I've heard a lot of chatter about Spotify's audio quality being inferior to other streaming platforms. I've tried doing some research to get a clear understanding, but I'm still a bit confused. Could someone clarify if Spotify's audio quality is genuinely lower, and at what point—considering headphone or speaker quality—does this difference actually become noticeable?
2 Answers
Yes, it's a known fact that Spotify isn’t on par with others like Tidal or Apple Music when it comes to audio quality. Their streams are compressed even at the highest settings, unlike Apple Music which offers lossless audio. Some folks can hear a difference, while for others, it's really negligible. I've seen your question online and it's not something that's hard to find out more about, either!
Spotify streams up to 320 kbps using the OGG codec, which is decent but not lossless. Other services, like Apple Music or Amazon Music, provide lossless audio. In theory, lossless should be better, but most people can't hear the difference in blind tests. If you've got a high-end audio setup, sure, you might want that top-tier sound, but honestly, for most average listeners, like those using Bluetooth speakers or regular headphones, sticking with Spotify shouldn't be an issue at all.
Thanks for the info! I did find some stuff about lossless audio and how Spotify doesn’t have it, but the numbers I saw didn’t really show a significant difference. Maybe I'm just a bit tired.