Sync Quality

[HongChen]

I use iPhone 5S. If my sync quality is "normal" and stream quality is "extreme", what will happen when I listen a song through internet but the song is available offline? Is it quality "normal" because I sync it offline or is it quality "extreme" because I listen it online?

[kbrooksc · Accepted solution]

Hi there @HongChen ! Great question and welcome to the community! If you are listening to a song online, regardless of the synce quality, you should hear it at the streaming quality. The sync quality only determines the quality of the music stored on your device's hard drive or memory stick.

I hope that answers your question. If so, please mark as a solution.

Cheers!

[HongChen · Accepted solution]

Thank you.

Now I can enjoy exterme stream quality music at home and have normal sync quality on the way to office. 

[Bighappy]

So If I understand correctly...If you have the *Available Offline* switch activated on your album or song and your sync quality setting to Extreme, you're going to be listening to extreme quality...but if it is a streaming album or song and your stream quality is normal it will be normal? Availible offline and sync quality to Extreme = Best sound possible? Thanks!

[kbrooksc]

that's correct. 

[Bighappy]

Thank you very much!

[icebabe]

"If you are listening to a song online, regardless of the sync quality, you should hear it at the streaming quality". -> Is that because you have to choose which version to listen? And listening online means you chose the streaming one? So by definition you fall back to streaming quality?

Say I want to save cellular capacity by streaming at medium, and set my sync to extreme because I have enough storage, I will listen to streaming at lower quality over cellular even when I have a higher quality version available locally? Or will the application automatically select the highest quality version? Which in this case would be the local one?

I'm not trying to confuse anyone. But there are so many different options. Over wifi I want extreme streaming, over cellular normal. But I always want extreme sync because I have enough space. Seems to me you should always get the local version if it is the same or better quality than streaming to save on your data. Over wifi I would want streaming only if it is higher quality than the local version, while over cellular you might want to have a lower version to save data in case you have your sync lower than your stream.

I think it would be good to always play the highest quality version according to your settings, and have an option like "while on cellular, always play local version if available, even if it's lower quality". I think that would be clear enough.

Kind regards,
Stef