Audible clipping/distortion only when volume normalize is turned OFF

[tonio97]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

Canada

Device

Acer Swift SF314-52

Operating System

Windows 10 Home v1909

My Question or Issue

There is very audible clipping distortion on some tracks when the volume normalize feature is turned off. The most obvious example is this track Bet She Looks Like You - Nick Hakim:

https://open.spotify.com/track/2vXfI7WJEvkuRKFmYoWcRD?si=LYUksCOmShiJtiduHPrncA 

When volume normalization is turned ON, the track sounds fine and there is no added distortion compared to the CD quality wav files.

However when the volume normalization is turned OFF, there is a huge amount of added distortion, which is not part of the wav master, and is not present on other streaming services.

Things I have tried which have not made a difference:

• Turning off hardware acceleration in the spotify settings
• Disabling all enhancements in the headphone settings
• Updating and reinstalling Realtek High Definition Audio(SST)
• Uninstalling Realtek Drivers and using default windows High Definition Audio Devices
• Using an external audio interface
• Lowering the volume on the spotify interface

None of these have made a difference. The only way to hear this track without the distortion is to enable the volume normalization which I don't want to do because I am interesting in hearing the loudness differences between tracks.

Please let me know if I can provide additional information about my system which might help solve the issue. I have audio examples where you can hear a clear difference but I'm not sure I can post them here because of copyrights.

[tonio97]

I just tried a new thing, still not a solution:

If I play the same song from my local files, it doesn't distort, even with volume normalization OFF.

I'm kind of lost in terms of what else to try. I'd appreciate any help.

[tonio97]

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