Spotify Launches Exclusive Mode for Windows Bitperfect Audio

Spotify has launched a new feature called Exclusive Mode for its Windows desktop app, enabling Premium subscribers to achieve bitperfect audio playback by bypassing the operating system's audio processing. The rollout, announced recently, targets users seeking higher fidelity sound on personal computers, with support for macOS planned in a future update.

Exclusive Mode allows Spotify to take direct control of the audio output device, avoiding alterations that typically occur through Windows' system mixer. In standard playback, the mixer can resample audio, incorporate sounds from other applications or notifications, or adjust volume levels before the signal reaches external equipment. By overriding this process, the feature delivers music tracks exactly as they were mastered, supporting up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC quality when paired with Spotify's lossless streaming option, which debuted in September.

The enhancement is available to Premium users running Spotify version 1.2.84 or later on Windows. To activate it, subscribers open the app's settings, navigate to the Playback section, select their audio output device from the dropdown menu, and toggle Exclusive Mode on. Spotify...