Five Spotify settings worth changing for better sound and playlists

Spotify's default settings are not always the best ones for your ears. Engadget picked five settings worth a look, covering sound quality, shuffle, and what the app learns about you. Three of them are explained in detail below. Changing any of them costs nothing.

Volume normalization

This setting keeps songs at a similar volume, so a quiet ballad does not give way to a blasting rock track. The catch is that either the quiet or the loud songs get compressed, which lowers quality a little. If convenience matters more to you, leave it on. If you want the best sound, turn it off.

You will find it under Playback, in Volume controls. If you leave it on, you can pick Quiet, Normal or Loud. Quiet lowers loud songs. Loud raises quiet ones and adds the most compression. Normal does a bit of both.

Shuffle that feels more random

Many people think shuffle is broken when songs by the same artist play back to back. Engadget explains that this is normal in a truly random mix. Apple faced the same complaints with the iPod and added Smart Shuffle in 2005. Spotify made a similar fix in 2014.

Under Playback, in Listening Controls, you can choose Fewer repeats or Standard. Fewer repeats is technically less random, but it may feel more random to you.

Lossless audio

Lossless means music with no quality squeezed out of the files. It is a separate opt-in, so you have to turn it on in the app. Most people on common earbuds or headphones will not hear a difference. Spotify's Very high setting is enough for them.

• iPhones are capped at 320kbps over Bluetooth, which is what Very high already gives you.
• Android users with codecs like Sony LDAC or Qualcomm aptX Adaptive can gain some benefit.
• Only a wired connection delivers true lossless.

What is not covered here

The article also promises settings to keep kids' music out of your recommendations and to hide your guilty pleasures from other people. The text available here does not include the steps for those two, so check the full Engadget piece or Spotify's settings menu for them.