Spotify sounds like scratched CD over Bluetooth

[kellyn1]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

Samsung Galaxy 9

Operating System

Android Pi (9)

Earbuds

Taotronics Pallas models (one old and one new), Taotronics Sappho model

Version of Spotify

8.5.36.747, Play Store says it is up to date

My Question or Issue

Since mid-December, I've been having major issues with Spotify playing nice with my earbuds, but ONLY on my Samsung Galaxy 9. The same earbuds work great on my laptop, and don't have this issue. Spotify is the only app I've noticed this problem with on my phone.

Basically, Spotify sounds like a scratched CD. It skips a beat/words, and it has made it virtually impossible to listen to music on my phone. They occur as little as once or twice per song or as frequently as every few seconds.

Things I've tried to fix it:

• Clear Spotify's cache and data
• Clear my phone's cache entirely
• Uninstall and reinstall Spotify
• Restart phone
• Remove all Bluetooth devices and repair them
• Reset network connections on my phone
• Remove Spotify from the battery monitoring  system
  • This fix was from a similar thread, but it did not alleviate my issues
• Give Spotify all permissions possible
• Tried to stream only on data/WiFi, tried to listen to music downloaded on high quality and still had this problem
• Turned Dolby Atmos on and off on my device
• Change streaming to low quality
• Turn off playback options (gapless, automix) one by one and all together
• Make sure Bluetooth on my computer was off
• Soft reset of phone
• Total factory reset

So.......you could say I'm at a bit of a loss. I got to the point I was convinced it was my phone's bluetooth, but the problem persists after a total reset. Additionally, everything worked fine until mid-December. I had two pairs of Taotronics wireless earbuds, and both began to have this problem with Spotify at the same time after working fine for months. I bought a new pair which had the exact same issue out of the box. Every other app sounds perfect through the earbuds. I use all of them for gaming on my laptop with no issues, and Spotify on desktop poses no problems. I also sync my phone to my after-market Bluetooth radio in my car every day and the playback has no issues.

I've been messing with this all winter break, and school is right around the corner. I'm going to go nuts if I can only listen to music and podcasts through my earbuds. Does anyone have ideas on how to fix this? It seems as though it has to be a compatibility issue, as originally both models of Taotronics earbuds worked and now do not.

[kellyn1]

An added note: the audio sounds fine through my phone speaker. This only happens over Bluetooth. I tried a friend's off-brand Target earbuds and they had the same problem, but I haven't tried any higher end earbuds since the problems began.

[Bonny_Stark]

Same for me ! I tries to reboot my earpods and so on, still the same, for me, everytime I change song I have this scracth, it's horrible.

[Novy]

Hey there @Bonny_Stark, 

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community. 

Would you mind letting us know if this is only happening with your EarPods or when you use your phone's speakers too?

Also, send us your device's make, model, OS version and Spotify version so we can take a better look. 

Keep us posted. We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[Blackfirekitsun]

I am having the same issue as the original poster. It only happens with my new headphones that I bought for the gym. My regular commuter headphones work fine. And the gym headphones work fine with other streaming apps (pandora, youtube).  The issues also doesn't happen from the phone's internal speakers. 

Phone: Google Pixel 3 XL

OS: Android 11
Spotify Version: 8.6.48.796

Headphones that don't work:

Brand: Taotronics

Model: TT-BH053 Sound Liberty 53

Headphones that work:

Brand: Jabra

Model: Elite 65e

[kellyn1]

I think this is related to the hardware in some listening devices or certain brands.

I was given a pair of Cowin E7 over the ear headphones for Christmas and this problem stopped. A friend let me try their Beats and they also did not have this problem. Somewhat frustrating since my cheaper earbuds worked on every other app with audio -- which makes me think this problem is on Spotify's end still.

[AdrianPaul]

I've found the solution! The problem only occurs during GROUP playback. Choose just one AUDIO channel.

[Hexapack]

I'm having the same issue with my pair of COWIN E7 headphones (not the same poster who mentioned they received them) and I don't have premium, only happens on bluetooth not the devices speakers

[Vasil]

Hey there @Hexapack,

Sorry to see this has happened to you.
Does the issue only appear when you're using Spotify & only when using these specific earbuds?

If it is doable and not an issue for you, we'd like to know if the this also occurs when Spotify is played via a different mobile device.
So that we can see the whole picture, we'd also like to know the devices you've tested this on and their OS versions.

We'll be on the lookout for your response 🙂
Many thanks in advance.

Cheers!
 

[Gabestephens2003]

1. I am having the same issue on my samsung galaxy s 20. And it is through all Bluetooth devices including: JBL charge 5, apple Airpods, JBL tws earbuds. 

[MihailY]

Hey @Gabestephens2003,

Thanks for reaching out.

Is it possible to test this with a different phone and let us know it's model, OS version and Spotify version as requested by @Vasil above?

Let us know what happens.