brodricj Posted November 20, 2021 Posted November 20, 2021 The Spotify catalog is far more extensive than Tidal. And Spotify technical support is far more responsive than Tidal. The few times I've had issues with Spotify, tech support is right on to it the same day. I can't say the same for Tidal, they just ignore me. To be clear the reason I dumped Tidal is their support is rubbish, and their content is limited. I'm not saying the Tidal sound quality is rubbish. I have no opinion of the sound quality of Tidal compared to Spotify - I just don't know.
brodricj Posted November 20, 2021 Posted November 20, 2021 1 hour ago, Tobes said: That is some super premium gear you have there for sure.. Thanks. The quest for the Holy Grail is almost complete. Only 3 or 4 more purchases to go and I'm done. But before that some NLR stuff must find a new home. 1
mjs Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 On 20/11/21 at 2:29 PM, brodricj said: Thanks. The quest for the Holy Grail is almost complete. Only 3 or 4 more purchases to go and I'm done. Yeah, sure Back on the previous point though, yes Spotify as is is OK, but I prefer Qobuz hi-rez and I would have thought as others have that with the system level you are talking about, you would want the same. That's where I'm at, and I have a. far more expensive digital front end than I had 12 months ago! Might be different if Spotify pull their digits out and actually release Spotify Hifi.
brodricj Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 I use Esoteric N-01 as my Spotify source, however it's currently listed for sale here in the SNA classifieds. If it sells I will need to replace it with an N-03T as my Spotify source. But $13,500 RRP is a lot of money to spend on a dedicated Spotify streamer. As a no cost alternative I could use a Playstation 3 as the Spotify source and send it down a 15m long toslink to the DAC. That would be something I need to experiment with, with a loaner N-03T. I wouldn't want to sacrifice the sound quality where I'm at with Spotify today.
wasabijim Posted December 16, 2021 Posted December 16, 2021 just on 2 weeks now till 2021 closes out Spotify HiFi any day now! maybe in Santa's sack? https://www.techhive.com/article/3644377/spotify-hifi-is-still-a-no-show-as-the-year-winds-down.html
ray4410 Posted December 16, 2021 Posted December 16, 2021 2 minutes ago, wasabijim said: just on 2 weeks now till 2021 closes out Spotify HiFi any day now! maybe in Santa's sack? https://www.techhive.com/article/3644377/spotify-hifi-is-still-a-no-show-as-the-year-winds-down.html we can only hope so. 1
Flash Posted December 16, 2021 Posted December 16, 2021 I won’t be holding my breath. After recent comments by the CEO about wanting Spotify to be the TikTok of audio, I fear it’s not a priority.
Bcdesign Posted December 17, 2021 Posted December 17, 2021 18 hours ago, Flash said: I won’t be holding my breath. After recent comments by the CEO about wanting Spotify to be the TikTok of audio, I fear it’s not a priority. Yeah, such a shame. I've been signed up since Spotty came out but recently jumped ship to Tidal. Sick of waiting...
brodricj Posted December 17, 2021 Posted December 17, 2021 35 minutes ago, Bcdesign said: ...but recently jumped ship to Tidal. Sick of waiting... You aren't satisfied with the sound quality of Spotify premium?
Flash Posted December 17, 2021 Posted December 17, 2021 I’ll still stick with Spotify, unless it becomes gimmicky. The sound quality isn’t terrible, and if I find something new that I really like, I’ll generally buy the disk. 2
wasabijim Posted December 18, 2021 Posted December 18, 2021 On 17/12/2021 at 7:19 PM, Flash said: I’ll still stick with Spotify, unless it becomes gimmicky. The sound quality isn’t terrible, and if I find something new that I really like, I’ll generally buy the disk. I think this is it for me, maybe more. TV, dab+, Spotify prem, prime, yt, vinyl, DVD & blurry, etc. Each works & in context I enjoy.
Kaynin Posted December 18, 2021 Posted December 18, 2021 I enjoy Spotify premium, through my Consonance Reference 7 it sounds good. Not great, but good. Great is for CD (some pressings) and vinyl (some pressings).
Kristian Kristiansen Posted December 24, 2021 Posted December 24, 2021 https://themusicnetwork.com/producer-boycott-spotify-daniel-ek/ After hearing about this, I have two words to say about Spotify and the second word is Spotify As a listener and a muso i am not all that cool supporting a billionaire war monger who made his fortune exploiting artists and is now investing that money into machines that kill people I've decided to cancel my premium subscription and remove my own music - have been trialling Tidal - reckon I'll stick with it 2
Tobes Posted December 27, 2021 Posted December 27, 2021 (edited) On 24/12/2021 at 11:34 AM, Kristian Kristiansen said: https://themusicnetwork.com/producer-boycott-spotify-daniel-ek/ After hearing about this, I have two words to say about Spotify and the second word is Spotify As a listener and a muso i am not all that cool supporting a billionaire war monger who made his fortune exploiting artists and is now investing that money into machines that kill people I've decided to cancel my premium subscription and remove my own music - have been trialling Tidal - reckon I'll stick with it Spotify have always exploited artists, but this is beyond the pale. How is it that Qobuz can pay artists 10x more? I'll continue doing the vast majority of my streaming via Qobuz regardless of what Spotify do. DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDER $ PER STREAM Qobuz $0.04390 Peloton $0.04036 iHeartRadio $0.01426 Amazon Unlimited $0.01175 Napster/Rhapsody $0.01110 24/7 Entertainment GmbH $0.01050 YouTube Red $0.00948 Tidal $0.00927 Deezer $0.00567 Google Play $0.00543 Apple $0.00495 KKBox $0.00435 Amazon Digital Services Inc. $0.00395 Spotify $0.00331 Loen $0.00205 Pandora $0.00155 Vevo $0.00109 Yandex LLC $0.00051 YouTube Content ID $0.00028 UMA $0.00013 Edited December 27, 2021 by Tobes
jomjom Posted December 27, 2021 Posted December 27, 2021 With four days left in this year,there is still no sight of spotify hifi.aghhh! 1
Guest Posted December 30, 2021 Posted December 30, 2021 https://www.golem.de/news/musikstreaming-spotify-haelt-an-plaenen-fuer-bessere-klangqualitaet-fest-2112-162048.html December 28, 2021: Quote In a recent statement on request from Golem.de, Spotify stated: "Both artists and fans have told us that HiFi quality is important to them. We agree and look forward to offering Spotify HiFi to premium users in the future - To offer an experience, but we cannot give any further details at the moment. " It is therefore unclear when Spotify Hifi will start. 1
Niktech Posted January 9, 2022 Posted January 9, 2022 On 20/11/2021 at 10:56 AM, Tobes said: That is some super premium gear you have there for sure - which only makes it more baffling to me that your goal appears to be maximising Spotify SQ rather than starting with higher quality source like Tidal/Qobuz etc. Hopefully Spotify will release their Hi-Fi tier to make your effort and investment worthwhile. All the best. The problem with hi res streaming services, such as Quobuz and Hi Res Audio is that they are album centric. Yes, they stream at at higher quality, but they can’t compete with Spotify’s algorithm for creating playlists and suggesting new music. I found them boring and lacking in content. Once Spotify premium has been filtered and reclocked, it does sound pretty good. Obviously, if your goal is critical listening - listening for instrument identification, placement, and separation etc - then it’s probably not for you. It’s great for the shear enjoyment of listening to music and identifying artists from whom to purchase their hi res tracks for local playback. my system is not in the same league as @brodricj , but when you love music, I think that shared experience transcends the cost of the system on which you listen to it. Cheers 3
brodricj Posted January 9, 2022 Posted January 9, 2022 Last night I paused my Spotify stream and put on a SACD. Sting Sacred Love. The SACD was lifeless and non-engaging compared to the usual progressive house rubbish that I listen to on Spotify. I also have the HD Tracks version of Sting Sacred Love and that is also boring and lifeless. When I complained to HD Tracks that its hi rez download version of this album didn't sound as good as my China bootleg CD copy they gave me a "too bad it is what it is" response. That is when I decided not to buy any more HD Tracks downloads. This caper is too hit and miss. So whilst the SACD/CD transport is still the ultimate digital source, some physical media content can be very vanilla and difficult to differentiate from the Spotify version. The Spotify version of Sting Sacred Love sounds better than the SACD. As does my China CD copy version. I've tried Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify Premium and settled on Spotify as my preferred music streaming service. 3
Topman_Chief Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 This happened a few days back, but for those that missed it...Spotify has provided an update about providing a Hi-Fi tier, which is effectively "not yet, can't tell you when." For anyone who develops software, dates slip. But this is clearly indicating that this feature has been de-prioritised. Since Apple and Amazon aren't charging for higher quality, it looks like Spotify feel they can't either. If they provide higher quality at no extra cost, they just add to their operating costs with little or no increase in paying customers. My suggestion would be for them to charge $2 more per month for a CD-quality tier, and maybe $5 more per month for a high rez tier. That way they deliver on their promise, they make money from the feature, and most existing customers that love Spotify and want better quality will happily pay the extra to stay with their preferred streaming provider. For Tidal customers that may have missed recent news, Tidal now provide CD-quality at the base price. So if you've been paying for their premium tier but are happy with CD-quality instead of high-rez, you can now downgrade from Tidal Hi-Fi Plus to Tidal Hi-Fi (which is what I've done). Updated on 2022-01-07 Hey folks, We know that HiFi quality audio is important to you. We feel the same, and we’re excited to deliver a Spotify HiFi experience to Premium users in the future. But we don’t have timing details to share yet. We will of course update you here when we can. Take care. https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/All-Platforms-Music-HiFi-Quality-Lossless-Streaming-16bit-44/idc-p/5324421#M238504 2
mjs Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 On 22/11/2021 at 11:13 AM, brodricj said: I use Esoteric N-01 as my Spotify source, however it's currently listed for sale here in the SNA classifieds. If it sells I will need to replace it with an N-03T as my Spotify source. But $13,500 RRP is a lot of money to spend on a dedicated Spotify streamer. As a no cost alternative I could use a Playstation 3 as the Spotify source and send it down a 15m long toslink to the DAC. That would be something I need to experiment with, with a loaner N-03T. I wouldn't want to sacrifice the sound quality where I'm at with Spotify today. Don't think Ive ever seen a $13.500 digital front end for Spotify before. Not sure you're getting value. The Esoteric will stream Qobuz, I suggest you try it, I would be staggered if you can't tell the difference between that and Spotify. 1 2
Macuniverse Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 I think we will never see a Spotify HiFi offer. Apple did preempt every other HiFi streamer by keeping the HiFi price same as lossy offer. I bet Spotify was planning to add a premium on the HiFi offer. Not sure what percent of existing Spotify listeners would actually value HiFi over 320bps mp3. Most people I know listen to Spotify on their phones and portable speakers. As others stated the key differentiator of Spotify is its recommendation of new music and artists. In my case it's scary how good it is!. Also Spotify Connect is the best in business. 3
brodricj Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 5 hours ago, mjs said: Don't think Ive ever seen a $13.500 digital front end for Spotify before. Not sure you're getting value. The Esoteric will stream Qobuz, I suggest you try it, I would be staggered if you can't tell the difference between that and Spotify. Esoteric N-01XD digital front end supporting Spotify Connect will set you back $30,000 RRP. I did try Qobuz on N-01 and I prefer Spotify. Which is why I cancelled my Qobuz subscription. I even posted links elsewhere to a Qobuz version of a song and the Spotify version of the same song where Spotify sounded better. Others might have followed those links to compare for themselves, but nobody posted their own findings. 1
Tobes Posted January 23, 2022 Posted January 23, 2022 On 12/01/2022 at 12:06 AM, brodricj said: Esoteric N-01XD digital front end supporting Spotify Connect will set you back $30,000 RRP. I did try Qobuz on N-01 and I prefer Spotify. Which is why I cancelled my Qobuz subscription. I even posted links elsewhere to a Qobuz version of a song and the Spotify version of the same song where Spotify sounded better. Others might have followed those links to compare for themselves, but nobody posted their own findings. Can you re-post I'd be interested in hearing that comparison. Qobuz has always sounded superior to me - chalk and cheese. Someone above mentioned that Qobuz etc are album centric And Spotify playlist centric. This is true to an extent and certainly why, apart from the SQ advantage, I hugely prefer the Roon/Qobuz experience to Spotify. Fine dining vs fast food IMO.
Niktech Posted January 24, 2022 Posted January 24, 2022 6 hours ago, Tobes said:I hugely prefer the Roon/Qobuz experience to Spotify. Fine dining vs fast food IMO. I guess you could put it that way. But, Spotify is great to discover new artists for you to then buy the titles in hi res elsewhere for local playback. Quobuz is not only album centric, it is mostly focussed on classical music- there’s the fine dining, i suppose. I prefer to be full after a meal 1
wasabijim Posted January 24, 2022 Posted January 24, 2022 i wouldn't call Spotify fast food, certainly not a premium subscription, when there are options around with both lower SQ and lower user experience. I'm sure there's not too many folk anymore listening to their dusty pirated collection of mp3s via crumby $4 ear buds and a phone, the budget/no cost option seems to be YT these days then there's commercial radio stations and their ad sprinkled candy fix. you could easy say the same that vinyl compares to a fine dining set menu. sure Spotify not tier 1, it's not trying to be, but as a tier 2 option it is good enough in most instances and like me I'm sure there are others enjoying Spotify but also switch over to vinyl, digital disks, hi-res files, etc. to compliment their gastropub fair with a special treat. 3 1
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