If you listen to music the way a lot of people do these days — with a pair of wireless earbuds, from a Bluetooth speaker, or just blaring directly out of your phone — you will never notice a difference between Spotify’s high-quality 320Kbps streams and its lossless audio. But, if you usually listen with wired headphones while working at your desk, or have a quality speaker from the likes of Bose that supports Spotify Connect, there actually is something to be gained here.
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Comparing Spotify’s normal quality streams (96Kbps) with the new 24-bit / 44.1kHz lossless FLAC files feels unfair. Even a relatively untrained ear should be able to hear the difference. While compression technology has improved a lot since the days of crunchy Napster MP3s, there is still a noticeable loss in quality at 96Kbps. High frequencies especially can seem muddy and distorted.
Even just jumping from normal quality to high quality (320Kbps) results in a very noticeable difference. But going beyond that to lossless, or even hi-res lossless on a competing service like Tidal, yields diminishing returns. I’d venture to guess that most people will be unable to tell the difference between Spotify’s high-quality streams and lossless under a lot of circumstances. If you’re listening to a hip-hop song that samples crackly vinyl, a metal record with heavily distorted guitars, or a dance single with a kick drum that’s been compressed into oblivion, it can be hard to pick out the differences. It’s not that they’re not there — Kendrick Lamar’s vocals cut through the mix more on “squabble up,” and Sudan Archives’ heavily processed violin on “DEAD” feels more lively — but they can be easily lost in the bombast.
Where lossless can make a big difference compared to Spotify’s standard high-quality setting is with gentler styles of music that feature a lot of acoustic instruments and vocals. My go-to throughout testing (because it was one of the only albums I could find that was available in lossless on Spotify and hi-res lossless on both Apple and Tidal) was Nina Simone’s Pastel Blues.
The differences between lossless and high quality are subtle, to be sure. Unless you’re actively listening for it, you might not notice the slightly different texture to the background noise on “Strange Fruit” or the ever-so-slightly sharper sound of the high-hats on “Sinnerman.” And when older recordings clip, the resulting distortion sounds less harsh in lossless.
To see these relatively minor benefits requires some effort on your part, though. First thing to note is that you cannot stream Spotify Lossless through the web player; you will need to download the desktop or mobile app. The other thing to remember is that Bluetooth generally does not support lossless audio because of its limited bandwidth. Even Spotify warns in its announcement post that “Bluetooth doesn’t provide enough bandwidth to transmit lossless audio, so the signal has to be compressed before being sent.” (Let’s not get distracted by discussion of codecs like LDAC and aptX HD that lack widespread support.)
If you want to hear the difference, you’ll need to put your AirPods down and go get a decent set of wired headphones. I do recommend headphones. While you can hear the difference on a good set of speakers, it’s easier to pick out the nuances in headphones without minimal background noise. You’ll need to enable lossless on each of your devices individually; it’s not a setting that will sync.
Spotify has caught some flack, however, for capping its lossless support at 24-bit / 44.1kHz, when Tidal, Apple Music, and Qobuz all offer 24-bit / 192kHz hi-res FLAC support. But, at the risk of upsetting the audiophiles in the audience, you’re not missing out. While I won’t pretend there’s no difference between lossless and hi-res lossless, the improvements are extremely subtle, and not worth the hassle. For one, playing back audio at 192kHz requires additional hardware in the form of an external digital-to-analog converter (DAC), or a select few Tidal Connect-enabled speakers. A DAC can run you anywhere from $50 for a cheap off-brand dongle for your phone to upward of $15,000 for the absolute lunatics out there.
I tested Spotify Lossless, as well as Apple Music and Tidal’s lossless and hi-res lossless, using my MacBook Air connected to a fourth-gen Focusrite Scarlett 18i20. I listened to a variety of styles of music using my PreSonus Eris E5 studio monitors, a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones, and TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ headphones from AIAIAI. I spent a lot of time making sure I could play back 192kHz audio, and volume matching the various services only to walk away wondering if I was imagining the differences.
Doing a side-by-side, I felt like the hi-res lossless “Strange Fruit” on Apple Music was ever-so-slightly clearer than the standard lossless version on Spotify. But I also felt like the standard lossless Apple FLAC was slightly less noisy than the Spotify FLAC. So it’s possible that Apple’s encodings are just higher-quality in general. I’m inclined to believe that because I honestly could not tell the difference between Apple’s regular lossless and hi-res lossless versions when played back to back.
Bandwidth also becomes a major issue when playing hi-res lossless files. Unless you’re downloading them for playback offline, just don’t bother. Apple Music frequently choked when trying to skip around a hi-res track and would often pause briefly after playing the first two seconds of a song.
Here’s the thing: Most of us tend to do a lot of our listening on Bluetooth headphones. And those don’t support lossless audio. If you have good wired headphones or a decent pair of speakers, Spotify’s lossless can make a subtle but noticeable improvement to your listening experience. Just don’t be jealous of those other services with “hi-res” audio.
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After seeing five summer signings all make a huge impression in our 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest, Mikel Arteta said he was delighted with the impact they have all made in such a short space of time.
Martin Zubimendi stole the show with the first two-goal haul of his career, including a brilliant volley to open the scoring, while Viktor Gyokeres got on the scoresheet again thanks to an Ebere Eze assist.
Noni Madueke was a menace on the other flank throughout, while Cristhian Mosquera again impressed and helped us to a third clean sheet from four outings this campaign, as we cruise to victory against Ange Postecoglou’s Forest side.
Mikel was full of praise for his fellow countryman, saying: “He was unbelievable, the two goals are very difficult to score. Martin is bringing such a presence, composure and understanding of the game that makes the team flow and play better. And on top of that, he’s adding goals and assists, so that’s the trajectory that we have to maintain with him.
“It’s not easy to adapt to the league, to adapt to a new way of playing, but Mosquera is a great example. I think what he did against Liverpool, being thrown out there after three minutes at Anfield in your first exposure in the Premier League, is very difficult to do.
“I think he was superb today again, and the rest were the new ones. So, again, let’s use that, learn from them. They are giving us a lot of information at the moment to make sure we use it in the right way.”
The routine win came despite our new-look squad only all coming together again 48 hours before this game due to the international break, but they all managed to produce an excellent display to bounce back from our solitary loss this season at Liverpool.
The new weapons at his disposal excite Mikel, who can’t wait to continue to work with them all and get them to dovetail as best as possible as he looks to take our game to the next level.
“It’s a very good afternoon because after the players have been travelling the world for the last 10 days with different national teams, different coaches with different habits,” he added. “It’s always a bit uncertain how we’re going to play, how we’re going to connect, the timings of everything, especially when we have only one day to prepare the game.
“But overall, I think we were very dominant throughout the game, created some big chances, scored three goals, and had another clean sheet, which is always very good. Another positive thing was the new relationships that we are building and the way they are connecting, which I was very pleased to see today.”
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
Once scheduled for a Saturday, UCLA’s final nonconference game was quietly pushed up a day last spring to provide a bigger spotlight for the Bruins.
It revealed perhaps the biggest embarrassment of the early college football season.
There’s no other way to spin it for UCLA after a third consecutive loss during what was supposed to be the soft part of the schedule raised a frightening prospect: Will the Bruins win a game this season?
They didn’t look capable of beating a quality high school team after dropping a second consecutive game to a Mountain West Conference opponent.
UCLA’s 35-10 loss to New Mexico on Friday night at the Rose Bowl represented new depths after the Bruins once again looked lost on both sides of the ball.
“It’s pretty low right now,” UCLA coach DeShaun Foster acknowledged after stoically walking off the field and later remaining expressionless when he met with reporters. “I’ve been around this program for a long time and it’s just unfortunate, what’s going on right this moment. Just not executing.”
It appears to be a lot more than that for a team that has been outscored by a combined 108-43 margin this season, a figure that would be even worse had two Lobos drives not ended inside UCLA’s five-yard line on a fumble and a turnover on downs.
UCLA coach Deshaun Foster walks off the field after a 35-10 loss to New Mexico at the Rose Bowl on Friday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Fans started streaming out of the stands midway through the fourth quarter after New Mexico’s Damon Bankston turned a short pass into a 43-yard touchdown, breaking a couple of tackles along the way.
UCLA is not only 0-3 for the first time since 2019, the Bruins have not held a lead this season after falling into another big hole on a night they were 15.5-point favorites. Their defense gave up 6.5 yards per carry and 298 rushing yards against the Lobos (2-1). They were outgained, 450-326, in total yardage. They committed 13 penalties for 116 yards after Foster said reducing penalties would be a priority.
“It blows my mind, you know?” Foster said when asked about his discipline message not getting through to his players. “It blows my mind. It’s something I’ve never been around and we’re going to figure it out.”
A bye week before opening Big Ten play on the road against Northwestern will certainly lead to a long list of questions for Foster after his record fell to 5-10 early in his second season.
Among the possible queries: How does he account for a team that appears as bad on offense as defense after adding star quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the biggest name in the transfer portal? Can he rally his team for one victory during a season in which it might not be favored the rest of the way?
Foster insisted he was still the right coach to lead this team. What makes him feel that way?
“Because I can get these boys to play,” he said.
Does Foster agree with those who have remarked that it appears as if he’s overmatched?
“Nope,” he said. “Not at all.”
Foster said a lack of talent was not the issue after a roster overhaul that required 57 players, including 37 transfers in their first season.
“We have enough,” Foster said. “We just have to execute. It’s coming down to execution.”
What makes him think that after back-to-back losses to opponents from a lesser conference?
“There’s people wide open,” Foster said, “they’re not getting the ball, there’s people not catching the ball, there’s people missing blocks, there’s people not making tackles, people not staying in their gaps.”
The Bruins were staring into the abyss after Bankston (154 yards in 15 carries) ran for a two-yard touchdown that put the Lobos up 21-10 with 10:42 left in the game.
It only got worse from there, after things had tilted in the Bruins’ direction in the third quarter when UCLA forced its first turnover of the season.
With New Mexico facing a fourth and one at the Bruins’ five-yard line, Deshaun Buchanan ran for two yards before having the ball stripped by UCLA safety Key Lawrence. Bruins defensive end Devin Aupiu recovered the fumble to thwart the drive.
The Bruins soon benefited from another Lobos mistake after Will Karoll’s punt was muffed and recovered by Kyle Miller at the UCLA 41.
UCLA wide receiver Mikey Matthews is upended by New Mexico cornerback Jon Johnson (12) and safety Caleb Coleman in the first half Friday at the Rose Bowl.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
UCLA eventually drove for Mateen Bhaghani’s 51-yard field goal that shaved the Bruins’ deficit to 14-10 late in the third quarter, but only after left tackle Garrett DiGiorgio was called for false starts on back-to-back plays.
“We gotta stop shooting ourselves in the foot, man,” Iamaleava said, “and it’s costing us points.”
It was a third consecutive ho-hum performance for Iamaleava, who has now lost as many games as a Bruin as he did in his final season at Tennessee. The quarterback completed 22 of 34 passes for 217 yards to go with one touchdown and one interception on a tipped pass.
In keeping with an early season tradition, UCLA found itself down by multiple scores before posting its first points. After trailing 20-0 against Utah and 23-0 against Nevada Las Vegas, the Bruins fell behind 14-0 against the Lobos after displaying more leaky defense and sputtering offense.
New Mexico hurt UCLA with both the run and the pass, following Scottre Humphrey’s one-yard run with Jack Layne’s eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end Simon Mapa on fourth and two early in the second quarter.
UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava runs with the ball during the first half of the Bruins’ loss to New Mexico on Friday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Boos could be heard inside the stadium. More embarrassingly, the Big Sky Conference’s official Twitter site responded to a post jokingly saying that UCLA was reportedly exploring a move to its conference by responding, “No thank you.”
Finally mustering a counter thanks in part to a roughing the passer penalty on the Lobos, UCLA finally got on the board when Iamaleava zipped a 12-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Titus Mokiao-Atimalala midway through the second quarter.
The Bruins then mismanaged a final drive before halftime with questionable playcalling and timeout usage. But there was no second-guessing of Foster from his quarterback after the game.
“I totally believe in coach Foster, man,” Iamaleava said. “You know, he gives me self-belief every day I come in the building to go and work. [He] just gives you that want to go out there and practice and practice hard. So, you know, we’re doing him a disservice, not performing for him ‘cause he’s telling us everything we need to hear, he’s telling us everything we need to do, and we’re not executing as players. So it all falls back on the players.”
Ultimately, reminded of his team’s deficiencies across the board, Foster took some responsibility.
“Everything that happens can fall on me,” Foster said. “I’m the head coach, so it can fall on me. We don’t have to try to word things differently or whatnot. I’m the head coach. But what I do know is that eventually this team’s gonna play with discipline. It’s gonna happen. It’s eventually gonna happen.”
The big question facing UCLA and its coach during what figures to be a frustrating fortnight: When?
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