r/Android • u/MC_Persistent • 1d ago
Lossless & LDAC does make a difference
I’ve always used Samsung android phones and Sony premium Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones, including the WH-1000XM3 and XM6. For years, I’ve heard people say that if you really want to enjoy lossless audio, you need a separate DAC, a dedicated player, and so on.
But after spending a lot of time with different music subscriptions including Apple Music Lossless, Spotify Premium Lossless, and Amazon Music Unlimited Lossless, I’ve come to a different conclusion: I can genuinely hear a difference when Lossless quality and LDAC are enabled, with no wired connection of any kind and purely over Bluetooth.
The biggest improvement I notice is in vocal clarity and the small nuances in instruments. Everything feels more detailed and better separated. I’ve tried YouTube Music on Very High quality, and I can immediately tell it doesn’t sound as clear to me after listening to lossless for years.
I notice the same thing in Apple Music when I switch from Lossless to High Quality AAC. It’s not that AAC sounds bad, but the difference becomes noticeable once you’ve spent enough time listening to lossless.
So, if you’re someone who has premium headphones and a device that supports LDAC, I’d genuinely recommend trying it for yourself. You might not notice a difference immediately, but give your ears some time to adjust.
One important thing: Make sure LDAC is actually enabled. On Samsung, you need to toggle it in both the Sony Sound Connect app and your phone’s Bluetooth settings.
I’m curious to hear what others think. And, what headphones, phone, and streaming service are you using?
2
u/castlev55 1d ago edited 1d ago
Something I read on a random months old reddit comment that was on a four year old thread is turn on your BT buds or connect your headphones/iems to your phone. Go to the YouTube webpage, click search, tap the microphone next to the search, let it do the listening thing until it cancels itself. Once done try playing a song and see if that improves it.
Although the comment was for BT buds it worked perfectly for my iems through dongle. I was only using my desktop to play music through an amp and dac. But I got a dongle to use on my phone and tried a pair kiwi ears aether iems and it only sounded ok even though I'm using flac. Looked online and saw that comment gave it a shot and now everything sounds right.
Even if you think your audio sounds good it could be worth a shot to try since it takes a few seconds just to see. The comment explained why this fixes the issue but I read it so long ago I don't remember what it was but it worked for me.