Considering one is supposed to listen to music, while using Spotify, and not trouble samples, I'd say that yes, Spotify Premium is perceptively transparent. All listening tests conducted on Hydrogenaudio had modern codecs reaching transparency well before 320 or 256kbps.
http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Transparency
http://soundexpert.org/encoders-320-kbps
I have tons of CDs that I've ripped throughout the years and I ripped them in FLAC. That's for archival reasons and transcoding purposes but I've been unable to ABX Vorbis at far lower bitrates than 320kbps, with DT 880. What I'm pretty sure of is that at those bitrates there's no immediately recognizable tonal difference in compressed music. So when I read "audio magazines" blabbering about "congested sound", etc. I laugh and turn the page.
http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Transparency
http://soundexpert.org/encoders-320-kbps
I have tons of CDs that I've ripped throughout the years and I ripped them in FLAC. That's for archival reasons and transcoding purposes but I've been unable to ABX Vorbis at far lower bitrates than 320kbps, with DT 880. What I'm pretty sure of is that at those bitrates there's no immediately recognizable tonal difference in compressed music. So when I read "audio magazines" blabbering about "congested sound", etc. I laugh and turn the page.
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