Maybe they've since added blocking artists. I know that I had several back and forth conversations with Spotify support on this and there wasn't any way to do it back then. I don't want to block a song, I want to block an artist/band completely.

I don't want shuffle to take into account their licensing fees, or which record labels they have promotions with. I want a random mix based on my favorite songs or chosen playlist. This is unacceptable and part of why I cancelled Spotify.

Tidal doesn't use mqa. The company behind mqa went under and they've since changed to FLAC.

Good headphones or great speakers and I do hear a difference. Not in every song, but in many. Spotify keeps promising better quality and they keep failing to deliver.

For reference, I have studio monitors that are calibrated and room corrected. Yes. There is a difference.

I have a 3000+ saved songs list which is my standard "just play some music, give me the kitchen sink" choice. The only way to get Spotify off of a "shuffle-loop" is to turn off shuffle, skip a few songs, then turn shuffle back on.

It will still inevitably go back to the same 50 songs after a while though. I haven't found a way to prevent this with any setting. I've not noticed it on any of my playlists with only a few hundred songs, but I don't listen to those as long or often as my saved songs.

On mobile you can at least pick a (Spotify generated) genre filter which helps.

I just want Spotify to shuffle like old school iTunes. All the songs on this list... but randomized. A setting like iTunes to favor songs you've listened to fewer times would also be neat.

But we're in the era of algorithms for everything, and apparently even Spotify premium isn't enough to save you from sponsored and/or targeted manipulation Or their algorithm is just bugged and they don't care.

I've actually noticed this with their AI DJ too. Listen to it long enough, it basically favors the same handful of artists and songs over and over again.