Spotify and Qobuz difference

[IndieSynth]

Thanks for the responses. I can see that if I'm aiming to 'prove' anything I would need to do what staticV3 describes. However all I really need to know is which service I should pay for, so I guess I can at least say that subjectively to me Amazon sounded better in a blind test.

I just checked and both apps have loudness normalization set to on. I'll try the blind test again tonight with both apps set to normalization off to see if it changes the result.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Try to pass these tests. I didn't.

Is your audio system really ready for lossless?

Do an ABX test in your browser, and see if you can tell the difference between lossless and lossy audio

abx.digitalfeed.net

Reddit Apple_Tidal_Qubus_Spotify

How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?

A hi-def test for your ears (and your audio equipment): Listen to these songs and see if you can tell the difference between an MP3 and an uncompressed audio file.

www.npr.org

 

[Zensō]

Thanks for the responses. I can see that if I'm aiming to 'prove' anything I would need to do what staticV3 describes. However all I really need to know is which service I should pay for, so I guess I can at least say that subjectively to me Amazon sounded better in a blind test.

I just checked and both apps have loudness normalization set to on. I'll try the blind test again tonight with both apps set to normalization off to see if it changes the result.

If you’re sure the masters are the same, then as others have intimated, what you’re hearing is highly likely to be a difference in volume. It’s possible though, in the case of Spotify Premium vs Amazon, you’re hearing the difference between 320 Ogg Vorbis vs lossless. If so, you’re the extremely rare case. I’d suggest taking the tests Holdt posted above to find out what’s happening, because the real question here is your hearing acuity. If you can’t pass those tests then you can be assured the differences you’re hearing are due to flaws in your testing methods.

 

[jasontodd]

I had a similar experience comparing Spotify and Qobuz, and the audio quality on Qobuz was noticeably superior. I was using Spotify Premium and Qobuz's regular high-resolution option, and the difference was striking, even from a distance. I've decided to stick with Qobuz for the enhanced audio experience. If you're interested in more music streaming comparisons, consider checking out my blog for insights on Spotify vs. Deezer.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

I had a similar experience comparing Spotify and Qobuz, and the audio quality on Qobuz was noticeably superior. I was using Spotify Premium and Qobuz's regular high-resolution option, and the difference was striking, even from a distance. I've decided to stick with Qobuz for the enhanced audio experience. If you're interested in more music streaming comparisons, consider checking out my blog for insights on Spotify vs. Deezer.

So it was a blind test with volume adjusted with a digital multimeter?

 

[voodooless]

So it was a blind test with volume adjusted with a digital multimeter?

Nothing on the test methodology, it’s just stated as fact. Pure nonsense.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I'm probably going to be dropping Qobuz because it doesn't have an app for NVidia shield. Probably going with Tidal because it has an app for my phone, the Shield, and a desktop Windows app. I would otherwise keep Qobuz but when I want to listen to music late at night I play it over the Shield into the Smyth Realizer into headphones, so I want a lossless streaming app that can play on all platforms I use.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Nothing on the test methodology, it’s just stated as fact. Pure nonsense.

I know. I also happen to know Tidal (e.g.) has the volume louder "per increment" than Spotify. I bet that's entirely used as bait so people trying it for free will prefer it as louder typically is preferred.

Only way to make peace of mind is taking listening tests I linked to to reveal if you have golden ears or not.

 

[voodooless]

I had a similar experience comparing Spotify and Qobuz, and the audio quality on Qobuz was noticeably superior. I was using Spotify Premium and Qobuz's regular high-resolution option, and the difference was striking, even from a distance. I've decided to stick with Qobuz for the enhanced audio experience. If you're interested in more music streaming comparisons, consider checking out my blog for insights on Spotify vs. Deezer.

So, WTF is this:

 

[Deleted member 48726]

So, WTF is this:
View attachment 309120

Where is this grossly incorrect picture from?

 

[MrSoul4470]

So very high quality on Spotify is 30kbps? That means the max. quality you get is like on a phone when you make a call? What idiot made that comparison?

I have compared Spotify Connect (which is 320kbps) to ripped lossless files on my media server, listening to albums I am pretty sure only one version exists: To me there is zero difference on my Genelec Ones. Qobuz CAN'T sound "noticably superior" than what I get from CD.

 

[voodooless]

Where is this grossly incorrect picture from?

From @jasontodd's blog post.

And even if it were correct, it still doesn't tell the whole story. Deezer uses MP3, while Spotify uses AAC (browser) or Vorbis (apps), which are vastly superior with the same bitrate compared to MP3. Then the Hi-Fi bitrate is stated of the uncompressed stream, which is also misleading. A typical FLAC file has a bitrate of between 500 and 900Kbps. So it's just not a very useful chart and says little about the perceived sound quality. Especially for low-bandwidth mobile streaming, you'd be loads better off with Spotify vs Deezer. With those bitrates and different compression schemes, differences become much more obvious. Give me 96Kbps Vorbis or 128Kbps AAC vs 128Kbps MP3 all day long.

 

[IndieSynth]

Try to pass these tests. I didn't.

Is your audio system really ready for lossless?

Do an ABX test in your browser, and see if you can tell the difference between lossless and lossy audio

abx.digitalfeed.net

Reddit Apple_Tidal_Qubus_Spotify

How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?

A hi-def test for your ears (and your audio equipment): Listen to these songs and see if you can tell the difference between an MP3 and an uncompressed audio file.

www.npr.org

So i hooked up my laptop to my dac via usb and ran the tests. Turns out I can't tell the difference either!

So my perception of the difference between Spotify and Amazon must have been a volume/loudness thing.

Makes me wonder about the whole business of shopping for audio products. How could I ever accurately AB an amp or pair of speakers in a shop with all these variables. Guess I'll just stick to buying based on measurements from this fine website

 

[Deleted member 48726]

So i hooked up my laptop to my dac via usb and ran the tests. Turns out I can't tell the difference either!

So my perception of the difference between Spotify and Amazon must have been a volume/loudness thing.

Makes me wonder about the whole business of shopping for audio products. How could I ever accurately AB an amp or pair of speakers in a shop with all these variables. Guess I'll just stick to buying based on measurements from this fine website

You can't.

 

[Zensō]

So i hooked up my laptop to my dac via usb and ran the tests. Turns out I can't tell the difference either!

So my perception of the difference between Spotify and Amazon must have been a volume/loudness thing.

Makes me wonder about the whole business of shopping for audio products. How could I ever accurately AB an amp or pair of speakers in a shop with all these variables. Guess I'll just stick to buying based on measurements from this fine website

Congratulations! It’s commendable that you followed through and learned something. You’ve just saved yourself a lot of wasted time and money.

 

[BigFKahuna]

From @jasontodd's blog post.

And even if it were correct, it still doesn't tell the whole story. Deezer uses MP3, while Spotify uses AAC (browser) or Vorbis (apps), which are vastly superior with the same bitrate compared to MP3. Then the Hi-Fi bitrate is stated of the uncompressed stream, which is also misleading. A typical FLAC file has a bitrate of between 500 and 900Kbps. So it's just not a very useful chart and says little about the perceived sound quality. Especially for low-bandwidth mobile streaming, you'd be loads better off with Spotify vs Deezer. With those bitrates and different compression schemes, differences become much more obvious. Give me 96Kbps Vorbis or 128Kbps AAC vs 128Kbps MP3 all day long.

My understanding is you can upload mp3 files to Deezer, but that is a lower quality than what you stream from Deezer.

 

[Sal1950]

I was using Spotify Premium and Qobuz's regular high-resolution option, and the difference was striking, even from a distance.

That should immediately tell you that something in your listening parameters is badly amiss.
Even using the very best equipment, the real audible difference between the two signals should be extremely subtle.
Not something you could detect in a very casual manner.

 

[8bits]

Since we pretty much know that the difference is minimal if it is there at all, may I suggest another point to consider on all your decision trees, and in my opinion the most important?

Check how much that platform pays the artists and how they treat the artists. There are plenty of articles around this, so lots of info to go through.
What is known is that Spotify is pretty much the worst on those 2 points, WAY worse. And to sweeten the deal I just read the news that they won't pay ANYTHING to artists with less than 1K plays per year.
Obviously, we should always juggle ease of use, social, UI/UX, and all that, but fair pay for the artists should always be taken into consideration.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Since we pretty much know that the difference is minimal if it is there at all, may I suggest another point to consider on all your decision trees, and in my opinion the most important?

Check how much that platform pays the artists and how they treat the artists. There are plenty of articles around this, so lots of info to go through.
What is known is that Spotify is pretty much the worst on those 2 points, WAY worse. And to sweeten the deal I just read the news that they won't pay ANYTHING to artists with less than 1K plays per year.
Obviously, we should always juggle ease of use, social, UI/UX, and all that, but fair pay for the artists should always be taken into consideration.

No. I won't. And here's why; artists have quicker, easier and broader access to people than ever before. A large amount of artists wouldn't be artists if it wasn't for Spotify. Or at least they wouldn't be able to get much for their work. They would, back in the days, have had to go to a label and pay a huge amount for printing CD's and transport etc. A lot of money up front. Maybe the amount of CD's you ordered is sold, maybe they won't all sell and you're at a loss. Maybe you could've sold twice as many and you are in risk of being sold out and missing the hype?

Today you can sit and produce a track and upload it to Spotify and if it's good and gets discovered you get paid without further effort. -Easy!

Don't feel sorry for artists. If they are good they will make money. If they are not they won't.

Today good poor artists have a much greater chance of getting success than ever before.

 

[Brian Hall]

Try to pass these tests. I didn't.

Is your audio system really ready for lossless?

Do an ABX test in your browser, and see if you can tell the difference between lossless and lossy audio

abx.digitalfeed.net

Reddit Apple_Tidal_Qubus_Spotify

How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?

A hi-def test for your ears (and your audio equipment): Listen to these songs and see if you can tell the difference between an MP3 and an uncompressed audio file.

www.npr.org

Used headphones. I got 3 out of 6 right. It was hard to tell much difference. One the 3 I got wrong, 2 I picked were 320kbps. I picked the 128kbps version for the Coldplay song.

I've been going back and forth between (not a good test, I knew which one was playing) the same albums on Qobuz (set to CD quality since anything higher is useless) vs Spotify (set to their best which is 320kbps). The only obvious difference I can hear is that most if not all songs on Qobuz are quite a bit louder. I doubt I could do better than guessing to tell which was which. I would not bet anyone on it.