IOS distortion

[emiliopalomet]

Plan

Premium

Country

Mexico

Device

iphone 7plus

Operating System

IOS 12.4

My Question or Issue

This is a real problem, in IOS devices that use bluetooth headphones (airpods in my case) and the use of the integrated spotify equalizer sounds terrible. Spotify needs to solve this problem that is on all devices. In previous versions of IOS it was the same but I got a solution.

Settings> Music> EQ> Late Night.

That was my solution and when I selected that option, the audio was normal without distortion, but when I update my iOS to the latest version, this solution stops working.

SPOTIFY SOUND TERRIBLE WITH EQUALIZER

EQ is a tool that I use a lot.

Hope spotify fix this because it's very annoying to be listening to distorted music

[Loxer]

Hey @emiliopalomet, welcome to the Community.

Hope you're doing great!

Could you check your audio settings?

Follow this article for more.

Hope it helps 🙂

[joaospotify]

I have also experienced this problem. I love Spotify; my mobile carrier offers Apple Music as part of my phone plan but I don't use it much. I prefer Spotify, and I subscribe to it.

I have always used the Equaliser settings but since getting some new bluetooth earphones this feature has become unusable: the sound becomes terribly distorted. (Yes, the audio quality settings are at the highest.)

In contrast, Apple Music's equaliser settings are much more restrictive, seeing as they are limited to the presets. However, they actually work. The sound isn't destroyed when enabling them.

This is a broken feature on Spotify's part and it needs to be fixed. It can't be ignored or dismissed with a suggestion to check one's audio quality settings.

[jemeljsh]

Ok so I am not the only one who expierences this bug where the same song (all max sound quality settings on both Apple Music and Spotify) sounds very bad when you set a certain Equalizer profile. Apple Music EQ ON OFF does not affect the song, but if you chose any of the Spotify's EQ profiles the bass gets all muffled and sounds like coming from a broken speaker. When you leave EQ off its fine but then again the sound is a bit too flat in comparison to the one coming out of playback through Apple Music.

Best scenario to test is with any BT headphones, for examply Sony WH-1000XM3 and take Machine Gun Kelly song - Glass House. Set EQ profiles to Rock for both Apple Music and Spotify and compare the sound that will come out..

[AeroZ]

I tested this side by side with Apple Music and it seems to me that in order to EQ the sound and get acceptable sound quality you have to manually tune Spotify EQ and keep the levels below zero.

I noticed that in Apple Music my favorite EQ (Bass Booster) also lowers the volume level while in Spotify the volume of the music is still noticeably louder even after enabling EQ and that seems to be causing this "sounds like broken speaker" experience.

My version of the Bass Booster for acceptable sound quality:

Bass Booster

[jemeljsh]

You are right about the loudness being higher on Spotify vs Apple Music..will play around with EQ from low to up and see how it goes. It makes sense that maybe Spotify's starting point is already boosted/EQualized so to say, so adding even more to it by enabling EQ (any profile basically) makes the sound distorted. 

This is what I came up just now and in paralelel with Apple Music set on Eletronic it now sound the same. Same test song - Machine Gun Kelly - Glass House. Great song for testing because the bass line is very demanding so to say and bass line is "long"and not punchy therefore its easy to notice distortions..

[img]https://i.imgur.com/LPrBNRi.png[/img]

[AeroZ]

The other thing is that you won't be able to boost frequencies lower than 60Hz with Spotify EQ while Apple Music's presets also affect 32Hz (not 100% sure about this but if iOS's EQ uses the same presets as iTunes/Apple Music app then it's likely). If this is true then you won't get the same sub bass in Spotify even if you tweak the EQ.

[jemeljsh]

Ok, clear. At least I got to a point where I am able to use spotify again. Apple Music ain't that bad to be honest. As soon as I noticed the distortion I moved all my spotify playlist/liked songs using this https://soundiiz.com/tutorial/spotify-to-apple-music (besides few tracks everything was found)

Nonetheless, since (1) all my fam uses spotify, (2) my tv, (3) sound bar has built in spotify support, I wasnt that exicted about the switch to Apple Music 😉

Thanks again!

[jemeljsh]

My current final version of Spotify Manual EQ where bassline got even punchier and more precise than Apple's Music EQ-Electronic.

[AeroZ]

Glad you were able to make it work for you.

I keep switching between the two services aswell. Can't make a final decision. Both have their plusses and minuses.

[jemeljsh]

mhm.. Spotify has greater value for me because (1) so many devices I use have built in spotify support,  and (2) spotify seems to have the best algoritm for new suggestions (Discove Weekly is unbeatable!), so it seems you are always up to date and expanding your music tastes/collection. 

[AeroZ]

Yeah, Spotify has better support on different platforms. I also like Spotify app on Mac and Windows more than the sluggish iTunes and new Apple Music app. Even the Apple Music beta web player is awfully slow.

But if you also listen to a bunch of music that's not on Spotify then the hassle with local files comes into play. With Apple Music you just upload your music to iCloud Music Library and listen to it whenever you want and where ever you are. With Spotify you have to sync all of the local files onto your device and depending on how much storage you have this might become a problem. You can't integrate local files into your library - you have to save them in playlists. They also don't have gapless playback for local files.

You're also able to edit metadata in Apple Music, categorize in genres or how ever, create smart playlists etc. The queue management is better. And lyrics ofcourse!