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Clickbait title. No it doesn’t (at least not Spotify Premium at 320 kbps mp3).

The human ear IS NOT capable of hearing the difference between that and lossless.

1. The human ear maxes out its frequency at 20 KHz. In order to properly capture that information, you only need a 40 KHz sampling rate (double). The industry standard is 44.1 KHz as a buffer. 192 KHz is pointless because you cannot hear the extra information (Unless you’re a cat or dog). However, it can be advantages to RECORD at higher sample rates (for very technical reasons I won’t get into here): https://fifinemicrophone.com/blogs/news/do-higher-bit-depth-and-sample-rate-mean-anything-in-real-world

Also I don’t think your equipment can handle it. Straight from Apple:

To listen to songs at sample rates higher than 48 kHz, you need an external digital-to-analog converter.

2. 24-bit is pointless. The bit depth refers to the dynamic range. 16-bit has a dynamic range of 96 dB. Which is already too loud to listen to music (the volume of a lawnmower). In order for 24-bit to be meaningful, you’d have to listen at a volume that would blow your eardrums (144 dB, as loud as a fighter jet launch and at the threshold of pain). When you hear very loud sounds, you can’t hear the quieter ones. So unless an audio track has both someone turning pages in a book AND fighter jet taking off that you want to listen to at full volume, you do not need 24-bit: https://www.soundguys.com/audio-bit-depth-explained-23706/

3. Bitrate. Higher bitrate does not “sound better”. It has HIGHER FIDELITY, meaning it is more accurate to the original sound.

The human ear cannot differentiate higher than 320 kbps mp3 (equivalent to 256 kbps AAC). The vast majority cannot differentiate above 256 kbps mp3 even. I have an $800 DAC with $3,600 IEMs (and another pair of $1,600 IEMs) and I’ve been an audiophile for a while and I cannot tell the difference. And while AAC is more efficient than MP3, it doesn’t “sound better”. MP3 just needs a higher bitrate to maintain the same fidelity as AAC. EDIT: Apparently Spotify uses OGG, which is MORE efficient than AAC at higher bitrates. So… Any argument for Apple Music superior codec is completely bogus in every way.

Don’t believe me? Try for yourself: https://abx.digitalfeed.net/list.html

4. Many of you are using Bluetooth headphones. Which actually compresses down to AAC anyway. So for those on here saying they use their AirPods and it sounds so much better, I just laugh.

5. Why does music exist at this quality, then? For recording and archiving. Not playback.

6. Straight from Apple:

While the difference between AAC and lossless audio is virtually indistinguishable, we’re offering Apple Music subscribers the option to access music in lossless audio compression.

Now stop saying Apple Music sounds better. If your Spotify sounds bad, turn off Normalization. It reduces the dynamic range. https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/how-will-my-music-sound-on-spotify.html

And no, I don’t listen to Spotify. I’m an Apple Music subscriber. On Android. But not because of placebo. I like its features.