Spotify on Apple TV: terrible audio quality

[juliush]

I get really poor, fuzzy sound quality when I play music using the new Spotify app for Apple TV. I have a good broadband connection and it's not a problem if I use another device and airplay the same music to the Apple TV.

Is there a setting I've missed that I can use to force audio quality to be high?

Device

Apple TV 4

Operating System

tvOS 13.0

Plan

Premium

[kimulstein88]

I was searching for this! My first thought was that I had trashed my speakers without noticing it before. But when I switched to AirPlay via my IPhone, every sound was crystal clear again! Something is clearly not right with the app at this point. Hope they fix it soon!

[dorototoro]

Hey guys,

Have you tried reinstalling the app first? You could also try to toggle the "reduce loud sounds" option in the AppleTV settings.

I also have an AppleTV at home and works fine there. Hope it will work for you guys as well!

Ciao

[kiwiguy1]

What a relief to learn others have found the same problem, I thought my (expensive) Bose Home Theatre Sound System had blown it's speakers when I played music through Spotify on the new Apple TV Spotify App, dreadful fuzzy sound.

I then air played Spotify through to Apple TV, and hey presto, the poor sound quality issue was gone.

Great to see Apple has finally allowed Spotify to have an Apple TV App, but absolute B.S. that the sound quality is **bleep** poor, and there is no way to adjust Bass/Treble/Equalizer settings, some skulduggery is obviously afoot.

Sort it out please

[shakov]

   The Spotify app for Apple TV is flawed. I'm sure nobody listened to the audio before releasing this app. The app tries to do some clever thing to make a Dolby up mix of the tracks which sound like a playback from a speaker placed in a bucket.

I'm surprised there is no fix or comment on this by spotify.

Using a Denon AVR4300 and Dali 7.1 Speaker setup.

[eridanos]

Hey guys, I’ve got the very same issue. I cross-checked by trying different Apple TV apps, Apple TV sound settings, I changed auxiliary cables, speakers - alas, to no avail. It’s due to Apple TV Spotify app itself. Can you please @spotify team fix it?

[WPDP]

I recently got a new DAC and can now clearly hear low-level artifacts and distortion in most every Spotify track on their Apple TV app. I read the tv app description and think I figured out the reason: It says “high quality audio, no ads (premium only)”. 

In Spotify-speak, high quality is 160 kbit/s not “very high” 320 kbit/s. So technically they’re offering exactly what they promised lol. Maybe someday soon they’ll upgrade the tv app to let us choose “very high”. 

[btz1]

same here!

[FFFF34761]

The problem persists even on newest tvOS 13.4.

I connected my Apple TV to Focusrite audio interface via S/PDIF to see what is going on. Probably the output level of Spotify app is way too high and the terrible sound quality is caused by audio clipping effect 😞

 HBO GO APP       SPOTIFY APP

HBO GO     Spotify

[btz1]

Same here!

I use HomePod as an audio output for Apple TV and the sound quality is terrible. But when I output audio from the iPhone to the HomePod it is perfect.

[andrewd2016]

I've run into the same issue here. I've found that enabling "Reduce Loud Sounds" in Apple TV "Video and Audio" settings helps, but it's still not great, and the Spotify app offers no control over audio quality, equalizer, bit rate, or anything. It's so disappointing.

[kernelsanders]

I agree. On every other spotify app there is a setting for quality. On the Apple TV you're directly plugged into a high-quality amplifier in many cases. So it should either default to the highest quality audio, or give the customer a choice in Settings. Please!

[Coooly]

Glad to see that I wasn’t crazy about Spotify Apple TV that’s blasting a volume absurdly high compared to other regular apps. 

[Remco602]

Somehow this does not surprise me.. I have been complaining to Spotify, and with me others as well, about the fact that the equalizer in the Spotify iPhone app does not work when streaming over AirPlay for well over one year now. It seems they don't really care about people that want to use their service with Apple devices.

I have noticed the poor sound quality when using the Spotify app on Apple TV as well by the way..

[davebebo]

I just figured out that this was due to the Apple TV. I kept getting the weird fuzzy sound from my soundbar audio digital audio input. And would I listen to the same songs on Spotify through the Bluetooth option of the same soundbar and the sound would be fine. So I thought, maybe my digital audio input on the soundbar was fudged but when I listen on the spotify app from Roku the sound is fine! So I can double confirm this issue comes from the Apple TV. I can also confirm that the option for Reduce Loud Sounds in the settings does resolve the issue : )

[Kayashi]

Same problem for me, with playing Spotify on my brand new Apple TV - horrible, blown out audio quality. I used to think it was a problem with playing Spotify through my old Amazon Firestick, but after getting a new Apple TV and trying Spotify again, I realized that it's a problem with Spotify. None of my other apps (on both my Amazon Firestick and my Apple TV) have any audio issues, just Spotify. Which is too bad, because what a great opportunity Spotify has to continue to compete against Apple Music than to be better than Apple Music on Apple TV.

Spotify, if you're monitoring these communities at all, #plsfix.

[Novy]

Hi folks,

Sorry for the late reply, we've just come across this thread. 

To begin, please run a reinstall of the Spotify app on the Apple TV. 

If this doesn't do the trick, give a check to this article to adjust the audio settings, they might make a difference. 

Hope this helps!

[mremusic]

Sorry but unfortunately this answer is not helpful at all. This needs to be addressed from the developers, because clearly the Apple TV Spotify app is flawed. The audio gain is so much increased, that the audio clips and there is AUDIBLE distortion.

[Jeremy]

Hi there @mremusic,

Thank you for your reply and feedback.

We understand. However, sometimes as simple as a reinstall can help.

If that doesn't do the trick, can you follow the steps that's provided in the article that @Novy provided in the answer above.

Keep us posted.

Take care!

[mremusic]

Hey Jeremy, thanks for your reply. I tried a few re-installs, also did one just now again. Believe me - no difference. Just play any new song - let's say "my future" by billie eilish. It is very much louder than it should be (played from other sources) and quickly starts distorting, even when you try to match the volume on the amplifier.

Yes you are partly correct - the Apple TV setting "reduce loud sounds" works - but I don't want to turn that option always on and off just for Spotify... Netflix, Youtube, etc. work without any problem. thanks.