Why does spotify sound better then my hifi setup through headphones?

[dasdoing]

And how did you perform with the others?

first time I skipped the first song, made 100% on the second one when I heard the diference on the high end (skipped the rest).
the second time I heard the diference right away on the first track, because now I focussed right away on the high end, skipped the other songs to see the result for the first one.
I did not try several times, the two times I noticed the diference I got 100% right.
Still not a valid test I know, these abx are boring as hell lol. But I will do a valid one. (on a sidenote, to get a valid test you have to concentrate for so long it might actually become unvalid again? maintaining concentration over the whole test is not easy)

Which bit rate were you testing?

it's the test I linked in post 26 (Spotify HQ)

Should we care?

In the past I would say no, but I am not so convinced anymore. There are days and songs where I don't like my tweeter in the treble range, I now wonder if what I am hearing is actualy the codec and not my "bad tweeter".

 

[antcollinet]

(on a sidenote, to get a valid test you have to concentrate for so long it might actually become unvalid again? maintaining concentration over the whole test is not easy)

You definitely have to be dedicated. Especially when you feel you are not hearing a difference.

 

[ehabheikal]

Heaphones give more attenuation of background noise thus improving your experience.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

That's why I was so surprised I heard a difference - I usually can't tell. I had initially switched over to Tidal because of the frustrating change to Spotify's UI, and then, later, while not paying particularly close attention albeit on a song I knew well, I noticed that Tidal was a little brighter! I thought it was Tidal being a little tilted up at first, and not Spotify.

To investigate it further, I ripped the same track from a CD and did a digital loopback to record from Tidal (at lossless, not "master") and Spotify (at max quality) into Pro Tools so I could rapidly switch between them.

Tidal and CD sounded the same, and nulled 60+dB down (anything left I attribute to not being perfectly sample aligned). Hence, it was Spotify that was different.

I've used Tidal in the trial period. The volume is higher on Tidal than Spotify on the same vol. position. Be aware of that!

 

[Deleted member 48726]

first time I skipped the first song, made 100% on the second one when I heard the diference on the high end (skipped the rest).
the second time I heard the diference right away on the first track, because now I focussed right away on the high end, skipped the other songs to see the result for the first one.
I did not try several times, the two times I noticed the diference I got 100% right.
Still not a valid test I know, these abx are boring as hell lol. But I will do a valid one. (on a sidenote, to get a valid test you have to concentrate for so long it might actually become unvalid again? maintaining concentration over the whole test is not easy)



it's the test I linked in post 26 (Spotify HQ)




In the past I would say no, but I am not so convinced anymore. There are days and songs where I don't like my tweeter in the treble range, I now wonder if what I am hearing is actualy the codec and not my "bad tweeter".

I've done that particular test so many times my left eye starts twitching when I hear The Killers..

I can't tell the Spotify very high quality from lossless. Tested with over-ear headphones.

The thing I wanted to address is that your hearing as varying with mood and energy levels. Some days all music sounds bad. Same days all music sounds great.
Why do you say you have a bad tweeter?

 

[dfuller]

I've used Tidal in the trial period. The volume is higher on Tidal than Spotify on the same vol. position. Be aware of that!

I run them at max volume with normalization off, and do volume control in hardware. I also checked peak and LUFS with Insight, they matched.

 

[hnash53]

Exactly and that's what I tend to prefer it seems

So I guess i need darker speakers

You like what you like. Go with that...

 

[dasdoing]

Why do you say you have a bad tweeter?

what I said is that what I suspected to be a bad tweeter could actually be the codec