[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!

[timiambeing]

Good news!

Lossless audio quality is finally starting to roll out to Spotify Premium users! 🔊

Check out this post for more info:

➜ Spotify Premium: Now Streaming in Lossless Quality

[paulove]

For me Apple Music is perfect as I only use Apple products when I listen to music. I got 6 months free Apple Music with Airpods Pro purchase, and that got me to finally ditch Spotify, after using it since 2008. 

I have not tried any other services. I did read a bit about Tidal and MQA, and it looks like a scam. 

Unless Apple really mess up, and Spotify change dramatically I will never return. And I don't see any of those things happening. 

[Faintandfuzzy]

The problem with Apple is that connectivity to most audio systems is via Airplay 2. Despite them showing high Rez, Airplay 2 changes the files to 256 AAC, and puts you right back in the same quality arena as Spotify.

[user-removed]

Apple has developed its own lossless audio compression technology called Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). In addition to AAC, the entire Apple Music catalog is now also encoded using ALAC in resolutions ranging from 16-bit/44.1 kHz (CD Quality) up to 24-bit/192 kHz.

(copy & paste from Apple)

using airplay 2 it say’s 16-bit/44.1 kHz in the  display of my DAC

[mctesterson]

While the central message of this thread continues to be "we're not getting what we want from Spotify, so we're going elsewhere," and I do appreciate that many who are more tied-into the Apple ecosystem would find that the natural alternative (and cheers to Apple for continuing to provide innovative improvements in sound quality and surround formats), I would like to state the following:

I will never switch to Apple until/unless I can play it with full feature capability on my Amazon Fire TV Cube, my Roku, my SmartTV, my Raspberry Pi (with moode OS), my Android Samsung phones, etc.

I can play Spotify on all of the above.  I can play Qobuz on enough of the above (though sometimes in more roundabout ways than Spotify) to make it worth switching, since I value high-resolution stereo so much.

I think I can only play Apple Music on my Macbook laptops, and possibly my Windows Desktop PC via iTunes(??).

I value a diversity of ecosystems.  I resist investing more fully in Google and Apple and Amazon because they resist enabling their content outside of their ecosystems.  Qobuz for the win!

P.S. - I typed this response on a Mac.  🙂  And I enjoy surround sound, but my Denon/Oppo/Polk 5.1 surround system doesn't hold a candle to my stereo-only equipment; thus 2-channel stereo quality in my household blows away the surround-sound experience (even room-optimized with Audyssey DSP).

[LawLee]

These are ranked in my order of preference. I rank Apple Music just above Spotify because of it's poor operability on anything other than Apple gear. It doesn't matter if it has HiRes or Spatial Audio if it can't work on the majority of customer's existing systems. A limiting, but predicable move on Apple's part. 

[El0h1m]

Regarding the table above, I don't agree with Amazon's DAC integration (Wasapi in exclusive mode). It does not work for me while Qobuz doing it without any issues.

And there's a tons of users with the same issue. So their app is even bigger dumpster.

[hans-jürgen]

@mctesterson wrote:

"I think I can only play Apple Music on my Macbook laptops, and possibly my Windows Desktop PC via iTunes(??)."

You could subscribe to Apple Music on Windows and listen to it with iTunes, but not with lossless streaming, only with lossy AAC. Same is true for their web player.

By the way, Deezer offers a yearly subscription to their new Premium tier including HiFi for €5.99 per month at the moment, but only per email.

[LawLee]

@hans-jürgen

Greetings! What Deezer email offer are you referring to? Deezer's problem in America is that $14.99/mo. for just CD quality is not compelling. Especially when you can get that from Tidal for ~$9.99/mo. Apple and Amazon trounces Deezer handily by providing CD to Hires quality for $9.99 and $7.99/mo. respectively.

Deezer needs to adjust their pricing down to the competition's level, lest they become the "Spotify" of CD quality streaming.. 

[Samppa3]

@hans-jürgen where can I get that offer?

I've use Deezer plenty over the years, now don't have any active subscription and they haven't sent me any offer via email regarding this particular yearly subscription discount deal. I read about it on the reddit-sub but also on the Deezer-forums.

[LawLee]

@El0h1m

You are right about Amazon. Their exclusive mode is unreliable. Their apps are terrible. Hopefully they continue to refine them. I did revise my table to reflect your comment. BTW