Sound quality vs Google Play is terrible. Why??

[Xaxas]

I know there's plenty of threads out there regarding sound quality, but nothing has solved my issues.

If it matters I have the 2014 Moto X.

Problem: I can pick any song, doesn't matter - songs I've never listened to and songs I have, play them in Spotify and they sound "meh"... pause it, open Google Play Music, find the same song, play, without changing anything at all it sounds way WAY more full, and like I just turned my stereo up about 10 notches.

YES - Spotify is set to stream in Extreme quality. (What's worse, Google Play is only set to stream as "Normal" quality, not even their "Highest" setting.)

YES - I have cleared the cache.

YES - I have the equalizer enabled on both apps, and it shares the same EQ so they should sound the same in that regard.

So what is the deal? The disparity between the two is just unbelievable. Honestly, it's bad enough that I've canceled my subscription and switched because of the sound quality alone. You'd have to be near deaf to not hear the difference.

Is there anyone that can offer some legitimate, factual insight here?

[Xaxas]

Thought as much... no explanation. I guess we just chalk it up that sound quality on Spotify just plain sucks when compared to Google Play. It's a shame really. I would hope there would be other merits by which someone would decide on one service over the other, but the difference in the two on this point is just unbearable.

[user-removed]

I listen Spotify on Android thru Sennheiser Momentum 99 € earphones, sound is great.

Most likely your EQ is bad, as real music lovers, they don't use EQ 🙂 Better headphones, if someone wants more bass etc...

[Xaxas]

---

@hpguru wrote:

I listen Spotify on Android thru Sennheiser Momentum 99 € earphones, sound is great.

Most likely your EQ is bad, as real music lovers, they don't use EQ 🙂 Better headphones, if someone wants more bass etc...

---

Congrats on your headphones - they're completely irrelevant to the question posted. Your response offers absolutely zero assistance, explanation, or guidance. Seems the entire point blew right past you...

The point was it doesn't matter what the music is being listened to with - headphones, car stereo via headphone jack, etc... it doesn't matter how the EQ is setup (turn it off if you choose to, since you're a real music lover), I can pause one, go to the other service on the same track, over the same network connection, with the same settings, and Google Play sounds remarkably better. That is all.

[jorgealmeidars]

I report the same thing : Google music play sounds better for the same music. More loud and better frequency response.
My solution? Start to use Google Music Play.....
Jorge

[WhizzWr]

Spotify premium user here.. I can also confirm this on a Desktop with a powered 2.1 speaker..

It's weird since both is supposed to stream at 320kbps, but Gmusic songs sound somewhat 'fuller'..

Is its because of the  Desktop app? but Gmusic is a web-based app.. so it doesn't seem to matter.

[Andy-Bacon]

Hiya,

Almost everyone mentions the Gmusic sound is "louder"

- First thing that occurs to me is that if we are comparing "sound quality" we must set the volume so that they both "sound" the same volume.

- i.e. turn Gmusic down until it sounds the same volume as Spotify (I used the volume ccontrol on Gmusic's web page).

- Only then can a fair comparison be made.

I'm listening using the Spotify Windows APP and GMusic in a Chrome tab. There's not a huge difference in volume but Gmusic's was definately louder until I turned it down a couple of notches. Now it matches Spotify (set to full volume).

I am listening using a pair of  Denon AD-H600 headphones and a Fiio Alpen headphone amplifier/DAC. (I'm not a HiFi "snob" - but this kit does increase my enjoyment of music - with it I can hear more detail, highs, lows, I like my bass :), etc. - it expsoes the "full story" - even bad recordings.

Now - Personally I find Spotify to be better than Gmusic. The main differences is that Spotifys sound is cleaner and more detailed. The same tracks on Gmusic sound compressed, the details is "masked", also possibly even EQ'd with the Bass and Treble pushed up a bit.

I initially looked for the "streaming quality" settings  - but they don't exist in the web version - so only assumption is that is must be 320kbps?

Listening - to the same using my offices cheap headphones - the differences are much less obvious and I can see why some people will prefer the Gmusic sound - especially if the volume is higher as well.

So - for A/B comparision make the volume "sound" equal 1st - then compare quality.

There - thats my "10 cents".

[vaprize8]

I completely agree with Xaxas, I've been comparing the two against each other for about two years now. Google's sound quality is far superior to Spotify's, in the true sense of "apples to apples". Hopefully they'll improve it, however I would imagine that would require completely re-encoding the entire library, or at the very least, most listened to. 

[Rchernandez42]

I too have noticed this. This issue has only started within the last two software updates for Android. It's like they fixed the stuttering problem then created a sound issue. Anyone fix this yet?

[user-removed]

.

[Rchernandez42]

What's crazy is I briefly switched back to my iPhone and didn't have that
problem at all. Just on my Pixel XL. It's very frustrating.

[Rchernandez42]

What's crazy is I briefly switched back to my iPhone and didn't have that
problem at all. Just on my Pixel XL. It's very frustrating.

[WhizzWr · Accepted solution]

This is just a guess: but I think Spotify's Android app are using OGG-contained codec (e.g. Vorbis) and Apple products most likely doesn't support OGG, thus they have to fall back into MP3 for iOS device.

Whatever parameters Spotify is using to encode their music to OGG format, it makes the OGG (subjective) music sound quality to be worse than that of MP3 encoded.

Google Music uses MP3 for what's it worth.

OGG native codec (Vorbis, Opus etc) Itself is fine, there are better codec, but it's at least slightly better than MP3.

but if Spotify is encoding their OGG music from lossy MP3 files, this explains the inferior sound quality.

[kvdbeld]

"setting the volumes to the same level" was dismissed as being irrelevant in an earlier post but it is crucially important. It is common knowledge that music sounds better if it is played louder. You can do a simple test. With your headphones on, play your music at a low volume for a while. Then increase the volume a notch or two. Guess what, it sounds better. Of course, this doesn’t hold when you play it very loud and then crack it up even more.

I do agree that Spotify’s audio quality isn’t that great. Before Rdio went bankrupt I compared Spotify and Rdio sound quality and Rdio had clearly better sound quality. This was very obvious on a pair of Audio-Technica or Sennheiser headphones but still noticeable on an average set of speakers. Considering that the source is the same I think it is the codec they use that causes the difference. I haven’t compared to Google Play and I may give that a go. If Google Play uses MP3 I have little hope it is any better. There are much better codecs around. By the way, using EQ only distorts the music and should not be used when comparing sources.

For my everyday listening it doesn’t bother me too much but with Spotify we are listening to inferior music quality. Higher sample rates gives little or no improvement.

[user-removed]

.

[kvdbeld]

“If the sound quality is bad, you can crank up the volume all the way up and you will make it sound even worse, because all the imperfections will be more easily noticeable.”

Thank you for confirming what I said. If you increase the volume, more details of the sound stage [good or bad] can be heard which is perceived as better sound quality.

You are confusing perceived sound quality, which is what we are talking about here, with quantitative sound quality that you can measure like distortion for instance. However, your ears don’t work the same as measuring equipment.

[user-removed]

.

[Joe]

Come on guys. Let's move on 🙂

[Rchernandez42]

Update: Contacted Google and they said it looks like a Bluetooth issue. I
would start out with normal volume and then it would Reduce by 50%.
Contacted Verizon in person with the Google troubleshooting ticket number
and they are replacing my phone free of charge.

[kvdbeld]

Musiicman, don’t worry. I’m not easily embarrassed.

Good on you that you can hear a difference between MP3 256kbps and MP3 320 kbps. The difference in compression is so small that I can’t.

In fact, I attended a blind listening test with a few hundred audiophiles and music enthusiasts where they played a recording at MP3 128kbps and MP3 320 kbps. A fast majority of listeners could not hear any difference. Neither could I. 51% thought that the 128 kbps recording sounded the best.  This has nothing to do with sound quality though. More people pick the last choice if both options are the same and the 128 kbps track was played last.  

If you think you can hear the difference between FLAC and MP3 320 kbps you are kidding yourself. If it is not in a blind test you know what track is playing. You want to hear a difference so therefore you do.

Enjoy your excellent hearing while you can because by the time you reach 40 it is all gone.  

I take Joe’s advice and move on.