Renowned Enthusiast I

Spotify volume decreased?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
May 10, 2025
82 replies
5159 views

Hello everyone,

Lately, I've noticed the volume level seems lower when integrating Sonos and Spotify. I've tested this on several Era 100s, Fives, and Sonos Ones, and I find myself needing to increase the volume significantly compared to last week. Do you know if there have been any recent changes to the Spotify integration volume? This occurs whether using Spotify Connect and the Sonos app. Do you have the same feeling?

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Pinned Reply By Mike H

Hey hey folks! Someone on Reddit called this out as well, so I did some digging to investigate what has changed. The short answer is that the volumes is perceived lower due to volume normalization.

Now for the longer answer:

Spotify gives us a volume normalization gain value to apply to each track. Earlier this year, we began applying this gain value whenever users use Spotify Connect. This change was needed because it helps with cases like loud advertisements that play between tracks, which can be very apparent and annoying, especially for free users. They might have experienced a jarringly loud ad when all they wanted was to listen to some chill, relaxing music.

Most of the gain values provided by Spotify are negative, which means they lower the volume. That’s why many users perceive this decrease in volume as a drop in quality, which isn’t the case.

Show previous replies

106rallye

So this is a generic measure? You cannot turn this off on the Spotify site?

C

craigski

Local Superstar

You cannot turn this off on the Spotify site?

It would appear yes, if you use the Native Apps with speakers directly attached:

https://support.spotify.com/uk/article/volume-normalization/

And no, if you use Spotify Connect to play:

Note: You can’t change audio settings when using Spotify Connect to play on another device.

R

RTX6400

Lyricist III

Yeah seems like normalization is applied when using spotify connect.

I might try playing from spotify app and picking up and using a line in to a speaker to bypass this feature.

So you can still use spotify but turn off normalization.

C

craigski

Local Superstar

I might try playing from spotify app and picking up and using a line in to a speaker to bypass this feature.

Or bluetooth?

R

RTX6400

Lyricist III

I might try playing from spotify app and picking up and using a line in to a speaker to bypass this feature.

Or bluetooth?

Great Idea, seems to have removed normalization.

This work around seems to work.

K

kdth_jhspk69Author

Renowned Enthusiast I

Hey hey folks! Someone on Reddit called this out as well, so I did some digging to investigate what has changed. The short answer is that the volumes is perceived lower due to volume normalization.

Now for the longer answer:

Spotify gives us a volume normalization gain value to apply to each track. Earlier this year, we began applying this gain value whenever users use Spotify Connect. This change was needed because it helps with cases like loud advertisements that play between tracks, which can be very apparent and annoying, especially for free users. They might have experienced a jarringly loud ad when all they wanted was to listen to some chill, relaxing music.

Most of the gain values provided by Spotify are negative, which means they lower the volume. That’s why many users perceive this decrease in volume as a drop in quality, which isn’t the case.

I appreciate the detailed explanation. I am curious to know if there are plans to address this rather inconvenient behavior.

Specifically, I've observed that when using Spotify Connect, the volume level seems to require approximately double the setting compared to the Sonos app or other similar services.

B

BBQManDan

Lyricist I

Good to see a reason behind this and it shows it's not all in my head. I can confirm that playing Spotify directly from the Sonos app does improve it. I am sure however that the sound quality has also reduced, it doesn't sound anywhere near as full. Surely with a lower input signal it's having to be driven harder.

Annoyingly it seems that requesting a song via Alexa voice commands pulls from the Spotify app and not Sonos. The only reason I went with Sonos was due to the voice commands, I may as well have just bought a Naim Qb.

Mr. T

If Sonos provided meaningful release notes for system updates it wouldn’t have taken 3mths for an explanation to be forthcoming.

Edgie70

Renowned Enthusiast I

Hi all , I've got Apple music and Spotify, I played the same song on both apps through the SONOS APP ( not through air play or Spotify connect ) and Apple music was louder than Spotify.

M

MrPRSmithUK

Lyricist I

Hey hey folks! Someone on Reddit called this out as well, so I did some digging to investigate what has changed. The short answer is that the volumes is perceived lower due to volume normalization.

Now for the longer answer:

Spotify gives us a volume normalization gain value to apply to each track. Earlier this year, we began applying this gain value whenever users use Spotify Connect. This change was needed because it helps with cases like loud advertisements that play between tracks, which can be very apparent and annoying, especially for free users. They might have experienced a jarringly loud ad when all they wanted was to listen to some chill, relaxing music.

Most of the gain values provided by Spotify are negative, which means they lower the volume. That’s why many users perceive this decrease in volume as a drop in quality, which isn’t the case.

It would be great to have a setting in the Sonos app to change this behaviour. E.g let me choose to use or ignore the gain value. Spotify is my primary music service and I generally play via the Spotify app and use Spotify Connect.

As a side note, the lower volume seems way more noticeable at times as if the normalisation gain is different on the same tracks on different days. E.g a bit random!

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