[All Platforms][Music] HiFi Quality - Lossless Streaming 16bit 44.1khz

[timiambeing]

I've just started a trial of Qobuz - they offer the standard 320kbps as well as lossless FLAC streaming (and high res downloads if you purchase them) the sound quality is noticeably better and on classical it's just wonderful to get all that resolution through your hi-fi or headphones! The catalogue has a way to go to get to Spotify's level, but they are getting there. The iPad app isn't' too bad (the desktop app is in need of an upgrade but I hear they are putting all their efforts into mobile apps right now).

So - lossless streaming - if Qobuz can do it then so can Spotify, they must have the same source - and obviously if you are asking £20 a month then those record labels and distributors take enough notice to make the high res tracks available for streaming. What this all means is soon, very soon, we will get lossless streaming and closely followed by high res downloads - but if Spotify aren't careful it will be Apple who get there first with an audiophile premium offering, and when they do it will be a much harder market place to make money in!

** please don't lump this suggestion with the main one on lossless downloads, that's a different idea entirely guys!

[timiambeing]

I've just started a trial of Qobuz - they offer the standard 320kbps as well as lossless FLAC streaming (and high res downloads if you purchase them) the sound quality is noticeably better and on classical it's just wonderful to get all that resolution through your hi-fi or headphones! The catalogue has a way to go to get to Spotify's level, but they are getting there. The iPad app isn't' too bad (the desktop app is in need of an upgrade but I hear they are putting all their efforts into mobile apps right now).

[timiambeing]

So - lossless streaming - if Qobuz can do it then so can Spotify, they must have the same source - and obviously if you are asking £20 a month then those record labels and distributors take enough notice to make the high res tracks available for streaming. What this all means is soon, very soon, we will get lossless streaming and closely followed by high res downloads - but if Spotify aren't careful it will be Apple who get there first with an audiophile premium offering, and when they do it will be a much harder market place to make money in!

[ilhamibaykal]

Hi,I am using both Spotify premium and Tidal and tested them for hours.Tidal's high quality is as quality as Spotify's best quality but Tidal's Hi-fi is better than Spotify.Tidal's master quality is much more better than Spotify.I wish Spotify's sound quality would be better.I would like Spotify has real Hifi and flac support!.

[Dutch-Elvis]

The only reason I have the premium account from Spotify, because their choice is the biggest. I would like it very much if it's has the same sound quality as Tidal, the difference in quality is only noticed when you have a Hig End installation. I hear the difference between a Bosendorfer Imperial and a Yamaha concert Grand piano. And agree when the quality from Spotify becomes better many would love it. But when I must choose between the best performance in less sound quality or the best sound quality for a bad performance, I choose the best performance. And I notice that sometimes not the best is on Spotify, or the LP (it's not on CD) isn't available.

Hopefully the attitude from the management from Spotify changes, and do their best to get all track's and with the best performance, also don't deleting track's from the servers

[ajmarini]

WHILE THE LOSSLESS LOVERS WAIT>>>TRY THIS!

On the desktop app, go to settings and scroll down to "MUSIC QUALITY". On the mobile app, go to your settings and and scroll down to "PLAYBACK"

There will be two options.

- Normalize Volume (Turn this ON)

- Volume Level (set this to LOUD)

Of course, you should have all your quality setting set to premium/VERY HIGH

Spotify's default setting is "medium" which will make the songs sound much worse than they should. With this setting set to "Loud", the sound is where you would expect. It seems to me that "loud" is volume of the song at it's full, intended, volume. The default setting of "medium" reduces the levels by a few dB, making the song seem thin.

Now, this may not fix things for eveyone, but if you stream from your desktop to your amp, or from the phone to headphones, etc, this will give you the best sound output from Spotify. Do this for your Spotify comparisons. 

[user-removed]

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My pro tip:

https://www.deezer.com/offers/hifi

+ Chromecast audio

@ajmarini wrote:

WHILE THE LOSSLESS LOVERS WAIT>>>TRY THIS!

On the desktop app, go to settings and scroll down to "MUSIC QUALITY". On the mobile app, go to your settings and and scroll down to "PLAYBACK"

There will be two options.

- Normalize Volume (Turn this ON)

- Volume Level (set this to LOUD)

Of course, you should have all your quality setting set to premium/VERY HIGH

Spotify's default setting is "medium" which will make the songs sound much worse than they should. With this setting set to "Loud", the sound is where you would expect. It seems to me that "loud" is volume of the song at it's full, intended, volume. The default setting of "medium" reduces the levels by a few dB, making the song seem thin.

Now, this may not fix things for eveyone, but if you stream from your desktop to your amp, or from the phone to headphones, etc, this will give you the best sound output from Spotify. Do this for your Spotify comparisons. 

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[fidelitycastro]

-##Yeah I've recently compared them and they are the same but tidals higher
quality options are most definitely miles ahead.

[Hifirob]

Neither stream hi fi period. Tidal is the lone service that does and that is based on your cell signal. 

[user-removed]

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Deezer actually does HiFi when casting to Chromecast & to chromecast audio.

Tidal does it also in Android, but their catalog is very poor compared to Deezer and to spotify. 

Spotify has the worst audio quality of all he services I tested... 

@Hifirob wrote:

Neither stream hi fi period. Tidal is the lone service that does and that is based on your cell signal. 

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[BylKay]

it's very long !

[MathiasLaubli]

Thank you for your input, unfortunately it just isn't good enough. I'm
using 24K/192Hz DAC into a wonderful Creek amp which has an active signal
splitter feeding a pair of Epos speakers bi-amp wired with single core
parallel speaker wire. So, if I compare a CD (44.1Hz sample rate at 16bit
data) to Spotify's 320K Mp3, I can hear a pretty big difference. I hope you
see my point.

[Sal1950]

QOBUZ is coming to the USA

Spotify guys, QOBuz is hiring people to run the US operation and will soon be offering their streaming service to your customers here. Do you really want to be the last major streamer not offering a lossless product. I've been with you so long and will hate to switch. But as much as I hated the idea of dealing with Tidal, JayZ, and the rest of that little group of gangsters, now that there will be a group of legitimate people to do business with, I will soon be gone to QOBuz when that lossless option become available.

Thanks for listening.

https://a2im.org/forums/topic/qobuz-usa-seeks-marketing-and-operations-manager/