Bug: Jarring volume normalization effect limits max volume on 16 Pro Max

[mapleroyal]

Environment

• OS Version: [ios 18.0.1]
• App Version: [5.4.1-74]

Description

On the 16 pro max specifically, increasing the volume past about 70% introduces an effect I can only describe as a really bad volume normalization algorithm that sounds like it’s forcing output down to 70% max volume. I’ve returned one device for a replacement and the issue persists.

It’s jarring and extremely obnoxious given how frequently there are pauses in spoken content, in addition to being frustrating as it robs me of the loudest 30% of the volume range.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Play an audiobook
2. Increase volume to 70%
3. Increase volume past 70% and notice that it doesn’t get any louder—except it does, for a split second after every pause between speaking, then it’s immediately reduced down to 70% until another gap in the spoken content.

[GianniCarlo]

Is this happening with AirPods? I had a similar experience with a podcast app, and it was due to the AirPod settings of Personalized Volume, I had to disable that, as it was messing up with my desired audio volume

[mapleroyal]

Is this happening with AirPods? I had a similar experience with a podcast app, and it was due to the AirPod settings of Personalized Volume, I had to disable that, as it was messing up with my desired audio volume

No. I just checked, comparing the 16 pro max with my 15 pro max and pixel 9 pro xl—the problem is across all apps, not even just this audiobook app. Any sound that would exceed the loudness of 70% of the slider gets smashed down to a lower volume level. It makes the volume fluctuate constantly, because it's constantly trying to start at 100% (if that's where I've set the volume slider) and getting lowered rapidly by some software thing, over and over again any time talking starts (every few seconds in spoken content like audiobooks and podcasts).

[GianniCarlo]

Hmmm if it's happening across apps, looks like it's a system issue, does this also happen when playing through the iPhone speakers? Have you tried turning off and back on the phone? (I've seen audio peaking like this for example when playing audio through CarPlay and my SO goes and starts recording a story on Instagram, it sounds like the speakers want to blow up for a second, so not sure if something like this got stuck on your phone?)

[mapleroyal]

It happens exclusively through the phone speakers. It doesn't happen with any headphones, bt speaker, or car audio so far (thank god).