Equalizer issues

[Maria]

We're seeing reports that some users are having issues with the Equalizer. Some notice the sound gets a bit muffled/static with a Bluetooth device connected, others experience volume drops, and some don’t hear any volume change at all.

This seems to be happening on a variety of devices.

[lungan24]

Same problem at desktop. As fast as you touch the equalizer the volume goes down to lower than it was before, it's happening at all "Volume Levels - Off, High, Normal and Low". Just now I played around with the equalizer and find out.. The closer you go to "+12db" with 1 dot, dosen't matter which dot, volume goes lower. If you change 4 dots closer to "+12db", then I believe the volumes stays close to the same as it was before touching the equalizer. But the equalizer dosen't do any good with 4 dots at the top. 

 Only at PC/Desktop for me, iPhone have no volume decrease when you playing around with the equalizer.  

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

@lungan24, thank for joining the thread. @Procyon01, apologies for missing your comment.

Can you let us know your OS versions and Spotify app versions, so we can report this to our tech team? If possible, send over a short screen recording of the issue. If the file is too large to attach, you can upload it to Google Drive (make sure to allow general access to the file) or as an unlisted YouTube video.

Also, let us know if clean reinstalling the app makes any difference. 

Cheers,

[awolAD]

Raising my hand to say it's happening here on desktop, too. I've not experienced it with iOS 18.x. 

MacOS 15.5 (24F74)

Spotify Spotify for macOS (Apple Silicon) 1.2.64.408.g0a9b557c

[Eni]

Hey there @awolAD, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this here in the Community. 

Thanks for sending us this info. It'd also be helpful if you could send us a screen recording of this behavior happening so we can take a closer look. As @MihailY mentioned, you can upload it to Google drive if it's too large. If not, you can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor.

We'll be waiting for your reply.

[CPLNTN]

Here is a demonstration using a MiniMeters, an app that captures sounds on the Mac, so that should rule out specific headphones being the problem.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IINMzZCDPAhSiI3KjzXm5hjdks6gtjV4/view?usp=sharing

As you can see, enabling the EQ lowers the overall volume, and disabling restores it.

[Dessi]

Hey folks,

We've passed it on to our tech team so they can have a look at what's happening. We'll post an update here as soon as we have an update on the matter. In the meantime, make sure you're always running the latest version of Spotify so you don't miss out on any updates.

The Community is just a post away if there's anything else you need assistance with.

[Unknnown]

This is also happening on my Mac where using any eq other than flat or disabling eq decreases volume. Im on the latest version of Spotify and MacOs. I have normalise volume turned off, enabling this feature doesnt help either. On my Iphone it works fine. This is only affected on MacOs

[morrisez]

Same for me. Using macOS Sequoia 15.7.1. Manually or using preset seems to mess with the volume completely. Works fine for me on iPhone aswell, desktop version specifically that seems to be the issue. 

[Astropop1]

Having this issue too, on iPhone with AirPods, desktop with headphones or bluetoothed to my car, adjusting the EQ just makes everything quieter. Whether audio normalization is on or off, doesn’t change anything. 3 days ago adjusting the EQ would make the subwoofer thump even harder, as you would expect. Then overnight it just does not function properly. Tried clearing the Spotify cache, reinstalling the app, restarting phone, everything.

[dasaktivelama]

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

IPhone 13

Operating System

IOS 26.0.1

My Question or Issue

Lately, the equalizer has been reducing the overall volume. Equalizer settings affect other frequencies drastically. Changes are applied only after a delay of a few seconds. This happens both with and without headphones. Probably since the latest update. Tried logging off, clear reset a few times.