If you were hoping to have more manual control over Apple’s HomePod speakers, such as controlling its EQ, then you’ll be disappointed to learn that will not be possible. This is according to Eventellect co-founder Patrick Ryan (via AppleInsider) who quoted Apple exec Eddy Cue who recently spoke at the Pollstar Live conference.
So if there is no manual EQ, how do users choose what to use for their music? If you don’t mind relinquishing control, this is actually a nifty feature because according to Cue, the HomePod will rely on analytics to set the EQ levels for individual songs. In a way this is better because it also means that users can listen to a variety of genres, with the “correct” EQ supposedly being chosen for that particular genre of song.
At #PollstarLive Apple’s Eddy Cue discusses how and why the #HomePod will sound so good… user won’t be able to toggle settings as analytics will have the bass, treble, etc set correctly for each individual song
— Patrick Ryan (@PRyanTexas) February 7, 2018
The downside is obviously the lack of control, where users who might prefer having a bass-boosting EQ will no longer have that choice. However the HomePod has been designed to be a smart speaker, but not in the digital assistant sense like the Echo or Google Home, but smart in the sense that it can detect its placement thanks to built-in sensors.
This in turn will help the speakers pump out the best quality audio it can to suit its location in a room. So far early reviews of the HomePod have been largely positive where many are praising the speaker’s audio quality. The speakers are set for a release on the 9th of February and in some parts of the world, they have already been sold out online.