Which streaming service do you guys use,
I use Deezer, Amazon, my daughter uses spotifi, Does anyone use Tidal.
Which one in your opinion is the best to use including value for money. bit rates, sound etc.
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Which streaming service do you guys use,
I use Deezer, Amazon, my daughter uses spotifi, Does anyone use Tidal.
Which one in your opinion is the best to use including value for money. bit rates, sound etc.
I use TIDAL, Spotify is poor quality but fine if you are just listening on the go on mobile device, Amazon What HiFi review "Amazon has been coy about revealing its streaming bitrate, claiming to support 'multiple bitrates’, but we’d bet our reference hi-fi system that it’s not dissimilar from Spotify’s 320kbps streams. At best.".
Deezer has a variety of streaming SQ plans and can go top to FLAC on:-
TechRadar review for Deezer:-
"Final verdict
Every streaming service has its strengths and weaknesses. Where Tidal seems to offer the best curated content, Spotify puts friends' music front and center. Apple Music has the best mainstream music anywhere on the planet, while Google Play Music integrates perfectly with Android devices. Deezer's secret sauce is its massive, global music library and cornucopia of HD tracks.
Admittedly, its apps have a ways to go to catch up to the rest of the pack, and its curated lists are severely hurting in terms of more frequent additions. But, ultimately, it's a fine music streaming service for the globetrotting audiophile or Sonos-equipped music snob."
Personally I use TIDAL via Volumio to my Raspberry Pi/DAC to HiFi system. If I want Hi Res then I run Audirvana on my MacBook Pro and access TIDAL through that, if I am just easy listening to general playlists then I will use the TIDAL app on iPhone to iPad to Volumio or on headphones.
I have not tried Deezer so can't comment on it SQ compared to what I use.
ive tried them all bar itunes:eyebrows:
Amazon; variable bit rates, and not great overall but price is decent if you use amazon prime etc.
Spotty; is excellent for a non flac and with an eq fitted sounds very good.
Deezer; Lower bit version is hot, and tiresome. their flac is very good tho. good catalogue too.
Tidal; Was the daddy, and probably still is value for money wise, if you can utilise the masters.
Qoboz; been trialing this for a while. its very good; the hi rez is a bit pricey tho, and not tried it. Catalogue isny as good but i do like it even if the windows app refuses to work properly if at all.
overall, if spotty dit hirez they would be numero uno but dont so crown overall stays currently with tidal, although i do like qoboz so, we shall see...
Best for SQ are Tidal & Qobuz.
Spotify has the largest library of all.
Qobuz has the best library if you are primarily interested in classical music.
Spotify, Apple & Amazon are all great for more casual listening, ie on a mobile device or on a Sonos speaker for instance.
Tidal at first glance seems to highlight the type of music manufactured by the celebrity owners, but in reality there is a massive catalogue for most tastes.
Most will give a months free trial to help you work out which is best for you.
I settled on Tidal with the top tier Hifi stream, £20 a month. Sounds a lot at first, but it stops me from wasting at least that much on cd’s or lps that I previously would have bought on a whim. Tidal neatly integrates into Audirvana which I also use.
I use Qobuz Studio with Roon direct to Roon ready Devialet 440 Pro. Roon Eliminates the use of the Qobuz front ends.
I did not like Tidal as the classical catalog is not as good as Qobuz.
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I also use Qobuz Studio (lossless CD quality + Hi-Res 24/96 + 24/192 where available)....
.....£25 a month seems reasonable for this level of quality.
Tried Tidal but did not work well with the Orange Squeeze android app I use to control my Raspberry Pi / Wolfson Audio card combo. I stream my Pi running SqueezeLite linked to Logitech Media Server as a cheap Squeezebox clone (outputting via coax on the Wolfson card to my DAC).
Qobuz works well in my setup and is particularly good in providing the jazz and classical side of stuff (as well as French classics like Serge Gainsbourg of course).
.....Some say the sound quality of Qobuz lossless is better than Tidal.
I am sorry and this is not dissing anyone who uses these services but i do not see the point. I have 55,000 tracks all in Flac mainly from CD rips on my hard drive . I will never have enough time to listen to them all but they are all music that I bought and own. Whenever i try a streaming service I input twentlt racks that i like and listen to quite a bit , so far three is the maximum number that any of the streamign services has so sadly it is just not for me.
I also prefer to use my own catalogue which is cloud based so I have access from anywhere I have internet access. I also use many of the excellent web based radio stations for background music.
However I find the free Spotify excellent for finding and trying new music and artists.
I am not a fan of subscription music services but I think that's more the era i come from but I see many people like them and it does give access to a fantastic variety of music we would otherwise may never be aware of let alone hear.
Mel
That's exactly what I do, which is why I'm reluctant to go to Roon and Qobuz even though I have a voucher to get Roon cheaper.
I tend to listen to radio stations then use Spotify to find the album then add it to a Spotify playlist for a full listen.
If I really like it I then try and buy the CD or the LP.
I do however have a Family Sub for Spotify so my kids and grandkids can use it too.
Well my end to end trial between qobuz and tidal produced a winner, but a loser... qobuz is i feel slightly better than tidal audibly, but as their win 10 app wont do anything bar freeze, I cant use it. It can be used in other ways but not sure i should compromise when being asked for £20 a month.
shame but nothing has changed. ive told them again but sure i will get the usual, just download the app here shite from them...they appear to have no interest.
i might add i tried it with no security on and still same so not the pc which can run pretty much anything with plenty memory and fast processor.
I have Spotify Family, mainly because my two daughters and both grandkids use it too.
I also have Tidal HiFi for my main system in the living room. Tried it vs Qobuz and Tidal won out due to Qobuz having far too few of the artists and albums that I like.
TIDAL on lossless. Also Spotify Premium as it has a deeper catalogue. £30 a month, way better than what I used to spend on CDs and records. :P
I love spotty but it didn't work with AV. program. I will still get qobuz for a month.
I did try the windows program on another pc but it was the same. That one is zbook
I have a basic Spotify account and Amazon Prime, plus I use internet radio pretty much all the time, as the reception here is not great. I only really use the streaming services to find new stuff that I like.
If it came down to usability Spotify wins hands down imo it just doesn't have that top end quality most of us want.
Therefore its Tidal hifi through Audirvana for me. AV kept getting recommended to me and it hasn't dissapointed.
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Same for me (although both are still missing quite a bit from their catalogues). Also covers all the options as I can recommend music to others through Spotify, listen on the road in better quality via Tidal and listen to both my music collection and native Tidal content via the headless Volumio interface on my phone.
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got a reply from Qobuz.... we are working on our app. why dont you just use audirvana; its good..... My reply will be why dont you refund me 10 quid a month till you fix it. that might get some urgency into you.:doh::rolleyes:
Radio Paradise Volumio plug in, good quality flac streaming for free.
Tidal is on currently with a 90 day trial, so I may well give it a go. (Currently Spotify premium family membership which I would keep anyway) but a few questions if someone can help?
1. Can you save tracks to your device with Tidal like you can Spotify (either to play when offline, or to save bandwidth when the kids are watching YouTube :rolleyes:
2. Assuming I can install it onto more than one computer, can you control which devices it plays on like with Spotify - i.e. I have it playing on one computer or device can I make on the fly changes to tracks playing and volume from another laptop?
3. Can I play my own FLAC library through it? (One really annoying limitation of Spotify...)
I can't think of anything else at the moment, and probably best for me to just have a play, but I would very much appreciate any advice on the above questions - thanks in advance. :cool:
I took the plunge and downloaded Tidal on Saturday, so am now evaluating it. In summary, the sound quality is fantastic compared to Spotify, and so far I haven't found any of my favourite albums that are on Spotify that are missing. I am loving the "Masters" too, get quite excited when I find one of my favourite albums is a master!
However, in the usability stakes, Spotify is so much better. I've updated the questions I posed below, but the big deal for me is the lack of the Spotify Connect type function, where I can just open the app on a phone or tablet and control the music. I'm using Windows RDP from laptop to hi-fi rig, which sort of works, but isn't ideal. I'll be keeping Spotify anyway, so I see that it will end up being my mobile app, and for background music, Tidal will become my hi-fi source. Will also investigate some of the other players like Volumio and Audirvana as they look like they may offer a better option in combining my FLAC library with Tidal in the same interface.
I use Tidal through Roon, give that a go and see what you think. You can play your ripped files through it.
Like Ali, I am currently running Tidal with another serving application - in my case it's piCoreplayer running LMS.
Access to my FLAC library is simple, and access to Tidal straightforward enough. Same with Spotify.
The only issue (if it's an issue) is the need to access the Tidal web player to add or remove things from my virtual library.
LMS is freeware, and it's very stable, coz it's mature.
They've been at it longer than most.
Definitely better than Tidal.
Agreed.
Recently cancelled Tidal after doing comparisons and Qobuz won out every time, to my ears, at every bitrate even 16/44.
Qobuz 24/192 version of Allman Brothers at the Filmore is terrific, best live record experience I've heard.
Cheers lads. Roon does look like it might do what I would need but is a lot of dosh! I'll give LMS a go first, I think. And best try Qobuz then by the look of it. :thumbsup: Thanks again. :)
Cheaper version of roon is audirvana. Some say it sounds better too, although i dont know.
I liked qoboz but their windows app never works so i ditched them.
Tbh i dont think sound wise there is much between them when i ran them side by side in audirvana.
Haven’t tried Qobuz yet, must give them a go.
I liked Qobuz when I trialled it - it also works well with LMS.
I'm only using Tidal at the moment because of the free 3 month trial.
I’m a Roon fanboy nowadays, and it’s the Tidal/ Qobuz integration that got me hooked on it.
Make playlists, fav albums etc no different to your own locally stored music files.
Controlled from a tablet from your favourite listening chair, it’s a wee bit fab.
I knew coming back here was going to cost me money! :lol:
There is a minor downside to using LMS - the Tidal and Qobuz apps do not have active integration with the content providers.
The fix is you need to log in via the web interface on your computer and add or remove stuff - artists, albums playlists, whatever.
Once added you can access the new content via LMS using the relevant app.
I'm old school and play albums, so I'm still trying to work out wtf a playlist is for :lol:
Latest rumour is that Amazon may launch a high rez (probably 24/96) service this year sometime. If they manage to offer this at a reasonable cost this could be a knock out blow for players such as Tidal etc.
I found the reverse when I did that test a couple of years ago now. Maybe more... maybe something has changed.
The TIDAL mobile app is excellent. The Windows app much less so.
But the more recent tailored to your tastes TIDAL playlists are surprisingly really friggin' good I have found. Or when an album ends it carries on playing similar stuff and that's great too.
If you want the best from Queerbuz it looks expensive.
Gosh, the Amazon service sounds interesting.
Think I'll just take it steady and try a few of the trial players. To be fair, Spotify Premium is just so convenient and user friendly I will be keeping it for mobile use and kitchen system to bluetooth speakers (not to mention the kids phones) so Tidal interface on a PC is probably fine for my two main rigs. Just wish it could be controlled remotely by the app like you can with Spotify. Grant is right - Spotify with hi-res would probably kill everything. I wonder why they don't want to do it?
Just compared Tidal Masters to Qobuz Hi Rez via Volumino and Qobuz won every time with a sweeter more detailed sound.
Not cheap mind!
Remember back in the day, you would pick songs off your albums and record them onto a cassette! And make yourself a compilation tape, so you could have a few hours of favorite songs to enjoy, while having a party, or making out with your girl. That’s what a play list is! Same thing, start the play list, and only hear your favorites.
Russell
Grant are you using Windows 10 and the 64 bit Audirvana?
All of it doesn't work - crashes a lot, stops during playback etc etc. Couldn't even listen to two complete tracks.
It tries to buffer the entire track before playback and it even had difficulty doing that.
Total POS.
BTW I only tried it using TIDAL streams.
Yup win 10. 64bit on 2 machines.
Ive ran qobuz before and it was fine in av. Tidal is also perfect, and never had an issue bar a few glitches which were fixed quickly.
It should offer updates as long as you start it from the start menu.
Only thing you might get if pc is struggling with memory is if u try dsd upscaling etc.
My fasted machine manages ok but my other one struggles and crashes if i try dsd as its memory isnt high enough.
I dont get it yet. Im not even sure my music listening habits are suited to streaming.
If Im pottering arround I put the radio on whether thats classical music or radio 6. Im technically paying for that so I may as well use it. Its background music which may spark my real attention or not
I have thousands of tracks on I tunes so can build a playlist from there. ( most in CD quality rips) Ive got around 500 cds many of which I havent even listened to yet
I can buy bin bags full of cds for a tenner.
I also need to spend lots of time playing computer games.
Now just where does music streaming fit into all of that?? Ive seen Hotels and shops use spotify to build a mood playlist. Da Kids seem to like it but I feel their experiences are shallow just like facebook
So please sell it to me. How the hell does it enhance my musical experiences?
Well for me, it's mainly about the convenience - I often work from home in the dining room, (used to have an office but that became the kids play room...) and I have one setup in there - an old laptop feeding into a cheap DAC - main system in the living room is similar - and then where ultimate sound quality isn't as important (in the kitchen, upstairs and outside systems) I use an old iPod touch and a couple of old mobile phones - with Spotify, I can control any of those from my iPad, another laptop or phone. (Granted, can't alter the volume on the iPod/mobiles). If I'm working, cooking, gardening or whatever, I don't want to be changing CDs or LPs. I also use it through my car's bluetooth on my main mobile.
But the main thing streaming has done is introduce me to new music and save me money - I now rarely buy a CD or LP - if I do, it's because I have checked it out on Spotify and really liked it. Before, I would buy 10 or 20 CDs a month, many of which have had one play and then sat in the cupboard. I also think in my main setups streaming sounds better than CDs.
The only downside is I sometimes miss the physical experience of an LP and even CD.
But of course, everyone's different.