iPad is set to Extreme Quality but external DAC shows 44K sample rate.

[Bairj]

I have the iPad 3, Spotify Premium set to Extreme Quality, and an external DAC (the Emotiva Little Ego). MacBook works great, iPad does not. With my MacBook, I can go into Audio MIDI Setup and adjust the output quality to 96000.0 Hz; the external DAC’s 384K sample-rate indicator lights up. However, with the iPad, I can’t seem to find any way to improve output quality. The same tracks that output as 384K from the MacBook output as 44K from the iPad. In fact, there seems to be no way to improve iPad output quality, so this might even be a more general question: Does Spotify Extreme Quality actually alter output quality on an iPad?

[adriank1410 · Accepted solution]

Spotify doesn't offer flac (lossless) files. So probably they'll always be 44,1kHz. On Mac too. Just when you set your global output to a higher rate, your DAC will always display it, but that doesn't make all your songs that rate.

[Bairj]

Thanks so much. It's amazingly difficult to find this answer. You can of
course go nuts trying to "discern the audible difference" between the 44K
readout sounds you're getting from the iPad and the 384K readout sounds
you're getting from the MacBook Air when you make the adjustment in in the
MacBook's Audio MIDI Setup. And I'm getting the impression that Spotify is
not the way to go for HQ sound--if, once again, I could even discern the
difference.

[adriank1410]

Glad I could help, if that's all you can mark my response and thread as solved 🙂

Well, depends on the hardware people own. Most people won't notice difference between 320CBR mp3 and a wav (lossless) file. Actually you can do blind tests online.