Spatial Audio in Spotify on Mac: why it says “Not Available”, and how to turn it on

Why does Spotify say Spatial Audio is “Not Available” on Mac?

macOS offers Spatial Audio for stereo music, which Apple calls Spatialize Stereo, only to apps that play through Apple’s own audio frameworks. Music, Safari, TV and QuickTime do, so they get Fixed and Head Tracked in Control Center.

The Spotify app doesn’t. Like Chrome, Firefox, VLC and most Electron apps, it sends its sound straight to Core Audio, the layer underneath. macOS doesn’t offer Spatialize Stereo to apps that play that way, so Control Center shows Spatial Audio as “Not Available” while Spotify plays.

That’s also why the usual advice, “turn on Spatialize Stereo in Control Center”, doesn’t work for Spotify: there is no Fixed or Head Tracked to choose. If Apple Music gets Spatial Audio on the same Mac with the same AirPods, nothing is wrong with your setup. The difference is how each app plays sound.

Sound Stereo

Output

MacBook Pro Speakers

Your AirPods Pro

Listening Mode

Off

Transparency

Adaptive

Noise Cancellation

Spatial Audio

Not Available

Spatialize Stereo

Off

Fixed

Head Tracked

Conversation Awareness

Off

On

Your AirPods Pro Settings…

Sound Settings…

What you need for Spatial Audio on a Mac

Apple’s Spatial Audio on a Mac needs:

• a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later);
• AirPods (3rd generation) and later, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, or Beats with Spatial Audio, as the Mac’s sound output.

Your Mac’s own speakers don’t offer Spatialize Stereo, so put your headphones on before you look for it.

For SpatialTap, the app below, you also need macOS Tahoe 26 or later. It hasn’t been tested on older versions of macOS, so it isn’t offered for them.

How to get Spatial Audio in the Spotify app on Mac

SpatialTap is a menu bar app that gives Apple’s own Spatialize Stereo, Fixed and Head Tracked, to the apps macOS leaves out, starting with Spotify. It takes Spotify’s sound, mutes the original so nothing plays twice, and plays the very same samples through the part of macOS that does get Spatial Audio. Apple’s own Spatial Audio and head tracking do the rest.

1. Get SpatialTap, open the disk image and drag SpatialTap into Applications.
2. Open it. It lives in the menu bar, not in the Dock.
3. Put your AirPods in and play something in Spotify. The first time, macOS asks for “System Audio Recording Only” access. Click Allow.
4. Click SpatialTap in the menu bar and choose Fixed or Head Tracked. It then says “Spatializing Spotify”.

That’s all. There’s nothing to set up in Spotify and nothing to configure per app. Chrome, Firefox, VLC and web players like YouTube Music and SoundCloud are spatialized the same way. You can also switch modes in Control Center, where the sound shows up as SpatialTap.

SpatialTap needs that access to take over Spotify’s audio. The sound goes straight to your headphones. Nothing is recorded to disk, and nothing leaves your Mac. It installs no kernel extension and no virtual audio driver. Quit it, and Spotify plays the way it did before.

It’s free for 7 days, with no account and no card, then $9.99, once. Version 1.0 is almost ready; the button below tells you the day it’s out.

Fixed or Head Tracked: what’s the difference?

They are the two kinds of Spatialize Stereo, the same choice Control Center gives Apple’s own apps.

• Fixed places the music around you, and it turns with your head.
• Head Tracked keeps the music in place in the room when you turn. Look to one side, and the music stays where it was.

Try both while a song plays. In SpatialTap’s menu it’s one click, and you can change it any time.

Does Spatial Audio change how Spotify sounds?

Only the way Spatial Audio does. SpatialTap hands Apple’s Spatial Audio the exact samples Spotify plays, at the same level. No EQ, no virtual surround, nothing added. The spatial sound is Apple’s own, with the same tuning that Music and Safari get.

If Spotify sounds a touch quieter than it does in Safari, that’s Spotify’s own Normalize volume setting, not SpatialTap.

Is there a delay in music or video?

Yes, about a quarter of a second. In music you won’t notice it.

Video is where it shows: the sound trails the picture. SpatialTap is made for music, so switch it off in its menu while you watch a video, in Spotify or anywhere else, and back on when the music starts again.

An app that’s using the microphone, like Zoom or a Google Meet tab in Chrome, is left alone while it records, so your calls get no added delay.