Just bought two Gen2's. I hated the sound at first, I placed them to the sides of my TV and it sounded way too boxy and small. I used to own 20K costing high-end speakers which I sold a while ago, so obviously I wasn't expecting the same sound from a 600$ setup.
But then I moved the speakers to my sides, exactly like a headphone. One to the left of the couch, one to the right. And due to spatial audio support, they still manage to move the center channel to the front, so when you watch movies, all the dialogue still seems to come from the TV and not from the sides, when listening to vocal music the vocals come from the center, the instruments stay on the sides, it's a crazy amount of separation because of the computational audio. So even though it still does not sound amazing, it's acceptable from a 600$ setup. So try this positioning if you haven't before. Homepods at ear level, 1.2-1.5m between them and sit directly between them.
But then I moved the speakers to my sides, exactly like a headphone. One to the left of the couch, one to the right. And due to spatial audio support, they still manage to move the center channel to the front, so when you watch movies, all the dialogue still seems to come from the TV and not from the sides, when listening to vocal music the vocals come from the center, the instruments stay on the sides, it's a crazy amount of separation because of the computational audio. So even though it still does not sound amazing, it's acceptable from a 600$ setup. So try this positioning if you haven't before. Homepods at ear level, 1.2-1.5m between them and sit directly between them.
