Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

[jandl100]

Re:Tidal.
Hmm, I think I will need to upgrade my Broadband contract - currently limited to 10Gb a month, I think.
Will look into that.

What sort of data traffic do you generate with it, Justin? (or anyone!)

[jandl100]

Hmmm a friend has suggested that Qobuz is better for classical music streaming .... any thoughts?

[User211]

I used Qobuz for some months. Compared to TIDAL for me no contest. Try both Jerry I can't advise on classical.

FLAC only manages 50-60% compression of a CD so about 350MB or 0.35GB per long album - you need unlimited broadband.

Spotify is amazing for content but not SQ.

Qobuz s/w is dire IMHO.

[jandl100]

Yep, unlimited, I'd come to the same conclusion.

At 3 albums per Gb I need to sort out my data limits before I start playing or it will cost me a lot in out of bundle charges!

Just now looking at Qobuz - maybe it's cos I'm a newb, but it doesn't look an easy way to browse and find stuff. Tbh, the whole layout looks bloody irritating! Way too glitzy - yuk. It's like the worst of TV advertising - just plain inyerface and loud.

I don't think I can get at Tidal without becoming a member?

[User211]

When you sign up for a trial you give them credit card details so I guess you become a member but you just cancel if you don't like.

[jandl100]

Yep yep - comprendo.

But I need to get my unlimited broadband sorted first.

I won't be able to resist playing with the stuff!

[User211]

Welcome to 2015 LOL.

[jandl100]

Well, at the very least I'll give it a go.

Right - BT broadband increased to unlimited as from tomorrow. Whoop-di-do.

[jandl100]

So ... congratulations, Justin ... you finally managed to nag me into streaming music. It's taken a while, mind.

I'm confused, though .... what's the point of all these streamer boxes that people buy - Sonos / Lampi / whatever. What extra do they give you over using a laptop into your DAC of choice?

[User211]

There's all sorts of things they do Jerry. But a laptop and a USB cable is an easy starter I have stayed with, though I had a Squeezebox for a while many moons ago.

Sonos has a really nice R/C handset that integrates well with Spotify - my sister has that set up multi-room with ceiling speakers.

You'll just have to look them all up but TBH I find most solutions compromised compared to a laptop and Wi-Fi network.

You'll be ripping all your CDs via JRiver next. Try downloading that today in the absence of unlimited and rip a CD or two in lossless FLAC. Then compare the SQ to TIDAL and Qobuz for the same CD.

Beware though JRiver uses different maths to TIDAL and Qobuz and you can mess with JRiver's processing but you have to understand what it is doing to get the most out of it. If you are clever, you can use it to decide what is bullshit in digital audio and what isn't.