diff --git a/src/pipewire/context.c b/src/pipewire/context.c
index 0e136bbce..dc969153e 100644
--- a/src/pipewire/context.c
+++ b/src/pipewire/context.c
@@ -290,9 +290,8 @@ struct pw_context *pw_context_new(struct pw_loop *main_loop,
 		if (pw_properties_get(properties, PW_KEY_CPU_MAX_ALIGN) == NULL)
 			pw_properties_setf(properties, PW_KEY_CPU_MAX_ALIGN,
 				"%u", spa_cpu_get_max_align(cpu));
-		if ((str = pw_properties_get(properties, SPA_KEY_CPU_ZERO_DENORMALS)) == NULL)
-			str = "true";
-		spa_cpu_zero_denormals(cpu, spa_atob(str));
+		if ((str = pw_properties_get(properties, SPA_KEY_CPU_ZERO_DENORMALS)) != NULL)
+			spa_cpu_zero_denormals(cpu, spa_atob(str));
 	}
 
 	if (getenv("PIPEWIRE_DEBUG") == NULL &&