Spotify songs sound muffled vs Google Play & Apple Music

[Gurmukh]

I've downloaded the same song from Apple Music, Spotify and Google Play and for some reason Apple Music & Google Play are indistinguishable but the Spotify one sounds a lot worse.

Google Play - Higher quality downloads enabled

Spotify - Extreme download quality.

I'm using the same phone with the same headphones.

All equalizers are disabled.

Why does the song sound so muffled in comparison? I've tried other songs and the problem persists. It doesn't appear on the Spotify desktop app so the audio source is definitely intact. I'm using a iPhone 7+ 128gb.

Thanks

[muzicia]

I don't know. I keep hearing better detail on Spotify. I really want to stay with Apple because Spotify doesn't have some artists I like. But I clearly hear a lack of detail in high frequencies with Apple Music. Exactly the kind you'd expect on 256 kbps against 320 kbps. I don't think AAC format can match 320 Ogg's high end detail. Having a hard time to choose. Since I started trying Spotify I even listened to lot more music and constantly marvel at the detail in the music which I rarely did on Apple Music. I have both right now and did very controlled tests. Spotify keeps sounding better.