Nintendo takes the U.S. government to court over tariffs


Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against the United States government seeking refunds for tariffs imposed during the Trump administration. The case, filed by Nintendo’s U.S. subsidiary in the U.S. Court of International Trade, argues that the company was forced to pay import duties that were later ruled unlawful.

The lawsuit comes after a major court decision earlier this year determined that the tariffs had been imposed using legal authority that did not actually permit such taxes. While the ruling invalidated the duties, it didn’t clearly explain how companies that had already paid them would get their money back. Nintendo is now asking the court to order a full refund, that too, with interest.

Why Nintendo says the tariffs hurt its business

The tariffs were introduced during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law normally used to regulate economic activity during national emergencies. However, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in February 2026 that the statute does not grant the president authority to impose tariffs.

Nintendo argues the policy had real business consequences. The company said the tariffs disrupted the rollout of its Nintendo Switch 2, forcing it to delay U.S. preorders while it evaluated how the added import costs might affect pricing. Even after preorders resumed, the company raised prices on several accessories and older hardware models due to the shifting trade environment. The company manufactures most of its hardware in Asia, particularly in China and Vietnam, which were heavily affected by the tariff measures.

Nintendo’s case is also part of a broader wave of legal action. Multiple companies across industries, from shipping and automotive firms to electronics manufacturers, have filed similar lawsuits seeking refunds for tariffs collected during that period. For now, the courts will decide whether companies like Nintendo are entitled to those refunds.



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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.

Illustration of a headphone with various music icons around.


How Audio Compression Works and Why It Can Affect Your Music Quality

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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.

The audio download quality menu in Spotify's mobile app.

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

Spotify logo in the center of the screen with an equalizer in front. 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.​​​​​​​

Three phones with a Spotify screen and the logo in the center.


These 8 Spotify Features Are My Favorite Hidden Gems

Look for these now.



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