakers muffling and annoying? Am I the only one?

Anyway, if eqMac isn’t working well with everything I guess I’ll try other equalizers and see if they help. Boom is an obvious one to try since I already own it. I got it because the volume on my 2013 MBP was too low. That’s not the problem with my new MBP.

Others mentioned here also look interesting.

There dev of eqMac has also asked for more details at their Discord. So I’ll answer him when I get up.

Only 9 days left if I decide to return it. But if I do I’d hate to go back to my 2013 MBP because this new one is so nice by comparison in every other aspect. So fast!

I just can’t believe Apple shipped new speakers like this and I’m surprised everybody isn’t complaining!

The speakers sound awesome on my 16 Max, an improvement over my MBP 16" intel which was a step up.

Not that ever use it for music or movies, though. Anyone who really cares about sound would be using external “real” speakers anyway, wouldn’t they?