When playing podcast and it reaches a quiet part in the audio sound pauses

[Pa122150]

When I am listening to a podcast on a Bluetooth device and the person speaking stops for a second, the audio will pause slightly and start up again halfway through the next word.

[Dian]

Hey there,

Thanks for posting in the Community.

What's the Bluetooth playback device you're using? Does this experience occur on different Bluetooth devices as well? I think this may be related to the device going to sleep somehow when there is no sound played, but let's get its brand and model first.

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[Pa122150]

The issue only occurs on speakers (not on headphones, earbuds, etc), and it happens on iPadOS macOS windows and android as far as my testing has shown. As for the device I’ve noticed it on is a VTA204B record player. I have tried it on other Bluetooth speakers and it does happen on them as well. Right now, I don’t know what models they are. The reason I think it is a problem with Spotify is because I have already tried with pandora and YouTube. (I don’t know how much of this next part will make sense) If it is a problem like you said about the device going to sleep it could be the way Spotify allows the audio to be played where pandora or YouTube may allow “ambient noise” (or tell the speakers to keep running even though there is no sound) whereas Spotify may tell the speakers there is no sound and they turn off for that short amount of time. The thing is the silence doesn’t even have to be that long (like a slight pause in between words about 1/4 to 1/2 of a second in length) and it doesn’t even have to be with podcasts it even happens in the middle of some songs where sound just stops. You could be correct however. Thank you for putting up with my ramblings and if you can find a way to fix this please let me know asap. The only I can think of now with what I know is on Spotify’s end with an update to the software. Thanks again.

[MihailY]

Hey @Pa122150,

We really appreciate the info you've provided and the troubleshooting you've done on your end.

As a next step in narrowing down the possible cause, can you please let us know if the same thing happens with the same episode downloaded and played in Offline mode? Also, can you please send us the link to the episode you're testing this with, so we can try to reproduce it on our end?

Thanks!

[Pa122150]

I did as you said downloading and playing in offline mode and the problem still occurred. As for the episode it is this (https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XOyNkv7yOULCrpygYK0ao?si=Lz4Dp_BBQcS9oi0yeiL88Q) but is not limited to this episode, there are other songs/podcasts that have the same problem. While continuing with my troubleshooting I noticed when I turned the volume up I would hear a faint popping noise every time the sound turned off but not when it comes back in. Another thing I did try was using a wired connection with the same speaker and the problem did not reoccur therefore limiting the options only to something to do with Bluetooth. Thank you for your help.

[MihailY]

Hey @Pa122150,

Thanks for getting back to us.

I've tested this on my end using an Android phone and a Bluetooth speaker, but unfortunately, I couldn't reproduce the issue. Re-reading your post however, I remembered I have a similar situation with my car's Bluetooth where directions from the Google Maps app will get cut off at the beginning if no other audio is coming through my phone. Weirdly enough, I have no issues playing podcasts from Spotify on this device.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a solution for this yet. Considering that this occurs with different apps and is not present on all Bluetooth devices you've tested with, I'd recommend reaching out to the speaker's manufacturer who'll hopefully be able to provide further help with this issue.

If not, then please get back to us in this thread and we'll try our best to find a solution 🙂