Spotify App audio quality & volume issues

[Jmrose05]

Plan

Family Premium

Country

USA

Device

iPhone 16

Operating System

iOS 18.5

My Question or Issue

For several weeks now, when playing music from Spotify Connect to Sonos speaker(s), the volume is significantly lower, appears muffled, and overall lesser quality. However, when playing identical songs directly from Sonos App from the same Spotify playlist, the volume is what it should be; clear, louder and better quality.  This appears to be affecting many users as there are active Reddit and Sonos Community threads on this topic.  IMO- the work around is to just play Spotify music directly from the Sonos app, however, this is a sub-par experience since the Sonos app is limited with navigating, searching, and being able to play playlists from recently added etc.  I, as well as many others, have tried all of the things; update apps, adjust all playback & normalization settings, logout/login.  C'mon Sonos and Spotify!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/1knubrv/spotify_connect_vs_sonos_app_there_is_a/#:~:text=It%20always%20used%20to%20show,overall%20layering%20of%20the%20sounds .
https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-229131/spotify-volume-decreased-6929048/index2.html 

[AlejaR]

Hey there @Jmrose05,

Thanks for posting in the Community and welcome!

We really appreciate the time you took to let us know about this. We went ahead and passed this important info onto the right team. Meanwhile, we'd like to gather a couple of more details. Please send us:

• The exact Spotify version you're running on your iPhone.
• More info about your Sonos set up. Do you have multi-rooms/multiple speakers?
• Did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event such as an OS update?
• A video recording of this behavior. We understand this might be difficult, but if possible, you can attach it to your next reply in mp4 format, or upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and make it public.

Keep us in the loop!

[chadmansfield]

Long time Sonos/Spotify user - same issue here. I find that by using the Windows Spotify App -> Sonos, as opposed to the iOS Spotify App -> Sonos, the problem goes away (for me). 

[Jmrose05]

Bruh- this is widespread. I shouldn’t have to provide diagnostics and videos and more info that everyone else has complained about. Just fix it please. People are annoyed. Sonos speakers aren’t anything revolutionary. They’re paying for the user interface and supposed ease of use. Otherwise, why don’t we just switch to a different speaker system?

[c0t0d0s0]

I've been experiencing the same thing for a few months now, currently on Spotify 9.0.66.708 playing on multiple speakers (a pair of paired move 2s and a Sonos 5). It happens regardless of the speaker I picked, and regardless of whether or not hey are paired.

[Jmrose05]

@alejar reviving this.  Still many, many months and no fix.  So far I've done everything from buying new wireless equipment (was due anyhow), tinkered with all the settings (wireless network, sonos and spotify), confirmed that other sources like Amazon Music app to Sonos sounds fine, and have even spoken to Spotify and Sonos support.  Spotify support was over chat and was not a great experience; they kept tossing me to new chat agents, and ultimately told me it's a known issue and said an update would be pushed and the session ended.  I just spoke with Sonos support via phone for over an hour and they ran a bunch of diagnostics, had me change all the usual settings, and since I confirmed that other sources (Amazon Music app) streamed and sounded like it should, they pointed the finger back to Spotify.  Sigh.  What a frustrating thing to have thousands of dollars of equipment and pay for premium streaming services but have to deal with this.  My next step is to try to find some way to talk to a human on the phone with Spotify.

[Maria]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for reaching out! We appreciate your reports on this and your comments doesn't go unnoticed.

All the details provided about the audio issues you're experiencing has been passed on to the right team. While we can't give you a specific timeframe for if or when this will be fixed, we'll keep you posted here if we have any news to share.

In the meantime, we recommend keeping the apps up-to-date. We can also suggest checking Sonos community.

Take care!

[Krisgs]

Still nothing changed...

[AbrahamStone]

Same issue here. Spotify connect from an iOS mobile device is substantially reduced in volume and quality. If I initiate Spotify playback from the native Spotify app on my Xbox it sounds wonderful.