topic Re: First second of song cut off in Desktop (Windows)

First second of song cut off

fdshfg — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 01:40:01 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

raider ge68hx 13vf

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

When a song starts, it is quiet for the first second and seems to fade in. Sometimes the first second is cut off entirely from the song. This started yesterday, and I have not changed any settings recently so I do not know what triggered this. Like most problems with Spotify, this occurs only on my laptop and not on my iPhone. Restarting my laptop or Spotify does not solve the problem. The fade-in effect is audible in all songs, so it can't just be part of how the song sounds.

Re: First second of song cut off

MihailY — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 15:08:27 GMT

Hey @fdshfg,

Thanks for reaching out.

This sounds quite odd. Can you send us a short video of how this looks/sounds on your end? In the meantime, try any of the following steps:

If you've downloaded the app from our website, try the one from Microsoft Store and vice versa.
Reinstall/update your audio drivers.
Make sure that crossfade is disabled in the app's settings.
Check if the web player shows the same behavior.

Keep us posted.

First second of audio missing

dbolly — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 01:05:43 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

Windows 11 Home x64

Spotify Version

Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.52.442.g01893f92

My Question or Issue

The first second of audio from each track is missing. There is a harsh fade-in effect in the latest software version, lasting approx 1 second. This effectively cuts off the first second of audio for most tracks.

I have tried with Spotify's hardware acceleration enabled and disabled. I have tried changing and disabling the volume levelling feature but it makes no difference.

I tested on a Windows laptop and the same issue is present there, too.

Re: First second of song cut off

dbolly — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 03:50:57 GMT

It's difficult to record on video because volume compression on the recording device levels it out. It is, essentially, like turning on crossfade at 1s. Except, crossfade is disalbed, and I have tried enabling it at 0s, but the issue still occurs.

It does not occur on the web player, nor any Android device, just on the Windows client.

There is similarly a new fade-out effect when you pause a song, too, which mimics this behaviour. So it is 100% related to that.

We need these silly fade ins and fade outs configurable to be disabled.

Re: First second of song cut off

dbolly — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 20:27:00 GMT

I used screen recorder software to capture the difference between Spotify Desktop on Windows and Web Player.

Here, you can clearly hear that the first beat of this song is cut on the desktop player, and subsequent plays/pauses and timeline scrubs have a fade-in fade-out effect. The web player does not suffer from either of these problems, hitting the first beat every time and instantly play/pausing.

Re: First second of song cut off

dbolly — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 20:29:11 GMT

Additionally! There is a horrible "click" or "pop" when the desktop player first starts playing after being idle for a while.

Something has changed in the latest desktop app and it's affecting us all badly. The forums are swarming with similar issues. We need this change reversed, pronto, guys!

Re: First second of song cut off

dbolly — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:55:59 GMT

Hi @MihailY

Any updates on this issue please? It's still occurring and I'm contemplating the switch to a competitive streaming platform.

Re: First second of song cut off

Antlery — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 20:25:32 GMT

I am having the exact same issue. Its almost like its a noise filter windows is using with a slight off delay on it. I can't figure it out. Happens on all my windows devices.

Re: First second of song cut off

cgreg27 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 23:31:15 GMT

I am experiencing the same issue - the first beat or note of a song is cut off, and the song seems to fade in instead of just starting. This is incredibly noticeable on certain tracks/albums, for example, on the album Ants From Up There by Black Country New Road, moving from track 1, Intro, to track 2, Chaos Space Marine, the first drum beat is clearly missing and the track obviously fades in.

I have tried toggling Gapless Playback, Crossfade, etc. on and off with no results. This was not an issue on my previous device, which was a Samsung Galaxy A32. I recently got a new phone, the Samsung Galaxy A54, and started noticing this issue. If needed, I can provide the app version I was using on my old phone vs the version of Spotify on this new device.

I have been a Spotify user for nine years now and this is by far the worst and most directly impactful and harmful glitch to my music listening experience that I have had to deal with. Any update would be very much appreciated.

Re: First second of song cut off

Ivelina — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 14:49:33 GMT

Welcome to the thread @cgreg27 and thank you everyone for the info that you've already shared here.

We couldn't reproduce the same behavior from our end, so it's likely that the issue is related to the different set-ups that you're using. With this said, it's a good idea to try changing the audio settings on your devices to test if anything would make a difference with how the tracks sound.

Additionally, please also test in Offline Mode and if you don't experience the same, then it's also possible the issue is network-related. In this case, it would be great if you could give the playback a try with another internet connection (WiFi, mobile data and vice versa).

The Community is here if something else comes up.

Re: First second of song cut off

zj12 — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 23:50:19 GMT

Just noticed this happening when I plugged my phone into my external speakers (with an actual wire). When I then checked my airpod pros, it's totally fine and normal. So strange that a bluetooth device has less of an issue than WIRED SPEAKERS. My car is also a wired connection, and I think it does the same thing--cut off the first second of a song.

I've messed with all the settings, turned off automix and crossfade, even audio normalization. Nothing changes it. This is clearly a bug.

Re: First second of song cut off

Jesse144 — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 22:47:38 GMT

This harsh fade-in (only between songs, not when clicking on a new song) is happening to me also with wired headphones, irregardless of settings (crossfade, gapless, etc.)

Re: First second of song cut off

Yordan — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 11:29:29 GMT

Hey folks,

We can confirm that there's a fade-out/fade-in effect on the desktop app when pausing/unpausing the playback, however, during our testing with Spotify downloaded from our website, we didn't observe any fade-in/out neither when starting the playback from the beginning nor when transitioning from one track to another.

Could you confirm whether you downloaded the app from our website or from the Microsoft Store? If you haven't already, try testing with and comparing both versions. In case you're using any sound enhancing settings/software such as equalizers, Spatial sound, Dolby Atmos, etc., I'd recommend turning them off temporarily to see if it has any effect on this. Lastly, it's worth reinstalling/updating your audio drivers to make sure they're up to date.

Cheers 🤘