Music, Headphones, and That Evening

I was going out.

Halfway there, I realized I had left my headphones at home.

I will go home today. Going out can wait.

An earlier NetEase Cloud Music annual report said I listened longer than 99% of its users.

Music is the only thing that can make us happy even while speaking of sadness.

Certain familiar melodies always bring a strange feeling, as though I have returned to the past: the age, the stage of life, the state of mind in which I first heard the song.

Back to days that will never come again.

Why a melody can pull us into the past

Psychology calls this music-evoked autobiographical memory.

Research finds that music we repeatedly hear between ages twelve and twenty-two forms particularly strong connections with the brain’s emotional and memory systems. This period is called the “reminiscence bump.”

So when a song you played on repeat in secondary school suddenly pulls you into the past, that feeling is real.

Those notes were long ago packed into long-term memory alongside your mood, surroundings, and companions at the time.

As for music bringing happiness amid sadness, Nietzsche once explained:

Music gives us a sense of transcendence while we experience pain; melody turns emotion itself into an artwork we can appreciate.

NetEase, Soda Music, and friends’ playlists

Soda Music, backed by Douyin’s recommendation algorithm and connected to my Douyin account, understands me very well. Almost every recommendation matches my taste.

After a few hundred hours, I noticed common features:

Intros last less than ten seconds, sometimes there is no intro at all; emotions are concentrated, styles converge; while listening to one song, I always feel the next will be better.

On NetEase Cloud Music, I like reading comments while listening through headphones. Often the song ends before I finish the comments, so I go back and hear it again.

Some music naturally draws out people’s sincere, unguarded side.

Many NetEase comments are beautifully written.

Some are moving, others funny and lovely. I like and share those I enjoy.

The songs someone repeats during a particular period often contain something of their state of mind then.

Sometimes a friend’s playlist seems unremarkable if you listen through a phone speaker and skip casually to the middle.

But put on headphones and listen from beginning to end, and you feel its affirming force of life, much like the feeling that friend gives you.

Then you discover how much meaning the lyrics contain.

You discover music, like books, has a threshold of entry.

Some songs are not bad; I simply do not understand them yet. Nobel Prize-winning books are widely recognized as good, yet some are beyond me. That is not the book’s fault; my own cultivation is not sufficient.

I do not mean Soda or NetEase is better. They serve different situations:

Soda Music feels like online fiction to me: immediately enjoyable.

NetEase feels like a published book or a classic. It asks for attentive, concentrated listening, preferably through headphones.

Soda is my background stream outdoors. When I leave home, a preset automation opens it and plays music without my taking out the phone.
NetEase is for evenings: listening and reading comments.

Recovering songs that turn gray in NetEase

Longtime users know that favorite songs sometimes suddenly turn gray, or original recordings disappear from search because the platform lacks rights.

One very useful feature is:

NetEase Cloud Music’s personal cloud drive

Every account includes one. Upload local music files, and they appear under “My Music → My Cloud Drive.” Like licensed songs, they can join playlists and play together, with almost the same experience.

Here are the methods I have used.

1) The WeChat mini-program SongSharing: simplest

Link: search for SongSharing directly.

Process: link your NetEase account → search for a song → tap to add it automatically to your cloud drive.

No downloading or uploading is needed. It suits a particular song unavailable or paid on NetEase.

It works rather like a public cloud drive: one tap copies a song from someone else’s drive into yours.

2) Tampermonkey browser extension + a NetEase helper script: bulk uploads

Use: move hundreds of songs by an artist or from a chart into your drive at once.

Process: install Tampermonkey in your desktop browser, then a relevant NetEase script, and import in bulk.

Link:

https://github.com/Cinvin/myuserscripts

I have uploaded thousands—close to ten thousand—songs unavailable under NetEase’s licenses to my cloud drive.

There is an unexpected bonus:

Some removed songs cannot be found by searching, but uploading them reveals their “ancient comment sections.”

For example, Jay Chou’s original recording of “Love Confession” has over eight million saves and three hundred thousand comments, yet the individual track no longer appears in search. Its latest comment dates to 2020.

The voices of three hundred thousand people seem quietly hidden in a sealed time and space, waiting for the right person to open the door.

3) XMusicDownloader: open-source software for filling gaps in bulk

Use: import your NetEase playlist, identify unavailable and paid tracks automatically, and download them in bulk from other platforms.

Advantage: no searching song by song. Downloads have their tags organized automatically and can go straight to the cloud drive.

Link: https://github.com/jadepeng/XMusicDownloader

These steps seem a little complicated and suit people who enjoy tinkering.

If you do not, listen often, and want one app for songs across the internet, there is a simpler route: log into a good friend’s account.

A NetEase membership account can use about eight devices. Membership promotions are frequent; mine now lasts another six or seven years.

Complete the above steps once, and almost any song online can be heard in one NetEase app afterward.

I enjoy sharing my account with friends. Listening alone gets boring, and I can hear their playlists too.

Small open-source third-party music apps, such as LX Music, also offer free access across platforms, but lack an ecosystem: popular comments, NetEase’s attractive interface, and cross-device synchronization.

So I still prefer established software. One NetEase account connects phone, tablet, computer, television, car system, and watch, synchronizing favorites in real time.

I know this discussion inevitably raises copyright.

Licensed music is certainly the better choice; I have never disputed that.

Good music needs recognition and compensation. Without a stable rights ecosystem, many good works may not keep appearing.

But I also understand that people start from different places.

A student may have little pocket money. Spending a few dozen yuan on an outing with friends or a membership is a choice without an obvious right or wrong.

Others rarely listen, perhaps liking only a few particular songs and opening the player just a few times a month. A music subscription is not a high priority in their lives.

China is large. A few dozen yuan carries very different weight in different hands.

Viewed over a longer timeline, the situation is not entirely bleak.

It resembles gentle “price discrimination”: let people with little willingness to pay hear good music first. Later, when they can afford it or find an artist they truly care about, they may willingly pay.

Haidilao’s student discounts and video-platform student memberships follow the same path: first keep people involved.

NetEase’s cloud drive itself is a neutral tool. The platform does not actively provide copyrighted material; it plays whatever you upload.

If a rights holder objects, the platform can remove the file through notice-and-takedown, without assuming direct infringement liability itself.

For individual users, uploading audio they already possess for private listening is not, strictly speaking, explicitly exempted by law. But without public distribution or profit, rights holders generally lack the motive or need to pursue it.

It is more a tacitly tolerated gray area: the platform maintains its boundary and uses cloud storage to offset its limited music licenses.

Individuals should likewise stay within private use, without commercial use or profit. Those are the respective limits.

What stands between us and good sound?

Listening can be understood as a signal chain:

Audio file → playback software → phone → Bluetooth encoding → headphone decoding → your ears

A failure at any link reduces the final listening quality.

1. Audio source

Common levels:

Standard (128 kbps): lossy compression; obvious loss of high-frequency detail.
High quality (320 kbps): the upper end of lossy compression, difficult to distinguish on ordinary equipment.
Lossless SQ (FLAC, about 1411 kbps): CD quality, retaining all information.
Hi-Res (starting at 24-bit/96 kHz): master-level quality, allowing ample room for subsequent processing.

Simply put, 320 kbps says how much data reaches you each second; 24-bit/96 kHz says how finely the original sound is recorded.

Keeping NetEase at its highest quality uses a lot of data.

A five-minute ultra-high-definition master track can sometimes occupy hundreds of megabytes. Skip tracks quickly, and you could use tens of gigabytes a day, more than videos or livestreams.

2. Playback software: different strengths

QQ Music premium masters: highest specifications and broadest catalog; suitable for classical music, jazz, and soundtracks.
NetEase Vinyl SVIP ultra-HD masters: warm, full tuning and pleasant vocals; my first choice for vocal pop.
Apple Music lossless / Dolby Atmos: mainly Western catalog, neutral clean tuning; Apple devices support Dolby Atmos spatial audio.
Soda Music: excels in its algorithm and discovering new songs.

3. Bluetooth encoding

Even with lossless enabled in NetEase, Bluetooth headphones mean the sound is compressed again before transmission.

The Bluetooth step alone can substantially cut the quality.

Most importantly:

For the best quality, the phone and headphones must support the same advanced Bluetooth codec. If either does not, you fall back to an ordinary level.

Take my own example.

My Samsung Buds2 Pro connected to an iPad can only use the ordinary AAC codec supported by Apple. A Samsung phone is needed for the ecosystem’s exclusive SSC Hi-Fi 24-bit mode, which noticeably improves sound density and detail.

When choosing equipment, remember:

Ideally, headphones and phone should share a brand, or at least a Bluetooth “camp.” Apple with Apple, Samsung with Samsung, and Chinese Snapdragon flagships with headphones supporting Qualcomm codecs.

4. The phone itself

Apple: not the strongest specifications, but the cleanest, most consistent tuning.
Samsung flagship + Samsung headphones: both made in-house, with encoding, tuning, and connection integrated.
Chinese Snapdragon flagship: highest specifications; paired correctly, capable of wireless lossless.
Chinese Dimensity flagship: also supports advanced codecs, depending on the model.

5. Headphones and speakers: the most influential link

At similar prices, roughly:

Wired Hi-Fi over-ear/in-ear > flagship TWS Bluetooth > integrated desktop Bluetooth speaker ≈ noise-canceling Bluetooth over-ear > phone speaker

6. Approximate influence of each factor

Roughly:

Factor

Share of influence

Headphone/speaker quality + fit and seal

40%

Audio source + software effects

25%

Bluetooth codec and device compatibility

20%

Listening environment (noise and concentration)

10%

Personal state (fatigue and emotion)

In one sentence:

Better headphones > a software subscription > a new phone.

Listening to music has two levels.

One is technical.

Sources, codecs, drivers, algorithms—you can pursue them endlessly, but each step offers diminishing returns.

Over a hundred years ago, high-quality music might require a concert hall or expensive equipment and records.

Even twenty years ago, listening carefully to a song was less convenient: downloading, transferring, waiting for internet speeds, and choosing from limited options.

Today, a phone, headphones, and a music app let us hear music from around the world cheaply, enjoying sounds once reserved for the aristocracy.

That is surely technology’s gift.

The other level is our state of mind.

In high school, the school radio played during morning and evening meals.

There were few songs to choose from. We could not pause, save, or skip them.

Walking along and hearing those melodies felt happy, even with ordinary sound quality.

If a favorite song came on while I walked, I sometimes slowed my steps.

Now listening is too easy.

Too many songs and apps, recommendations too accurate, skipping too convenient.

Yet the easier something is to obtain, the easier it seems to become background noise.

Technology and state of mind both matter.

But to me, the latter is more precious.

However expensive the equipment, casual playback gives only background sound.

However ordinary the headphones, if you listen carefully to one whole song on a particular evening, it may become the day’s moment closest to yourself.

“Music never answers, but always asks:

Who are you? Why are you sad? What makes you yearn?”