Thread: Best sounding streaming service so far?

Is there currently a "best sounding" streaming service? Qobuz? Tidal? Something else?

Yeah, mep, that's kind of what I thought. As I finish putting my system together, I'm planning on a Lumin D2 and Roon+. I'm a little concerned that as fast as things are progressing in the streaming arena obsolescence could be an issue with both software and hardware. I'll complete the purchasing and assembling of my system in January. It'll be interesting to see how things have developed by then. BTW, I have both Qobuz and Tidal going into my current HT system and my computer sound system which is also my recording DAW (using Cockos Reaper).

I can't tell the difference between Roon Tidal and Roon Qobuz. I can tell FLAC from WAV. WAV is better.
Spotify on a good system is darn good. I like some features they offer that lead me to use them.

In the end, it's more about the quality of the source material.

Also, it's so much about what your system was built to play. I put a LPS on my modem and router recently. Big difference. I bet most people could just optimize their hardware and realize a much greater sonic gain that way than agonizing over what streaming service to use.

Bluesman did a big
Iow down on the JRiver/Roon sound signature on Audiophile Style. It's a features article.

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/revie...e-titans-r764/

Love Roon over Tidal. If there is any difference, I’m not gong to lose any sleep over it. The convenience of Roon interface reigns supreme for me personally. Now there is Qobuz that can be added along with Tidal. I’ve discovered countless new albums of various genres with Roon and finally have been able to “organize” the music library to suit any mood for any genre. Downloading high resolution albums and having it appear in Roon as well, is a tremendous convenience as I always used to misplace my USB thumb drives... Besides the main system, if one is a serious headphone listener, the Roon DSP tools and Audeze filters are extremely useful. Color me happy, I’m a life subscriber to Roon. Let’s hope Roon will be around for many more years.

Love the name Theoctopus. You know what, I totally agree over not loosing sleep. My setup is so damb good, I quit chasing dragons and unicorns. I am more just enjoying the music now.

I use Roon too as it finds my files quite well. I also go direct to Tidal and Qobuz via Roon to see their whats new. I also go direct to Spotify because I like they're especially for me files better than any of the other services. And to the point of Sonic's, Spotify Premium is so darn good it's hard to tell the difference between it and any other service. I just don't even bother trying to tell the difference anymore. I just play what I enjoy and enjoy what I play.

I can only say how it sounds here, with my particular set-up. but the ranking is quite clear and distinct.

Tidal < Qubuz < files from my PICe local drives.

and where sometimes i'm 'meh' about how Tidal sounds, Qobuz is almost always really fine sounding. so much more satisfying. i'm thinking about dropping Tidal.

my particular dac does allow higher rez to sound exceptionally superior......which likely plays to the strength of Qobuz…..and my files. my dac also does well with MQA as far as that goes.

this is after considerable tweaking of the network interfaces. i'm confident all these methods are pretty optimized.

So, is Spotify or Pandora in the same league as Qobuz or Tidal as far as "sonic quality" is concerned? I'm trying to get the best quality streaming service that I can as that (and CDs ripped to Roon) will be my main sources. I do currently have both Tidal and Qobuz going into my two smart TVs/HT systems, my (recording) computer, and my Android cell phone. However, I will keep all these (streaming services) separate from my new two channel audio system. It will have a Lumin D2 and dedicated streaming service/s. I just want it to sound as good as possible. I do have a Technics direct drive automatic TT (SL DD33) from the early '90s but, thinking I'd never need them anymore, I gave away all my vinyl 10 years ago. Huge mistake! Oh well. We'll see how the TT sounds. If it sounds pretty good it'll give me a reason to do some vinyl searching. But, for now, streaming will be my main source.

[QUOTE=bluegrassphile;276762]
...
So, is Spotify or Pandora in the same league as Qobuz or Tidal as far as "sonic quality" is concerned?
...
/QUOTE]

Short answer: No. Neither Spotify or Pandora will give you CD quality (16/44).

Mike and Ed. Are you guys using HQ player as the output on Roon?

I like the Qobuz sound too, but my setup does not play FLAC neatly as well as WAV. I have noticed the sound quality of Qobuz is significantly better when you download songs to your personal library. I wonder if it is unpacking the FLAC file to WAV. Then again, I have not tried that since adding a linear power supply to my modem and router.

Originally Posted by Kingrex

Mike and Ed. Are you guys using HQ player as the output on Roon?

I like the Qobuz sound too, but my setup does not play FLAC neatly as well as WAV. I have noticed the sound quality of Qobuz is significantly better when you download songs to your personal library. I wonder if it is unpacking the FLAC file to WAV. Then again, I have not tried that since adding a linear power supply to my modem and router.

in my case, the MSB Select II works best with 'bit perfect'......so no HQ Player in my process. everything is native (to the dac) all the way through.

I can't yet comment on Qobuz files sent to my library on my local PCIe drives. not yet got that far. my server designer (for my new Extreme server) is writing me a tutorial on loading files which I don't yet have.

Is the extreme server another version of the Sound Galleries?
When I download files from Qobuz to my local library, it selects the drive and location on its own. I can point at where I want but on its own it goes to the operating system drive as it assumes that is the shortest path back out of the server and to the DAC.

Originally Posted by Kingrex

Is the extreme server another version of the Sound Galleries?

short answer; yes. here is a thread on another forum that get's into details on the Extreme.

https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/t...C3%A8me.27433/

other than my Select II, it's the most exceptional piece of digital hardware I have encountered and really took things up a few notches in my digital listening.

When I download files from Qobuz to my local library, it selects the drive and location on its own. I can point at where I want but on its own it goes to the operating system drive as it assumes that is the shortest path back out of the server and to the DAC.

I look forward to getting that file loading protocol all set up. right now I have 32tb of local PCIe drives on my Extreme server (with 17tb's of files), and a NAS on my network with those same files. the local PCIe drives sound much better than my NAS files so that is all I'm using. but I'm only a few weeks into using this new server.

Darn nice looking server. Pretty soon your gonna be a pariah when you say your digital is besting all else.

Grinning at your response

I agree with mep re the Tidal & Roon combo

The crazy thing about Roon, if you read that late 2018 article (like 9 or 10 pages) about the dCS Rossini DAC and player, and then the Tidal and Roon Primer as the last 3 or 4 pages. in Absolute Sound I believe, they give a really detailed plug on why Roon is so good and how it actually has their own module that sits on the dCS Rossini Dac/player that enables u to use dCS rendering or Roon. The latest on that I just now saw in the Stereophile May 28 article this year about the "Roon Sound" itself, aside from being a database & zone management system n software. Worth reading.

See the article here: "dCS Rossini v2.0 firmware upgrade"Jason Victor Serinus | May 28, 2019



Excerpt is interesting: >>>Given that the Roon module is part of the Rossini v2.0 upgrade and cannot be evaluated separately, I first evaluated the Roon upgrade in a different context. I used Roon to play the beginning of my go-to track for dynamics, transparency, massed forces, huge and deep soundstage, pounding bass and tinkling triangles—Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra's performance of Mahler's Symphony 3 (DSD64/Channel Classics CCS SA 38817)—through Network Bridge/Vivaldi v2.11 before and immediately after performing the latest Network Bridge 406 firmware upgrade. This comparison revealed that the new module enables Roon to deliver fuller and more naturally color-saturated sound.
<<<

That said, most of the real world isn't listening to dCS & D'Agostino and Wilson Audio Alexia 2 systems, but, when using Roon and Tidal to play MQA over a $800 Powernode 2i by Bluesound, having Roon to build your listening exposure is amazing. The combo is really special.

The writeup of each artist, and all the connections to other artists is so incredible for exposing yourself to so many more artists thru using Roon. I never used the Aurender app here, once in a while the Bluesound app, but mostly Roon because it is so clearly organized in bring your external drives and gear into one nice music libary, and is forcing me to expand my artist library because of their artist writeups.

The Roon primer article is a good read bluegrassphile , (the last part of the dCS article at Absolute Sound, made for normal budget audiphiles , shows the Roon interface and what I was talking about how it gives you detailed artist info, and also gives you a rabbit trail to see who they have played and recorded with , see the article "A Roon Primer Blog"by Alan Taffel | Nov 19th, 2018

I have both Tidal and Qobuz and in terms of sound quality alone, they're pretty much the same. If someone held a gun to my head, I'd probably chose Qobuz, but it's really a toss up. There are other things I like about each service though. Tidal has a lot of selections that you wont find on Qobuz but with Qobuz, it's easier to select which genre(s) you want to listen to.

Edit: I should have mentioned that I'm using Roon with both.

Originally Posted by UltraFast69

Just when you think your close to as near perfection things like this come out of the woods.

Gotta have a listen Mike, I’ll tow up Rex and Joe.


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anytime....just let me know.

look forward to it.