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YouTube Music Casting Volume has been Nerfed - Especially for Rock Music

digitalhigh
Community Member

So, as I initially reported here:

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Home-Automation/Either-I-m-Losing-my-Mind-or-Google-Nerfed-th...

I have recently noticed a significant decrease in the maximum volume of music when being cast from Youtube Music to a cast device. In this case, the "Nest Audio" or "Google Audio" or whatever it's called now.

While I initially wasn't sure, after a few more weeks of playing various songs and testing things, I can 100% say for sure that the issue is with some recent update to either YT Music itself, or more likely - the cast app.

I say this because volume while driving in my car with YT Music still seems to be "normal". As does casting music with Spotify to my speaker. And, to make things more confusing, it seems largely isolated to rock music. 

For example:

"Bitter" by Atmosphere seems reasonably loud via YT Music.
"Watch the World Burn" by Falling in Reverse via YT Music is atrociously quiet. 
"Watch the World Burn" by Falling in Reverse via Spotify was so loud by contrast I was honestly surprised.

So, I know I'm not crazy, and I know where the problem is. It would be fabulous if someone out there in Google land could fix this issue, as otherwise, I'm just gonna cancel my YT Music subscription...for the whole family. There's no point in a music app that randomly decides to play the music I like at a fraction of the volume.

15 REPLIES 15

digitalhigh
Community Member

 

So, where did @JillG and @Juni go this time?

I'm going to be brutally honest here for a moment:

This whole situation is outright fu*king infuriating. The first time I reported an issue, the responses asking if it was something stupid I was doing were quick and plentiful. And when I ruled those things out and didn't immediately reply due to being busy during the holidays, you guys just closed the issue.

Now that I've re-opened it or created a new one with detailed instructions to replicate the problem - and more importantly - determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that Google has fu*ked something up here - I get zero answers?

Why aren't you guys jumping to close this one? Where are the replies indicating it must be something stupid I've done this time?? Where is ANY reply from someone associated with Google?


If I hadn't made myself clear - I'm beyond pis*ed off right now. Between the dozens of various cast devices I have around my home, the countless pixel/nexus phones my wife and I have bought over the years, the nest doorbells and cameras, thermostats; the subscription fees to YT Music, YT TV, Nest Aware - not to mention all the money you're making on my whole family by constantly siphoning up all our data - it is outright ludicrous how little anybody seems to give a *hit right now.

For the tens of thousands of dollars I have invested in your ecosystem and products, this outright shouldn't be happening. There is a problem with casting to Google devices using Google software. This problem is bad enough that I've resorted to using competing software in order to fix it. This is now the second time I'm reporting it, and in span of at least a month and a half since I first said something, it appears as if nothing has been done about it.

So, with all of my ranting now complete - I'll ask - has anybody pointed this out to the engineering team behind Youtube Music, and when can I expect a resolution to the issue?

 

Fitch
Community Member

There's no way to report real, actual, bugs. The support teams are trained for troubleshooting only. "you're doing it wrong" is what they're there for. I subscribed to Google One which offers "enhanced" support, but what it is is more like one agent who knows the "you're doing it wrong" scripts across more than one product. Sorry you have to deal with this. 
YouTube Music does have email support, but last time I tried it, they were like "well, your subscription seems fine" which wasn't my problem.

 

 

Yeah, that's kind of what I expected. They already have my money, so why would the give a *hit about an inconsequential issue like "music is casting at half-volume".

Ironically, I've been b*tching about this so much to my wife, she got me a second Nest Audio for Valentine's day, which I guess I can now put in my bathroom next to the first one, set up a pair, and either get "normal" volume using Youtube Music, or pony up for a Spotify subscription and blow out the windows in my bathroom with "actual" volume.

Either way, I appreciate that at least *someone* replied. Guess the layoffs at Google must have hit their community forums too. I'm sure the executives are just fine tho...

 

Juni
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks, 

 

Thanks for the help, @Fitch.

 

@digitalhigh, Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry for the trouble this has caused you, and we appreciate the troubleshooting that you did. We apologize if the previous thread was closed sooner than you would have liked. As community specialists, we occasionally do a bit of housekeeping to keep the conversations in our community fresh and relevant. This includes locking threads after a period of inactivity.

 

A few things: is the issue isolated when you cast YouTube music only? How about playing it via voice command? Aside from testing music, what other steps have you taken so far? If you already did a reboot and the issue remains, you can do a factory data reset to put your Nest Audio back to its default setting and set it up again as a new device. Check out the steps below on how to do the factory data reset.

 

On the back of your device, switch the mic off. The lights will turn orange. Press and hold the center of the Nest Audio, near the top. After 5 seconds, your device will begin the factory reset process. Continue to hold for about 10 seconds more, until a sound confirms that the device is resetting.

 

Check out this article for more information.

 

Keep me posted.

 

Regards,

Juni

Fitch
Community Member

( @Juni, I think you meant to address @digitalhigh )

Juni
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Thanks for that. 

 

Regards,

Juni

digitalhigh
Community Member

Why do I get the feeling you're deliberately not answering my question?

digitalhigh
Community Member

@Juni Any update on my inquiry?

 

Juni
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Thanks for the details you shared, and sorry that you are still experiencing the issue. Could you help us with the firmware version of your speakers? Check out the steps below to find out how to get it.

 

Find your device's firmware version:

  1. Make sure your mobile device or tablet is linked to the same account as your speaker or display.
  2. Open the Google Home app .
  3. Touch and hold your device's tile.
  4. At the top right, tap Settings Device information.
  5. Under "Technical information," find Cast firmware: X.XXX.XXXXX.

I look forward to your response.

 

Thanks,

Juni

digitalhigh
Community Member

 

Firmware version: 324896
Cast FW Version: 1.56.324896

Both speakers are at the same revision.

 

Juni
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi digitalhigh,

 

Thanks for the additional info you've shared. We'd be happy to take a look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information then let me know once done.

 

Regards,

Juni

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hello digitalhigh,


Chiming in-- have you had the chance to fill out the form?

 

Best,

Princess

 

I just filled it out, but tbh, it's probably too little to late. Between the ridiculous response time here and the continued price hikes to Youtube TV, we're seriously considering ditching all the Google services we're paying for and just buying anything else. Spotify, probably.

 

Juni
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there

 

Thank you for bearing with us. We got your form — thanks for filling it out. Our team will reach out to you via email. Please continue the conversation there, as this thread will be locked after 24 hours.

 

Thanks,

Juni

digitalhigh
Community Member

 

I am referring to any variation of using Youtube Music to play music to my speaker(s) - saying "OK Google, I want to listen to 'Watch The World Burn' by Falling in Revers", or opening the app on my phone, pressing "cast", picking the same device I was just talking to, and then playing the exact same version of the song.

Then, for comparison, I open up Spotify on my phone, pick the exact same version of the song, and cast with that, and the difference in volume is almost painful it so drastic.

As far as the "Hey, why don't you factory reset your device" stuff...you already suggested that, and I did it. 

I factory reset the device, re-configured it, factory reset it again...

I then got so pissed off at it not working that I chucked it in the sink and broke the mic switch, and had to take the whole thing apart to fix it.

My wife then brought me a BRAND NEW speaker, which I also configured and performed the EXACT same tests with.

THEN, just for good measure, I made a stereo pair out of them and tried the same "Spotify/Youtube Music" test. Even when casting from TWO speakers, YT Music is significantly quieter than the same song from spotify on ONE speaker.

So, again, now that I've done a pretty solid job of identifying a pretty significant issue with the services Google just forced down everybody's throat...what will GOOGLE do to address the issue? 

Like, do you not have some kind of "issue tracker" or "bug report" feature where you can escalate this to someone on the YT Music team to...IDK...actually investigate the issue?

It sure feels like there has to be a form somewhere you can fill out where you check a box that says "I have verified the user isn't just a moron and this may actually be a problem on our side"...and it should be used now.