Spotify and Qobuz difference

[diddley]

I played Nadine Shah's Yes Men via spotify and made a quick comperrison via qobuz, and there was a clear difference in quality.
I had the premium subscription at spotify and the normal high resolution at qobuz.
There was a clear difference between the two files noticable from two rooms away, as i lie in my bedroom.
I stick with Qobuz.

 

[staticV3]

There's a good chance that Spotify and Qobuz stream different masters of Yes Men and that's the difference you heard.

 

[voodooless]

Without any proper controls, such a “test” is useless.

 

[JSmith]

comperrison

Why don't you capture each and compare using;

DeltaWave Audio Null Comparator | DeltaWave documentation

deltaw.org

JSmith

 

[Jimbob54]

Spotify has volume levelling. Qobuz doesn't. All being equal, qobuz likely louder.

 

[diddley]

@Jimbob54 Yes that was the main difference. qobuz was louder. thanks!

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I played Nadine Shah's Yes Men via spotify and made a quick comperrison via qobuz, and there was a clear difference in quality.
I had the premium subscription at spotify and the normal high resolution at qobuz.
There was a clear difference between the two files noticable from two rooms away, as i lie in my bedroom.
I stick with Qobuz.

As an aside diddley. I left Spotify over the Neil Young politics. Do you find that Spotify does in fact have a larger catalogue than Quobuz?

 

[diddley]

Neil Young returned to Spotify except for many albums, but i think that spotify is bigger.
But with qobuz i did'nt encounter any albums that where missing.so i am satisfied with the offer qobuz is making, except for the price.

And spotify has a great library of pocasts.

 

[diddley]

Correction Neil Young songs on spotify are mostly bootlegs from live recordings what i hastely found out

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Thanks diddley.
Yes, in general, Quobuz is fine. Sometimes a bit more work to find stuff, and from my experience, also not as comprehensive. I have just gone for an annual renewal. About £120, I think!

 

[Sal1950]

I loved Spotify, IMO they have the best UI going and I was a customer for years.
But after the repeated promises of a lossless level I got sick of the lies and jumped around
the various lossless options for the same $. Then in the end Apple opened the multich, Atmos, and
other various immersive coding files and the deal was done.
Apple Rules.

 

[jae]

I would say Qobuz and Apple (Japan, if possible), are probably the best options for most people. Personally I use Qobuz because it has the least cons for me. It's one of the platforms that has 3rd party tools for ripping music, has non-MQA hi-res and it also has good integration with various hi-fi apps and products. The catalogue is up to par or better than most other services (Amazon, Tidal etc.).

If you don't need integration with other hi-fi equipment or apps or care to rip files, and you only stream from a phone or computer (or via airplay), I would say Apple is the best (and I'm not fan of that company). Their service is the "cleanest" with the best metadata/catalogue organisation/ui/ux/additional features and formats by far. The alternative to Apple would be Spotify, where perhaps you may be giving up hi-res and some features for access or more podcosts or more underground or newer artists. But most artists are putting their music on both these platforms now, so there is little advantage to spotify these days I find unless you have a specific reason.

 

[IndieSynth]

I did a blind comparison test between Spotify (highest quality) and Amazon (HD or HD ultra) quality. In 10 out of 10 tracks I could tell which was Spotify and which was Amazon. In most cases I preferred the Amazon version. I got quicker as the test went on and feel that I started to notice a specific Spotify sound. The Amazon versions sounded 'bigger', with more definition between instruments.

I was surprised at the results, I didn't expect to notice such a difference in most cases.

Other than the quality difference what could explain this in 10 out of 10 trials? To my subjective ears the volume was the same. All tracks were being played through a Wiim. The person testing me also felt the volume was the same. Is there a cheap and simple way to confirm this?

What else could explain the result?

 

[staticV3]

Other than the quality difference what could explain this in 10 out of 10 trials? To my subjective ears the volume was the same. All tracks were being played through a Wiim. The person testing me also felt the volume was the same. Is there a cheap and simple way to confirm this?

You can record the WiiM's output using a Hifime UR23 and Audacity, then compare them with Deltawave to get information about frequency response, dynamic range, loudness, etc.

You can also use Deltawave to precisely match the volume, then do an ABX test to see if you can still hear a difference.

 

[Jimbob54]

To my subjective ears the volume was the same

You would need to ensure the output levels are near identical to rule out volume differences. For it to be that obvious suggests levels were not the same assuming it was the same version of the tracks on both services.

I dont believe either service has volume levelling when played through Wiim but no idea if there is some already inbuilt levelling done at the server end
.

How would you describe the Spotify "sound" ?

 

[jae]

What else could explain the result?

 

[Deleted member 48726]

 

[IndieSynth]

You would need to ensure the output levels are near identical to rule out volume differences. For it to be that obvious suggests levels were not the same assuming it was the same version of the tracks on both services.

I dont believe either service has volume levelling when played through Wiim but no idea if there is some already inbuilt levelling done at the server end
.

How would you describe the Spotify "sound" ?

I can't really answer without subjective language, but I would say the Spotify tracks sounded smaller, less defined. Mostly small differences, in a few cases big differences but I always spotted it. I have been a Spotify user for several years and only just started trialling Amazon so maybe that explains it to an extent.

The person testing me tried to trick me on one trial by playing Spotify twice but I realised it was the same track played again and that it was Spotify.

I'm not claiming to have golden ears just curious as to why I got these results and what else may be going on.

 

[IndieSynth]

So how would I compensate for the loudness difference/volume match? I'm playing the tracks one after another on the same system through the same streamer. The Wiim was volume locked.

 

[staticV3]

So how would I compensate for the loudness difference/volume match? I'm playing the tracks one after another on the same system through the same streamer. The Wiim was volume locked.

Use a Hifime UR23 to record the WiiM's digital audio output, then match the volume, then compare the sound quality.