[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!

[Beekie]

@rastaman2000 Thanks a lot for this information!

So what you are saying is that by downloading Fidelify the sound of Spotify will be better?

To me it's not an issue to download a Beta version of this software to get better sounding music from Spotify but will this work with Windows 10? (I could only see Windows XP/Vista/7/8.x with .NET Framework 4.) Excuse me for these questions, i'm not quite of a whizzkid and English is not my native language but I like to get the most out of the audioperformance though 😉

Already set the powerplan of my laptop to High performance, my laptop is connected via HDMI to my Samsung UHD TV and that one is connected via HDMI to my Denon AVR.

Thanks in advance!

[cromatox]

Sorry, but to get out the "best" sound quality of your specific hard- and software setup is not the subject of this thread.

[Beekie]

• @cromatox No you're right. But Im not asking a question related to the hardware of my system. Because Spotify keeps silent maybe Rastaman2000's solution is a good one for now.

[rastaman2000]

@Beekie

YES and NO. It will not affect/improve the fundamental quality of Spotify (post-processed 320 kb/s Ogg Vorbis files will remain the same). BUT bypassing Windows' sound processing will remove secondary audio quality alterations.

You can see measurements of the difference/effect here:

http://nihtila.com/2017/01/16/bit-perfect-asio-drivers-to-solve-issues-with-windows-audio-quality/

This, of course, counts for any audio playing software (incl. WMP, Winamp, foobar2000...). TIDAL and QOBUZ have the solution implemented in their proprietary applications:

https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005773698-Optimizing-HiFi

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/info/qobuz-vous/the-playback-modes-of-desktop179419

Since Spotify's own client does not support the direct output mode (it cannot bypass Windows' DSP), Fidelify is the solution.

However, there is one particular setting even in the Spotify's proprietary client that removes another distortion imposed directly in your Spotify client: It is the VOLUME NORMALIZATION - disabling it improves the audio quality significantly. https://support.spotify.com/us/article/volume-settings/

I'm not sure about Fidelify and Windows 10. Fidelify uses 32-bit architecture, however WASAPI should be fine. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/audio/low-latency-audio

You could maybe even try the ASIO4ALL https://www.asio4all.org/ driver - according to Nihtila (see above) it should work with Spotify on Windows 10.

Hard to say, whether you TV processes the sound itself - before proceeding it to the HDMI output. Maybe it does, maybe not. Answering one simple question might answer the previous one, too: Does your TV's sound volume control affect the HDMI audio output (led to your AVR) level?

Then, of course, you probably know that bypassing your AVR's DSP by selecting the Pure/Source Direct mode helps, too. 😉

[StevenSGT98]

@cromatox it kind of is about getting the best sound though. Using wasapi or asio bypasses having windows resample the audio. As previously mentioned Qobuz and Tidal do this. Amazon Music HD advertises this as “exclusive mode” but it still passes through the Windows subsystem, therefore it isn’t truly exclusive. The point is being able to have the full Spotify experience, including music discovery and to be able to do so from the official Spotify app without using a hack while passing audio cleanly. 

[tofalck]

I have just about had it with Spotify's seemingly arrogant stance of "just vote for it and we might do it".

Seven (7!!!) years in and still no CD quality streaming.

Why?

When at least 3 other platforms can do it, so can you.

There is no reason to take our money and not respecting tens of thousands of votes for better quality.

[jrwood54]

After seven years, I think it is clear that Spotify is just blowing this off.

[cromatox]

The really bad thing is that we are not talking about a new fancy feature - but only about good old CD quality. This is a standard of the early 80s of the last century. That was about 40 years ago!!! This is very frustrating...

[tofalck]

Agree - it's really weird they don't just implement it.

I mean - how hard can it be when they already have had all the other bits and pieces up and running for years.

This is not about "finding the time between projects" (think I saw such a lame company comment in a competing forum regarding whether they should support Sonos Connect or not...)

This is about making quality *the* project.

I know that I'm going to be moving to something else really soon if they don't get their act together and deliver on what they describe as "Extreme Quality" - it just isn't...

I don't need Hi-Res - no one can hear the difference in a normal listening environment anyway.

But I do want my active Dynaudio speakers to be the best they can be and 320 kbps simply is not up for the job - the speakers are so much better than that.

I want lossless CD quality. 

Spotify is way beyond the phase of a startup company where they can hide behind lack of resources and be excused for it.

They are a publicly listed company with massive resources, a massive user base claiming industry leadership and that IMHO is a massive responsibility.

The only thing keeping me here - really the only - is their better UX and Sonos integration (and both could be better to be honest).

Long term it simply won't be enough and the others will catch up eventually. 

So Spotify - please give a timeline of when you are going to be doing CD quality (at the same price or lower) or if you simply won't do it at all. You have had plenty of time to decide so have a pretty good idea of when you will be doing what.

I'm waiting for your reply - but not for much longer.

[cromatox]

@tofalck: I agree with you, but probably it would be absolutely OK for many to switch to a higher lossless/HD subscription plan. I would pay an additional 10 EUR fee per month, no problem.
I am also very happy with the Spotify recommendations. But slowly it's also time for me to try out Tidal.