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5 Tips For Mastering Spotify
5 tips to improve your listening experience on the Green Music Machine.
In partnership with
Hey SongsBrewers,
Spotify is the most popular music streaming service around. Still, many people don’t know that a couple of extra features can improve the listening experience (unfortunately, we can’t improve the quality, but we can work with what we’ve got!).
With that in mind, here are a couple of tips to get the very best from the big green music machine.
Housekeeping: As always, your support is highly appreciated. Some links in the newsletter may be affiliate links. If you buy something using the links, we make a few cents—at no extra cost to you.
Volume
Do you find yourself cranking up the volume controls on your mobile, trying to hear your favorite music? Well, there is a surprisingly easy fix.
When you use the Loud setting, you might get some distortion, though, for most people, it is a minor trade-off. Remember, you shouldn’t be ripping the volume at max or for hours on end - ear damage is real, so avoid it with the 60/60/60 guideline. 60% volume max, 60 minutes max listening session, and a 60-minute ‘rest’ without headphones on. |  |
Equalizer
An under-used feature that can, quite literally, give you an entirely personalized listening experience. Bass lovers can crank it up, while those who love classical music and want some sparkle in the top notes can achieve that.
Here are three quick settings for you to try out (and then adjust to your taste): |  |
Bass Boost | Balanced | Classical | |
|---|---|---|---|
Bass | 60 Hz: +6 | 60 Hz: +2 | 60 Hz: -1 |
Midrange | 400 Hz: -2 | 400 Hz: 0 | 400 Hz: +3 |
Treble | 2.4 kHz: -2 | 2.4 kHz: +1 | 2.4 kHz: +3 |
Audio Normalization
Audio Normalization is generally excellent. It prevents your ears from being blown off one minute and then having to turn your music up the next (it keeps gain steady), - giving a unified listening experience.
If your Spotify feels flat, turning this off can help, but be prepared to hear variations in the loudness of some music compared with others.
Turn it off, then listen to one of your regular playlists; you’ll hear a difference - just be careful with the volume controls! |  |
Audio Quality
While we can’t make Spotify hi-res, we can help you check that you’ve got the best Audio Quality settings. In Settings, you’ll find Audio Quality—tap it. For Wi-Fi streaming, go ahead and select Very High. For those who have an unlimited data plan, you can do the same for Mobile Streaming. Just keep in mind that it really does chew through your data.
Now, even with Very High selected, you might find that sometimes it still sounds a bit… rubbish. This is likely because you have Auto-adjust quality active. You can turn it off if you have a consistent internet connection speed. You’ll find it in the same settings.
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Get Wired
Listening to music through wired headphones offers some big bonuses. Latency reduction, less compression, and a more reliable connection… are just a few reasons to switch. But if you’re looking to maximize your listening experience, then any music-loving audiophile will tell you to use a wired set of headphones.
An excellent option for wired and Bluetooth use is the Sony WH-1000XM4. Nice ANC, hard carry case, wired, and a multi-device connection option. Not to mention, they have an app with even more options to tailor your music to your tastes.
If you’re in the mood for experimenting with audio equipment, here are our pick of some of the best:
If you’ve been a passive listener until now, there is never a wrong time to check out what your platform is capable of. After all, if you’re paying for something, you should get the most out of it.
Bonus tip?
Spotify, right now, is only capable of so much. And unless you love audiobooks and podcasts too, you’re not getting the best value for your subscription. In most cases, moving your music to a platform where you don’t need to use special tips and tricks to get the best out of it is better. MacOS and iOS users (and software lovers) can get bundles for productivity, creation, work, and more with Setapp - including FreeYourMusic, the seamless music transfer option.
It’s free for 7 days, so you can try it first.
Playlists
Alright, since we covered Spotify this week, it is only fitting that we have a couple of Spotify playlists for you. (Remember, if you have the FreeYourMusic app, you can save playlists in the free Spotify tier and then transfer them to your preferred platform.)
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