Since upgrading from my s22 ultra to the s25 ultra my Bluetooth audio has sounded super flat and quiet. I have done all the regular steps and developer settings steps with no results. I'm just curious if anyone has any other options or if I have to wait for the next software update?
This worked for me. Turn OFF disable absolute volume, restart phone, reset and then pair Buds, turn volume up to max, disconnect Buds, turn ON disable absolute volume, restart phone, re-connect Buds
Try clearing out the Bluetooth settings and connected device and start over while also making sure your Bluetooth connected device(s) are not also connected to another phone. Go to Settings/General management/Reset/Reset Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings, and then click the reset settings button. This will reset your Wi-Fi connection and you will need to login to that again and it will also remove all Bluetooth device(s) from from your phone. The pair the Bluetooth device again with your device.
If that does not work, open the Members app, slick on Support at the bottom right and then run a diagnostics test.
This is ridiculous I went from a note 8 and the sound was loud on bluetooth to this **bleep** on the samsung s25 ultra. I use my phone for music all day ..this garbage its so low I honestly feel like I wasted my money on this phone..trash
This worked for me. Turn OFF disable absolute volume, restart phone, reset and then pair Buds, turn volume up to max, disconnect Buds, turn ON disable absolute volume, restart phone, re-connect Buds
Disabling "disable absolute volume" then restarting worked for me. If I turn "disable absolute volume" back on again, the volume goes back to being low. So I turned it off again, then restarted. Keeping it off.
I have a low volume situation when using android auto and receive a call. The volume never returns to the normal level and am forced to do a google search to restore it.
One thing you might want to check is if you have any unwanted settings enabled in you audio player of choice.
To give a 1st hand example, as it was driving me insane... I upgraded from an S23U to S25U and also experienced poor audio quality and lack of volume and dynamics while driving. Went through all suggested countermeasures as shared here and elsewhere, to no avail.
So, turns out, when I migrated to the new phone, some of the audio settings in my player (I use Tidal) got reset to low audio quality for mobile streaming, but also - the most important issue - "normalize audio" being set to ON by default. Switching back to Max, and killing normalization, I'm back to enjoying music as before.
I figured out what's actually going on and how to actually solve the problem. This needs to be shared.
TL;DR - for the most guaranteed best fix, You'll need to upgrade your Bluetooth receiver to one with LDAC codec.
Starting around one of the One UI 7.x updates, Samsung made major changes to its Bluetooth audio gain management layer — the part that negotiates output level with external A2DP devices.
They implemented new EU volume-safety compliance logic and dynamic gain normalization, which primarily affected older or generic SBC-only receivers (most adapters use this codec) ended up around -6 dB quieter audio output, sometimes even more, and "Disable Absolute Volume” no longer fully bypasses the gain limiter.
I couldn't get my car (Bluetooth receiver to aux cable) to be over about 60% of what it used to be, even with everything maxed, tried every fix. It sounded flat and had no punch or bass anymore. My other devices sounded quieter but not as bad. While working in the dev settings, I saw other codecs listed there and the sample rates, they were all on either SBC or AAC with the lowest sample rates as the only option available which got me digging further and how I found this out.
Supposedly it can accept AptX but I have an AptX-certified Bose receiver and it does not let me output in AptX so I would not trust that codec.
I got a new Bluetooth receiver that had LDAC which is the best approved codec (the other being SSC which is Samsung's own codec and only works between Samsung devices). When I first connected my phone up to it, in my phone's bluetooth device settings for only that one device (where you choose audio/call toggles or speaker/headphones/other), there was a brand new toggle for "LDAC" codec. I turned that on and Holy. **bleep**. INSTANTLY fixed. The car volume is amazingly loud, it has actual PUNCH that I can feel again, crisp, on the bass and drum kicks and stuff, and everything sounds **bleep**g amazing.
So yes, it's possible, but Samsung shoulda made it 100x more clear that they **bleep** everyone over with the UI update hard-capping the vol limit in the firmware to the point that no dev or phone settings could bypass it.
Get LDAC. It's cheaper than getting a new phone and your ears will thank you anyway, I shoulda done that years ago, it's the closest to a pure Linear PCM of any device/speaker/headphone I use.
