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Lossless Listening Arrives on Spotify Premium

Multiway said:
Been lurking here a while..

Time to contribute.

Performed a quick blind test..

In the red corner; Sonore Ultrarendu into Gustard U18 reclocker into 4 in 8 out Najda DSP. Using Qobuz.
Ultrarendu does not have Spotify Lossless Connect implemented yet.

In the blue corner; Wiim Pro Plus into Najda.
Using Spotify Lossless Connect.

Both using Lan connection.

This came about as brother in-law is over from Sweden for the week - he’s interested in music and hifi, plays a mean death metal guitar and much Metallica on acoustic.

We set up the Wiim Pro Plus.
Played it in using Optical SPdif, so I could seamlessly switch between Ultrarendu on Coax in and Wiim on the fly.

Cued up the same playlist on both and had a back to back listen..

It surprised us. Was much closer than expected!

I had previously dismissed the Wiim Pro Plus and even the Ultra reclocked by Gustard U18. (Was using Qobuz at the time).

We then cooked up a blind test between the two streamers/services.

6 tracks, 3 normal res and 3 hi res in Qobuz, all lossless in Spotify..
Qobuz was played using DLNA.
Spotify using Connect.

Made sure the listener had no idea which streamer was playing.
Could be switched at the whim of the listener.
Preference recorded.

The results were interesting.

Brother in-law chose 4 of 6 in favour of Wiim / Spotify Lossless.
All 3 hi res lost - he chose lossless/Wiim!

Tested a fresh set of 6 songs on me..

I chose 5 of 6 in favour of Spotify lossless/Wiim!

Absolutely gobsmacked.
What the!..

Can it be Spotify and Wiim have cooked up the perfect match that suit my system / ears.
Is it that it sounds new and fresh to me?
I’m so used to the Ultrarendu/Quobuz sound.

Listened to Spotify Lossless / Wiim rest of the evening. Genuinely impressed!

Will Ultrarendu (when Spotify lossless implementation arrives) sound even better? I don't know.
Will blind test again

We then did a blind test (same as above with new tracks) 320 orb Spotify v Lossless Spotify on the Wiim Pro +.
We both could tell which was which everytime.

Next up is blind test comparing Qobuz Vs Spotify lossless on the Wiim.
Click to expand...
This was a single blind test, the person not being tested was in the room doing the switching?
 
Soniclife said:
This was a single blind test, the person not being tested was in the room doing the switching?
Click to expand...
God's yes. Trying to do a double blind test and record it!...
The tester didn't say a word and the tested didn't look at the tester.
Equipment was covered over.
 
PristineSound said:
Confused. So this is a test between electronics and streaming format?

Try using the same exact electronics for different streaming formats.
Click to expand...
It was to see if my much revered Sonore Ultrarendu and supposedly superior Qobuz would trounce Spotify Lossless / Wiim Pro Plus.
It did not!

We did try Spotify Very High 320 orb Vs Lossless on Wiim, as I wrote. Lossless clearly won that.

As written we have Qobuz Vs Lossless on Wiim Pro to go..
 
Forgot to say.
Also we just tested Wiim Pro Plus on WiFi Vs LAN.
We did blind on this too.
Prefer Lan everytime.
WiFi is 70Mbit/s down, 18Mbit/s up and ping 8ms according to speed test.
Router 2m from Wiim.

Why we can hear a difference is anybody's guess? Perhaps Wiim know?

Just sounds rather flat and boring.
It def still says lossless in both Spotify and Wiim app for WiFi and Lan.
 
Multiway said:
It was to see if my much revered Sonore Ultrarendu and supposedly superior Qobuz would trounce Spotify Lossless / Wiim Pro Plus.
It did not!

We did try Spotify Very High 320 orb Vs Lossless on Wiim, as I wrote. Lossless clearly won that.

As written we have Qobuz Vs Lossless on Wiim Pro to go..
Click to expand...
You should test one thing at a time and make sure it's level matched.

Not the best test, look around here to learn proper controlled testing. Key is level matching and blind, double blind is even better.
 
Multiway said:
Been lurking here a while..

Time to contribute.

Performed a quick blind test..

In the red corner; Sonore Ultrarendu into Gustard U18 reclocker into 4 in 8 out Najda DSP. Using Qobuz.
Ultrarendu does not have Spotify Lossless Connect implemented yet.

In the blue corner; Wiim Pro Plus into Najda.
Using Spotify Lossless Connect.

Both using Lan connection.

This came about as brother in-law is over from Sweden for the week - he’s interested in music and hifi, plays a mean death metal guitar and much Metallica on acoustic.

We set up the Wiim Pro Plus.
Played it in using Optical SPdif, so I could seamlessly switch between Ultrarendu on Coax in and Wiim on the fly.

Cued up the same playlist on both and had a back to back listen..

It surprised us. Was much closer than expected!

I had previously dismissed the Wiim Pro Plus and even the Ultra reclocked by Gustard U18. (Was using Qobuz at the time).

We then cooked up a blind test between the two streamers/services.

6 tracks, 3 normal res and 3 hi res in Qobuz, all lossless in Spotify..
Qobuz was played using DLNA.
Spotify using Connect.

Made sure the listener had no idea which streamer was playing.
Could be switched at the whim of the listener.
Preference recorded.

The results were interesting.

Brother in-law chose 4 of 6 in favour of Wiim / Spotify Lossless.
All 3 hi res lost - he chose lossless/Wiim!

Tested a fresh set of 6 songs on me..

I chose 5 of 6 in favour of Spotify lossless/Wiim!

Absolutely gobsmacked.
What the!..

Can it be Spotify and Wiim have cooked up the perfect match that suit my system / ears.
Is it that it sounds new and fresh to me?
I’m so used to the Ultrarendu/Quobuz sound.

Listened to Spotify Lossless / Wiim rest of the evening. Genuinely impressed!

Will Ultrarendu (when Spotify lossless implementation arrives) sound even better? I don't know.
Will blind test again

We then did a blind test (same as above with new tracks) 320 orb Spotify v Lossless Spotify on the Wiim Pro +.
We both could tell which was which everytime.

Next up is blind test comparing Qobuz Vs Spotify lossless on the Wiim.
Click to expand...
Feels like there's too much that can go wrong here. Also only six tests ain't enough to make any kind of conclusion.
 
Tell said:
Feels like there's too much that can go wrong here. Also only six tests ain't enough to make any kind of conclusion.
Click to expand...
You are entitled to your opinion.
This isn't my job.

I stand by it.
It's much better than just plugging something in and saying "cost more, better".
 
Moti said:
Do we know what is the format record companies provide new music (published 2025 first time) to streaming services? Is there a standard or a lot of variation?
Click to expand...
There is no standard. I see resolutions in 16-bit/44.1, or 24-bit in 44, 48, 88, 96, 176, 192. Qobuz will make available whatever the record label provided, which is sometimes in both CD quality and hi-res. It may not be explicitly visible in the Qobuz player app, but Roon will list different versions that it knows of. Here's a new release just this past week from Qobuz, as displayed on Roon.

Screenshot 2025-10-02 at 10.20.21 AM.png
 
Multiway said:
Again life's too short.
Click to expand...
Multiway said:
You are entitled to your opinion.
This isn't my job.

I stand by it.
It's much better than just plugging something in and saying "cost more, better".
Click to expand...
Then I don't understand, what is the value/intent of your post?

No one knows how controlled your "test" or "experiment" was, was it even level matched? The number of trials are scientifically insignificant to carry weight. The method seems random with no scientific basis. This all amounts to just an opinion but it is reported as some sort of semi/quasi scientific experiment. What are other members suppose to make of this information? Maybe you were just sharing to shoot the breeze? If so, that's cool.
 
Welp, I got the lossless update... but when I try to run at that quality level and Spotify Connect to my Denon 4400h, it tells me my device isn't supported. :( Anyone with a Denon receiver have success?
 
Finally also got the update on my smartphone, too. Bay Area, California. Don't expect me to engage in ABX blind testing, though... :-D
Screenshot_20251002_123338_Spotify.jpg
 
sigbergaudio said:
A reasonable explanation would be that higher resolution means higher bandwidth.
Click to expand...

This is the reason. Higher sample rates mean bigger files. There might also be some constraints due to how songs have been stored on their data centers up until now. Who knows if they even keep higher resolution versions of their songs?
 
tccalvin said:
This is the reason. Higher sample rates mean bigger files. There might also be some constraints due to how songs have been stored on their data centers up until now. Who knows if they even keep higher resolution versions of their songs?
Click to expand...
Also it's just a pure waste of time, energy and everything to even care about so called "hires", especially when 16/44.1 should already be considered hires since it's all we ever going to need.
 
Tell said:
Also it's just a pure waste of time, energy and everything to even care about so called "hires", especially when 16/44.1 should already be considered hires since it's all we ever going to need.
Click to expand...
On my mobile there's no way I can tell (or care to tell) 320k OggVorbis and 24/44 apart, for what's it's worth.
 
pablolie said:
On my mobile there's no way I can tell (or care to tell) 320k OggVorbis and 24/44 apart, for what's it's worth.
Click to expand...
If there's any time I could tell them apart it is on my phone, seeing that's where I have my USB dongle and IEMs. Though of course I cannot tell any difference so I'm still very happy with 320kbps OGG Vorbis.
I'm trying out Qobuz at the moment though and have access to a vareity of different formats, buut I'm still using 320kbps MP3.
 
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