SPOTIFY VOLUME SPIKE - WHEN USING BUILT IN EQ - PLEASE FIX URGENTLY!

[g00nbag]

Phone model: Samsung Galaxy Note 2

OS: Android 4.1.2

Spotify Version: 0.5.13.63

Hi there, I've been happily using Spotify for a few months now, no real problems to speak of.  Recently however (possibly since the latest batch of updates) a nasty little bug has developed which frankly needs to be address sharpish because it is totally ruining my Spotify experience.

With Spotify's built in EQ switched on, when a new song starts, or you skip within a track using the slider bar, I get a huge volume spike for a moment before the volume reduces back to normal level.   This is causing my ear's no end of distress, and I also fear for my headphones.

I've switched the EQ off for now, but listening to flat music isn't really my idea of fun.

Do I need to submit a bug report or do the dev's read this forum?

[Strawbeary]

Nearly 3 years later and this issue has still not been fixed???.. this is terrible. Why is this not an issue for them? After the three months is up , i am defintely canceling the service

[lauravaneijken]

I use the Brainwavz Blu-100 bluetooth headset. When Eq in Spotify is on and I skip between songs or skip forward within the song the volume increase drasticly for few seconds and then restores to normale. Why?

[user-removed]

Hello, 

I use spotify premium for 4 years ago.

I have a Nexus 5, and since November 2015 with Android 6 Update, I have this problem too.

So, I can disable the spotify's EQ and choose another EQ on the play store, but it's not a great options.

Please Spotify, can you fix this big problem ?

A great and happy user... and I want it to stay that way!

[Rgarcia900]

Come n spotify, you need to fix this issue that still affects the android version. ios is fine, premium user for over 2 years, but getting tired of bugs that are so old and dont get corrected.

[terminalmage]

Seriously? 3 years with no fix?

Still broken in latest Android app release 5.7.0.781 armV7. My phone is a Nexus 6P with Android 6.0.1 (Build MTC19X).

Has anyone that works for Spotify actually read this report?

[lorcanpl]

I like listen loud music but this first second is really killing my ears. Problem exist when I skip any song. Is there any chances to fix this bug? I use Galaxy S5 on android 6.0.1

[Stigyo]

3 years later still no fix ????

[Stigyo]

Must be a Samsung issue

[Jan86]

Same Problem here... Nexus 5x, android 6.0.1, Premium User. Please fix this! It's killing my ears!

[regyfret]

Same issue on the Google Pixel. I'd like to use the Spotify equalizer without turning my volume down at the beginning of every single song I listen to and then up again to hear it at a decent volume....

Android 7.1
Premium user

[Samuel251991]

I definitely still have the problem. However, I wish the volume would stay as high as it does at the beginning. Sometimes I like to rock it out with the volume high and when I use Spotify with max volume on any of my speaker systems, car, earbuds, home stereo system, it just won't get loud enough. I love spotify because everything about it is easy and I never have to worry about losing my music, but unfortunately if I can't listen to my music loud, that's a huge problem for me. When I first purchased Spotify this was not a problem. We definitely need this problem fixed.

[ctber]

*NOTE** To anyone not pointing fingers and attacking the people at Spotify just look for the next * in the last paragraph. To the blamers with time on their hands:

Come on guys, are you even listening to your music? It took me an hour to figure out the simple workaround to fix this, but you all have been on here blaming the developers for 3-4 years instead? It's okay not to know, but it's not okay to blame someone else for such. (Especially developers hard at work... In android nonetheless with 1000+ devices + OS setups to test). Disappointing.

Alright scolding over, this fix should work for most devices of manufacturers that haven't messed with the stock equalizer too much, since I'm running Android 7.1 on a Nexus 6p. *While in equalizer keep any of your settings, except drop surround sound to 0. Yes, hopefully it should be that simple, the sound should come through substantially clearer too. But if you like the weird reverb thrown on top of each song the surround sound added you can up the surround setting anywhere below 35% and although it will still skip it will be less of a jump. There's actually nothing wrong with either the app or the equalizer here, the surround sound is doing exactly what it's supposed to: rerouting the signal/sound to come out as if you were in the middle of multiple speakers each producing the sound as from it's respective angle (also known as a surround sound setup/system), which I'm guessing it can't do without running the signal/sound. I didn't notice at first either, but it only took me a moment to listen to the difference between non-equalizer play and equalizer play. Like I said you guys should have an ear to your music rather than being in the ear of devs doing their best for this "indie" company.

[Kchev831]

That's kinda BS. It's the developers jobs to fix the issues, not the consumer. Great that your ear is so fine tuned that you can figure it out quickly while the rest of us peasant's whine about it. If it's been a known issue for this long, then it needs to be addressed with an update or a pop up message when you enable surround sound that a volume issue could occur.

[ctber]

But there is no actual issue, as I already mentioned, so no it's not the developers responsibility. True it would be nice to have a small pre-course in the equalizer, but this issue is all on the user's who don't know how to use their phone rather than the app itself (which is understandable, being they are complex machines). And Spotify probably can do very little about it since it jumps into a settings activity, which are usually secured by the OS for... understandable security reasons (apps having control over your phone's settings screams exploit).
And my ears aren't hipster-level precise, while anyone could have just actually used the equalizer and fiddled around with the settings to fix this, I happened to find the fix by toggling the equalizer and listening for 10 seconds and then putting 2 and 2 together. I'm not saying anyone should have been able to hear the difference, but with it not being hard at all with my terrible hearing anyone could have done it that way, or maybe they could have just... edited the exact settings they turned on, and simply tested it out, but I guess blaming others is easier than actually learning functionality. Although I do think that anyone willing to mess with equalizer should know how to use it, don't get me wrong, not understanding isn't the issue. Entitlement and false blaming, while refraining from doing the bear minimum is the issue; pointing out issues on some other person's plate (that isn't really there) without having your bases covered screams hypocritical and the fact that people were ready to punish the service shows the resolve in it all.
In any case, sorry if I came off rude, but everyone here has been bitching for 4 years straight over an issue that: they turned on, was easier to fix than pressing a button, and they blamed devs in the face of their own shortcomings; I really can't bring myself to sympathize.

To everyone who was simply asking and trying to understand, good on you, that's what forums are for, but to everyone needlessly shifting the blame: Don't use technology you don't understand unless you're willing to learn how to use it, and learn how to act.

[Stigyo]

Ctber stop all the BS you fail to realise that a solution that you've magically come up with won't solve the problem on all devices just cause they work on yours. The problem I believe is that android phones have a built in equaliser which can be used with any music app. But for some reason doesn'the function correctly. Whereas on iOS it doesn't have a built in equaliser but spotify offer one for use within the app exclusively. So in summary if they offer this for android it could be a logical solution. When you say the problem is that people don't know how to use the equaliser even small changes to levels cause this problem.

[ctber]

I never said it would work on all devices (almost explicitly pointed out that it probably won't), I only said it worked on stock Android, so in theory it should be a solid fix for any properly working, updated versions of Android that haven't had the equalizer manipulated by the manufacturer or had a completely different sound rendering implementation. So again what BS? If I'm wrong about something point out where, if you're still having the issue on your specific phone continue to post your concerns, but not without additional information of make, model and android version to figure out the actual reason behind the issue. My fix will work for a set of devices and that should help some people, so I don't see your issue. If you have an issue about how I pointed out people's treatment, go ahead and have your say, but I don't see anything in your post worthwhile, or of any help to the actual issue at hand. I may have been crude in regards to how I replied, but I'm still here trying to help, and the fix is still a fix.

Generally saying it was done on iOS so it should be done on android is missing the point of how both are simply different in nature. The OS is different, the kernel is different, the apps run on different native code, and they have a MUCH different phone/model base. What's easy to do on iOS isn't easy to do on android and what's easy to do on android isn't easy to do on iOS, and forcing devs to make a low-level implementation of an extra feature apart from the company objective is simply sabotage with the amount of different phones in the market. That being said your intuition is wrong, both implementations of the Spotify app use built-in equalizers supplied by each OS, meaning iOS just like Android has a built-in EQ (https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/search_play/ios-equalizer/) and while iOS API refers to EQUnits as objects, it's still handled by the built-in EQ (https://developer.apple.com/reference/avfoundation/avaudiouniteq). And as I've already stated there is no actual issue with the stock Android Equalizer as far as I've tested, so idk what to say.

I don't know what magic bullet you're looking for honestly, but if there was a general fix Spotify would have already applied it. And I don't exactly have the world's collection of phones to test unless I use my emulator, so again if you still have an issue post information not complaints, and maybe stop calling things BS for no general reason. Again I don't mean to be mean (in specifically replying to individual people), but that's what I'm asking in return for my continued help.

[11138115246]

Funny but there is still no fix for this (I am on Marshmallow 7.1.1). Lol

[ctber]

Somebody removed my solve, I'm running 7.1.1 too and all I did to get rid of the specific spike is set surround sound to 0. Hopefully that works for you. You may still get volume drops with some speakers, but that's a different issue.

[Kchev831]

Yea your solve isn't an actual solve. I'm also running Android 7.1.1 on my Pixel and your surround sound fix does nothing of significance. Tested on the Bluetooth through my car and two different Bluetooth speakers. So your shtick about people not listening and playing around with settings holds no weight. This is again, an app and developer issue. The same volume spike occurs as it has for the countless other people in this forum. I would love an actual solve for this issue, one maybe by the people that I pay money to every month.

[Samuel251991]

Amen brotha! This is absolutely ridiculous, I can't think of an issue that
is bigger priority for them than fixing this. Honestly... It's a PAID app
for listening to music, but the music sounds terrible. I don't know if
anyone else has noticed but ever since the volume surge issue arose, our
max volume level is only about 2/3 what it use to be.

The only reason i haven't ditched spotify is because I have so many
playlists. However the longer this malfunction goes on, the more tempting a
switch is becoming. I fear the only way for us to get the developers
attention, is to stop sending them our money.