diff --git a/spa/plugins/audioconvert/channelmix.c b/spa/plugins/audioconvert/channelmix.c
index 59c5b9afc..a7f697d6f 100644
--- a/spa/plugins/audioconvert/channelmix.c
+++ b/spa/plugins/audioconvert/channelmix.c
@@ -1539,6 +1539,8 @@ impl_init(const struct spa_handle_factory *factory,
 
 	props_reset(&this->props);
 
+	this->mix.options = CHANNELMIX_OPTION_NORMALIZE;
+
 	for (i = 0; info && i < info->n_items; i++) {
 		const char *k = info->items[i].key;
 		const char *s = info->items[i].value;
diff --git a/src/daemon/client-rt.conf.in b/src/daemon/client-rt.conf.in
index 9dca000aa..e902beafd 100644
--- a/src/daemon/client-rt.conf.in
+++ b/src/daemon/client-rt.conf.in
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ stream.properties = {
     #node.latency          = 1024/48000
     #node.autoconnect      = true
     #resample.quality      = 4
-    #channelmix.normalize  = false
+    #channelmix.normalize  = true
     #channelmix.mix-lfe    = true
     #channelmix.upmix      = false
     #channelmix.lfe-cutoff = 0
diff --git a/src/daemon/client.conf.in b/src/daemon/client.conf.in
index f4fed269d..8910085e4 100644
--- a/src/daemon/client.conf.in
+++ b/src/daemon/client.conf.in
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ stream.properties = {
     #node.latency          = 1024/48000
     #node.autoconnect      = true
     #resample.quality      = 4
-    #channelmix.normalize  = false
+    #channelmix.normalize  = true
     #channelmix.mix-lfe    = false
     #channelmix.upmix      = false
     #channelmix.lfe-cutoff = 0
diff --git a/src/daemon/pipewire-pulse.conf.in b/src/daemon/pipewire-pulse.conf.in
index f9faaf269..23870190e 100644
--- a/src/daemon/pipewire-pulse.conf.in
+++ b/src/daemon/pipewire-pulse.conf.in
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ stream.properties = {
     #node.latency          = 1024/48000
     #node.autoconnect      = true
     #resample.quality      = 4
-    #channelmix.normalize  = false
+    #channelmix.normalize  = true
     #channelmix.mix-lfe    = false
     #channelmix.upmix      = false
     #channelmix.lfe-cutoff = 0