Distortion, buzzing on quiet songs such as solo piano or violin, Eq or normalisation issue

[Pandahill]

When playing relatively soft music typically solo instrumental piano or violin, I am getting crackle and distortion that sounds like speaker overload on tracks.  I have both spotify and PC volumes set to 50%, and have tried various wired headphones but the crackle buzz persists.

Potentially the Normalise/equaliser may be the culprit as if I turn these off the problem lessens but doesn't go away.

Playing the same tracks though iphone using the same wired headphones and the sound is clear.

Example track is: https://open.spotify.com/track/3TXgtWFkb8MlIqtzBtyI5D?si=575a81791e4c40b9

With normalise and very low level equaliser settings on, the piano note at the 5sec mark is heavily distorted, and 42-43sec very buzzy.

[OscarDC]

Hey @Pandahill,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

To Start investigating this behavior, would you mind confirming if you've already performed a clean reinstall of the app? If not, we'd recommend following the steps mentioned in this article. 

Also, since this seems to be affected just in the Desktop version of the app, if you installed the app from the official website, we'd recommend installing the version available in the Microsoft store (or vice versa) to see if it has the same behavior. 

Lastly, include in your next response the OS version of your device, along with the Spotify version you're currently running to continue investigating the case.

We'll be waiting for your response. 

[Pandahill]

Hello Oscar, thank you for your follow up
I just performed an uninstall and clean install from the MS Store

I now have the version below:

Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.70.409.gd4fa4141

The issue is still happening with Normalise: On, and Equaliser set to acoustic

[Yordan]

Thanks for the reply, @Pandahill.

Are you using any other sound optimizations on your PC, like an external EQ app or something similar? If so, try turning those off temporarily to see if it helps.

Something else you can do is disable the communication settings, as well as "Exclusive Mode", "audio enhancements" and "Spatial Sound" in Windows by following these steps:

1. Go to Start > Settings > System > Sound > Sound Control Panel, switch to the Communications tab and set "When Windows detects communications activity" to Do nothing.
2. Head back to the Playback tab, then right-click your audio output device and select Properties. In the new window that pops up, switch to the Advanced tab and untick "Exclusive Mode" + "Enable audio enhancements".
3. In the same window, switch to Spatial Sound and set it to Off.

Lastly, I'd recommend making sure your sound drivers are up to date. You can also try reinstalling them to see if that does the trick.

Let us know if this makes a difference 👍

[Pandahill]

Thank you Yordan for the prompt reply

I made the adjustments you recommended, however the buzzing/distortion initially described is still there

[Yordan]

Thanks for testing, @Pandahill!

In that case, I'd suggest turning off "Normalize volume" as well as the Spotify EQ. The song you've provided has a sort of low-fi feeling to it that seems intentional and would normally add to the ambience it creates, but when those two features are active, they highlight this for the worse. We’re regularly looking for opportunities to enhance the user experience for everyone, so your feedback on this is greatly appreciated - thanks for sharing it here.

If you notice that a particular song has faulty audio and the experience is shared across platforms (desktop and mobile), you can raise a report and we'll look further into it.

The Community is here if there's anything else you need assistance with.

Take care 💚