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Spotify: Bluetooth vs Tesla built in app

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Is there a difference in sound quality using Spotify via Bluetooth (iPhone 11) vs using Tesla built in Spotify app?


I find it much easier to navigate and edit playlist in my iPhone than the in-car app.

so, I want to know if I’m giving up sound quality if I continue using my iPhone app.
 
Yes. Currently, the in-car app supports streaming at 96kbps only. With Bluetooth, Spotify provides a superior 384kbps bitrate source that your iPhone converts to 256kbps AAC.
Going through BT may degrade the sound quality though. I don't know if anyone has done comparative listening to the two options.

There are other issues with the in-car app that makes it near unusable for me though:
1. some of the "made for you" playlists, most specifically the "your liked songs", do not show up in the car. If a Playlist can't be followed, it won't show up in the car. If you use your phone to initiate those playlists, they function as single tracks on the in-car app, with skip track grayed out
2. No radio based on a song option
3. Pauses and buffers too often
 
How old is your phone? Bluetooth 3.0 and above can transfer up to 24Mbps but below that is pretty low, I think like 3Mbps. I would think the phone would sound much better.

It is Pixel 3XL (2018). I think another guy in another thread also saw the same thing. But he/she also saw that Amazon Music and Tidal streaming BT were better than Tesla Spotify. Maybe there is some setting in Spotify app on phone that makes BT not as good? No idea.
 
It doesn’t matter whether your Tesla is on a 5Mbps network or a 500Mbps network, the Tesla’s built-in Spotify client currently streams at a maximum of 96kbps. In contrast, if you manually set music quality in your Spotify’s phone app to “very high” (not auto) then you get a 320kbps audio stream. Don’t use “auto” because that will usually get you a 160kbps audio stream.
 
As a SR owner I love the new found convenience of not having to monkey around with the phone UI anymore. Is there a noticeable difference b/t Tesla's streaming app vs spotify
 
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From my experience using the iPhone XI Pro on iOS 13.1.2:

Functionally: the iPhone app beats the Tesla's app hands down. All my playlist and albums are available without issue.

Sound: I think the Tesla app sounds better than streaming through bluetooth. Its not leaps and bounds better - but I feel like the sound profile feels fuller/richer through the Tesla app.
 
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I always set Spotify to extreme quality for everything

deselect normalize audio

Does anyone know what bitrate Spotify streams via Bluetooth for iPhone 11?

I got Amazon Music yesterday and played some UltraHD tracks - 24 bit 44 kHz — to me, it sounded the same as Spotify in Extreme, I couldn’t notice any difference in sound.


I have a feeling that with iPhone 11, Spotify also streams at “ultraHD”, same as Amazon ultraHD - would love to hear other people confirm this?
 
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Quality seems pretty good in the car. My problem rests on how it never loads and syncs right with my account. The display of artists is not in alphabetical order either like it is on the phone app. Some stuff needs to be polished out before it’s ready to use. Preferred on phone Bluetooth for now until TESLA addresses all this.
 
I always set Spotify to extreme quality for everything

deselect normalize audio

Does anyone know what bitrate Spotify streams via Bluetooth for iPhone 11?

The iPhone 10/11 transcode audio to 256kbps AAC for streaming over Bluetooth.

As far as I know, the only way to experience Spotify’s full “extreme quality” (16-bit 44.1khz @ 320kbps) on an iPhone is with wired headphones.
 
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The iPhone 10/11 transcode audio to 256kbps AAC for streaming over Bluetooth.

As far as I know, the only way to experience Spotify’s full “extreme quality” (16-bit 44.1khz @ 320kbps) on an iPhone is with wired headphones.


iPhone 11 has the new Bluetooth 5.0. Not sure if that changes anything in regards to this.

if as you say, The iPhone 10/11 transcode audio to 256kbps AAC for streaming over Bluetooth, then would it not do exactly the same for Amazon music App? Meaning both apps would play 256kbps max? In essence, audio quality over Bluetooth would be the same, for iPhone 11 ?
 
I listened to 46&2 by Tool yesterday on 11 through the Spotify app on V10 and it sounded noticeably better than the Bluetooth streaming option (via IPhone 10 for me)

So to me it sounds like the V10 app has a sound advantage at this time, I’ll keep monitoring and will continue to provide input.
 
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I listened to 46&2 by Tool yesterday on 11 through the Spotify app on V10 and it sounded noticeably better than the Bluetooth streaming option (via IPhone 10 for me)

So to me it sounds like the V10 app has a sound advantage at this time, I’ll keep monitoring and will continue to provide input.

good to know. When listening via ur iPhone 10, did u have Spotify set to “very high” quality streaming?
 
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One thing to know, the streaming quality vs the quality of a song stored on the phone can differ. Those are two separate config on iOS. I always found a song stored on the phone to have the best quality, even with the same setting selected for both streaming and stored music.

The other thing I noticed over the years, a song downloaded or cached when setting was in low quality might not always be recached / redownloaded if you change the setting to a higher quality. Spotify have an option to clear the cache.