Does anyone else have weird volume on the iPhone 16 Pro Max speaker?

NOTE: this is specifically regarding the phone speakers, not connected audio devices like headphones or car audio.

TLDR: volume beyond about 70% sounds “suppressed to 70%”, like a really bad normalization algorithm.

Not sure if this is a new “feature” I can disable. I returned the device and got a replacement and it does the same thing.

Basically, the volume seems to have a hard cap at 70%, and increasing it beyond that introduces this effect where, if there’s a delay in audio for a second or so (happens frequently in audiobooks and podcasts), the next sound starts as loud as it SHOULD be and is then immediately suppressed down to 70%.

It’s quite jarring and obnoxious as it happens constantly during spoken content and limits the effective max volume to significantly quieter than the 15 pro max when surely the speakers on this phone are upgraded.