Crackling/stuttering/laggy playback on Android

[Sandnes]

Hi,

I have some annoying problems with playback from my Android device. With irregular patterns the sound crackles/stutters/lags when I play music and the screen is turned off. Can vary from 1-15 seconds intervalls between stuttering. So far I've not experienced the issue while the phone is unlocked. 

This problem is isolated to only the spotify app, other apps like youtube, radio og TV have no playback issues. The playback crackles on phone speakers, headsets, in off-line mode, streaming music directly with 4G or Wi-Fi (though it could seem 4G has less crackling), playing downloaded playlists with 4G or Wi-Fi connected and after complete uninstall off app and all Spotify data deleted and then only three playlists downloaded.

I've run out of ideas to what could fix this issue and it really ruins my phone as a playback device.

Have no problems with Spotify on desktop or from phone to Chromecast.

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S6 (SM-G920F) running Android 7.0 and the Spotify app is on automatic updates.

Hope someone of you can help me.

[jthole]

It looks like I have the same problem since the latest update. TuneIn Radio works fine, but Spotify Connect frequently stutters. I also use a Samsung S6, but I'm not sure if the phone model has anything to do with it (since Spotify Connect does not stream via the phone?). I had the issue with two different Chromecast devices.

My Chromecast Audio device is at the 1.27.96538 firmware level. Spotify is automatically updated, so I should have the latest version.

[Thom_bjork]

I'm having the same issue with crackling sound. It doesn't happen with other apps - YouTube Music, Google Play Music, TuneIn Radio, PocketCasts, or SoundCloud. Video apps don't have any issues either.

I'm using a Note 8, running the stock Samsung 7.1.1 ROM. I have Spotify version 8.4.26.157 installed. I have a Premium subscription and am enrolled in the beta. I've tried clearing cache and data, uninstall and reinstall, sign out and log in, using Bluetooth, etc. The issue persists. It's a crackling sound that's similar to the sound of a blown speaker. That kinda freaked me out, since this phone and my BT speakers are all new, but everything works fine using other apps, so I've ruled that out.

[Joe]

If 8.4.26.157 is a beta, you shpuld post in the beta forum, not here as it just creates confusion. Thanks.

[IWantSunshine]

I have a similar problem. On Android phone (OnePlus 5) I have a short (0.5-ish seconds) "crakling" and/or "silence" and/or "popping" in every song in every 30-60 seconds, quite annoying really. But only if I'm streaming on mobile data (4G/4G+ usually). Walking in the same area Google Play Music, Amazon Prime Music, RadioTunes etc don't have this problem using the very same phone, so it's not poor reception or phone problem really. I'm guessing it *might be* that Spotify doesn't cache enough long ahead. Maybe Spotify could change that, caching longer amount of time ahead? By the way, I already emptied Spotify cache, no joy, phone cache, no joy, restarted phone, no joy, uninstalled and re-installed Spotify, no joy. Change quality settings too, auto, normal, high, no joy. 😞

[GenerallyJesus]

I have the exact same problem on my S6 as well, ive tried everything and nothing works. The first clean install I did worked temporarily, but after that nothing has worked. Its incredibly frustrating paying for a service im unable to use

[BartVerheyden]

i'm having the same problem with my LG G6  on android 7, absolutely terrible sound quality when using bluetooth. No problem with any other music app. Hoping for a quick fix from spotify!!

[LennartD]

Having the same issues on my Samsung Galaxy S6 (G920F) with Android 8.0.0.

[Jacob88s]

Hello, Look at this thread. It sounds like the same problem. After I made the settings change suggested in that thread I also had to reboot my phone before it started to work. /Jacob

[michaelpavlock]

Spotify needs a deveoper who can reconfigure the Android and iPhone apps to include buffer size adjustments, like what the PowerAmp music player has. They also need to reconfigure their downloads so that they do not download your music in a million different pieces cause one, that's not what we Premium users pay for and two, that's probably a lot of the reason music stutters the way it does. Your app is trying to play a song that's downloaded and it's not a seemless audio file. Complere garbage. I'm ready to use a hacked apk and not pay for this anymore cause the service is ridiculous and nobody at Spotify does anything about it. 

[Wallsmack]

I'm having the same problem, lots of crackling on a samsung galaxy S6, makes Spotify nearly worthless. Nothing ruins a great song better than random stuttering, completely breaks my enjoyment.

[pamaxis]

Dear Spotify,

Sounds (pardon the wordplay), like you have a problem! Please acknowledge you are working on it.... I am a premium user for years and this has only started happening in the last few months.

Best regards,

Pawel

[IWantSunshine]

Don't you use, by any chance, a pair of Bluetooth headphones? I noticed that apparently Spotify (and Google Play Music too) doesn't "like" some Bluetooth headphones. I have three such headphones (all three of them Bluetooth 4.1), using two of them Spotify (or GPM) has no problem, but with the third one Spotify (and GPM) crackling/skips for half a second - one second at least once a minute. It would be easy to say that that particular pair of Bluetooth headphones is of poor quality/defective ... if that very same BT headphones didn't work absolutely fine with YouTube or Netflix... Maybe streaming music services use some other algorhytm then other apps and some BT headphones/speakers can't handle that? I don't know, just guessing...

[Sandnes]

Thanks Jacob88s, but this did not do anything for me.

Had Spotify on the list over "unmonitored apps" all the time. 

[RKK]

Yep. Same problem here. Popping every 30 to 60 seconds, just started happening over the past three weeks or so. Makes it unlistenable. I've tried every 'solution' suggested to no avail. Sounds like Spotify have a problem and it sounds like they're not acknowledging it. If it persists, I may look elsewhere. I expect more from a Premium service.

[user-removed]

I had this problem a long time ago when I was on Nap****. Long story short, turns out it was not my headphones, but a bad internet connection. For whatever reason, there was a lot of bad traffic for a couple of weeks with my ISP. Because there wasn't enough high speed data coming in, it effected my sound quality. It's no different than a crackling bluetooth while walking.

[RKK]

Nothing to do with my internet connection. Netflix and Amazon video streaming works without a hitch. It's just Spotify that crackles and pops.

[user-removed]

Then I have no idea what it could be. Everything works fine for me..

[darkeval]

I had this problem before on Android 6 a few years ago, then a new version of Spotify came and fixed it. Now the problem has reappeared on my new phone on Android 8, which makes no sense. Please fix again!