Samsung Dolby Atmos not working

[andzas]

Plan

Premium

Country

Spain

Device

Samsung Galaxy A34 5G

Operating System

Android 14, OneUI 6.1

My Question or Issue

Hey! So, basically, for the last couple weeks, Dolby Atmos on my device is not making any effect at all when playing music from Spotify. I thought it was an OneUI problem, but then I tried Dolby Atmos on YouTube, Netflix, local MP3, and it's working.

I have volume normalisation disabled, very high quality both for WiFi and cellular, and everything on my settings seems correct. Furthermore, this happened overnight with me not changing any setting. Maybe an update rolled out and my Spotify automatically updated and the issue is there but I wouldn't know.

May I point out that it's not like the effect from Dolby Atmos seems subtle, it does not make any difference at all, and I have tried with Music, Voice, and even Movie mode (this last one making a VERY CLEAR difference on any other app).

Thank you for your help!

EDIT: as comments say, it seems this happens only when audio quality is set to Very High. When changing it to anything lower, Dolby Atmos does work. Let's hope Spotify fix this issue.

[SimonTheBestOne]

Same here, with y Galaxy S24 Ultra, and same on my sister's S22 Ultra.

Spotify even if it is not playing but is only running - disables all audio processing on device!

This impacts even other apps that work correctly otherwise (without Spotify process started)

Once Spotify process is killed all backs to normal

[Amay]

Hey @andzas, welcome to the Spotify Community! 🎵

Spotify doesn't officially support Dolby Atmos yet. Some devices, like OneUI (Samsung), have the Dolby Atmos option, but it is not guaranteed to work with Spotify.

There is an idea about bringing Dolby Atmos to Spotify. You can add your vote here. For more info about the different music quality Spotify offers, check out Audio Quality.

Let me know if you need anything else. 🙂

[johno711]

This happened to me, I notice if the quality is set less than "very high" Dolby Atmos still works (doesn't work if song is already downloaded or cached at very high quality"

[driftedstance]

Same problem with my S24 FE. Whenever I set it to "Very High," Dolby stops working. It works fine up to "High." Resetting it to high after it stops doesn't fix it; I need a fresh install. I've tried toggling UHQ upscaler on and off, no luck. I'm not worried about my phone's processing power, it handles Dolby on FLAC files easily; but it can't do it with 320kbps

[Yordan]

Hi folks,

In order to help us investigate further, would you mind sharing the exact version of Spotify you're running? Also, when set to "High", do you notice a drop in audio quality when Dolby Atmos is activated vs. when it's turned off? 

It'd be great if you could let us know if you remember this behavior being introduced after a particular app/OS update.

We'll be on the lookout for your replies 👍

[driftedstance]

I'm running 9.0.46.496. It's not just an issue with One UI 7. It's been happening since One UI 6.1. With Dolby turned on, yes, it sounds better on High. Any other questions?

[Eni · Accepted solution]

Hey @driftedstance, 

Thanks for all the info you've sent so far. 

We've passed it on to the right team to be looked into. For now, we suggest that you keep the app up to date so you don't miss out on any possible improvements or fixes. 

Cheers! 

[Vanshbelieve]

I was using non-premium until today and Dolby Atmos was working fine with Spotify while being on non premium but after buying it today, it's not working anymore ( device s23 ultra and s23 )

[JKidding]

Same thing here. At least it works on high I guess. Hope they fix it.

[jorgealmeidars]

I found one solution for this issus.

Install a old version of the Spotify . I used 9.0.0  of 2024 December .  And Samgung DOLBY ATMOS returns to work.

I know that Samsung Dolby Atmos DSP it´s not really Dolby Atmos. But has a very near efect. Then it´s a MUST HAVE.

I hope Spotify new versions fix this.

[jorgealmeidars]

Hey @Amay, 

Like the others my Spotify up to date doesn´t let the Samsung Dolby Atmos works, but when I replaced the new version for a 9.0.0..... the Samsung Dolby Atmos returns to work.

It´s clear that the problem is in Spotify news versions.

And, supporting or not Dolby Atmos, Spotify new versions just need to do the same that version 9.0.0 does about Samsung Dolby Atmos.

But we will need a help from Spotify team.

[andzas]

Hi all! Sorry for not keeping this thread up to date. Wasn't getting notifications for this, lol.

Effectively, as we've all noticed, when setting an audio quality different than Very High, Dolby Atmos clearly works. Let's hope the team manages to fix this issue.

If it's of any utility, I'm on One UI 7 (A34 5G), with Spotify 9.0.56.106

[wl_c7]

Tested and downgrade to Spotify version 9.0.30.63 will works again, latest after this version will not working for Samsung native Dolby Atmos.

[andzas]

Hi! Just today I've noticed that, on Spotify v9.0.66.655, Dolby Atmos seem to be working again. I can notice a clear difference with it on and off, mainly with the Movie preset (for testing purposes, as it the most noticeable one). Voice preset also does it work on podcasts, and I can feel the Music preset doing its thing on songs, although it's subtle (but I guess it was subtle back when it used to work too).