Spotify to launch 'Hi-Fi' CD Quality Tier.

[kyuu]

Question for the group here - if I don't care about lossless in this context, which service other than Spotify works best with WiiM?

Well it doesn't meet your criteria of not caring about lossless, but Tidal works flawlessly with it in my experience.

 

[bluefuzz]

talking to people with similar taste

I've never met anyone with similar taste. Especially since Spotify has broadened my taste considerably.

unlike Spotify, they don’t try to push podcasts and film clips onto me all the time

Perhaps the Spotify interface is different where you live, but I've never had 'podcasts and filmclips' pushed onto me. Yes, there's a podcast menu entry but I've never felt obliged to click on it so I don't see it as a problem ...

 

[kemmler3D]

Well it doesn't meet your criteria of not caring about lossless, but Tidal works flawlessly with it in my experience.

I'm not against lossless, nominally pro-lossless, but don't need it to stream high-res or anything, mostly just want it to work properly.

 

[bluefuzz]

Spotify has pigeon-holed me and now all it recommends is jazz fusion and the occasional UK garage track. I do like to listen to those from time to time, but its recommendations tend to be oddly narrow. I just never feel like it's on the money,

Interesting. My experience is quite the opposite. However, I never 'like' single tracks and always add whole albums to my library. Certainly if I've been playing a certain artist or genre a lot the recommendations will reflect this but as soon as I play a couple of different albums the recommendations are mostly broad and on point.

their terrible ethics in relation to musicians

Spotify's ethics are definitely questionable. But which large multinational capitalist organization isn't? Pick your poison ... ;-)

 

[obsessive9119]

I've never met anyone with similar taste. Especially since Spotify has broadened my taste considerably.

The internet is a wonderful place.

Perhaps the Spotify interface is different where you live, but I've never had 'podcasts and filmclips' pushed onto me. Yes, there's a podcast menu entry but I've never felt obliged to click on it so I don't see it as a problem ...

Maybe it depends on the client you use. On the mobile apps, podcasts and other recommended crap are all over the hime screen. For me personally I ignored it, but it was much harder for my young kids to not get caught up in it.

 

[PristineSound]

I'm not against lossless, nominally pro-lossless, but don't need it to stream high-res or anything, mostly just want it to work properly.

I'm willing to bet $50 that no one can tell the difference between high res vs MP3 without doing back to back AB.

 

[Pearljam5000]

There's a big difference between MP3 and lossless
I'm amazed that some people can't hear it especially audiophiles with amazing systems like people on ASR

 

[PristineSound]

There's a big difference between MP3 and lossless
I'm amazed that some people can't hear it especially audiophiles with amazing systems like people on ASR

There is very little difference, so little that without back to back AB, I'm pretty sure no one can tell the difference.

 

[Pearljam5000]

There is very little difference, so little that without back to back AB, I'm pretty sure no one can tell the difference.

I guess it depends how sensitive your hearing is

 

[obsessive9119]

There is very little difference, so little that without back to back AB, I'm pretty sure no one can tell the difference.

Many years ago I ABX tested between mp3 and flac. I could reliably pick 128kbs, kind of pick 192kbs, and not at all pick 320kbs.

I still use flac for everything, because why not.

 

[PristineSound]

Many years ago I ABX tested between mp3 and flac. I could reliably pick 128kbs, kind of pick 192kbs, and not at all pick 320kbs.

I still use flac for everything, because why not.

An ABX is a back to back. I can tell the difference between 16bit and 24bit ABX.

But take a 24bit down sample it to MP3, have someone randomly select between the 24bit and the MP3, play it back without ABX. You won't be able to tell which one it is.

 

[masterhw]

Many years ago I ABX tested between mp3 and flac. I could reliably pick 128kbs, kind of pick 192kbs, and not at all pick 320kbs.

I still use flac for everything, because why not.

this is where i have to detach the audio science view from the audio engineering view. the audio science is clear reasonable bitrate lossy is adequate, and it is. the engineer in me knows if there’s no meaningful premium for lossless then take it and that’s just one less thing to worry about.

 

[sigbergaudio]

I guess it depends how sensitive your hearing is

Or how powerful your bias is.

I thought this was a horse beaten to death at ASR, but apparently not. I assure you that you cannot reliably hear the difference between 320kbps Spotify and lossless.

 

[PristineSound]

Or how powerful your bias is.

I thought this was a horse beaten to death at ASR, but apparently not. I assure you that you cannot reliably hear the difference between 320kbps Spotify and lossless.

With back to back, such as ABX, with training, one can very very reliably tell the difference as does Amir can.

But without back to back, I'm 99.99% confident no one can tell the difference.

 

[sigbergaudio]

With back to back, such as ABX, with training, one can very very reliably tell the difference as does Amir can.

But without back to back, I'm 99.99% confident no one can tell the difference.

With very selected tracks perhaps, not consistently with any track.

 

[Tell]

I can tell the difference between 16bit and 24bit ABX.

I very much doubt that!

I came from Google Play Music (now YT Music) and the recommendation engine there was much better than Spotify. Spotify has pigeon-holed me and now all it recommends is jazz fusion and the occasional UK garage track. I do like to listen to those from time to time, but its recommendations tend to be oddly narrow. I just never feel like it's on the money, where GPM seemed to strike a good balance between new and familiar.

What bugs me the most is in any playlist of a genre I've listened to before, it seems to avoid adding new songs to the furthest extent possible. If I've liked a song by a given artist, it seems like I can be pretty sure to hear that song in every relevant playlist, but ONLY that song. Forever.

TL;DR I don't like Spotify's recommendations and aside from their terrible ethics in relation to musicians, it's one of the reasons I'm planning to switch to Tidal one of these days.

You know you can rightclick and select "radio" on any song to get recommendations similar to that one?

 

[PristineSound]

With very selected tracks perhaps, not consistently with any track.

I very much doubt that!

You know you can rightclick and select "radio" on any song to get recommendations similar to that one?

I guess you guys missed the memo!!!

 

[sigbergaudio]

I guess you guys missed the memo!!!

Can you kindly provide a time stamp so I don't have to spend 45 minutes to find what you are referring to?

 

[PristineSound]

Can you kindly provide a time stamp so I don't have to spend 45 minutes to find what you are referring to?

It's the entire video. Play it at 2x.

 

[sigbergaudio]

It's the entire video. Play it at 2x.

It's 45 minutes of Amir hearing the difference between Spotify and lossless? That does not seem to be the topic of the video.