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/s...

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.

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.

Guess I just need to move into a place without walls.