[PS5] Poor audio quality issue from PS4 persists on PS5 app

[user-removed]

I just received my PlayStation 5 today, and after downloading the Spotify app to listen to my music I noticed that the PS5's Spotify app has the exact same problem with the audio quality that the PS4 has had for over 5 years.

For those who aren't aware of what I'm referencing please read the responses from these two forum posts (Post 1 and Post 2).

In short, the lows are very flat, mids are average to below average, and most notably the highs are tinny and sound very distorted. This is especially apparent in songs where vocalists use a lot of "s" sounds with their voice.  Overall, music from the Spotify app on PlayStation sounds tinny and highly compressed when compared to music played from literally any other app on the PS5/4. This has been said many times by multiple users here on this community forum and yet Spotify's developers have done nothing about it since Spotify for PlayStation launched in 2015.

After 5 years the PS5 has now released and we're still having the same issue. This seems like it would be such an easy fix; simply increase the default bitrate or disable Volume Normalization. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong and it's not that simple. Either way hopefully Spotify does something about this soon.

Plan

Premium

Country

U.S.

Device

PlayStation 5

Operating System

2.20

[BiggKab]

There will never be a fix. Strange when Sony itself deals with audio & there's zero low frequency when using this app.

[Chu-]

Hi, 

Ps5 app had an update from awhile that added Volume normal normalisation and it made the music quality bad. and mainly the Volume being too low and quiet.

it’s been almost a year or a year since I asked the support team of the timeline of the fix and everytime it’s the same response that the team is working on fixes it but it’s been a year.

the music volume didn’t used to be this quiet, it’s more noticeable if you use a headset. And it’s even more noticeable if you use a flash memory and download the song you like and play it or simply try Apple Music and compare how the volume is too quiet on Spotify app.

why the team isn’t giving a clear timeline for the fix or just make it clear if the * Volume Normalisation * addressed as an issue or not, because alot of people want to know if the app works as attended with a forced volume normalisation that you can’t change or it’s an issue that the developer team is going to fix.

[Graigsmith]

My ps5 is set to sound bar and Dolby atmos.  I also have Apple Music ps5. And I turned it on. And immediately my sound bar and Dolby surrounds all came to life.  Where as the Spotify app sound only comes count the front speakers.  Horrible.   I love Spotify connect. You get things so right with Spotify connect.  

[Jade93]

• Hi everyone, I think I've found the solution to this problem. So I've been dealing with this issue for a long time as well and today it was driving me crazy.
• The Playstation app doesn't show many actual settings so you have to do it on your phone or maybe computer (I did it on my phone). So while you are playing through your Playstation, go to your phone and click the home icon. You should see the song currently playing at the bottom of the phone screen.click on the controller looking icon and then it takes you a screen that says current device. For me at the bottom of the screen there is a volume bar that was set like at 2-5%. I just slid it over all the way to the right to 100% and it immediately fixed the audio issues I was having.
• If you are not aware of this interaction, and it was set to 100% then it would be impossible to reproduce. That nay be why the support team was never able to reproduce the issue.

[aneagu]

Hi @Jade93,

I am happy this solved the issue for you, but I don't think this is the problem that others (myself included) experience on this forum. It's not an issue which the sound volume, but rather a clearly perceivable deterioration/distortion of sound quality at any volume on the Sony PlayStation devices which is subpar to their audio apps on any other platform. This happens regardless of the audio output device. I am still surprised this is still not a priority to the developers, and I hope they will address this issue eventually.

FYI: You can access the same setting via the PS Quick Menu: Hold down the PS button, choose Spotify (only visible when playing music) and then select volume (or square). Very useful for adjusting music volume vs. in-game and voice-chat volumes.