To Spotify or Not?

[ejr]

Setting aside for a moment the issue of whether there will ever be a higher quality version of Spotify that will equal the resolution of Amazon Music Unlimited or Qobuz, and just thinking of what is available as of this writing (July 2025), how does the quality of Spotify compare to these two services?

To me, the things that matter most are sound quality, gapless playback, and the size of the library. On paper, it seems like Amazon Unlimited should be the best. However, I have had constant problems with albums not playing back gaplessly. I even sprung for two Eversolo A-6 Gen 2 streamers (one for my living room, the other for my bedroom) because its hardware gapless playback option improved the amount of gapless playback that I am actually able to get. (It does clip a second or less from the beginnings of tracks fairly often though, and I have yet to hear a satisfactory explanation for the reason or see a fix that actually works.)

From my brief trial of Spotify, I remember that it handled gapless playback very well. Generally, I liked the way it sounded. Eversolo doesn't support Spotify natively, though. You have to download the Android mobile app and I'm not sure how that will compare to its native support for Amazon. (But, to tell you the truth, I wasn't exactly wowed by the Eversolo's support of Amazon either. There's the the problem with gapless tracks described above. Even worse, I can't get all my likes to show up on it vs. web browser playback on my pc).

I guess what I am really wondering is how high a resolution do you actually need to not feel you've wasted thousands of dollars on streamers and powered speakers? I am reminded of Rick Beato's post youtube from years ago.

If this is true and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between playback on Spotify at 320 bit resolution, I might be happier with that if continues to impliment gapless playback correctly, even though its library is slightly smaller.)

Remember, I am not a technician. I am not going to be sitting around measuring this. I am going to be listening to it with my two ears (which are a couple of years older than Rick Beato's).

 

[napfkuchen]

I have both Apple Music (only for Atmos-Streaming on my surround setup) and Spotify (for Android-Auto, smartphone and streaming to my wiim-stereo-setup). Comparing both for stereo there is no difference for me. Aside from that spotify has much better usability. And while Apple Music does work on other platforms it is a pain, especially the windows app! This topic has been settled numerous times, so lean back and listen to the music using the service you prefer.

 

[Grotti]

I wonder why you are asking others about the quality of this streaming services since you stated clearly, that you are not going to rely on measurements but your ears. So why don't you evaluate the sound quality by yourself?

 

[HalSF]

Sound quality is not a consideration for choosing streaming services. I’ve never seen an objective comparative SQ evaluation — it’s subjective all the way down.

 

[DVDdoug]

Sound quality is not a consideration for choosing streaming services. I’ve never seen an objective comparative SQ evaluation — it’s subjective all the way down.

A LOT of people prefer services that stream lossless or even high-resolution. Even if it's only for the psychological assurance that it's not being degraded.

But there are often different masters/mixes of recordings so a different lossy version may sound subjectively better than the lossless version.

And listening with your ears CAN be perfectly valid if the tests are level matched, blind, and statistically valid.

I guess what I am really wondering is how high a resolution do you actually need to not feel you've wasted thousands of dollars on streamers and powered speakers?

I don't own a stand-alone streamer, only computers and a phone, and I can't imagine spending thousands on one! And lossy/lossless really isn't a hardware question.

But good speakers (powered or unpowered) can be expensive. (With headphones there is very little correlation between price and sound quality... There are highly-rated headphones for a couple-hundred dollars or less, and very expensive headphones with not-so-great sound.



...Personally, I rarely stream and I only have a free Spotify account (or YouTube). I've got an antique iPod with almost 20,000 MP3s that docks in my vehicles. Whenever it dies or the car stereos die, or something happens, I'll put the MP3s on my phone, get with the times, and go Bluetooth. Actually, I SHOULD put the songs my phone now! it has a big-enough SD card

 

[HalSF]

And listening with your ears CAN be perfectly valid if the tests are level matched, blind, and statistically valid.

I’ve been on an unsuccessful Diogenes quest for something that uses this criteria to test comparative streaming sound quality for years. I’d be delighted if you could point me to someone who’s done this and produced robust results.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Eversolo does support Spotify natively in the sense that it supports Spotify connect, so it's streaming directly from Spotify to the Eversolo. But you control it with the Spotify app, which is preferrable anyway since that's the best user experience.

Sound quality with Spotify Premium is indistinguishable from lossless for all practical purposes.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Sound quality with Spotify Premium is indistinguishable from lossless for all practical purposes.

Unless I don’t know that I’m listening to 320kbps lossy, lossless definitely sounds way better

Being serious though, for psychological reasons I will only use lossless streaming. Just knowing the audio is lossy compressed is enough to annoy me.

 

[Multicore]

There are very good reasons to hate Spotify. I hate Spotify. But I accept I'm defeated and use it anyway. Sound quality and caltalog are not a problem. Usability is superior. Despicable business practices.

 

[Subob]

Deezer via a Wiim pro does gapless very nicely for me. Standard 16bit 44.1khz lossless with a regular annual subscription. None of that 'hi res' bollox.

There. I've said it.

 

[jcarys]

Just try them out for yourself - just about every service has a free trial. I agree with you about Amazon - on paper it sounds like the best way to get best high quality at the cheapest price. Yet I always found it difficult to work with, and it often would not playback the quality level that the file was marked as. I'm perfectly happy with Tidal, but Qobuz would be next on my list.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Unless I don’t know that I’m listening to 320kbps lossy, lossless definitely sounds way better

Being serious though, for psychological reasons I will only use lossless streaming. Just knowing the audio is lossy compressed is enough to annoy me.

Yes, so it's not really because it sounds better, but because you know it theoretically is better. That is completely fair.

I actually tried to change to Quboz recently (for those same psychological reasons), but apparently they don't support Apple TV, which means I still have to have Spotify as well, so.. probably not switching.

 

[DVDdoug]

I’ve been on an unsuccessful Diogenes quest for something that uses this criteria to test comparative streaming sound quality for years. I’d be delighted if you could point me to someone who’s done this and produced robust results.

I'm not saying it's easy. And it's always time consuming to get a statistically valid result.

...I'm not sure what you mean by "robust". If you aren't getting repeatable results that usually means you can't reliably hear a difference and that's a valid result.

But it shouldn't be too hard if you can somehow get the levels carefully-matched and you get someone (someone who is equally interested or patient) to do the blind switching. And it's helpful to know you're comparing the same master because hearing different mixing/mastering isn't the goal.

Or as long as you trust that you can accurately record the stream (which you usually can), you can record both streams and level-match with Audacity, then you can use foobar2000 to do the blind random switching. (A lot of Audiophiles would blame Audacity if they can't hear a difference.)

What is a blind ABX test?

ABX Probability Chart

 

[olds1959special]

Yes, so it's not really because it sounds better, but because you know it theoretically is better. That is completely fair.

I actually tried to change to Quboz recently (for those same psychological reasons), but apparently they don't support Apple TV, which means I still have to have Spotify as well, so.. probably not switching.

Quboz is for high quality streaming and Apple TV downgrades everything to 48 kHz. My solution is to use an iPad connected to the DAC through USB which I can control through my home network with Quboz connect. My Apple TV connects separately through the optical input.

 

[Chrispy]

As far as business practices, none of the streaming services are great. I've used Spotify for a long time, several years ago trialed Qobuz and Tidal too and found nothing sq wise to be an issue. I preferred the library/convenience of so many of my devices incorporating Spotify and stuck with it, especially as I added to the algorithm when it came to suggestions....it's not my main source of content, that remains my own library ripped to flac....but hard to kick the collecting habit having grown up with vinyl even now when internet is more reliable where I am....

 

[SKBubba]

All things considered, Tidal is the best streaming service right now.

 

[Chrispy]

All things considered, Tidal is the best streaming service right now.

Why, particularly? When I trialed them it was quite annoying with JayZ promotions. The content wasn't all that great and don't get me started on the silly mqa....

 

[pablolie]

I use Spotify because they have a very extensive library for the music styles I like, but my loyalty to streaming services is low. I still buy music from my favorite artists directly.
As to SQ, I doubt anyone can hear much of a difference if it truly comes down to blind tests. OGG Vorbis at 320k is known to be extremely good. And it's widely known the vast majority of people are unable to tell a difference between 320k MP3 and an uncompressed FLAC. But again, for my fav artists I'll buy the CD and flac-rip it. It does make a psychological difference. :-D

 

[olds1959special]

All things considered, Tidal is the best streaming service right now.

I used to use Tidal, and switched to Quboz. Tidal glitched out constantly on my computer and was unusable. It would play the wrong songs. Quboz Connect allows me to control my music center from my couch, which is a huge plus. Quality-wise they are the same.

 

[SKBubba]

Why, particularly? When I trialed them it was quite annoying with JayZ promotions. The content wasn't all that great and don't get me started on the silly mqa....

Works with Roon. Tidal Connect has widespread support. Discovery, personalized playlists, radio features are all pretty great, mobile app with all those features, desktop app is good (but still no connect), all generally reliable and bulletproof. Yes, there is still a lot of mqa, and their purge has slowed to an apparent halt, but at least roon still decodes it. JayZ is pretty much no longer involved, except he may still be on Block's board as part of his sale.