Sonos Voice Control voice response way too loud .... How to change response volume level ?

Hi @Boommusic 

Older music tends to be recorded differently to modern music. Arguably, the engineers of old were doing things properly. These days (since 80’s or 90’s, I think), tracks are mixed such that the entire track hits volume peaks all the time - this made the track stand out when played on the radio, so everyone now does it so their music isn’t drowned out by the rest.

I often notice that older recordings sound much quieter than modern tracks - old Queen tracks, Don McLean etc. If you are able to find remastered versions of older tracks, you may well find them to be at the same perceived volume as newer tracks, and therefore at the same volume of your voice assistant too.

I hope this helps.

+1 to this. Is there anything I can do to upvote -- a separate feature suggestion list or anything?

I just bought a Sonos Roam which is great, I’ll listen to my podcasts at around 40% volume, and then when I ask about the battery level the speaker terrifies me with how loud it is in its reply. Like it actually hurts my ears if I’ve got the speaker in my shower.

This needs to be set to a reasonable real-life human voice level like 40% in the first place, rather than the speaker’s maximum volume of 100%. And then it’s nicer to be able to adjust it as well -- but there’s also zero reason the voice assistant volume should be deafening in the first place. It’s absurd. A gigantic glaring flaw in a product that’s otherwise aesthetically so tremendously well thought-out.

Hi @Michael3984 

This thread is tagged as a feature request, so you have already registered your interest in this as a feature by posting here.

You should not be hearing any assistant at 100% volume, however, only 40%. While it’s likely that you are hearing the assistant at 40% and your podcasts are just quieter, if you do feel your assistant is at 100%, I recommend taking action. Please hold the power button for approximately 12 seconds to force a full reboot of the speaker. 

Or, to assure yourself that it’s not at 100%, turn up the volume to 50% - if the assistant is already at 100%, it can’t be louder if you increase the volume to 50%.

I hope this helps.

Separate assistant volume control needs adding asap. I purchased 6 new Sonons Ones last year as I wanted Google assistant in each room yet can't use it via Sonos in its current state as the assistant is way too loud. I won't be upgrading or expaning my Sonos system further until this is resolved.

Agree, my grandma struggles to do anything other than make a call on her phone so the app is a no go, but she can use the voice assistant except it’s way louder than anything it’s playing and its very annoying. It’s the same on my move and roam.

This problem was first reported nine months ago on this thread, and nothing yet has been done. That’s pretty pathetic! I’m so disappointed in Sonos that they couldn’t come up with a software upgrade by now.

Agree this needs addressing and very disappointing that Sonos don’t seem interested in fixing it. Voice assistant responses are way too loud on my Era 100 - completely out of wack with the experience on Amazon’s own speakers. I thought Sonos was supposed to be the premium product!?

Just wanted to add my voice the chorus. I just bought a couple Era 100s and as others have mentioned the volume of the voice assist renders it virtually unusable, especially when listening to “quieter” genres like classical and jazz, which I do a lot. Pretty disappointing and seems like it’d be a relatively easy fix. I really hate that Giancarlo’s voice is going to waste. 

@Corry P it’s been 9 months since this thread was opened, can we have an update? Is Sonos any closer to implementing a solution here? 

As Sonos hasn’t implemented a solution, I wonder if it is written into the legal agreement between the two companies that requires it to be this way. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how we could see that. And of course, Sonos would rather keep silent, and not annoy their partners…

There are lots of request that I’ve seen over the years that aren’t implemented, and we’ve never been given explanations. Some might be code related, some hardware, and some legal restrictions, it just isn’t always clear. 

Which two companies or partners are you referring to?

When there was no option to have separate volume controls for Alexa responses the ‘defenders’ said it must be because of something out of their control and not a Sonos issue.

This issue, from my understanding, is 100% a thing Sonos can control and implement.

It's ‘Sonos Voice Control’….