I, for one, find myself utilizing my MBPro for most of my movie watching these days.
While I have a decent enough sound system and home server for music files, it’s a bit awkward connecting all that or being oriented properly for precise audio optimization and plopping down to watch a film, or the news, for that matter, on the laptop… So I appreciate any improvements in on-board audio Apple makes to their line of portables
What do you use it for then? Just curious.
Writing and software development, some graphic design. (I’d love to do some video stuff, but I’m decades behind on that. The last movie I made I filmed with a Connectix QuickTake. It think it had 320x240 resolution. That was high tech back then. 
)
I have a big TV for movies, though when I travel I’ll use my 12.9" iPad. I find the iPad form factor better suited for movies, though a laptop could work fine if I didn’t have the iPad. (I won’t travel with the 16" Mac – I have a lighter MB Air for traveling.)
I find I don’t much listen to music. It’s too distracting when I work. Though if I did, I’d probably use a HomePod or my AirPods. I generally listen to audiobooks when I use my AirPods or when I’ve driving.
So because of my use case I may not be the best judge of audio quality, but the new speakers sound fine to me – voices aren’t super loud, but they are clear. I could understand song lyrics. I don’t heard the muddling you talk about. It could be yours is defective, except you did say using an equalizer fixed it, so maybe it’s just the way they sound to you. I think I saw a review that said the 14’s speakers aren’t quite as nice as the 16’s (due to the machine size), but it shouldn’t make that much of a difference and should be worlds better than your ancient MBP.
I watched a few Apple TV+ shows last night and plenty of YouTube videos. I have zero issue with the audio on commercial movies and music, it sounds fantastic. A local News TV show sounds fine too.
On YouTube, the voice overs are perhaps a little too spacial - sounds like a bit of a gap in the middle field and the bass is a little heavy. I downloaded and installed eqMac and set it to Spoken Word. I found it closely reflected what I would have expected and have no issue with it. The Spoken Word setting simple pulls down the 32hz bass tone and slightly boosts the mid-high tones (500-2k).
I have it in the menu bar and will flick it on when needed but i doubt I’ll use it much. I guess sound clarity is a very subjective thing.
The fact that an equalizer made the speakers sound acceptable to you makes me think you may not be taking into account the possible effect of high-frequency hearing loss, which of course varies among individuals from non-existent to profound.
I have the same problem with my MBP 16-in 2019, whose speakers sound much boomier than previous models.
The reason is that since over the years I am progressively hearing fewer high frequencies, the ones I still do hear are drowned out by the low frequencies, which sound more pronounced to me. This is particularly noticeable with the human voice but much less so with music.
A piece of music can sound fine even though you might not be hearing all of the sounds being produced – you just won’t know which sounds you are missing – but not hearing the high frequencies of a speaking or singing voice can make it immediately difficult to understand and therefore “muddied,” “muffled” or otherwise unclear.
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I find either Spoken Word or Vocal Booster do much the same thing.
I had my partner check with some Japanese song this morning and he thinks without eqMac it’s just slightly muffled in the voice, but nicer with eqMac.
As mentioned, I’m having an issue with eqMac and Facetime, but the developer is looking at it on Discord.
Somebody mentioned this might be due to loss of high frequency sensitivity with aging. Not impossible. I am 65 now. And I can’t really hear high pitch alerts on my Watch, so I set it to haptic. Still… the songs and voices on videos all sound find on my iPad Pro. So I tend to think it’s the speaker’s fault.
What I’m really curious is whether my MBP is an outlier, or if that’s just the way they are. I’m going to try (if my dog lets me) to go over to an electronics store today and see if I can hear a store model.
Yes, I just wrote that might be the case. I notice I can’t hear high pitch alert tones on my Watch so I have it set to haptic. It may be what you describe. It all sounds fine on my iPad Pro 2021 but that might be because it’s less bass.
I just want to confirm it’s not just my new MBP and then I’ll be ok with using one of the equalizers I guess. I really don’t want to return it at this point. It’s so nice and fast otherwise compared to my 2013 MBP.
I deleted my previous post because I now see that spatial audio created by Dolby Atmos is only for Apple Music, and then only for select songs, so it doesn’t seem to be a factor in the current discussion.
I went over to Yodobashi Camera, the giant electronics store in Akihabara this afternoon, to try to compare speakers. They have a large Apple corner there. It was noisier there of course, so it wasn’t a perfect comparison.
Anyway, I tested on the same model. I didn’t have Netflix access there, and of course my music wasn’t on their floor model, so I tested with YouTube songs. I played these two:
Forever Young (Joan Baez) - Forever Young - Joan Baez - YouTube
Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell) - Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now [Original Studio Version, 1969] - YouTube
They sounded pretty beautiful!
It was an unfair comparison of course, because I hadn’t done the same test at home. So when I got home I created the same conditions: playing the same songs in Safari. And… they sounded beautiful at home too!
However, using the Boom 3D equalizer app with Vocals setting it sounded more beautiful. So I will probably purchase it. It’s under $15 right now with some sort of flash sale. And Siri sounds nicer too. And with Movies setting Netflix movies also sound better.
Anyway, that’s apparently just the way they are. And the issue with me might be, as some have suggested, a loss of high frequency hearing with age coupled with the increased bass of the new speakers. That might be why I was left with the impression that the vocals were less clear than on my iPad Pro, which doesn’t have the spatial audio and bass of the new MBP.
Side-notes:
I wonder why Boom 3D is so inexpensive compared with the supposedly older and less featured Boom 2, which sells with a subscription model. Boom 3D is currently under $15 right now.
I also tested the free eqMac equalizer app. It’s also nice, but when it’s on and I use FaceTime the sound cuts out. The developer is looking at it on Discord. That app also have a Pro version that is subscription based, and is actually more expensive than Boom 3D. Boom 3D works fine with FaceTime, and a little indicator in the panel indicates that FaceTime is running. It seems more seamless than eqMac, just sitting there quietly in the menu bar.
Anyway, I guess I’ll lay this issue to rest for now, and look for something else to gripe about. 
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I notice I can’t hear high pitch alert tones on my Watch so I have it set to haptic.
This reminded me of https://www.audiocheck.net - a site with a collection of audio tests that can be played from a web browser, along with some helpful explanations.
I’ve used that site for a few experimental audio things in the past, although not specifically to do with assessing intelligibility, which is perhaps the aim here.
So - a perhaps superficial suggestion - have a listen to Extended High Frequency Online Hearing Test | 8-22 kHz, through the new MBP, and some other audio system that you trust (a pair of headphones perhaps?).
I wonder what the highest frequency tone you can hear is, through each system. If the results with the MBP are substantially different from the other (more trusted) system, perhaps the MBP is at fault. If the results are the same on both, consider getting your hearing checked.
Other tests on that site might also be useful, or more appropriate - I’m not an expert here and I haven’t spent much time thinking about it. But perhaps it’s a useful resource. Good luck!
I might try that. Just afraid I’m going to drive my dog crazy.
Maybe I should take a look at SoundSource. My issues so far with the other two I’ve tried are:
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eqMac - when running, FaceTime sound stops. Not sure if it can be customized on an app by app basis.
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Boom 3D - Not sure if it can be customized on an app by app basis. Support is non-responsive.
Does SoundSource’s equalize have presets like Vocal, Movies, Spoken Word, etc.?
In addition to figuring out an equalizer that works for you, you should at some point get a thorough hearing exam, with an ear-nose-throat doctor, not only an audiologist. Not all hearing loss is age related, and not all of that is high frequency loss. Loss of high frequencies doesn’t impact understanding speech nearly as much as loss of midrange frequencies, and that’s harder to diagnose properly. Medications such as aspirin can affect hearing, genetic cookie byte syndrome (loss of mid-range frequencies) may not become a problem until the 40s or later, loud sounds in the past can start to haunt you decades after the event, a blob of earwax can affect sound in a variety of weird ways. [There’s no safe way to remove wax yourself. My ENT uses a tiny vacuum with an entertaining camera at the tip so I can watch.]
I don’t know about Japan, but here a complete exam takes up an afternoon. First the ENT for wax cleaning and physical exam, then wait for the audiologist who does the how-you-hear-things test (audiogram), then wait for the ENT again to show you the results and talk about what, if anything, may be going on. The audiogram will also be quite useful for adjusting your equalizer to match your hearing.
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I would like to get a sound equalizer for my new MBP M1 Pro. I’m looking at Boom 3D which seems to work well. But support is basically non-existent.
Anyway, one question I had was why is Boom 3D less expensive than Boom 2? It’s newer and has more features, right? But it is less than $15 for a one-time purchase, while Boom 2 is subscription based.
I’ve also looked at eqMac which is nice, but doesn’t have per-app volume settings like Boom does.
I think I’m settling in on Boom 3D though.
Yes, it has about a dozen such presets, plus you can save your own presets. You can have different EQ settings for different output devices or different apps.
Rogue Amoeba’s products are extremely stable and reliable, and they have prompt customer support. One of the most venerable Mac developers.
In addition to a huge bass cut, you should try a boost around 2000 Hz.
Incidentally, my 2020 27" iMac has extremely boomy bass. The whole enclosure vibrates. Apple apparently thinks your computer should simulate similarly boomy Beats headphones.
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