Bloated sound is typically caused by a room mode or speaker placement issue that creates a broad bass boost around 100–250 Hz. It makes kick drums sound flabby, bass guitars indistinct, and male vocals muddy. Unlike 'boomy' (which is a narrow resonance), bloated is a wider, more diffuse problem.
Fix: bass traps in corners, repositioning speakers away from walls, and using a parametric EQ to cut 2–4 dB in the affected range. Bloated sound is one of the most common home studio monitoring problems.