Spotify claiming to have HD music

[Lawrence001]

I've signed up for a free trial and got this e-mail where they claim to supply HD music. I know they claim "high quality" which could mean anything, but surely HD has a certain meaning which they can't use?
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[struth]

think what they mean is your recommendations become more accurate. its still 320kbs, but very good imo. not at tidal level but close

[AJSki2fly]

I've signed up for a free trial and got this e-mail where they claim to supply HD music. I know they claim "high quality" which could mean anything, but surely HD has a certain meaning which they can't use?
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From my understanding they use either AAC 128kbit/s, and 256kbit/s for Premium on their webplayer or Ogg Vorbis 160kbit/s on Desktop app. All of which are Lossy however you look at it, so IMHO they definitely are not HD sound, they would need to be streaming at least at CD level quality for that.

[Macca]

It gets me that even if you pay the monthly fee you still don't get 16/44.1 - you've got to assume the vast bulk of the subscribers don't care as long as it sounds 'crisp'.

[Macca]

At Xmas my brother told me he had tried comparing an AC/DC album on Amazon Music to the same on CD - he described the Amazon version as sounding 'like they are playing underwater,'

[struth]

It gets me that even if you pay the monthly fee you still don't get 16/44.1 - you've got to assume the vast bulk of the subscribers don't care as long as it sounds 'crisp'.

its a good algorithm and 80% will be listening on cheap earbuds from phone at lower level. its what they are used to and many wont really hear difference on equipment they are using; or care

[Macca]

its a good algorithm and 80% will be listening on cheap earbuds from phone at lower level. its what they are used to and many wont really hear difference on equipment they are using; or care

yeah 320 is not too bad and I suppose it will be tough to tell the difference on most rock/pop. But if I was paying monthly I'd want full fat. And Amazon is only 128kbps, worse than cassette tape!

[struth]

i used to be a spotty tester. you had to try all the new stuff and see if you could try and find errors etc. they can put out higher rates on chrome, where they use a higher bandwidth, and no volume levelling but it wan not deemed viable to do it across the board

[struth]

yeah 320 is not too bad and I suppose it will be tough to tell the difference on most rock/pop. But if I was paying monthly I'd want full fat. And Amazon is only 128kbps, worse than cassette tape!

they do 256 too(variable); you have to select it tho. still not a patch on spotty tho.

[Macca]

Just seems to me like the Concord story. We go to supersonic passenger flight, we have it for 30 years, then everyone goes back to subsonic. From CD down to Spotify. A step backwards.

[struth]

Just seems to me like the Concord story. We go to supersonic passenger flight, we have it for 30 years, then everyone goes back to subsonic. From CD down to Spotify. A step backwards.

again, it depends on the user, and why. most hifi-ers use it to hear new stuff etc before buying. the likes of tidal does that but tbh stops the need to buy as you have it there when you want it at minimum cd level.
its not for everyone, just like all other things. I still buy stuff but not that much now; has to be because I like it a lot and want to support artist

[Beobloke]

I like Spotify, I must admit, but I use it for checking out new music, party playlists and accessing my favourite tracks when I’m away from home.

I treat it as a handy gadget that doesn’t sound half bad, rather than a serious high fidelity source.

[willbewill]

I like Spotify, I must admit, but I use it for checking out new music, party playlists and accessing my favourite tracks when I’m away from home.

I treat it as a handy gadget that doesn’t sound half bad, rather than a serious high fidelity source.+1 also useful in car and for sharing music, but when I'm travelling I also take a DAP loaded with a couple of hundred albums in flac and hiRes formats as it also gives me a better DAC and amp to drive better IEMs

[dave2010]

I gave up on Spotify some while back, as I was sure that it was messing with my MBP (MacBook Pro). I can still use the free version if I really feel the need. I still have Napster, which I hardly use, and Qobuz, which I use sparingly. For those who care Qobuz has HD streams, though as I use it mainly for sampling CDs before buying, I have the basic subscription. Some people say that Qobuz is substantially better than Tidal, though it may not have your choice of music.

Qobuz - https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/discover

[antonio]

My brother has a few mp3 downloads and these can sometimes sound better than poorly recorded WAV's.