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Volume levels too high after 15.2 update

  • March 28, 2023
  • 170 replies
  • 11524 views
T
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Good evening,

 

My system updated to 15.2 today and following this update, all of my speakers’ volumes are easily double what they were before. 
 

I run one of my Play 1’s at volume 4 at night and have done for years, but volume 4 is now way too loud and even setting it to 1 is very loud. 
 

I have 2x Play 1’s, 1x Play 3 and the latest Five and it’s the same on all of them. 
 

I’ve had to set a volume limit of 50% on each speaker but now all of my volume references for me and my family are all over the place which is incredibly annoying. 
 

Any ideas?

Best answer by Corry P

Hi @Tom_69 et al

Thank you @Tom_69  for bringing it to our attention that we did not yet update this thread - this was an error on our part, and apologies for the lateness.

With the advent of spatial audio from Apple Music becoming available to play on Sonos devices, Apple expressed an interest in actioning a change due to the volumes of stereo tracks being inconsistent with each other and with tracks from other music providers. In line with this, and with long-standing requests from our customers to apply volume normalisation to tracks, we have added to our speakers a response to the normalisation figures provided.

The current behaviour of the sound volume is intentional and by design. Due to the way we now utilise volume normalisation metadata from Apple Music in update 15.2, average loudness is now better aligned between different tracks. Some stereo tracks may appear louder than before and some stereo tracks may appear quieter as a result, but as I said this is expected behaviour.

Knowledge of these changes were not widely distributed internally, hence the reason why we raised this as a possible "bug" on the basis of everyone's experience on this thread. We aim to improve this in the future to minimise the chance of this sort of misunderstanding happening again.

I understand this is not ideal for everyone, and as such I have internally raised as a feature request the option to disable this normalisation process at will from within the Sonos app.

    This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

    170 replies

    Airgetlam
    • Airgetlam
    • March 28, 2023

    Have you tried a reboot of your speakers (power cycle?). 

    I’ve also updated a bunch of PLAY:1s and PLAY:3s to 15.2, and have not experienced any change whatsoever in volume, thankfully. 

    However, you may want to submit a system diagnostic, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

    There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

    When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and network. 

    Bruce
      T
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      • Tom_69
      • Author
      • Enthusiast II
      • March 28, 2023

      Have you tried a reboot of your speakers (power cycle?). 

      I’ve also updated a bunch of PLAY:1s and PLAY:3s to 15.2, and have not experienced any change whatsoever in volume, thankfully. 

      However, you may want to submit a system diagnostic, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

      There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

      When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and network. 

      Cheers, I haven’t actually tried the power cycle yet (doh!) so will do that on each speaker and test.

       

      Good to know you’ve upgraded ok. 

        Airgetlam
        • Airgetlam
        • March 28, 2023

        Well, it’s a stretch, since I’m not sure I can understand why it’s changed volume….doesn’t make much sense to me, but hey, I’m not there on the ground. But that’s why I included the whole “call Sonos” thing. It’s certainly foreign to my update experience. As I type this, I’m listening to a pair of PLAY:1s that flank my computer screen (but are not connected to the computer, I just use the controller on the computer to play music).

        Oh...it might be helpful to know the source of music, too. Pretty much most of what I play is from my NAS, but if you’re streaming from a particular service provider, that might be a key part of the whole possibility too. But again, guessing at this point :)

        Bruce
        T
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        • Tom_69
        • Author
        • Enthusiast II
        • March 28, 2023

        Well, it’s a stretch, since I’m not sure I can understand why it’s changed volume….doesn’t make much sense to me, but hey, I’m not there on the ground. But that’s why I included the whole “call Sonos” thing. It’s certainly foreign to my update experience. As I type this, I’m listening to a pair of PLAY:1s that flank my computer screen (but are not connected to the computer, I just use the controller on the computer to play music).

        Oh...it might be helpful to know the source of music, too. Pretty much most of what I play is from my NAS, but if you’re streaming from a particular service provider, that might be a key part of the whole possibility too. But again, guessing at this point :)

        The music service is a good point, I started to consider whether that is the cause. 
         

        Power cycle doesn’t help but it does seem like Apple Music has the higher volume compared to BBC Sounds or Sonos Radio. Will do some more testing tomorrow and then contact Sonos I think. 
         

        Never had anything like this in over 10 years of Sonos ownership, it’s very odd! 

          G
          • GrandpaTrike
          • Lyricist I
          • March 29, 2023

          Same issue here! I thought I was crazy so I decided to check with the Googs. Seems like it’s only at the lower volume levels at night. Under 5 is literally twice as loud. I use Apple Music as well. My background bedtime levels in my various rooms now keep me up at night. :( Sucks not being able to go below the new levels. Even the volume set at 1 is too loud for the areas near our bedroom now.

          Hopefully we can get some answers.

            S
            • SamC15
            • Lyricist III
            • March 29, 2023

            I’m having the exact same issue. Keen to hear of any solution.

             

            My system is now too loud to use as background music at night for my kids.

              T
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              • Tom_69
              • Author
              • Enthusiast II
              • March 29, 2023

              Glad it’s not just me then. I’m testing it right now on another speaker and Apple Music is definitely the issue. 
               

              If you can, please log a fault with Sonos as this is the sort of thing only they can fix, and it’s driving me mad! 

                T
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                • Tom_69
                • Author
                • Enthusiast II
                • March 29, 2023

                AirPlay seems fine, it’s only when directly streaming Apple Music from within Sonos that the volume is so loud. Unfortunately for me, the speakers I use at night don’t support AirPlay. 

                  S
                  • SamC15
                  • Lyricist III
                  • March 29, 2023

                  How do you log a fault, or do you mean contact their support?

                  T
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                  • Tom_69
                  • Author
                  • Enthusiast II
                  • March 29, 2023

                  How do you log a fault, or do you mean contact their support?

                  Yep, contact support with the issue 👍🏻

                  G
                  • GrandpaTrike
                  • Lyricist I
                  • March 30, 2023

                  After a half hour of chat support, we have a fix! Remove your Apple Music account from your system. Reset the Sonos Controller App, then re-add your Apple Music to the services and the volumes seem fixed…….for now.

                  Hope this helps everyone else that lands on this thread!

                    J
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                    • jakudo
                    • Enthusiast I
                    • March 30, 2023

                    After a half hour of chat support, we have a fix! Remove your Apple Music account from your system. Reset the Sonos Controller App, then re-add your Apple Music to the services and the volumes seem fixed…….for now.

                    Hope this helps everyone else that lands on this thread!

                    Hi, I did the same, but that didn’t help. I even deleted the Sonos controller app from my iPhone. 

                    I also have a problem playing Apple Music Hits/Country/One. It stops playing after several minutes by itself.

                      S
                      • SamC15
                      • Lyricist III
                      • March 30, 2023

                      After a half hour of chat support, we have a fix! Remove your Apple Music account from your system. Reset the Sonos Controller App, then re-add your Apple Music to the services and the volumes seem fixed…….for now.

                      Hope this helps everyone else that lands on this thread!

                      Sounds promising I’ll give it a go! How do I reset my app?

                       

                      thanks!

                      T
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                      • Tom_69
                      • Author
                      • Enthusiast II
                      • March 30, 2023

                      I spent some time troubleshooting with support and we couldn’t fix it, removing/re-adding services and the app doesn’t work for me. 
                       

                      I’ve noticed on other forums people are having different issues with Apple Music after updating to 15.2 so I think this was generally a terrible update for Apple Music users. 

                        C
                        • codeman318
                        • Lyricist III
                        • March 30, 2023

                        My issue is that apple music songs are no longer playing at a consistent volume when streaming through the Sonos controller app. Tried disconnecting service, resetting app, and readding back with no success. 

                          M
                          • marcusRain
                          • Contributor I
                          • March 30, 2023

                          same problem over here. I use Apple Music. At night I have pouring rain that plays; I set an alarm in Sonos to start playing it at bedtime. Good lord, it scared the crap out of me when it started playing a couple nights ago--it was like I was caught in a goddamned typhoon it was so loud!

                           

                           

                            C
                            • chiro7
                            • Contributor I
                            • March 31, 2023

                            I’m having the same issue. I use Sonos 1 speakers for background music at my office. The lowest level is now so loud that I’ve had to turn them off. Removing and re-adding the apple music app did not help.

                              L
                              • lcd
                              • Lyricist I
                              • March 31, 2023

                              Same problem here on all Sonos speakers with Apple Music as well.

                                T
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                                • Tom_69
                                • Author
                                • Enthusiast II
                                • March 31, 2023

                                I’ve still not had a response from Sonos after sending multiple sets of diagnostics when testing.  
                                 

                                I’ve chased them for an update as I currently can’t use my speakers at night or if I want low volume listening. 

                                  Bazil
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                                  • Bazil
                                  • Contributor I
                                  • April 1, 2023

                                  Thank god I’m not only 1. 
                                  this is driving me crazy. 
                                  For a system that SHOUKD BE AMAZING. . 
                                  I’m more often frustrated. 
                                  now too loud on No 1. . . 
                                  I want background music for working at home and nighttime sounds quiet. Now impossible. ! 
                                   

                                    M
                                    • Morter81
                                    • Lyricist III
                                    • April 1, 2023

                                    After a half hour of chat support, we have a fix! Remove your Apple Music account from your system. Reset the Sonos Controller App, then re-add your Apple Music to the services and the volumes seem fixed…….for now.

                                    Hope this helps everyone else that lands on this thread!

                                    • GrandpaTrike Thank you for this!! This has fix the same issue I was having with Amazon Music (after updating to 15.2) - issue was occurring from the changing audio quality for each song, that you can’t control/set. HD & Ultra HD fine but soon as Dolby track came on... BAM!! Getting shouted at by speakers and the partner 😑.  

                                    M
                                    • Morter81
                                    • Lyricist III
                                    • April 2, 2023

                                    After a half hour of chat support, we have a fix! Remove your Apple Music account from your system. Reset the Sonos Controller App, then re-add your Apple Music to the services and the volumes seem fixed…….for now.

                                    Hope this helps everyone else that lands on this thread!

                                    • GrandpaTrike Thank you for this!! This has fix the same issue I was having with Amazon Music (after updating to 15.2) - issue was occurring from the changing audio quality for each song, that you can’t control/set. HD & Ultra HD fine but soon as Dolby track came on... BAM!! Getting shouted at by speakers and the partner 😑.  

                                     

                                    Issue has returned after 24 hours and the above fix now no longer works.

                                    T
                                    • thkl
                                    • Lyricist III
                                    • April 2, 2023

                                    I have the same issue with Apple Music. The solution, to remove the Apple Music Account and re-add doesn't fix anything for me. ;(

                                    W

                                    Also having the same problem unfortunately. 

                                    K
                                    • Kugelfang
                                    • Lyricist III
                                    • April 3, 2023

                                    Same problem here with me, the playlist (hosted on Apple Music) that i use as a alarm clock on is on volume 1 since years but out of nowhere is WAY to loud whereas The radio station that i use at volume level 1 is fine 

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