Is Spotify suddenly sounding a lot better these days?

[BruceP]

For some days now, my experience with Spotify has become not a little better, musically speaking, but a lot better.

Some weeks ago I had tweaked the placement of my speakers in the room and noticed a really nice improvement. But since maybe a week or so everything coming from Spotify sounds really great, I’m connecting with music like never before. Wondering whether Spotify might’ve introduced the much hyped Hifi offering without saying anything, or made some other kind of upgrade or… Who knows.

Has anyone else noticed anything new?

In any case, we are extremely lucky to be living in an age in which we can enjoy so much great music, with such fidelity to the recorded performances, pretty much anytime and anywhere we want.

Cheers

[springwood64]

I was thinking the same but it coincided for me with upgrading to iOS 18. I also think Radio Paradise is sounding better, which would point more to the OS upgrade

[Hermann]

I also noticed an improvement in Spotify some time ago. It coincided with a small conversion that moved Källa to a different rack and immediately produced an audible improvement in musicality. It may be the very small distance between Källa and Tundra Mono 3, which was only 4 cm. Since Källa has been playing above a Sagatun Mono (same distance), the musicality has audibly improved. Obviously 4 cm is too close between Källa and Tundra Mono 3, which heats up the glass floor above quite a bit.

Nevertheless, I am not sure to what extent the IOs upgrade was the reason, because that was not without problems, I had to completely reinstall the iPad, which is not easy in the Windows world. Therefore, I cannot estimate exactly in terms of timing to what extent the other rack, Spotify or the IOs update is the cause. However, I tend to think Källa on the new rack, because the difference was significant.

[matthias]

But since maybe a week or so everything coming from Spotify sounds really great, I’m connecting with music like never before.

Bruce,
please, can you share the source device, the OS and the Spotify version number which offered you this experience?
Thank you

[BruceP]

Hi Matt, at the moment I’m on iOS Spotify 8.9.90.94, which I run on an iPhone 11 Pro with iOS 17.6.1.

I’ve also got macOS Spotify 1.2.50.335.g5e2860a8 on a MacBook running Sonoma 14.7.1.

My streamer is a Linn Klimax Renew DS/1 with firmware 4.107.544.

Cheers
Bruce

[matthias]

Hi Bruce,
thank you.
May I ask you if you found a difference in SQ or musicality between Spotify on macOS vs iOS?
Thanks again :-)

[BruceP]

Hey Matt, quick update: I'm listening now to a number of tunes controlling Spotify from my iPhone and my Macbook. I can hear no difference. This makes sense as in both cases the source in my system is the Spotify Connect app running on the DS player. Therefore the Apple devices in this case are acting simply as remotes for song selection. There's no music signal coming from the Apple machines. Or at least that's how I understand how Spotify Connect works.

This would not be the case if I were to choose to connect to my DS via Airplay (which is an option). In that case the source would be the iPhone or the Macbook rather than the DS running Spotify Connect.

Now another question arises, would I get better sound by running an Apple machine as source, and streaming to the DS over Airplay? As I recall this was the design decision that Fredrik made for Källa, citing the Airplay protocol's superior music handling characteristics. Knowing Fredrik, that is not a decision that was taken lightly.

More testing and critical listening is clearly required!

[matthias]

Now another question arises, would I get better sound by running an Apple machine as source, and streaming to the DS over Airplay?

I surely would try it if I had a DS...

[lejonklou]

Now another question arises, would I get better sound by running an Apple machine as source, and streaming to the DS over Airplay? As I recall this was the design decision that Fredrik made for Källa, citing the Airplay protocol's superior music handling characteristics. Knowing Fredrik, that is not a decision that was taken lightly.

I would not bother with such experiments if I were you.

Källa uses its own communication protocol, written in-house and tuned to perfection. That is half of the reason behind its unique musical performance.

[BruceP]

Now another question arises, would I get better sound by running an Apple machine as source, and streaming to the DS over Airplay? As I recall this was the design decision that Fredrik made for Källa, citing the Airplay protocol's superior music handling characteristics. Knowing Fredrik, that is not a decision that was taken lightly.

I would not bother with such experiments if I were you.

Källa uses its own communication protocol, written in-house and tuned to perfection. That is half of the reason behind its unique musical performance.

Thanks Fredrik for the update. Amazing that you’ve done that for Källa.

[u252agz]

After updating OS to 18.1.1 on both iPad mini 6 and iPhone 11, the music on both Kalla’s has improved significantly. My guess is that it is this as opposed to Spotify as I’ve not noticed anything much on my kitchen system which is still controlled with a I phone 8 with the old IOS 17 version.

But the upgrade to IOS 18 is a big improvement -feels like a significant source upgrade.

I never thought my 242s could ever produce this level of musicality but with Kalla first, then Tundra Mono 3, and now this OS upgrade they have really woken up and leave me wanting for nothing.

[Charlie1]

I upgraded my iPhone 13 to v18 a week or so ago and felt that YouTube was a lot better.

Having said that, I seemed to get used to it in just one day so maybe it was not such a big improvement or slipped back a bit within a day or two.