Streaming services ?

[swampbrain]

Getting a new set up and considering a streaming service but have zero experience with any of them. Hoping to get advice from those who do.
What are the choices for hi fi streaming? Ideally something to discover new music that also allows download/sales of individual (flac) tracks.

Tia

 

[RickS]

Hi!

We have a whole topic area on streaming services, so moved your thread here.

I have Apple Music and my (adult) kids all have Spotify. Both are good for different reasons. Mine is quality plus convenience as I have Apple phones and a few Amazon smart speakers. Amazon Music was not bad but had inconsistent quality when streaming to audio system.

 

[GD Fan]

Tidal user here. It offers flac quality streaming, downloads, and is decent for discovering new stuff. Coverage is pretty comprehensive for what I listen to - classic rock, heavy metal, etc.

 

[Chagall]

I think basically all streaming services have some kind of a trial period. Try them all and choose the one that best suits you.

 

[mags65]

Another Tidal user here (from back in they day when it was called WiMP). If you are considering going the Roon-route, note that only Tidal and Qobuz are integrated there.

 

[Timcognito]

I like Qobuz and had Tidal (2021) and found the music l like, over-simply put, more small label, jazz, college station and international (cubia, highlife, fada etc.) on Qobuz, all in Cd quality and high res at $12 mo and wife at 1/2 price with duo account. The new music search features are just adequate but I prefer and use outside sources and streaming radio.

 

[Karmacoma]

I've tried them all except Tidal.
-Spotify best UI and recommandations but no CD quality even if you'll hardly spot the différence, they still plan to launch their HiFi service which will be more expensive than its competitors
-Apple close second with CD quality, cheap
-Amazon music best quality on the paper but cheap UI and issues with sometimes bad quality
- Deezer good overall but does everything a little less good
- Quobuz, would be my choice because I like the spirit of the brand but it has such a small library comparatively that it's not competitive.

I'd go Apple if I were you, Spotify if you don't care about the less qualitative codec but slightly better user experience.

 

[swampbrain]

Thanks for the replies ✌

 

[pablolie]

320k Ogg Vorbis is known to be extremely good. I can only detect a difference with intense (and unpleasant focus on) listening to some artifacts on very few recordings... and their library and recommendations are to me the best.

 

[Karmacoma]

320k Ogg Vorbis is known to be extremely good. I can only detect a difference with intense (and unpleasant focus on) listening to some artifacts on very few recordings... and their library and recommendations are to me the best.

You forgot to mention you were talking about Spotify.
Yes the Spotify codec is very good but not lossless. Fun fact, during the many blind tests made to evaluate if people could make a difference between lossless flac and Ogg Vorbis, many thought Ogg Vorbis sounded better and was the lossless codec. Even with state of the art Neumann kh150 studio monitors close range I can't for sure make a difference personnaly.

 

[pablolie]

You forgot to mention you were talking about Spotify.
Yes the Spotify codec is very good but not lossless. Fun fact, during the many blind tests made to evaluate if people could make a difference between lossless flac and Ogg Vorbis, many thought Ogg Vorbis sounded better and was the lossless codec. Even with state of the art Neumann kh150 studio monitors close range I can't for sure make a difference personnaly.

thanks for the clarification and I totally agree.

 

[GD Fan]

The UI / system integration really does warrant consideration. I considered switching to Qobuz but dealing with it on my Denon (HEOS...) just didn't suit. So I stuck with Tidal.

Longer-term considerations may or may not be of interest. I'm specifically thinking of Tidal and Qobuz and their tiny market shares. Realistically, neither should probably exist long-term.

 

[Timcognito]

The UI / system integration really does warrant consideration. I considered switching to Qobuz but dealing with it on my Denon (HEOS...) just didn't suit. So I stuck with Tidal.

Longer-term considerations may or may not be of interest. I'm specifically thinking of Tidal and Qobuz and their tiny market shares. Realistically, neither should probably exist long-term.

The other consideration and most listeners could care less, is how much the music creators are remunerated. Qobuz is at the top and perhaps a reason they remain small due to overhead, guessing. Soon like all things the big fish will swallow the smaller ones. Things will consolidate, artists and labels will align with one or the other, listeners will have to have many services to get content, just like video streaming services. Relatively free wil become pay to play.

 

[Robin L]

I've used Amazon and Spotify, am using Tidal right now. Almost everything is at least Redbook quality, lots of Hi-Rez FLAC. I mostly use it for classical, and it has a great selection but not everything. I find missing pieces on YouTube, also the videos of "Voices of Music", excellent performances and production work:

Voices of Music

**

voicesofmusic.org

 

[Karmacoma]

Damn you're right, I never tried YouTube music, youtube has the biggest library from far including rarities without renewed copyright and remixes, oldies etc.. I really need to give it a try.

 

[RHO]

Ideally something to discover new music that also allows download/sales of individual (flac) tracks.

Ever tried Bandcamp? No subscription. You can listen to full albums a few times for free. After that you can purchase the album on different formats. If you buy the digital album only, you can stream the album unlimited and you can download the album (FLAC, WAV, MP3, ... you choose). Mainly small labels, undergound music, independent artists... but also some bigger names.

 

[pablolie]

Ever tried Bandcamp? No subscription. You can listen to full albums a few times for free. After that you can purchase the album on different formats. If you buy the digital album only, you can stream the album unlimited and you can download the album (FLAC, WAV, MP3, ... you choose). Mainly small labels, undergound music, independent artists... but also some bigger names.

Bandcamp is indeed awesome.

 

[Axo1989]

Ever tried Bandcamp? No subscription. You can listen to full albums a few times for free. After that you can purchase the album on different formats. If you buy the digital album only, you can stream the album unlimited and you can download the album (FLAC, WAV, MP3, ... you choose). Mainly small labels, undergound music, independent artists... but also some bigger names.

Yes. I also find Soundcloud good. It doesn’t have everything (that’s up to the artist/label) but I often find material from artists I like that isn’t on major streamers. And you can listen to quite a lot before you create an account and pay them. Just type “[artist] soundcloud” into your web browser to get an idea.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I've tried them all except Tidal.
-Spotify best UI and recommandations but no CD quality even if you'll hardly spot the différence, they still plan to launch their HiFi service which will be more expensive than its competitors
-Apple close second with CD quality, cheap
-Amazon music best quality on the paper but cheap UI and issues with sometimes bad quality
- Deezer good overall but does everything a little less good
- Quobuz, would be my choice because I like the spirit of the brand but it has such a small library comparatively that it's not competitive.

I'd go Apple if I were you, Spotify if you don't care about the less qualitative codec but slightly better user experience.

Is Quobuz really that small, if you are prepared to do a lot of digging around, on it?

 

[Timcognito]

Is Quobuz really that small, if you are prepared to do a lot of digging around, on it?

100 million tracks maybe that's too small for some but with a lot of jazz, classical, small label, and off beat college station music it suites my tastes with a mile wide and deep number of selections.