Spotify and Google sound levels differ dramatically

[radiorog]

Hi, getting totally fed up with not being able to search within genres in Google play all access, I decided to have a quick look at spSpoti just now. They do genre searching which made me think, ok, now's the time to change. Then I played a track, it sounded ok. To compare sound I then played same segment of track on Google. Google sounded a lot louder. So I used sound meter app on my phone to get a basic comparison. All variables constant, (position of phone not moved and volume of amp the same). Played the exact same segment of track, about twenty seconds and the phone e takes an average. Spotify average dB 42, max 62. Google average 48, max 66.

The volume through tablet the same through both apps too.

Now I know it's only loudness, but Google sounds wayyyyyy better.

Any insights into why this is happening?

I put the settings on Spotify up to high Res although cannot access the extreme as subscribe only. Although the loudness between spotifys low Res and high seemed identical.

Cheers

 

[insider9]

Just played Jimi Hendrix at 100dB plus from Tidal. Have a real concert feeling of feeling soft in the knees.

 

[radiorog]

Yowzers! That soft knee feeling will be the sound waves massaging your joints then. Something that's always good to do when listening to hendrix

 

[insider9]

From about a year and a bit ago I remember comparing Spotify with Apple Music and Deezer (not Google Music). Back then I preferred Spotify for sound quality.

If you get a chance to level match that's great if not I'd suggest listening over a longer period of time.

 

[MajorFubar]

Google Music probably averages the volume level to a certain LKFS, because making the music sound louder than competitors' services on mobile devices wins customers. I have no proof they are actually doing this of course, but hey I would. Dog eat dog world out there and the dumbasses most likely to use these services are not you and I, they are people who mostly value loudness on their tinny phone speakers

 

[davedotco]

Hi, getting totally fed up with not being able to search within genres in Google play all access, I decided to have a quick look at spSpoti just now. They do genre searching which made me think, ok, now's the time to change. Then I played a track, it sounded ok. To compare sound I then played same segment of track on Google. Google sounded a lot louder. So I used sound meter app on my phone to get a basic comparison. All variables constant, (position of phone not moved and volume of amp the same). Played the exact same segment of track, about twenty seconds and the phone e takes an average. Spotify average dB 42, max 62. Google average 48, max 66.

The volume through tablet the same through both apps too.

Now I know it's only loudness, but Google sounds wayyyyyy better.

Any insights into why this is happening?

I put the settings on Spotify up to high Res although cannot access the extreme as subscribe only. Although the loudness between spotifys low Res and high seemed identical.

Cheers

Seriously, having done the comparison and heard Google sound 'better' than Spotify, I'm afraid you will find it very hard to convince yourself, your 'subconcious' self that is, that it isn't, even though your 'concious' brain knows it is just a change in level.

These kinds of effects are very powerful and almost impossible to overcome, even when you know the cause and that they are not 'real'. Why do you think that dac manufacturers are always pushing the output of their products to 2.2 or 2.4 volts or even higher, or producing amplifiers that get very loud by around 9 o'clock?

When real differences are very small, as with dacs for example, the louder product wins every time, just 0.5dB higher gives the sound greater weight, better soundstage, enhanced detail, all the things that that people describe as improving with 'better' components.

 

[andyjm]

Google Music probably averages the volume level to a certain LKFS, because making the music sound louder than competitors' services on mobile devices wins customers. I have no proof they are actually doing this of course, but hey I would. Dog eat dog world out there and the dumbasses most likely to use these services are not you and I, they are people who mostly value loudness on their tinny phone speakers

All the streaming services need to level-match tracks or you will spend your time forever adjusting the volume from track to track. I guess the question is what is the final level that they aim for. Sensibly, peaking at 0dBfs would use all the headroom in the system, but I guess there may be some form of compression going on as well.