I have to trick Spotify into playing music?

[Uncredited]

Plan

Premium

Country

Sweden

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I get the "Spotify can't play this right now"-error whenever I attempt to play a song with my RME ADI-2 DAC is connected as the primary audio device.
However, if I turn it off, causing windows to default to my Steelseries headset I can play songs without any issues.

If a song is already playing I can turn on the RAM DAC and the music will start playing through the DAC.
Why is Spotify refusing to start a song when the DAC is the audio output but plays fine if I switch from a headset over to the DAC?

Also, when is Spotify Hifi coming to Sweden?

With the combination of Spotify bugging out with high-end audio hardware and the lack of a high-quality stream option, I feel like Spotify is neglecting those of us who enjoy high quality audio. 😞

[Alex]

Hey @Uncredited,

Thanks for the post.

Can you let us know if the issue with the DA converter started recently, after something like an app update? Note that this might not be something that can be fixed from the Spotify app settings. 

You can check if lowering the output quality has any effect. Go to Sounds > Playback > Select the desired output > Properties > Advanced > try switching to the lowest quality and test if songs can start. Sometimes certain Audio cards don't support full quality playback with Spotify.

Regarding HiFi - we don't have official information when that will be made available in Sweden.

Let us know how it goes.

[Uncredited]

I cannot remember exactly when it started, but I think I've had this issue ever since installing my DAC a few months back.

Spotify is the only app with this issue, foobar2000 and VLC both play audio fine with this setup.

Tried switching audio quality but it had no effect on this issue.

Both foobar2000 and VLC play MP3s and high resolution FLACs without any issues, so I suspect it is not a sound quality issue.

More suggestions is appreciated since this issue affects me daily.

Thank you!

[Uncredited]

Found this thread from 2019:
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Windows/Strange-interaction-with-Spotify-and-my-DAC/td-p/48...

Please fix. It's been over two years. 🙂

[Yordan]

Hi @Uncredited,

Thanks for keeping us posted on this.

Could you try changing the sampling rate to see if that does the trick? Try switching to 192 kHz, 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz instead of 384 kHz.

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

[Uncredited]

I am not able to change the sample rate in windows to anything lower than 384 kHz, unfortunately.

I've updated the drivers from RME but 384 kHz remains my only option (see attachment).

Is it unreasonable to expect the Spotify client to handle this?

[Yordan]

Hey again @Uncredited,

Thanks for the quick reply!

Hmm, interesting. On my PC, Analog 1 + 2 refers to my microphone, but I can confirm that I too see only one sample rate (44.1 kHz in my case). Could you try the following steps?:

1. Type "Sound settings" in Windows' search bar next to the Start button and open the application that shows up.
2. On the right side of the window you should see Sound Control Panel. Click on it.
3. A new window should pop up. Head to the Playback tab, right-click on your DAC's name and click Properties.
4. Click on the Advanced tab and select either 192 kHz, 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz as the new sample rate.
5. Click Apply and then OK. Restart the Spotify app afterwards.

In case your DAC's name is indeed Analog 1 + 2 and you still don't see sampling rates other than 384 kHz, we're afraid we can't guarantee proper functionality on that sampling rate. Currently, the app is designed for up to 192kHz and ASIO protocol support is also not available.

You can also try getting in touch with the DAC manufacturer to check if they have tested compatibility with Spotify and if they have any recommendations.

Let us know how it goes.

Take care!

[Uncredited]

The above steps are how I got to where I took the first screenshot. Attached another one which shows the playback context.

I am thankful that you are trying to help and I will reach out to RME and ask them if there's a way to force lower sample rates (probably not since they are locked when using USB and the sample rates are set by windows).

I would like to re-iterate my question, is it a unreasonable request for the Spotify client to handle this, the way other audio playback software do it? I have no insight into how the Spotify client handles playback and I understand if this issue proves  too difficult for the developers to fix.

Cheers!