Bad sound quality with wired headphones on desktop

NotLunr — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:26:04 GMT

Hey,

I am using the desktop app for Windows, recently, the sound quality went from normal to completely unlistenable, the song sometimes completely fades out. I'm using Sony XM4s with a wired connection and the only thing affected is spotify, apps like youtube, netflix, games, etc. all have the same audio as they used to. The issue fixes itself whenever the headphones are connected with bluetooth, but I would much rather use a wired connection with my laptop.

I have tried every thing I could think of doing, reinstalling audio drivers, reinstalling spotify, deleting the user and pref files on my drive and I don't know what else to try. Any suggestions?

Re: Bad sound quality

Ivelina — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:25:05 GMT

Hey @NotLunr,

Thanks for posting on the forum and welcome to the Community! We hope you don't mind that we separated your comment as an separate thread, but we think this could be better for investigating the issue.

Kudos for already performing the mentioned troubleshooting steps. Could you let us know if the same thing happens even when using the Web Player on your desktop?

If you've not already done this, I recommend toggling some of Spotify's sound settings in case any of them make a difference with the sound:

Toggle/change the Streaming quality.
Toggle Off Auto adjust quality.
Toggle Off Normalize volume.
Adjust the Volume level.
Disable/enable the equalizer.

Since this is happening on Windows, consider also giving the following steps a try:

Disable Windows Audio Enhancements.
Check App-Specific Volume Preferences by going to Settings > System > Sound > Volume mixer (or App volume and device preferences). Locate Spotify while it's playing and ensure the Output device is explicitly set to your wired headphones rather than "Default".

Many thanks and we'll be on the lookout for your response.

topic Re: Bad sound quality in Desktop (Windows)

Bad sound quality with wired headphones on desktop

Re: Bad sound quality