Connecting phone music to entertainment system - very poor quality sound

JulianR

Commendable
Oct 13, 2016
2
0
1,510
I want to connect spotify to my lounge system. The heart of it is a Sony BDP S5500 blu ray that has no spotify app, and it seems Sony/Spotify don't intend to add one.

I have the spotify app on the phone so tried connecting it to the lounge system by bluetooth dongle. It works but the sound is poor, very poor high frequency response -- 'muffled'. I tried connecting directly by cable from the phone headphone jack to the amp, but it sounds the same.

Do I have any other options? Would the sound be poor because the phone tailors the frequency response to the phone output? Is it possible to connect digitally from the phone digital connector (the standard mini USB charging connector) to hdmi or to audio inputs using a suitable cable/converter? The phone is an Oppo F1s.
 
Solution
Did you try any other source of music from the phone? Remember spotify and other streaming apps are not totally geared towards high quality sound but rather smooth streaming, I am sure the music is no better than a 128 kb/s MP3.
easy way for you to figure it out..

test another phone or device via bluetooth on your htib.
test another phone or device via analog on your htib
test your phone via bluetooth or analog on another speaker system
test your phone using a different audio playing app

you will then see a trend and be able to figure out where the problem seems to lie.
 
Android does support digital audio output over USB but your lounge system has to have a built in USB DAC for you to connect the phone to. Even if it has a USB port it would have to be configured to work as a DAC. You will probably need an external USB DAC.
Before I would invest in one I would try ssddx suggestions. I would add that you can easily connect a laptop to the lounge system and find out if Spotify sounds better with a different source.
 

JulianR

Commendable
Oct 13, 2016
2
0
1,510
Thanks to ssddx and american audiophile for helpful advice. I'll do some more investigation.

EDIT: Perhaps the easiest solution is just a full digital connection using a micro USB to HDMI cable which I have just found to exist. Is there a problem with this?