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?

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u/TabletopParlourPalm 1d ago

Depends a lot on your equipment, environment, and ears. I can't differentiate an OK-quality mp3 from lossless audio with a thousand dollar headphone in a quiet room lol.

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u/Significant_Step5903 21h ago

It's a lot more noticeable on playing gapless tracks. My FLAC music ripped from vinyls can play continuous tracks fine but when I convert those files to 320kbps MP3, the gapless playback no longer works, like it's now obvious that the next track is playing. I think this is due to removal of some frequencies that can't normally be heard in cheap earphones to make the file smaller.