Should you pay for Spotify Lossless? Only if you meet these 3 criteria

Back in 2009, I was one of the lucky few to have an invite to Spotify’s UK launch program, when the future of music discovery was bright and exciting, unlike today’s bleak abyss of arist impoverishment and algorithm-induced repetition. How it’s taken fourteen years for Spotify Lossless to finally arrive on the scene is anyone’s guess, but now that it’s here, my interest in the world’s biggest music platform is piqued once again.

In many ways, I’m the perfect candidate for Spotify Lossless. I have a reasonable ear for quality, am savvy enough to know by bit depths from my sample rates, and own some half-decent audio kit too. Perhaps Spotify’s new setting is perfect for you too, but you should check that you meet these three criteria (in addition to living in one of the 50 supported markets) before you stump up for that Premium subscription.

A Hi-Res phone and headphone pairing

As the old saying goes, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” and with 24-bit/44.1 kHz audio beaming into your phone, you need to make sure the rest of your setup is up to scratch so that the sumptuous quality holds up all the way to your ears.

If you’re rocking wired headphones (via USB-C or on one of the few phones with a 3.5mm jack), then you’re in luck. While audiophiles may quibble over whether a phone’s built-in DAC or USB-C output is absolutely perfect, the important point is that what streams in essentially comes right back out via wires. That means you’re reaping the major fidelity benefits of Spotify Lossless, so check that box.

If you’re a Bluetooth enthusiast, however, things get trickier. Bluetooth will inevitably compress your pristine Lossless stream into a lossy format, shrinking the file size so it can be sent over the air (again!), wasting much of the benefit of this premium service in the process.

It’s an oversimplification, but bitrate is important; the higher the bitrate, the better the quality (yes, I know, there are plenty of caveats!). Spotify’s Lossless files stream at approximately 2,280kbps, but even the best Bluetooth transmissions are capped at under 1,000kbps and often much, much lower. To fit, the audio stream bitrate has to be compressed further using stronger lossy compression, which, unlike lossless compression, can’t be reconverted into better quality later. You can’t recover a tiny MP3 file to sound as good as the lossless master, and the same applies to Bluetooth.

Worst-case, you could end up transmitting via Bluetooth’s default 128 kbps SBC codec — think dubious bootleg MP3 quality. In this case, you might as well listen to Spotify’s Normal setting. To actually benefit from Spotify Lossless over Bluetooth, you need both your phone and headphones to support a much higher-quality codec.

The most common high-quality Bluetooth codec in the Android space is LDAC, which is supported on most high-end handsets and a selection of top-tier headphones. It runs as high as 990kbps, though 660kbps is more common. In any case, LDAC is high bitrate and, if you’re technically minded, uses a combination of transform encoding (like AAC/MP3) with adaptive bit-depth quantization. The result is a high-fidelity, though still lossy, encode. LHDC offers similar capabilities but is supported on far fewer devices.

One notable Bluetooth option is aptX Lossless, which supports virtually lossless 16-bit/44.1 kHz audio, so your 24-bit Spotify Lossless stream will only have to drop mostly inaudible detail. It’s a great pairing, but it is far more niche in terms of headphone support. Second best in the family is aptX Adaptive. It’s undeniably lossy, with a 420kbps maximum bitrate that often scales lower, so pairing it with Spotify Lossless is questionable. At its best, Qualcomm says it roughly matches the quality of the older aptX HD. However, this tests the benefits of re-encoding lossless into lossy, and, in all honesty, I doubt anyone would hear a difference versus Spotify’s Very High setting.

If you’re locked in Apple land, you’re almost certainly wasting your time with Spotify Lossless. There’s no LDAC or aptX here. Instead, the company’s phones and earbuds support AAC at 256kbps, and while it’s a very efficient codec of high quality for its size, it’s nowhere near lossless. You’re better off sticking to Spotify’s standard lossy streams — you won’t hear any real benefit, and you’ll save data. Plenty of other headphones and all Android phones support AAC and standard Bluetooth SBC, but again, this very common combination won’t benefit from Lossless.

After all this bother, any audible benefits from high-quality Bluetooth encoding are likely masked by the background noise of your daily commute. Given all the hoops to jump through, it’s probably not worth the hassle.

Of course, higher-quality audio means larger file sizes, so you’ll need a data plan that can keep up with your newfound listening habits. That affordable 5GB monthly allowance will feel much tighter, and you might need to upgrade to a more generous plan if you’re a heavy music consumer. Furthermore, Spotify notes that you’ll need a carrier and solid coverage capable of supplying 1.5-2Mbps — not exactly a tall order, but something to be mindful of in poor 4G/5G coverage.

The good news is that Spotify stores a local cache of tracks on your phone; it’s not constantly downloading new files every time you hit play, especially if you’re mostly running through a regular rotation. However, if you’re continually flicking through curated playlists or delving down the discovery rabbit hole on your daily commute, Spotify Lossless will eat through your data plan far quicker. Let’s do the math, shall we?

There are several variations according to Spotify’s audio quality, but we’ll focus on the mobile-based setup we’re all probably using predominantly.  There are four traditional settings: Low, Normal, High, and Very High (Premium only), ranging from a tiny 24kbps to 320kbps for Premium subscribers. The automatic setting picks the best one depending on your network’s throughput.

Spotify doesn’t quote a bitrate for Lossless’ 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC option, but the company’s promotional material says it can consume as much as 1GB of data per hour. Doing the math, that’s somewhere around 2,280kbps — a truly colossal jump in data. The table below shows just how much difference that can have on your plan.

For just one hour of Spotify Lossless (assuming 1GB of data per hour), you could playback 7 hours on the Very High setting and almost an entire 24-hour day on the Normal setting. Or thereabouts, like I said, some element of cache and downloading via Wi-Fi will lessen the blow. But the bottom line is, however much Spotify is currently eating your of your monthly data, I’d 10x the amount, at least, or possibly push it towards 20x if you’re not already using the highest lossy setting. Honestly, it’s probably not worth the marginally perceptible boost in quality while streaming on the go.

With the data plan, Bluetooth codec, and environmental drawbacks to contend with, Spotify Lossless — or any lossless streaming service — is unlikely to elevate your daily commute. Instead, you’re much more likely to reap the benefits in a well-set-up home environment, even if you don’t have the fanciest external interface or thousand-dollar monitors to listen on.

Unfortunately, Spotify doesn’t support lossless playback via its web player. However, if you have a USB-C interface to plug your phone into, a Spotify Connect device or two dotted about, or even the humble desktop app installed on your laptop, you can pump out Lossless audio through some heftier, well-built speakers, where the quality benefits will be most perceptible.

There’s something to be said for revisiting your favorite tracks in a quiet room with a top-notch pair of headphones or speakers, and discovering subtle details that make a song feel new again. This is where Spotify Lossless will shine — not bustling through a busy subway or belting out your favorite lines amidst the horns of a traffic jam, as fun as that might be.

In summary, there are three things you really need to make the most of Spotify Lossless, and none of them are cheap. On the go, you’ll want a high-quality smartphone and headphone pairing that both support either LDAC or aptX Lossless, combined with a data plan that won’t run out after a few hours of streaming. But the best use case is likely at home, with less hustle and bustle, fewer distractions, and a high-quality audio setup that will truly let you hear the benefits.