diff -up a/man/pulse-daemon.conf.5.xml.in b/man/pulse-daemon.conf.5.xml.in
--- a/man/pulse-daemon.conf.5.xml.in	2016-05-26 23:21:17.000000000 -0500
+++ b/man/pulse-daemon.conf.5.xml.in	2016-05-31 10:01:55.679976730 -0500
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ License along with PulseAudio; if not, s
       <p><opt>flat-volumes=</opt> Enable 'flat' volumes, i.e. where
       possible let the sink volume equal the maximum of the volumes of
       the inputs connected to it. Takes a boolean argument, defaults
-      to <opt>yes</opt>.</p>
+      to <opt>no</opt>.</p>
     </option>
 
   </section>
diff -up a/src/daemon/daemon-conf.c b/src/daemon/daemon-conf.c
--- a/src/daemon/daemon-conf.c	2016-05-26 23:21:17.000000000 -0500
+++ b/src/daemon/daemon-conf.c	2016-05-31 10:01:55.680976735 -0500
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ static const pa_daemon_conf default_conf
     .realtime_priority = 5,  /* Half of JACK's default rtprio */
     .disallow_module_loading = false,
     .disallow_exit = false,
-    .flat_volumes = true,
+    .flat_volumes = false,
     .exit_idle_time = 20,
     .scache_idle_time = 20,
     .script_commands = NULL,
diff -up a/src/daemon/daemon.conf.in b/src/daemon/daemon.conf.in
--- a/src/daemon/daemon.conf.in	2016-05-31 10:01:55.680976735 -0500
+++ b/src/daemon/daemon.conf.in	2016-05-31 10:02:28.048133267 -0500
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ ifelse(@HAVE_DBUS@, 1, [dnl
 ; enable-lfe-remixing = no
 ; lfe-crossover-freq = 0
 
-; flat-volumes = yes
+; flat-volumes = no
 
 ifelse(@HAVE_SYS_RESOURCE_H@, 1, [dnl
 ; rlimit-fsize = -1
diff -up a/src/pulsecore/core.c b/src/pulsecore/core.c
--- a/src/pulsecore/core.c	2016-05-26 23:21:17.000000000 -0500
+++ b/src/pulsecore/core.c	2016-05-31 10:01:55.681976740 -0500
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ pa_core* pa_core_new(pa_mainloop_api *m,
     c->exit_idle_time = -1;
     c->scache_idle_time = 20;
 
-    c->flat_volumes = true;
+    c->flat_volumes = false;
     c->disallow_module_loading = false;
     c->disallow_exit = false;
     c->running_as_daemon = false;