Is Spotify Lossless “bit perfect”? Sometimes…

[Trebdp83]

After hearing about Spotify finally getting ready to start streaming lossless FLAC on their Premium services, I redeemed an offer for two months of Premium service for six bucks. About a week later, lossless streaming came around and I began to experiment with it.

Lossless output from Spotify is not the default setting and will only be available in a supported device. While many devices are supported, many more are not so. Lots of folks will find that they cannot enable “Lossless” and will be limited to “Very High” quality. Some will not be able to select the quality of streams at all and will be locked into the “Automatic” setting.

There are many devices that feature the Spotify app. There are also many devices that support Spotify Connect. I experimented with all of my devices using Spotify to see what each of them would do with it.

Spotify Lossless supports 16/44.1 and 24/44.1 FLAC. Folks concerned with bit perfect output want those numbers unchanged during playback. Some do not care and know applied DSP is going to manipulate the signal anyway and anything over 16/44.1 is a waste of bits. But, some folks like seeing those numbers.

I installed the Spotify app in many devices I have that support it. These include a few iOS devices, an Intel iMac, a Mac mini M1, a Microsoft Surface 5, an Nvidia Shield TV Pro, an Apple TV 4K and an LG C1 TV. A Sony UBP-X800 I have supports Spotify Connect as does a Yamaha RX-V6A. Onkyo discontinued support for a built in Spotify app in their receivers but retained support for Spotify Connect as is the case concrrning my TX-NR777, TX-NR696 and TX-NR6050.

Some of my devices support Spotify Lossless using their own Spotify apps while others do not do so. Some of them support Lossless when using Spotify Connect while others do not do so. Some support Lossless using Google Cast(formerly Chromecast built-in) and/or Airplay. It’s all over the place.

After tinkering with all of those devices, only one supported “bit perfect” Lossless playback using Spotify Connect, Google Cast and Airplay. That device is the Onkyo TX-NR6050. Can I honestly say there was a very noticeable difference in sound quality playing lossy signals from the Spotify app in various devices compared to those that support Lossless? No, I cannot say so. I may continue to post here from time to time with the results of Spotify streaming using different devices. I welcome anybody to post about their experiences with Spotify in their own systems. I’d be interested in results from those who use Audirvana or Roon as I have not yet run Spotify through either of them.

 

[Trebdp83]

I recently spent some time playing around with Spotify using the Nvidia Shield TV Pro(2019.) The Spotify app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store in the Shield. The app is not fully featured and audio settings are not present in it. But, when playing music using it and bringing up the Spotify app on a Smart device on the same network, the apps will sync and playback and audio adjustments can then be made using the Smart device app.

After some tinkering, I was able to get Spotify Lossless to work in the Shield after a few initial glitches. In the Shield’s own audio output settings, one can select passthrough of bit and sample rate of input signals. Some do not like 16/44.1 signals being resampled to 24/48 and want a “bit perfect” signal making its way to a DAC.

While Spotify Lossless 16/44.1 is supported in the Shield, 24/44.1 is not supported and everything is streamed as 16/44.1. Some will not like it and some will not care at all as long as it is Lossless. The Shield supports Spotify Connect and Google Cast. There is no support for Airplay. One can select HDMI or USB for audio output with the Shield when using both connections.

iOS Spotify app:

iOS Onkyo Controller app: