Spotify is incredibly popular. But the service still offers music of supposedly poor quality – far from CD audio quality. Users complain about this again and again, as Amazon, Apple or Tidal also offer music in hi-fi quality. But can you hear the difference at all?
Spotify is the world’s most popular music streaming service. And also the best, as the Stiftung Warentest found out in a study . With a particularly rich range of functions, market leader Spotify is clearly at the top and is the only streaming service to receive the grade “very good”. Nevertheless, Spotify has a major disadvantage compared to Amazon Music, Tidal or Apple Music . There is a trick you can use to improve the audio quality on Spotify. However, unlike the other music streaming services mentioned, Spotify does not offer Hi-Fi quality music to its users. But, can you hear that at all?
SPOTIFY: CAN YOU HEAR THE DIFFERENCE?
Anyone who primarily listens to music on Spotify and manages their entire music library in the app also wants to hear their favorite records in the best audio quality. But Spotify offers a maximum of 320 kbit/s here. What Spotify describes as “very high” audio quality is only on par with an MP3 file. That’s a far cry from what Tidal, Amazon, or Apple offer. Here there is an audio quality of up to 9,216 kbit/s. Even the CD quality is significantly higher at 1,411 kbit/s. But enough with the numbers. HiFi and CD quality or not: Ultimately, the hardware and the ear decide whether you hear a difference.
On the one hand, it depends on the Bluetooth codec that the headphones or speakers support. Apple and other manufacturers often use the AAC codec. However, this only supports an audio quality of up to 24-bit at 96 kHz and a maximum of 320 kbit/s. The codec aptX HD delivers a maximum of 576 kbit/s and Sony’s LDAC up to 990 kbit/s. So if you listen to music from Tidal and Co. with Bluetooth headphones or speakers, you will usually not be able to enjoy the high quality at all.
THE TEST
But there are music lovers who claim to be audiophiles and hear the difference. We did the test with the wired Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro studio headphones and an upstream headphone amplifier. It’s definitely not the best audio gear out there, but it’s quality gear that most wouldn’t be willing to spend money on. So the setting is ready for the test.
Titled “Is your audio system really ready for lossless sound?” abx.digitalfeed’s free test offers a comparison between songs that are 320 kbps, which is Spotify quality, and FLAC files, which are around 900 kbps and as apply without loss. The result was sobering. We answered a good half of all queries correctly. Exactly as many as if we had selected them at random.
HEAR WHAT OTHERS DON’T HEAR?
Without a doubt, there are people who have better hearing than others. But in most cases, even music listeners who call themselves audiophiles will not be able to hear the difference between Spotify and Tidal. how come There is a common term in psychology: “The power of suggestion”. Of course, when you listen to music in HiFi, you also expect it to sound better than on Spotify. But apparently the head plays a trick on the ears here.
