Qobuz or Tidal ?

[kemmler3D]

According to Linn, Tidal Hi-Res streams are very ”computationally intensive”. When I switched from Qobuz to Tidal, I noticed that my Linn Akurate DSM didn’t receive anything from Tidal above 16-bit/44.1kHz, even though some music was supposed to be of higher resolution than that. This was never the case with Qobuz with the same streamer, so I guess their streaming is less ”computationally intensive” than Tidal’s.
This is really not a big thing for me, as I struggle hearing any difference above 16-bit/44.1kHz anyways.

Maybe this is related to the issues you experience?

”Tidal Hi-Res streams are very computationally intensive. Our earlier products will struggle decoding and playing back these Hi-Res files. Until Tidal can address this intense stream issue, from Davaar105, these earlier products will have limited sample rate of Hi-Res streams (CD quality and higher). https://docs.linn.co.uk/wiki/index....LAC.2C_Master_Quality_Authenticated_.28MQA.29

It may be computationally intensive (compared to 44/16) but I have this problem on late-model phones and new 8-core CPUs so it's not the CPU. It's not really "dropouts" either, the stream will just fail and I have to skip to another track entirely.

 

[sheeple]

Indeed! - what's your preference?

Deezer.

Its 5 slot family plan includes lossless FLAC CD quality and only costs 17 euro a month. I use it on my two raspberry streamers for a synchronized multi room setup without any issues.

 

[WillBrink]

I started with Amazon high res and was happy with it overall, but new streamer didn't support it so I went to Tidal. Stability with Tidal was problematic for me and I didn't find them very helpful in fixing it. So, ended up with Qobuz and it's been great.

 

[RaymondFromThePyrénéés]

A question somewhat related.
Can one store FLAC files without any loss on simple USB keys ?

 

[Redacted]

Deezer.

Its 5 slot family plan includes lossless FLAC CD quality and only costs 17 euro a month. I use it on my two raspberry streamers for a synchronized multi room setup without any issues.

Yep, I was going to go for Pi/DAC/Nord until the "in-house cosmetic police" intervened a few years back. Don't need a streaming provider though, just the DLNA bit.
I may well sneak that kit into my home office, if I can evade scrutiny.

 

[sheeple]

Amazing, almost to cheap to help our musician artists !
Qobuz was 20€ five years ago, today it is 12.49€.
That is the price for one CD !

There is a simple explanation: music industry did not want our piracy. So instead, they did it themselves, wrote down a system of legal contracts to create the biggest scam in history and expropriated musicians in bright daylight and plain sight.

I still think it is less ethical to "buy" this commodity than downloading all of it for free and save the money to go to a concert instead. This is a typical example for a case where that which is legal is not just. Streaming only legitimizes theft aesthetically through its pseudo-contractual appeal.

 

[sheeple]

A question somewhat related.
Can one store FLAC files without any loss on simple USB keys ?

Certainly. Flac is a lossless, compressed codec that contains in a file the complete information of a given track. You can safe it on a local drive, sure. And there is many programs available to build your local library ...

 

[voodooless]

A question somewhat related.
Can one store FLAC files without any loss on simple USB keys ?

Of course. They are just files… you can store any file on a USB stick as long as it fits on it

 

[SSS]

Neither. I use amazon music.

 

[Redacted]

I'd never buy anything and probably starve, if I spent too much time worrying about 'oos exploiting 'oo.

 

[Redacted]

Of course. They are just files… you can store any file on a USB stick as long as it fits on it

To @RaymondFromThePyrénéés - Indeed. And they save space compared with WAVs, 40-50%, and there is a theoretical benefit of reducing average bandwidth usage, if the data is traversing a network (but then all home networks have way more bandwidth than you need.
Unless some new open (free) standard emerges for lossless compressions and using metadata, I can't why anyone would not use FLACs.

 

[sheeple]

Yep, I was going to go for Pi/DAC/Nord until the "in-house cosmetic police" intervened a few years back. Don't need a streaming provider though, just the DLNA bit.
I may well sneak that kit into my home office, if I can evade scrutiny.

Just a very unobtrusive little steel box:

 

[Redacted]

Just a very unobtrusive little steel box:

View attachment 532434 View attachment 532435

Plus amp, plus dreaded wires - don't sell it to me, sell the idea/look to my wife....

This however, is 12" square, but triggered no style arguments...

 

[RaymondFromThePyrénéés]

Just a very unobtrusive little steel box:

View attachment 532434 View attachment 532435

Don't need a streaming provider though, just the DLNA bit.

Help, I do not follow

 

[Redacted]

Don't need a streaming provider though, just the DLNA bit.

Help, I do not follow

We've done this already!
All streaming boxes have a kind of software client in them (DLNA) that can access music files, over your home network, from any PC or NAS that runs a DLNA-server. It's fairly similar to having an app in the streamer or a phone/PC etc that can access music files over the internet from a streaming provider's server, pull them in play them locally. The difference being, for DLNA (which also does video files not just music) you have to have your own CD (or downloaded FLACs, which you buy) which you rip to FLACs file and tag with the metadata, and store somewhere on your LAN.

You may recall that we have also talked about playing files directly over your home network, on a media player that can access network files from another device, but adding DLNA does a lot of handy work to build a database on your server, that lets you rapidly access groups of files to paly, like "all rock genre" or say "all Nana Mouskouri albums" without the need for you search through folders for what you want - in short DLNA is useful for large collections.

 

[SKBubba]

Here is what Google says about the rates paid to the artists:

Top Streaming Payout Rates (Approximate):

• Peloton: ~$0.03 per stream.
• Qobuz: ~$0.0136 per stream.
• Tidal: ~$0.0125 per stream.
• Apple Music: ~$0.0061–$0.008 per stream.
• Amazon Music: ~$0.0096 per stream.
• Spotify: ~$0.002–$0.004 per stream

Would an artist rather have $0.01 × 100,000 streams or $0.002 x 1,000,000 streams?

Regardless, that's not how they're calculated, that's just what it sorta kinda works out to.

 

[RaymondFromThePyrénéés]

We've done this already!

Sorry, we ? I suppose you mean that this information is available here in audiosciencereview ?

Not easy to catch up on digital terminology, like learning a new language. So thankful for all the help here.

 

[Redacted]

We've done this already!

Sorry, we ? I suppose you mean that this information is available here in audiosciencereview ?

Not easy to catch up on digital terminology, like learning a new language. So thankful for all the help here.

I thought you were party to several threads where this was mentioned recently, but maybe not!
Are you clear?

 

[RaymondFromThePyrénéés]

No, but no worry.

Clear is a big word, I am learning bit by bit.

 

[Redacted]

I told you - keep it simple. Build on that a bit at a time. There is no need to know how to build a nuclear power plant just to plug a streamer/amp into a wall socket. You can build one on day 2.