- Thread Starter
- #41
Thanks.
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To Spotify or Not?
- Thread starter ejr
- Start date
Qobuz is gapless. I've had it since had it since 2017 where there was an issue but they fixed it about a year later. I had both Tidal and Qobuz for about year 2019-2021 and chose Qobuz over Tidal because they play more college station, small label, jazz, classical and international music (wife says hipster music
), they pay more to artists than anybody, and they only have CD and high res quality for $12/mo (Tidal had lower tiers and MQA at that time, not sure about now).to contact Qobuz go the Qobuz Help Center on the link I gave above and click on the Icon at the bottom. Plus there are hundreds of FAQs there.
Very Happy with most aspects of Qobuz but the new music discovery is weak but I use other sources anyway so NP for me.
HalSF
Active Member
If you’re talking about comparing sound quality between the different streaming services (as opposed to other reasons to prefer one service vs. others), your comment seems in direct opposition to the core values of this website.
I’ve looked for years for actual measurement of streaming sound quality on the various services and have never found any, and when I mentioned this earlier in this thread I was advised to do my own testing. (I’ve noticed that a strong preference for endorsing testing in principle combined with a disinclination to actually do the testing is quite common, and I include myself in this.)
Meanwhile all I ever hear about streaming sound quality are three subjective assertions that ought to be anathema at ASR: 1) “My ears just tell me which sounds better”; 2) “They all sound the same and I don’t need measurements to confirm this”; and 3) “Bit rate and depth and sample rate tell me all I need to know about sound quality.”
All three assertions have been made in this thread. Streaming sound quality remains a black hole, objectively speaking.
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You don't know me remotely well enough to make that claim.
And there are many threads that talk about audibility limits, as established in scientific studies. The fact individuals here and there make brave claims about hearing the difference between a Mongolian or Tibetian mouse silently farting behind a wall doesn't change that. :-D
Robin L
Master Contributor
All I can say is that I tried the introductory offer on Qobuz and found the same gaps on "Dark Side of the Moon" that I encountered at Tidal.Qobuz is gapless. I've had it since had it since 2017 where there was an issue but they fixed it about a year later. I had both Tidal and Qobuz for about year 2019-2021 and chose Qobuz over Tidal because they play more college station, small label, jazz, classical and international music (wife says hipster music
to contact Qobuz go the Qobuz Help Center on the link I gave above and click on the Icon at the bottom. Plus there are hundreds of FAQs there.
Very Happy with most aspects of Qobuz but the new music discovery is weak but I use other sources anyway so NP for me.
Classical music is exactly the main reason you'd want gapless as a non negotiable, although other music genres need it at times too, live albums being another must for gapless.
Where a recorded and intended gap between tracks/movements is present, gapless will still give you that gap. However, when there's no gap intended in the music but the recording has been written as multiple tracks, the lack of gapless support will completely ruin that album for you.
For me, gapless support is an absolute must, hence why I moved to a Wiim streamer to replace my otherwise fine, but non gapless Yamaha music cast service.
This is exactly my issue with gapless and Deezer.
In short, the issue doesn't rest with Deezer at all, but rather the app/platform you're using to stream it.
Yamaha Music cast via my Yamaha network amp = no gapless. Wiim pro connected to my Yamaha via Coax = perfect gapless every time.
PristineSound
Major Contributor
I am willing to bet $1,000USD that no one can tell the difference between Spotify vs. any other CD or high res:
1) Without a back to back A/B comparison.
2) Without playing it so loud to bring the noise floor up, so >= 96dB.
3) Someone who does not have sufficient knowledge in how signal processing works to decipher what specific artifacts to look for. That's probably 99.999% of the world population.
I am happily using Spotify; though I am looking forward for their High Res offering.
1) Without a back to back A/B comparison.
2) Without playing it so loud to bring the noise floor up, so >= 96dB.
3) Someone who does not have sufficient knowledge in how signal processing works to decipher what specific artifacts to look for. That's probably 99.999% of the world population.
I am happily using Spotify; though I am looking forward for their High Res offering.
There are always gaps between movements in classical concerts. Why does it have to be gapless?
PristineSound
Major Contributor
I don't think Spotify does any mastering, though.
Not true at all. Mostly, yes, there are gaps that indeed signify moving into the next ' movement', but not always.
Let's start with one album recording straight off the top of my head that lack of gapless ruins. Try getting past the first ' track' (Spring 0 into Spring 1)on the 2012 version of Recomposed By Max Richter's - Vilvadi The Four Seasons, without gapless and get back to me.
There are many other examples, too, that I've come across, but I'm by no means a Western Classical music afficionado, so would have to do some digging back to give lots of examples.
Big fan of that album. Max and Daniel are at their top amazing best. But not sure what "gapless" adds. I don't listen to it on Spotify. I of course own the CD and flac. Also bought the HDtracks version. Those have clear track gaps between the movements.
I saw it performed at the Proms at The Royal Albert Hall two years ago. Absolutely superb!
The version I listen to on Deezer has a really jarring gap between 'track 1 & 2' via Yamaha music cast, but not on the Wiim where it is seamless as intended.
I've found numerous examples of this annoyance on streamed albums where gapless isn't supported.
Are you saying that you have lots of Western Classical music Flac files or streamed albums where lack of gapless isn't an issue? If so, then it's surely because what you're listening via supports gapless?, so you haven't noticed, which you wouldn't of course because gapless is doing it's job.
Robin L
Master Contributor
There are a number of pieces where there's a transition without pause from one movement into the next. Beethoven's 5th is probably the best-known example.
Note all these exceptions:
Seems like a lot of trouble to me. Also note: "File encoding: Although Qobuz generally supports gapless playback, some files might not be encoded correctly for seamless transitions." Which is to say that for some "files" you'll be SOoL.
Beyond that, looking at all the issues listed, gapless playback should be plug and play. If they claim to deliver the goods, then they should make the feature available to everyone without getting too far into the weeds.
I still think, from what I understand, that any across the board gapless issues are primarily with the app/platform being used most often, rather than the streaming service itself. Certainly that's been my single use case experience.
I seem to remember reading about varying licensing agreements between the streaming service and the various platform providers on which to stream it, although I might be wrong on that.
On file encoding, yes, that stipulates where the gaps are and may be out of the streaming's services control?
I have an old cd recorder for ripping my vinyl and CD's into eventual flac files. I can determine exactly where the gaps are essentially if I use manual track/no. write. There's nothing to stop me dividing up individual tracks into multipke tracks if I want to, or letting several tracks run into one. If I set it to auto when recording vinyl for example, on a lot of albums it won't auto separate the tracks as it picks up audible noise in the gaps between tracks, such is the nature of a lot of vinyl. Auto can be hit and miss on some CD's, too, but generally less so than vinyl.
- Thread Starter
- #58
"compression on" -- where?
roffe
Member
Pick the one that pays (music) artists the most.
PristineSound
Major Contributor
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