Spotify Vs. Apple Music: Which Streaming Platform Is The Better Bang For Your Buck?

Its sound quality is perhaps the biggest advantage Apple Music has over Spotify. Music buffs praise its use of lossless audio, which lends its music the same quality as a CD. Spotify’s audio files, on the other hand, are more compressed, compromising unmatched quality for easy access to its music selection.

Lossless audio isn’t the only thing you’ll get with Apple Music. This streaming service uses surround sound tech to provide spatial audio and an overall more immersive listening experience. There is a catch, though — you’ll need to use a pair of Apple headphones to use this feature. AirPods Max, Pro, and 3 are all supported.

When it comes down to numbers, it looks like Apple Music still has Spotify beat. It can stream audio up to 24-bit/192kHz. If you already know what that means, then Apple Music is probably for you. For those who aren’t in the know, “bit” is short for “bitrate,” which is what audio quality is measured by. According to Gumlet, “Audio bitrate is the measure of bits (audio data) processed over a given period of time.” kHz stands for kilohertz. The higher these two numbers, the better. Spotify, while still boasting an impressive sound quality themselves, still doesn’t have lossless audio. While Spotify was supposed to release their “HiFi” feature back in 2021, it still has yet to be seen. In the meantime, Apple Music continues to dominate in terms of sound quality.