Sound quality desktop / web difference

[fzafran]

Hi, I'm new here. Just want to ask a few question about the sound quality difference between desktop app and web player. From what I'm listening the sound on the web player has a deeper sound compared to the desktop app. I don't know the jargon used to discribe it since I'm not really an audiophile but u can just tell that it's better on the web. Any chance the desktop app is the one that cause the quality lost?

I've checked HQ, unchecked set same volume level on the desktop app.

I'm on a premium free trial now for Malaysia spotify and I've free account for US spotify. For now porbably will continue to pay for the Malaysia premium since it is dirt cheap compared to other region. But gonna miss out on a few new release and independent band.

[Taylor]

Hi, and welcome to the community!

Interesting!

I'll escalate this to the staff to see if they can get you an answer.

Anthony 🙂

[Adam]

Hey @fzafran -- with Premium you can set high quality streaming on desktop, which is 320kbps. The web player doesn't have this option so the best quality you'll get currently is 160kbps. There's more info about streaming quality here.

Are you streaming out of your regular computer speakers? What tracks are you noticing the difference on? We can try and test ourselves.

[fzafran]

Hi  Adam, thanks for the info. Well I just pick a track from what's new , Karmin - I Want It All. The bass sound deeper on the web, although everything else sound better on the desktop app HQ. Perhaps it's that, I'm not sure. I can't describe it. Although one thing I'm sure of is the HQ sound on my android's spotify sound a lot better compared to desktop.

I do feel its the desktop app bug/problem. Whether its true or not I don't know.

Perhaps this is where the 'Deezer sound better than Spotify' argument arise from. Since people compared desktop Spotify against web Deezer.

[fzafran]

I'm using in-ear headphone for most of my listening. Mid range Seinheisser.

[Peter__]

Do you have the "Set same volume level for all tracks" enabled in the Desktop client preferences screen? If so can you try disabling it?

[fzafran]

Nope, I've uncheked the "set same volume" option. Plus i did what most of the suggestion from other thread, clear cache, clean reinstall the app.

I've tried another track 'Bone Thug n Harmony feat Mariah Carey - Lil Love". It is almost comparable the 160kbp/s web and the 320kbp/s desktop.

[Peter__]

I do wonder is this down to file format. As far as I am aware desktop client streams via .ogg and the web player by .mp3 - wondering could that be causing the difference?

[fzafran]

Perhaps, maybe .mp3 play nicer on lower bitrate and low/mid range hardware compared to .ogg. But still doesn't explained why audio sound better on android.

[Peter__]

What quality level do you have set in the Android settings? Also, does your android device have an EQ or audio effects active?

[fzafran]

I set extreme quality on my android, and all EQ setting / audio effect are off. It's a 4 years old Samsung Galaxy S.

I've managed to tweak a few settings for my pc, reinstalling sound card driver and using the front port jack, finally managed to improved sound quality on my desktop.

Thanks for the help guys, really appreciated it.

[Peter__]

Glad its working better for you!

[Stivi69]

I think there is a difference between Desktop App and Web App, the web APP is loulder and more bass sound than the Desktop, there is might be some kind of EQ that Web App provides. I also test it with songs that I have on my PC with Winamp and Spotify, the sount is the same for both programs and in Spotify the tested song and a streeming one song from Spotify sounds also the same, when I play the same song in the Web Spotify App - the sound is louder and more bass, the quality is the same by me.

[M2k]

For me web player has the best quality, and sounds like it should be,  on pc app and on android it sounds worse compared to web.

I have set all to extreme quality.

Why is there so much difference, this shouldnt be

[M2k]

and in the pc app with full volume the sound is overdriven a little. i set max to 90%.

but but it is still quieter as the web-app.

the sonority in the web-app is also better and not so dull, as in the PC app. 

i hope it will be fixed

[mitchm]

Is this still an issue ? why is the webapp have the limitation of setting sound quality over the desktop app ?

The android app can have sound quality set, so im thinking it should be done via the webapp also ?

Cheers

[psenet]

I observe the same difference: the sound from the webapp is better than from the desktop app and I am in premium. Is it possible that the difference arises from listening the songs in the offline mode instead of the streaming mode ? It is frustrating as the songs "offline" are worse, so why to pay ?

[user-removed]

Hello and welcome:

@psenet Hum, when you saved the tracks to offline did you make sure in the desktop app you selected high quality streaming? I believe this also selects the option so when you go to offline use for the playlists the desktop app will download them in the higher quality? If you forgot dont sweat it just select the slider button to take those playlist back to online mode and then go to Preferences in the desktop app and select the option for high quality streaming. I would after doing that log out and log back in the desktop app and then go back to preferences to double check that high quality streaming stayed selected and then go back to those playlists and select offline mode again, the app should then redownload those tracks again and replace the lower quality versions with the higher quality and see if there is a difference? I use the deskop app and have the high quality stream selected and seem to have no issues, but then again I do have my pc sound piped into my home theater system so this could be why as well? You might just try double checking your pc sound settings again to make sure there is no third party audio tool or even an enhanced sound setting messing up the spotify sound on the desktop app. I use the default sound modes without any sound enhancements, these sometimes mess with music.

[Schwiegand]

@Spotify: Please add option to stream with high quality in Web Player.

[medial]

It just seems that treble and bass (and volume) is more emphasized in the web app.
Like if you would turn some "loudness" setting on.

It could be the sound is passed through different audio drivers or that the true reason remain a secret among

Spotify coders 🙂

I tried the new "Boom" equalizer for OSX on the Macbook and if I run it with the Spotify Web player
the enhancement becomes overdriven, there is already some processing applied to the web player,

not a flat response as with the native player.