Related
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Spotify Music Quality on 245 Music

Former Member
Former Member over 5 years ago

has anyone seen what sort of encoding Garmin forces Spotify downloads to undergo?  There's definitely a significant downgrade in the file quality.  I'm using Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless earbuds and there's a huge difference between the sound on the 245 Music versus my S10+.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to tess

    Please read again. I tested the same song downloaded by Deezer and spotify and tested against 320 kbps mp3 same song on watch. The mp3 was made from flac. All 3 sounded exactly the same on watch. Also i have highest settings for download on spotify and deezer. Their treble sounded harsh.

    Tested 3 different pair of earbuds. 2 of them are having aptx and the 3rd only sbc. So, i used my LG G6 and forced sbc on it through developers options. They were better on treble on phone.

    So, to me i guess Garmin has did something to decrease quality for better stability or the dsp software or the hardware itself have limitations on high frequency.

    I hope now i am clear

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to spyrusthegreat

    Yes. We all agree the sound is not good, so why this person with 945 is in this thread I do not know.. :D 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    I also notice a reduction in sound quality going from iphone 11 to the FR245M when listening on Powerbeats3 which brw are listed by Garmin as supported earbuds.

    Not sure why changing the download quality from phone would affect what happens on the watch? I dont see that the phone app is linked here in any way, except that it onviously allows you to edit playlists? Maybe I am wrong. But spotify download quality can vary across devices connected to your account: iphone/ipad/mac etc. Which one of those would be the one that matters?

    Would be nice to get some official info on this from garmin. I do like the fact that my watch can play music, but I think this pretty basic stuff that consumers want to know when buying music players. If the info is hidden, it makes you think the quality might not be so good afterall. Just saying.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    As someone that takes this subject seriously, I can confidently say on my watch that Spotify sounds EXACTLY the same as my phone. The sound quality is top notch. If you are using an EQ from your phone you may experience a difference. Otherwise they are identical

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Kulch
    Kulch said:
    Spotify sounds EXACTLY the same as my phone.

    Same here. Absolutely no noticeable diffence and the sound is great. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member
    . We all agree the sound is not good,

    No, 'we all' don't agree. Read the thread again. Several say there's no problem with the sound.  Sound preferences comes down to the type of music being listened to and the quality of the headphones used. Read the attached article, do the test on the bottom and read the results and why the bit rate affects that type of music.  This explains why some find the quality good and others find it poor. Ditch the Justin Bieber crap and all is well. :) 

    www.theverge.com/.../lossless-audio-music-compression-test-spotify-hi-fi-tidal

    why this person with 945 is in this thread I do not know.

    Why not?  It looks to me like they were being helpful. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Is their any new info? I find the treble to be harsh.

    Is their a way to set the audio quality? 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 1987834

    Unfortunately nothing can be done with at least up to today,

    while the watch Software version is 4.40 and ANT/BLE/BT is 5.04

    And since as I said I have tested 320Kbps and Spotify and Deezer on watch vs on phone with same codec (SBC)

    the problem is on the watch itself.

    4 things I will again say:

    1)Bluetooth DSP is limited (cannot do well on highs - treble but can be fixed with software - built in equalizer)

    2)Bluetooth Hardware is limited (nothing can be done with software)

    3)Bluetooth bandwidth is limited for music in order for watch to use the rest with a connected phone (also fixable)

    4))Bluetooth bandwidth is limited for stability issues (music cut offs)

    If for some people all working well, then two things i can think off:

    1)Different bluetooth chip on some batches

    2)Phone quality not as good and similar to watch (so no actual difference)

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to tess

    Yours may be matching but that could be because your PC files are not very high quality. I don't need to investigate because I can hear the difference. I'm not that fussed about very high quality music while running it'll do. It definitely is not very high quality on my watch I can hear it. When im working on my laptop i will not use the watch I will use the phone because it is better quality. You may not hear any difference if you have average or even quite good headphones. On my Cambridge audio melomania 2 bluetooth headphones I can definitely hear the difference. I have zero doubt about this. Like I say I don't care much.  

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I don't need to investigate because I can hear the difference. I'm not that fussed about very high quality music while running it'll do. It definitely is not very high quality on my watch I can hear it. When i'm working on my laptop i will not use the watch I will use the phone because it is better quality. You may not hear any difference if you have average or even quite good headphones. On my Cambridge audio melomania 2 bluetooth headphones I can definitely hear the difference. I have zero doubt about this. Like I say I don't care much just slightly annoying.