I’ve tested cheap headphones enough to know that the only way to really improve the quality of music you stream is by spending more money… at least that’s what I thought. That's until I found a setting hidden away in Spotify’s menus which changed the way I listen.
If you’re like me, you only go into an app’s settings menu if you already know what you want to do: I know Spotify users who use the Crossfade feature or in-app equalizer. I imagine they open the settings page specifically to toggle these, before closing it. I never spend much time trawling through all the options out there, and I bet most people are like me.
However recently I was trying to find a way to deactivate Spotify’s hair-pullingly annoying Smart Shuffle, and it saw me actually paying attention to the app’s features for the first time in ages.
And that’s when I saw it: a little toggle that made me think “oh, I wonder if that makes music sound any different”. In short: yes. Yes it does.
Mono a mono
The feature I’m talking about is the ability to toggle mono audio on or off. When on, both of your earbuds, headphones or speaker sides will play exactly the same music.
When mono audio is turned off, though, you hear audio as it was originally mixed: you’ll hear different parts and instruments mixed either to your left or right ear (or to both in equal or different intensities).
You can find the toggle for this feature in the Spotify settings menu. To change this, you go into the Homepage of the app and press your picture in the top-left, then select Settings and privacy, then Playback, and you’ll find it under Listening controls. It’s just between Autoplay and Device broadcast status.
I found mono audio to be toggled on with my Spotify app; other people have reported that it was turned off by default for them, but there are reports online of people finding it turned on too, so it’s possible that certain paired hardware, tie-in apps or other Spotify features can turn it off. Either way, I’d recommend you check your settings to see whether it’s turned on for you.
Making music musical
When I turned on mono audio, the change was noticeable straight away – and it was dramatic.
Having music panned to different degrees gives it a much more palpable sense of scale, musically speaking – the different instruments all appear spread out before you, as though you’re facing a live band playing music. This adds to the texture of a song; you don’t listen to it, but you feel it.
In some songs, you can hear pronounced differences in what’s coming out of your two earbuds. Take, for example, Cassidy by Brett Dennen: the entire guitar introduction to that song is panned left, while the bass that joins in is panned right, something which is easily demonstrated by listening with just one earbud in.
In that song, it creates a feeling of the band slowly coming in around you; in others, it’s used for more decisive effect. In Ben Rector’s Range Rover (and quite a few other of his songs, actually…), the guitar begins panned to one side, but when the song gets going the extra guitar hits both ears. This helps convey the energy of a piece of music, when a silent earbud suddenly bursts out in song.
Sometimes it’s not about the direction, but the intensity. In Morningsiders’ Hang the Cedar, you can hear the piano, guitar and vocals in the introduction equally in the left and right ear, but they’re audibly panned to different degrees, again giving this sense of space without having the music jump between your ears.
And there are some songs where instruments fulfilling several roles get panned to different sides, like in Bad Self Portraits by Lake Street Drive, which matches guitar on one side with piano on the other. They’re both providing chordal accompaniment, and the split panning gives the song more texture without making one ear do all the work.
I could go on and on (and have, to all my friends, despite their attempts to make me stop). But the gist is this: music sounds much better when you’re listening in stereo; it’s almost like the trained audio engineers who mix these songs know what they’re doing!
I’m not going to pretend that stereo audio is some secret lost long ago to the ancients; loads of other apps offer it, and audiophiles almost definitely already use it on a daily basis. But if you’re just an average everyday music-enjoyer, you’ll find this Spotify feature an easy way to improve your music.
A no-no for mono?
Despite finding that music sounds much better with mono mode turned off, I haven’t decided yet whether I’m actually going to keep it that way, or turn it back on. The audiophiles are already preparing to write angry emails, I can feel it.
I’ve got a few reasons for this. One is petty: I’ve heard a few songs with parts panned too far or in weird directions (by my judgement, at least) which sounds distracting and gets in the way of my enjoying the music. Then there's the lazy: if, as online commentators have speculated, mono is trigged by new earbuds being used on Spotify, then I'm going to spend half my life in the settings menu given that I'm always using new earbuds for TechRadar reviews.
Another is functional: I sometimes listen with one earbud, perhaps when I’m cycling but want to listen to music, or trying to hear my doorbell go off when I’m at home. I’m going to be able to enjoy songs a lot more if I can get all of the parts from just one bud!
I can see reasons why other people would want their music in mono too. Those with hearing issues in one ear will be able to enjoy songs a lot more if they can hear all the parts of a song. That’s just as true for people with faulty tech, like headphones with one bud that’s louder than the other, who can’t or won’t pay for a repair or replacement. I’m sure there are other reasons besides these.
That’s all to say that I do understand why Spotify offers this toggle-able option, and can empathize with people who’d prefer to listen in mono mode.
But if that’s not you, and you’ve got no valid excuse, it’s time to hop into the Spotify settings menu right now. Trust me, you’ll thank me straight away!
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