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Spotify has changed for many the way we consume music for a few years, and although more and more competition comes out, especially with the arrival of Apple Music, they remain the undisputed leader of streaming music, at least for now .

Despite all the good things it has, there are those who feel that Spotify is missing things, such as offering lossless music, something they are trying and could come at any time. In the meantime, if you are a Spotify user, you may not know that the audio quality varies between different applications and between user types. That is why we have decided to explain how to get the best possible.

Before we begin, we will make it clear that the objective of this article is to make sure that Spotify gives you the best quality that the service can offer, but obviously it will not only depend on this factor what you end up listening to, the hardware you have, either the mobile or computer where you listen, or the speakers and headphones you use are another matter.

And, something else quite normal and that in the end weighs heavily in these cases, is that many people do not distinguish the difference between CD quality and an audio file at 160 kbps. But if you are one of those who are sure that it shows, this could help you.

The different bitrates of Spotify

Spotify Audio Quality

The first thing is that you know that Spotify uses three different types of quality for streaming. The format they use is always OGG, no MP3.

In mobile devices the normal quality is 96 kbps
The web player and desktop in normal quality receive audio at 160 kbps
The high quality mobile player receives 160 kbps audio
The high quality desktop application receives 320 kbps (only for premium subscribers)
The mobile application in extreme quality also receives 320 kbps (premium subscribers only)
From this you can conclude several things: the minimum quality is 96 kbps and only exists for mobile playback. The maximum quality for the web player is 160 kbps, there is no high quality option from the web, even if you have premium. You can receive the best possible quality only from the native desktop app (Windows, Linux, macOS) or from the mobile app if you are a Premium user.

Enable high quality in the desktop application

If you are not a premium subscriber it does not matter if you use the desktop client or the web client, which by the way no longer uses Flash but despite being much faster lost a lot of functions, the quality you receive will always be 160 kpbs.

If you are a premium subscriber you can enable high quality playback (320 kbps) from the Desktop App Settings. Click on Edit and then on Preferences or simply press CTRL + P. There you will find the Streaming option in high quality almost first.

Other important settings in Spotify settings

Songs To Test Headphones With 2017 05 28 17 05 21
Now, there is an important setting that at least in the most recent versions of the Windows desktop client is enabled by default. This is a setting in the playback that matches the volume of all the songs and that can affect the sound quite drastically.

This option adjusts the volume of all the songs in a playlist to be the same and causes the base sound to be lower than that of the web player, since the latter does not have that option.

Adjust the volume of all songs

It should not theoretically be a problem if you turn up the entire volume, but for many users this is why they feel that the web player is heard better at 160 kbps than the native 320 kbps player.

In addition to all this, at the end of the list of options in the Spotify desktop client configuration, you will find a setting to Enable hardware acceleration.

It should not theoretically be a problem if you turn up the entire volume, but for many users this is why they feel that the web player is heard better at 160 kbps than the native 320 kbps player.

In addition to all this, at the end of the list of options in the Spotify desktop client configuration, you will find a setting to Enable hardware acceleration.

Spotify Hardware Acceleration

This, for many teams, may not mean much or some difference whether it is active or not, but depending on whether you have a special sound card, or if you notice jumps in the playback or a lower quality in your sound experience, it is good to make sure you have it. always active.

Finally, if you use Windows, it is worth checking the volume mixer to make sure that Spotify sound is at the same level as the rest of the system sounds and not reduced, it is silly, but it may be the reason why You feel that it is heard lower than it should.

Volume Mixer

Right click on the volume icon in the taskbar and then select “Open volume mixer”.
And, since we talk about Windows, if you already have the Windows 10 Creators Update, activate the new spatial sound mode and test how you are doing with that magical and enveloping sound that Microsoft has invented. Or something like that.

Activate extreme quality in the mobile application

High Quality Spotify Mobile

This quality is only available for Premium users, the rest of the mortals have to conform to the normal quality at 96 kbps.

To activate it simply open the Spotify app and navigate to Your library, then touch the nut icon to go to Settings. Scroll down until you find the Music Quality section and select Extreme Quality next to the Streaming option.

You can also choose this quality for the songs you download to listen offline. And, remember that if you activate extreme quality, you will obviously consume more data when listening to streaming music.

Spotify equalizer

Another thing you can try to adjust the audio so that it sounds as pleasant as possible to your ear is to open the Equalizer and activate or deactivate it depending on how it works for you.

You will receive a very clear warning that you can alter the sound quality, but nothing happens to try, you can switch between the different presets, or you can manually adjust the bass and virtualization. If you think it was heard better before, just turn it off and go.

Finally, remember that these settings are not going to be worth much if you go with the mobile in the subway listening on the speaker, and do not expect miracles if you use a Renfe headset.