Processors today pack billions of transistors onto a single chip, and while that enables incredible performance, it also creates one persistent problem, which is heat. Rising temperatures can slow down a processor or force performance throttling. Now, researchers may have found a solution with something incredibly tiny, a new microscopic temperature sensor that’s nearly impossible to see with the naked eye.
A thermometer smaller than a human hair
Researchers at Penn State have developed an ultra-miniature thermometer that can be built directly onto computer chips. The sensor is super small, measuring just one square micrometer, which is several thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair. That tiny size lets engineers place thousands of these sensors across a processor, allowing for precise temperature monitoring across different parts of the chipset.
Chips often heat unevenly during heavy workloads, and traditional temperature sensors placed outside the processor can struggle to capture those rapid changes accurately. So these microscopic sensors could be a big deal for modern processors.
Built with ultra-thin 2D materials
What’s impressive is that the researchers built the sensor using two-dimensional materials that are only a few atoms thick. These materials allow the sensor to quickly react to any temperature changes. Additionally, the device can detect subtle fluctuations in about 100 nanoseconds, which is millions of times faster than blinking your eye. Owing to its unique structure, the tech also uses less power than traditional silicon-based thermal monitoring systems.
AMD
Why this matters for modern processors
Thermal management is one of the biggest challenges in chip design today. Transistors overheating during heavy workload cause processors to reduce clock speeds to protect themselves. This, in turn, leads to drops in performance. But with these embedded sensors like this, engineers could monitor temperature changes across the chip in real time and respond more effectively. Meaning, we might see smarter thermal management, better efficiency, and peak performance that is maintained for longer. With chips nearing the 1-nanometer gate, tech like this could be crucial.
Spotify aims to provide a consistent listening experience that uses minimal data. As a result, your audio quality might be less than ideal, especially if you’re using a pair of high-fidelity headphones or high-end speakers. Here’s how to fix that.
Switch audio streaming quality to Very High or Lossless
The default audio streaming quality in both the mobile and desktop Spotify apps is set to Automatic, which usually keeps the audio quality at Normal, which is only 96 Kbps. Even though Spotify uses the Ogg Vorbis codec, which is superior to MP3, OGG files exhibit slight (but noticeable) digital noise, poor bass detail, dull treble, and a narrow soundstage at 96 Kbps.
Even worse, Spotify is aggressive about adjusting the automatic bitrate. Even though 4G is more than fast enough to stream high-quality OGG files, even with a weak signal, Spotify may still drop the quality to Low, which has a bitrate of just 24 Kb/s. You will notice such a sharp drop in quality, even on a pair of bottom-of-the-barrel headphones.
To rectify this, open the Spotify app, tap your user image, open “Settings and privacy,” and tap the “Media Quality” menu. Once there, set Wi-Fi streaming quality and cellular streaming quality to “Very high” or “Lossless.”
I recommend setting cellular streaming quality to Very high and reserving Lossless for Wi-Fi, since lossless streaming is very data-intensive. One hour of streaming lossless files can take up to 1GB of data, as well as a good chunk of your phone’s storage, because Spotify caches files you’re frequently streaming. Besides, you’ll struggle to notice the difference unless you’re listening to music on a wired pair of high-end headphones or speakers; wireless connection just doesn’t have the bandwidth needed to convey the full fidelity of Spotify lossless audio.
You might opt for High quality if you have a capped data plan, but I recommend doing so only if you stream hours upon hours’ worth of music every single day over a cellular network. For instance, I burn through about 8 GB of data per month on average while streaming about two hours of very high-quality music over a cellular network each day.
Feeling the squeeze when listening to your favorite song?
Set audio download quality to Very high or Lossless
If you tend to download songs and albums for offline listening, you should also set the audio download quality to “Very high” or “Lossless.” This setting is located just under the audio streaming quality section.
If you’ve got enough free storage on your phone, opt for the latter, but if you’d rather save storage space, set it to Very high. You’ll hardly hear the difference, but lossless files are about five times larger than the 320 Kb/s OGG files Spotify offers at its Very high quality setting, and they can quickly fill up your phone’s storage.
Adjust video streaming quality at your discretion
The last section of the Media quality menu is Video streaming quality. This sets the quality of video podcasts and music videos available for certain songs. Since I care about neither, I set it to “Very high” on Wi-Fi and “Normal” on cellular, but you should tweak the two options at your discretion because songs sound notably better at higher video streaming quality levels.
If you often watch videos over cellular and have unlimited data, feel free to toggle video quality to very high.
Make sure Data Saver mode is disabled
Even if your audio quality is set to Very high or Lossless, Spotify will switch to low-quality streaming if the app’s Data saver mode is enabled. This option is located in the Data saving and offline menu. Open the menu, then set it to “Always off,” or choose “Automatic” to have Spotify’s Data Saver mode kick in alongside your phone’s Data Saver mode.
You can also enable volume normalization and play around with the built-in equalizer
Credit: Lucas Gouveia / How-To Geek
Last but not least, there are two additional features you can play with to improve your listening experience. The first is volume normalization, which sets the same loudness for every track you’re listening to. This can be handy because different albums are mastered at different loudness levels, with newer music usually being louder.
Since I’m an album-oriented listener, I keep the option disabled. I can just play an album and set the audio volume accordingly, and I don’t really mind louder songs when listening to playlists, artists, or song radios.
But if you can’t stand one song being quiet and the next rattling the windows, visit the Playback menu, enable “Volume normalization,” and set it to “Quiet” or “Normal.” The “Loud” option can digitally compress files, and neither Spotify nor I recommend using it. This also happens with “Quiet” and “Normal,” since both adjust the decibel level of the master recording for each song, but the compression level is much lower and extremely hard to notice.
Before I end this, I should also mention that you can access the equalizer directly from the Spotify app, where you can fine-tune your music listening experience or pick one of the available equalizer presets. If your phone has a built-in equalizer, Spotify will open it; if it doesn’t, you can use Spotify’s. On my phone (a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE), I can only use One UI’s built-in equalizer.
To open the equalizer, open “Playback,” then hit the “Equalizer” button. Now you can equalize your audio to your heart’s content.
Adjusting just a few settings can have a drastic impact on your Spotify listening experience. If you aren’t satisfied with Spotify’s sound quality, make sure to adjust the audio before jumping ship. You should also check the sound quality settings from time to time, as Spotify can reset them during app updates.
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