Volume levels changing throughout songs on Android

[simonds1]

Hey guys. First of all I'm sorry for the long winded explanation but I'm going to try and explain fully what my problem is.

I am having an issue with the volume levels in Spotify on my Sony Xperia Z5 Premium running Android 7.0. I had an Android system update a couple of weeks ago and I think that's when the problem started. Basically, I mainly listen to Spotify in my car, but I'm a bit old-fashioned and use a headphones socket to connect it as I have no Bluetooth facility. The sound used to be really nice with lots of meaty bass. After the Android system update I had, I think somebody came and took all of the woofers out of my car because the bass disappeared alltogether 😞 The sound was so pathetic and not meaty at all. To compensate for this, I've had to turn my EQ settings on and increase the bass etc so now it sounds lovely again. Fabulous. BUT.....I then go into my house and try to continue listening to Spotify via Bluetooth to my Bose Soundlink Mini II and the volume is up and down all over the darn place?! Basically, it's as if it's trying to normalise the volume ALL of the time. So when a track cuts to just a vocal section, it increases it really loud, and then when the bass comes back in it cuts the volume loads and goes quiet. At first I thought it was the fault of the Bose and it was kinda protecting itself from the increased bass I have added on the EQ settings by backing off the volume whenever the bass comes in. I tried turning every setting to do with normalising on and off again, both in Spotify and the Android system settings and none of them make any difference. So then I thought Bluetooth must be the problem, because in my car using the headphones socket, it's absolutely fine. So I tried Bluetooth again, but playing from another app. I went and played a song on YouTube that would obviously increase and lower the volume in Spotify, and it worked absolutely fine. So the problem is not the Bose, or the Bluetooth. It's definitely Spotify. Well, a combination of Spotify and my EQ settings. Why can they not get on please? At the moment I am having to make a choice between horrible sounding music in my car and incredibly annoying way-too-loud-then-way-too-quiet music in my house. I would like to have both please like I did before. Are you able to make Spotify agree with my EQ settings please?

Thanks in advance for your help 🙂

Simon

[Robert_W]

Hello simonds1,

Unfortunately once you turn on the EQ it can constantly affect the sound levels. The only way around this issue is to uncheck it.

[simonds1]

Hi DefaOne, thanks for your reply. Through my research online I can see that a lot of people are having various issues with Spotify when they have their EQ settings turned on, so a lot of people are saying the EQ settings are the problem, like yourself. But I have another way of looking at it - Every other music streaming or playing app on my phone has no volume varying issues at all whilst my EQ settings are on....So I personally think Spotify needs to be seen as the problem here. I'm sure it's highly technical and complicated but surely they can sort it out? Every other app seems to have managed it. I hope Spotify can manage it soon.

It seems to be the combination of Spotify and Bluetooth where the problem occurs. The problem does not occur when listening through my headphones socket in my car, and also I recently discovered it does not occur when playing to my friend's Sonos speaker over WiFi.

I really hope this gets sorted soon.