Spotify streams at low quality

[Sharpninja]

Plan

Premium

Country

Uk

Device

(Samsung Galaxy 10, Samsung Galaxy 9, Windows 10, Ipad)

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

My Question or Issue

When streaming spotify (using spotify connect or voice commands) on google speakers/google capable speakers, the quality on some songs is dreadful (96kbps or lower). Its been like this for at least a year but I have finally done enough troubleshooting to be able to say where I think the issue is......spotify connect and its integration in the home app.

I think spotify connect defaults to low quality when you ask your speakers to play something or if you go into the home app (via the media button)/spotify app and tell it to stream spotify on your speakers. I believe voice commands are processed via spotify connect, not chromecast, as If I specifically select a speaker or a group of speakers in the home app and then tap cast my audio, I get much better streaming quality.

It took me a while but I finally found a song that always has the issue - "Stricken" by Disturbed with the quality being noticeably low at 22 seconds into the song and onwards.

I have tried playing the same song via the following methods and these were the results:

• Spotify connect - Low quality, cymbals were painful to listen to
• Voice command to google speaker to play on spotify- Low quality, cymbals were painful to listen to
• Chromecast from phone playing spotify - no issues, sounded good.
• Voice command to google speaker to play on apple music - no issues, sounded good
• Cast from apple music app on phone (assume this is chromecast) - no issues, sounded good

So in conclusion, the Home app seems to be defaulting to spotify connect, which sounds rubbish. Personally, I dont want to change to apple music but I also dont want to not have the voice command functionality of my speakers producing a low quality result when using spotify.

FYI - tried this on multiple devices so its not a cache or install issue.

The speakers I have tried this this on, all with the same result:

3 google nest minis

1 Nest wifi point

1 LG SLY8G sound bar and sub (has "dolby atmos")

Anyone got any advice or is this an issue that can be put to the devs?

Also the volume is much lower when using Spotify connect Vs casting via the home app or with Apple music (without changing the volume on the speaker)

[Novy]

Hey there @Sharpninja, 

Thanks for reaching out here in the Community!

Apologies for the delayed response. We've gone ahead and forwarded your feedback to the right teams.

While we can't commit to a specific timeline for this to be fixed, we'd recommend always keeping your app up to date. 

If anything else comes up, the Community will be here.

Take care!