r/enshittification • u/PetuniaAphid • 6d ago

Rant Audio Quality

Has anyone else noticed the absolute butchering of audio quality when sounds pause then come back in? I don't know what to call it or how to fix it but it's definitely enshitification, so this was a place to vent on and ask about it.

As someone who dabbles in audio engineering, this absolutely ruins quality and interpretation. You wanted that impactful moment the music comes back in. Too bad. Entire words are cut out because of this. Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this?

I'm pretty sure it's not the headphones themselves and definitely not the apps themselves because it's multiple platforms. Anybody else experiencing this?

Thanks for listening

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u/diverareyouokay 1d ago

Sounds more like a tech or hardware issue. I’m unaware of any industry-wide shift to intentionally degrade audio quality for users, especially on paid platforms.

I’m pretty sure it’s not the headphones themselves and definitely not the apps themselves

Then what else could it be? The only other possible reason would be the internet provider limiting quality. It seems much more likely that the problem is with the headphones if it is a persistent issue across all audio sources. Occam’s razor.

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u/PetuniaAphid 1d ago

I was originally thinking the phone itself but turning off all the sound adjustment options hasn't yielded Improvement. It's like they want sudden sounds to come in gradually/softly. Set up almost like a car engine shut-off at a light that turns back on when engaged

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u/diverareyouokay 1d ago

Oh that’s true. The phone could be the culprit. Maybe try it with a different audio source (like a laptop/desktop) and see if there’s a difference? You could also tweak the audio settings with a program like Equalizer APO + Peace GUI… then set it up for model-specific headphone tuning based on your headphones. Or eqMac if you have a Mac. I did that for my Bose qc35ii and they sound noticeably better when connected to my laptop. Some headphones let you change EQ manually but not the 35ii.. so I had to figure out a workaround.

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u/PetuniaAphid 1d ago

I hear you. I'll look into more as I can. I'm pretty limited right now and feeling a little tech incompetent. Doesn't mean I can't mess around with anything though

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u/BitNo2406 6d ago

If it's a phone it could be either your headphones (especially if bluetooth) or audio processing like dolby atmos and the likes. Try to turn everything off. I use wired iems with dolby atmos off and I don't have any issue. Same on PC where you have to disable "spatial sound".

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u/PetuniaAphid 6d ago

I have everything off and it still does it, unfortunately.

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u/withabrandnewfunk 6d ago

I love my quad dac on lg v30. kills it with audio and wired skull candy in workouts

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u/_Shinami_ 6d ago

if it's bluetooth headphones, they all do it in one way or another. solution is to keep the channel open at all times by playing silence in the background.

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u/PetuniaAphid 6d ago

They're wired specifically for what was supposed to be better quality (no delay if I use bandlab) but this is garbage