In an AMA a Google employee shared that YouTube Music has no intention to exceed 256kbps, citing FLAC streaming as a cost-inefficient option.
It’s not great seeing how Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music HD, and a handful of others support lossless formats like FLAC or at least a higher bitrate. This is the official quality for YouTube Music whether you’re on a mobile network or Wi-Fi. You can choose between a few different sound quality settings: When the service was first announced there wasn’t any official documentation of sound quality but that has since been added to the YouTube Music help page. You can’t actually create a custom EQ for YouTube Music though. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S10e allows you to toggle Dolby Atmos and choose between a few dubious EQ presets. There is an EQ option under settings, but it relies on your phone’s sound quality options. Unlike other streaming platforms, audio adjustments are restrictive. The desktop layout of YouTube Music Premium is nearly identical to that of the mobile application.
