Why does music sound better in apple music than Spotify?

Music sounds better on Apple Music compared to Spotify for a few key reasons:

 Apple Music uses a higher bitrate of 256 kbps for its AAC audio codec, while Spotify's highest bitrate is 320 kbps for its Ogg Vorbis codec. However, many listeners find the 256 kbps AAC codec used by Apple Music to provide better sound quality than Spotify's 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis.

 Apple Music's songs are mastered specifically for the AAC codec, optimizing the audio for the codec's strengths. Spotify's 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis tracks may need to be better optimized.

 Apple Music's audio processing pipeline is more efficient, with less transcoding and resampling than Spotify. This results in less audio quality degradation.

 Apple Music's Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos provides an immersive 360-degree sound experience that is not available on Spotify.

Some listeners perceive Apple Music's audio as more "defined" with cleaner separation between instruments and vocals than Spotify's sound which can seem more compressed.

However, the difference in sound quality between the two services is subtle and may not be noticeable to all listeners, especially on lower-end audio equipment. Factors like the specific music genre, headphones/speakers used, and personal preference also play a role in perceived audio quality.