Volume normalization
Hard to understand how any company can be so unresponsive to its customers on such a nagging issue. If you don’t want to do it or cant do it, say so and give a reason...hopefully the real one.
Answers like:”We’ll send the request to the responsible department” don’t meet even the minimum customer care response.
Not surprised.
I have been a sonos customer for five years or so. The techs are fine when there is a question or problem but I have seen no evidence at all that this company gives a tinkers damn what their customers think. They seem to consider themselves experts in this technology and that is what they will market. If you don’t like that, then there are other options.
Some people are OK with that, but to just refuse to engage with your customers cancels out a lot of the product advantages, and that’s a fact.
Normalizing can set the max levels to be equal. The result after normalization could be: Track 1: 3-9 and Track 2: 2 -9. However, the range of Track 2 is still wider than Track 1 and it is possible that the lower levels of Track 2 will disappear into the room noise. It is also possible that one note in Track 2 will be at 9 and overall Track 2 will still seem quieter than Track 1.
I think that this outcome is what most users asking for the feature would be fine with. It would retain dynamic differences - desirable - within a track, without having to reach for the volume control every few songs when overall one sounds louder or quieter to the extent that it intrudes on the listening experience.
The problem is that no one seems to be doing this well.
There are actually two issues: “Normalization” and “Compression”.
Consider two tracks: Track 1 has levels that range from 2 through 8 and Track 2 has levels 3 through 10.
Normalizing can set the max levels to be equal. The result after normalization could be: Track 1: 3-9 and Track 2: 2 -9. However, the range of Track 2 is still wider than Track 1 and it is possible that the lower levels of Track 2 will disappear into the room noise. It is also possible that one note in Track 2 will be at 9 and overall Track 2 will still seem quieter than Track 1.
Compression attempts to limit the range. Track 1 could be compressed to: 5-8 and Track 2 compressed to 7-10.
Compression alone would still result in a level difference, but Track 2 could be normalized to 7-10.
Due to normalization with compression both tracks would likely sound similar.
Rock and Roll fans should consider what compression and normalization would do to the Speak to Me track on Dark Side of the Moon. Part of the fun in this album is its dynamics. It’s not quite the same album when compressed and normalized vs its original dynamics.
When can we normalize the volume between songs?
This is a must to have for a system that’s build for streaming music.
This war 3 years ago! I spoke to live chat today and got the exact same reply. It doesn’t seem like there is any interest from the Sonos team in implementing this feature. All we get is the same generic semi automated reply.
Is there any other similar to Sonos in features make that offers this? It would be a big selling point if it did…
I agree that doing this would be far more useful than faffing around with the red herring of Hi Res audio, but I don't think any other make offers this either; it is not that easy to implement for music from streaming services, I suspect.
Spotify offers this for music played on the phone, and it is then available on Sonos if the phone audio is sent to Sonos via bluetooth; but that is a clunky way when Spotify connect can move the music stream to Sonos - but via that mode, normalisation is lost.
Hi there, Tampadoug. Thanks for posting and welcome to the Community. I am happy to forward this along to the team for consideration and visibility. Thanks again for the feedback and keep it coming.
This war 3 years ago! I spoke to live chat today and got the exact same reply. It doesn’t seem like there is any interest from the Sonos team in implementing this feature. All we get is the same generic semi automated reply.
Can anyone from the Sonos team please come forward and shed some light on this issue? I am considering returning my speakers if this is not getting implemented.
+23
I brought it up not to question whether you had the right license for public performance, but that perhaps the answer is with a streaming service that caters to your needs better.
There are many business-specific music services listed at https://www.sonos.com/en-us/business - hopefully they offer normalization.
We use Sonos in our retail outlet. It’s generally fantastic.
BUT sudden surges or drops in volume are very inappropriate in a retail setting - we want a constant level of (gentle) background music to build a calm retail atmosphere.
Big booms are the most disruptive, but major drops in volume are also unwelcome. If it goes too quiet, it is really noticeable and adds a kind of tension to our space where previously there was a nice feeling of calm.
We would absolutely love to see Volume Normalization added to Sonos. You could add a “normalization speed” setting - i.e. how responsive is the normalization. Clearly it should be fast if there is a sudden big boom -- but if it goes quiet you don’t want to amplify it too much unless it stays quiet for a long while.
Or best of all, the system could “listen ahead” to a stream and determine the optimal level of normalization so there is never any sudden change in sound pressure.
Many Sonos products even have a microphone built in (for Alexa). Surely added some kind of sound-level monitoring is not a massive engineering problem, but I see that this issue has been open for several years.
Would be great to see this solved.
In such a use case a well curated playlist that addresses this issue in its making is the answer. Up front investment of time, but it will get the job done.
Thanks for comments.
- re. Licences - we pay for all the relevant public performance licences in the UK so this is all in order.
I brought it up not to question whether you had the right license for public performance, but that perhaps the answer is with a streaming service that caters to your needs better.
Thanks for comments.
- Yes, well aware of compressors (I have a recording studio and have been recording & sound-engineering since the 1980s). This would be a solution but it is self-defeating: the whole point of getting Sonos was to go wireless and to get rid of cables, wiring and sprawl. We want a one-box solution.
- re. Licences - we pay for all the relevant public performance licences in the UK so this is all in order.
In a retail setting, I would think there would be streaming services available that not only have the appropriate license for commercial use, but handle any normalization or compressing that would be needed. I’m guessing though.
We would absolutely love to see Volume Normalization added to Sonos. You could add a “normalization speed” setting - i.e. how responsive is the normalization. Clearly it should be fast if there is a sudden big boom -- but if it goes quiet you don’t want to amplify it too much unless it stays quiet for a long while.
You’re talking about using an audio compressor.
This thread is all about normalisation, where the track carries a tag identifying how to preset the volume so as to achieve the same average loudness as other tracks. The dynamic range is unaffected.
Sonos has never introduced a compressor, and in my opinion never will. It’s simply not aimed at commercial settings such as yours. You could try using an external compressor, feeding audio into your Sonos system via a Line-In connection.
We use Sonos in our retail outlet. It’s generally fantastic.
BUT sudden surges or drops in volume are very inappropriate in a retail setting - we want a constant level of (gentle) background music to build a calm retail atmosphere.
Big booms are the most disruptive, but major drops in volume are also unwelcome. If it goes too quiet, it is really noticeable and adds a kind of tension to our space where previously there was a nice feeling of calm.
We would absolutely love to see Volume Normalization added to Sonos. You could add a “normalization speed” setting - i.e. how responsive is the normalization. Clearly it should be fast if there is a sudden big boom -- but if it goes quiet you don’t want to amplify it too much unless it stays quiet for a long while.
Or best of all, the system could “listen ahead” to a stream and determine the optimal level of normalization so there is never any sudden change in sound pressure.
Many Sonos products even have a microphone built in (for Alexa). Surely added some kind of sound-level monitoring is not a massive engineering problem, but I see that this issue has been open for several years.
Would be great to see this solved.
+18
Hi
I just looked up Roon as I had never heard of it - it looks pretty good. Thanks.
Another way around the issue may be to remove the ITUNNORM tag from your files.
Either way, glad to hear you’re not scaring the family any more!
M
Hi
Please check this thread for some answers:
I used Foobar to apply ReplayGain tags to all of my FLAC files years ago...so apparently and for whatever reason, SONOS ignores them while all other players that support ReplayGain honor them without fail.
Last night, I found something called Roon which fully supports SONOS Streaming and has (so far) performed flawless Volume Leveling across our little SONOS universe. So, problem solved.
Thanks for the response.
+18
Hi
Please check this thread for some answers:
Just found this after scaring the s**t out of my family when an old CD rip from the 90’s segued into a CD released more recently.
The lack of SOME kind of volume leveling within the SONOS playback is, at this point, a ridiculous oversight. With major streaming platforms offering SOMETHING (Spotify->Volume Normalization, Apple Music->Sound Check) and for those who care enough to support a standard, the ReplayGain tag, there doesn’t seem to be an excuse for not leveling playback volume for those who want it.
And worse than having not implemented this seemingly standard functionality is the fact that SONOS has ignored a two-year old thread with nothing but the old go-to: “We’ll tell the programmers about your revolutionary idea.” It’s embarrassing to SONOS as a “leader” in audio hardware and simply infuriating to anyone who has sunk multiple thousands of dollars into it.
volume normalization is definitively on top of my wish list. why not at least make this work for integrations that internally already support this like spotify does? at least for me that would already do the trick.
Can someone from Sonos please give an update on this? Clearly the technology is there if you can use a workaround with Airplay! It’s embarrassing that you can have a better streaming experience with a low end product than Sonos. Streaming music is the primary function of Sonos and it is failing!
+4
So I have updated all my Sonos to S2. Is volume normalization available for my local music library? I don't so streaming services so I just need it for my library.
Any updates on volume normalization? I can see this request is at least 2 years old. This feature would be great!
I agree that this is a serious problem. I just spent a fortune to migrate my multiroom audio setup from being based on AppleTVs/Airplay to Sonus. tvOS 13 ruined the ability to use the Apple platform for me and after a year of complaining I finally gave up. Overall Sonos has been significantly better and much more reliable. Except for volume normalization!
I am mostly streaming my own mp3’s from a media server, so I don’t really care about the Spotify stuff. iTunes is able to normalize with software without intense processing demands, so I’m not sure why Sonos won’t do it. mp3 files actually have a field for changing volume in the metadata, and mp3gain is a software that analyzes the loudness of the track and sets this field to a normalized level of your choosing in a non-destructive fashion. I have done this for all of my files, but apparently Sonus doesn’t read this with their player. I wish they would!
Fairly new Sonos user here. This system is almost perfect, and what’s missing is volume normalization!
It’s a pain to Airplay all the time. On top of that, all the audio on my laptop is streamed to my speakers, which is not desirable when there are extra sounds I only want to hear on my internal speakers / AirPods (notifications, watching a quick YouTube video, etc).
It’s OK if I’m playing and album, as the volume is normalized across songs anyway (plus I want the dynamics in this case), but when listening to a playlist with songs from different albums (or, mind you, different streaming services), I really need to keep my hand on the volume controls.
So yeah… here’s another vote for this feature from me! 👍
Cheers
Any update on when we can expect volume normalization, which has been discussed and requested from Sonos for years, yet is still nowhere to be found? This seems like a basic feature these days (iTunes had it a decade + ago), and it is still very sorely missing from Sonos’ app. For people who, like me, have created playlist from a number of sources (streaming services, iTunes), not having volume normalization is a real pain. Tx
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