Spotify audio quality?

[Knobby]

I found the Spotify sound in the Tesla to be pretty poor. It's harsh and rough sounding. Don't know how better to describe it but mostly not clear in complex parts of the music. I got the 30 day free trial.. But the sound combined with really buggy implementation in the Tesla, I mean albums not showing up.. I probably cancel it before 30 days. Basically I like the sound with the FLAC files.

 

[dark cloud]

I found the Spotify sound in the Tesla to be pretty poor. It's harsh and rough sounding. Don't know how better to describe it but mostly not clear in complex parts of the music. I got the 30 day free trial.. But the sound combined with really buggy implementation in the Tesla, I mean albums not showing up.. I probably cancel it before 30 days. Basically I like the sound with the FLAC files.

Okay, but it certainly isn't any worse than Slacker. I have no proof but I believe it is 128 kbps. Maybe up to 160 kbps? My home streaming with Tidal/Roon is 1000-1411 kbps or the same as a CD. Hoping one day we might get this in a moving vehicle.

High bit rate lossless USB files will always be higher quality than streaming* (*in a car).

 

[EVNow]

So it is less repetitive than slacker ??

The sound on Spotify seems way better than Slacker. Also Spotify has more variety of songs than Slacker. Overall, I am loving Spotify. I am using it almost exclusively instead of Slacker.

On AI podcast Lex interviewed the chief data scientist (or a similar role) at Spotify. Worth a listen.

 

[diplomat33]

On AI podcast Lex interviewed the chief data scientist (or a similar role) at Spotify. Worth a listen.

Thanks.

 

[Pilot7478]

It looks like Spotify's bitrate is song specific. Some songs have better bitrate and others lower.
Particularly, if you try to listen to a song that is much less popular, you will notice it sounds much worst than songs from Top 50 for example.

 

[JoshV]

Spotify sound quality sounds mediocre to me through the tesla app. Same as slacker. No way it's a high bitrate signal. Someone on another threat did a wifi data test and found it's 96 kbs...basically the lowest possible sound quality they offer.

Which Tesla do you own?

 

[JoshV]

I found the Spotify sound in the Tesla to be pretty poor. It's harsh and rough sounding. Don't know how better to describe it but mostly not clear in complex parts of the music. I got the 30 day free trial.. But the sound combined with really buggy implementation in the Tesla, I mean albums not showing up.. I probably cancel it before 30 days. Basically I like the sound with the FLAC files.

Which Tesla do you own?
Sound pretty good in my Model X compared to Slacker.

 

[dburkland]

I have been reading the back & forth debate on which sounds better, the Spotify iOS app or the native Tesla Spotify app. I did some rough comparison testing this morning on the way to the office using some Rammstein and Pink Floyd (Pulse album) tracks. As a result I can confidently say the Spotify iOS app w/ cache purged + music quality set to very high + normalization off definitely sounds better, even though its over BT. One track in particular, "Shine On You Crazy Diamonds" from Pink Floyd's "Pulse" live album comes to mind as the initial guitar notes seem much more harsh and compressed when played over the native Tesla Spotify app. I would be more than happy to pay Tesla $20-30 / month to cover carrier bandwidth costs so that I could a) Download every update over LTE including map updates b) Modify bit-rate/quality of native media apps...

 

[JoshV]

I have been reading the back & forth debate on which sounds better, the Spotify iOS app or the native Tesla Spotify app. I did some rough comparison testing this morning on the way to the office using some Rammstein and Pink Floyd (Pulse album) tracks. As a result I can confidently say the Spotify iOS app w/ cache purged + music quality set to very high + normalization off definitely sounds better, even though its over BT. One track in particular, "Shine On You Crazy Diamonds" from Pink Floyd's "Pulse" live album comes to mind as the initial guitar notes seem much more harsh and compressed when played over the native Tesla Spotify app. I would be more than happy to pay Tesla $20-30 / month to cover carrier bandwidth costs so that I could a) Download every update over LTE including map updates b) Modify bit-rate/quality of native media apps...

Can you specify which model your testing?
I’m wondering if there’s a difference in sound from S, X and model 3.

 

[Pilot7478]

I have been reading the back & forth debate on which sounds better, the Spotify iOS app or the native Tesla Spotify app. I did some rough comparison testing this morning on the way to the office using some Rammstein and Pink Floyd (Pulse album) tracks. As a result I can confidently say the Spotify iOS app w/ cache purged + music quality set to very high + normalization off definitely sounds better, even though its over BT. One track in particular, "Shine On You Crazy Diamonds" from Pink Floyd's "Pulse" live album comes to mind as the initial guitar notes seem much more harsh and compressed when played over the native Tesla Spotify app. I would be more than happy to pay Tesla $20-30 / month to cover carrier bandwidth costs so that I could a) Download every update over LTE including map updates b) Modify bit-rate/quality of native media apps...

Funny, I was using the same Pink Floyd song for my bitrate comparison testing.
I was comparing it on in car LTE, WiFi and BT from native app.
In my test they sounded the same to me.

My theory is that Spotify has implemented some kind of variable bitrate that depends on current internet connection speed.
So the difference in our testing could be that LTE connection in your car was not very good and that's why it did not sound as good as via BT (your phone LTE could be better as providers could be different).

I have premium package which is supposed to provide better audio quality.

 

[blueice89]

So, I did some non-technical sound tests with my wife after receiving the update for Spotify.
For reference, this was done using a 2017 with the ultra high-fidelity sound option.

We played the same songs in random order for each other, and our consensus for sound quality (to our ears) is:
Best
1. Amazon Music HD or Tidal through bluetooth (uses up to 50MB of data per song streamed, glad I have grandfathered unlimited data)
2. Spotify streaming natively in Tesla player
3. Spotify (320 kbps highest setting) through bluetooth
4. Apple Music (256 kbps high quality setting) through bluetooth
Worst

Notes:
1 and 2 were very, very close (again, to us). Almost indistinguishable.
3 and 4 were close. Both requires increasing the car stereo volume about 1-2 levels to get it to the same loudness as 1 and 2. And still doesn't sound as well.

* Listening to the same songs on my various home speaker setups, the difference between 1 and 3,4 is more apparent and even my little kid can tell that streaming Amazon Music HD and Tidal sound night and day better than Spotify and Apple Music. Tesla's Ultra high fidelity is not really "ultra high" IMO.

I ran these exact same test on my new audio system, (focal speakers + nice JL audio sub)
1. Amazon Music HD or Tidal Blue tooth - these did not sound as good as the app on Slacker Premium Audio.
I had 2 problems, - Mainly the volume of the bluetooth app is very low, and it doesn't sound as clear.

2. I dont have Spotify on Tesla, but Tesla also sounded low and not clear as Slacker.

How do you raise the volume on Bluetooth, IPhoneX ?
What phone device did you for your testing?
I read things online that I need either Bluetooth amp, DAC, or some way to raise the volume cause Tesla doesn't process high-fidelity sound plans cause of the bluetooth codec.

Its pretty sad if Tesla cannot support AmazonMusicHD and Tidal on bluetooth.

Can you give more tips / details for IphoneX?

 

[blueice89]

iphone music over bluetooth low volume problem solved | Tesla

Mentions:::
Got to settings-->music and then de-select the "sound check" option. Your volume level will increase substantially.

 

[blueice89]

Okay i figured out why Bluetooth over any app iPhone sucked.

it’s cause everyone of these apps intentially by default Apply volume normalization which intentially lowers volume turn it off on all apps just look for anything that sounds normalization or sound check for each audio app - Apple Music , Spotify , tidal, and amazon music .

 

[eye.surgeon]

Which Tesla do you own?

S85 with premium sound.

 

[dburkland]

Can you specify which model your testing?
I’m wondering if there’s a difference in sound from S, X and model 3.

Model 3 Performance

 

[Cyberax]

Those that have V10, can you comment on the Spotify Audio quality on the Tesla?

Haven't used Slacker, but the native Spotify on my Model 3 is poor. I can hear compression artifacts, in particular very harsh sibilant sounds. And I'm by no means an audiophile.

I have Spotify on my phone with highest-quality tracks cached offline and it sounds way better even over crappy Bluetooth connection. I can't really tell the difference between it and FLAC files on USB.

So my advice: just use Spotify on your phone.

 

[blueice89]

Haven't used Slacker, but the native Spotify on my Model 3 is poor. I can hear compression artifacts, in particular very harsh sibilant sounds. And I'm by no means an audiophile.

I have Spotify on my phone with highest-quality tracks cached offline and it sounds way better even over crappy Bluetooth connection. I can't really tell the difference between it and FLAC files on USB.

So my advice: just use Spotify on your phone.

If you do turn off loud normalization but agree

 

[CSFTN]

Okay i figured out why Bluetooth over any app iPhone sucked.

it’s cause everyone of these apps intentially by default Apply volume normalization which intentially lowers volume turn it off on all apps just look for anything that sounds normalization or sound check for each audio app - Apple Music , Spotify , tidal, and amazon music .

That's the same thing as sound check, no?

 

[blueice89]

That's the same thing as sound check, no?

Sound check is just for Apple own apps like iTunes Apple Music . Each app has its version of this look in audio playback settings

 

[samuel2230]

As a mastering engineer, I highly recommend leaving Spotify loudness normalization ON, especially when playing via Bluetooth. Lossy audio conversion increases audio levels, so thoughtful mastering engineers will reduce maximum levels below 0 dbFS (maximum level in digital) so that their master still will not clip after being converted by Spotify or Apple. This consideration is at the core of Apple’s Mastered for iTunes standards. Some mastering engineers take this care, some don’t.


When playing Spotify over bluetooth, the audio is getting compressed again, twice in total, raising levels. This often results in another round of clipping during the lossy bluetooth conversion and even worse sound quality. If the mastering engineer didn’t even consider the effects of one conversion, this mistake will be compounded. I’ve tested this extensively on Spotify and Apple Music with dozens of real releases and custom test files.


Spotify and Apple Music’s loudness normalization eliminates or reduced playback clipping that is very common when normalization is turned off on Spotify (or not used when using Apple’s backend testing tools). When sending either service over Bluetooth, loudness normalization is downright required to prevent secondary clipping in the Bluetooth conversion in basically every track on Spotify I tested. The results are crystal clear - leave loudness normalization on it you want cleaner, more transparent, clip-free performance, especially over Bluetooth.



Relevant to Tesla, I expect one of the reasons for different experiences with Spotify via Bluetooth in Tesla cars is that without loudness normalization turned on, most music on Spotify will brutally clip the Bluetooth link and then pass those clips on the the ADC in the car, seriously reducing quality, I haven’t done serious listening tests with native Spotify vs Bluetooth link yet, but my Spotify via Bluetooth tests with normalization on/off were very clear and consistent with my above testing as mastering engineer: leave normalization on.