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May 8, 2023, 08:17 PM #1
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Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Just curious.
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Server: Roon Nucleus with lifetime subscription.
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Model.
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May 8, 2023, 09:29 PM #2
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Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
No
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May 8, 2023, 11:53 PM #3
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Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Not from what I hear comparing Spotify 320kbps with Apple Lossless on tracks I've queued in the past.
Christian
south: Mark Levinson No. 52 pre, Bricasti M28 amps, Lumin A1, Oppo BDP-205, Pioneer CT-43, Sony SS-AR1 Speakers, Audioquest PCs, Audioquest speaker cables, Audioquest & Iconoclast interconnects, HB Power Design Powerslave Star Galaxy power distributor
north: Vitus SIA-030, Luxman D-10X, Sony TC-KA3ES, Harbeth 40.2, Siltech cables
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May 9, 2023, 07:55 AM #4
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Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
With the right hardware Spotify 320 kbps can sound sensational.
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May 9, 2023, 03:45 PM #5
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Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Last release I read Spotify has given up on lossless audio and concentrating more on podcasts.
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Mark Levinson #526, 534 & JBL 4367's
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May 10, 2023, 04:52 AM #6
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
I use a Mutec to reclock the signal before it goes into my DAC and I have to agree that Spotify sounds really good. Spotify sounds more balanced across the frequency spectrum. Qobuz on the other hand sounds more dense favoring the lower mids part of the spectrum. It's just a different flavor in a way. Where Spotify really excels is with it's interface and algorithm. Just runs circles around Qobuz and Tidal (from what I remember). I have ended up using Spotify a lot more than I do Qobuz.
.2 Channel Stereo :
Custom Win10 Transport | Mutec MC-3+ USB | Lampizator Amber | Acoustic Portrait Thiyaga | ATC SCM20PSL + JL Audio E-Sub e110
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May 10, 2023, 08:46 AM #7
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
A article this Feb 2023, pretty much notes a few what ifs on why Spotify hasn't brought out their HiFi tier after announcing 2 years ago it was.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/22/2...wo-years-later2chl : Vincent Sp331MkII, W4S STP-SE Stage 2, Kef 201/2, KEF 140, Vapor Breeze, Lumin, Bryston CD, BHA-1, Quicksilver Headamp, HD650, HD800s, HD820's, Dan Clark 1.1, Focal Stellia, OPPO 203, 105. ( Boxed up: Pass Xa-30.5, VPI Classic, Dynavector DV-20XL, Manley Chinook, Cadenza Bronze)
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May 10, 2023, 11:49 AM #8
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Micro Seiki SX-8000 air bearing table, SME 312s arm, SME 3012R arn, Dynavector XV-1s cartridge, Lyra Etna SL cartridge, ARC Ref 3 phono stage, Otari MX-55 2 track R2R, Ampex 350 tape repros, Roon Nucleus Plus music server, HiFi Rose 150B DAC, ARC Ref 6, ARC Ref 75 with KT-150s, Parasound JC5 amp , JBL 4345 speakers, Viero Equilibro Level 3 speaker cables, and Definitive Technology Ref subs.
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May 10, 2023, 12:34 PM #9
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
2 Channel Stereo :
Custom Win10 Transport | Mutec MC-3+ USB | Lampizator Amber | Acoustic Portrait Thiyaga | ATC SCM20PSL + JL Audio E-Sub e110
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May 11, 2023, 09:34 AM #10
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Thanks for your clarification. Since I never listen to Spotify because it's a lossy MP3 format, I can't compare how the lower mids are emphasized by Quobuz in comparison to Spotify as you claim. I never thought of the lower mids being thick or dense sounding unless that sound was part of the actual recording vice being a coloration pinned to every album played through Quobuz. I find Quobuz to sound very different from album to album and even among the different versions of the same album (16/44.1, 24/96, 24/192) that are available on Quobuz. Different masterings of the same recording can sound wildly different on Quobuz. With Spotify, I assume you are stuck with a single variable for each album which would make it hard to compare to Quobuz where the bit depth and sampling rate start at 16/44.1.
Micro Seiki SX-8000 air bearing table, SME 312s arm, SME 3012R arn, Dynavector XV-1s cartridge, Lyra Etna SL cartridge, ARC Ref 3 phono stage, Otari MX-55 2 track R2R, Ampex 350 tape repros, Roon Nucleus Plus music server, HiFi Rose 150B DAC, ARC Ref 6, ARC Ref 75 with KT-150s, Parasound JC5 amp , JBL 4345 speakers, Viero Equilibro Level 3 speaker cables, and Definitive Technology Ref subs.
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May 11, 2023, 09:37 AM #11
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Micro Seiki SX-8000 air bearing table, SME 312s arm, SME 3012R arn, Dynavector XV-1s cartridge, Lyra Etna SL cartridge, ARC Ref 3 phono stage, Otari MX-55 2 track R2R, Ampex 350 tape repros, Roon Nucleus Plus music server, HiFi Rose 150B DAC, ARC Ref 6, ARC Ref 75 with KT-150s, Parasound JC5 amp , JBL 4345 speakers, Viero Equilibro Level 3 speaker cables, and Definitive Technology Ref subs.
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May 12, 2023, 06:52 AM #12
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
My experience with Spotify is interesting. During the lockdown a singer/entertainer friend of mine began singing from his bedroom keeping us entertained right through. On a whim I decided to make playlists of the songs that he sang. I ended up compiling about 300 playlists with genres ranging from pop, rock & country western, jazz, swing, opera and broadway. Artists ranged from Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Queen, Hall & Oats, Pavarotti, Bocelli, Louis Armstrong etc and many more. Spotify was the only platform that was accessible to everyone (over 600 people all over the world). In fact Spotify was the only service on which many of the songs were available. Tidal and Qobuz were far more niche and pretty much broke whenever I tried transferring those playlists.
It's one thing to critically listen to an album via Qobuz or local files and another to share a collection of over 5,000 songs with an active community over social media (Facebook and Instagram mostly). The whole experience left me a little less religious about digital formats. While I can hear the difference, I found that using something like a Mutec to reclock the signal before the DAC, can produce a very enjoyable sound. A good Digital converter is able to capture and reconstruct great sound even from a 320K stream.
.2 Channel Stereo :
Custom Win10 Transport | Mutec MC-3+ USB | Lampizator Amber | Acoustic Portrait Thiyaga | ATC SCM20PSL + JL Audio E-Sub e110
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May 12, 2023, 09:06 AM #13
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
I understand your position better now. You were motivated to create 300 playlists from Spotify to share with 600 people all around the world who all had access to Spotify. The decision wasn't based on sound quality, but availability of music in genres on Spotify you couldn't find on Tidal or Quobuz and ease of creating playlists to share via Spotify.
Micro Seiki SX-8000 air bearing table, SME 312s arm, SME 3012R arn, Dynavector XV-1s cartridge, Lyra Etna SL cartridge, ARC Ref 3 phono stage, Otari MX-55 2 track R2R, Ampex 350 tape repros, Roon Nucleus Plus music server, HiFi Rose 150B DAC, ARC Ref 6, ARC Ref 75 with KT-150s, Parasound JC5 amp , JBL 4345 speakers, Viero Equilibro Level 3 speaker cables, and Definitive Technology Ref subs.
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May 12, 2023, 10:32 AM #14
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May 12, 2023, 10:53 AM #15
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Micro Seiki SX-8000 air bearing table, SME 312s arm, SME 3012R arn, Dynavector XV-1s cartridge, Lyra Etna SL cartridge, ARC Ref 3 phono stage, Otari MX-55 2 track R2R, Ampex 350 tape repros, Roon Nucleus Plus music server, HiFi Rose 150B DAC, ARC Ref 6, ARC Ref 75 with KT-150s, Parasound JC5 amp , JBL 4345 speakers, Viero Equilibro Level 3 speaker cables, and Definitive Technology Ref subs.
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May 12, 2023, 10:56 AM #16
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Then why did you title this thread as you did?
As an aside, I would agree that well-done 320k MP3 is virtually indistinguishable from 16/44.1 PCM for most music in most situations, but that almost equivalence doesn't really apply at this forum., where exaggerating small differences in sound quality is almost a raison d'etre.Rob
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May 12, 2023, 11:00 AM #17
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May 12, 2023, 11:54 AM #18
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Micro Seiki SX-8000 air bearing table, SME 312s arm, SME 3012R arn, Dynavector XV-1s cartridge, Lyra Etna SL cartridge, ARC Ref 3 phono stage, Otari MX-55 2 track R2R, Ampex 350 tape repros, Roon Nucleus Plus music server, HiFi Rose 150B DAC, ARC Ref 6, ARC Ref 75 with KT-150s, Parasound JC5 amp , JBL 4345 speakers, Viero Equilibro Level 3 speaker cables, and Definitive Technology Ref subs.
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May 12, 2023, 12:45 PM #19
Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
I should have added that the experience opened me up to listening to music via Spotify.
Over time I found myself using Spotify more often than I do Qobuz. And for a variety of reasons.
The Spotify algorithm regularly surprises me with gems that are based on my listening history.
Spotify Connect allows me to seamlessly listen over multiple devices - in my car and then later at work.
But all of this would not happen if the sound wasn't up to scratch.
For example I could not get past one song on Amazon Music.
Why does this have to matter? I still listen to music on Qobuz or my digital files via HQPlayer etc.
All I'm saying is that one should give Spotify a try. I was surprised at how good it was.
.2 Channel Stereo :
Custom Win10 Transport | Mutec MC-3+ USB | Lampizator Amber | Acoustic Portrait Thiyaga | ATC SCM20PSL + JL Audio E-Sub e110
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May 12, 2023, 03:08 PM #20Rob
__________________________
Tascam BR-20; Technics 1506 with tape path upgrades, FM head, DeHavilland 222 tape head pre; Modwright Oppo 205 full tube mod w/LPS; Euphony Summus server, EtherRegen, HDPLEX LPS; MSB Discrete DAC (dual PS, ISLPro, balanced out); Pass Labs XP-12, XA60.8 (pair); Daedalus Audio Apollo 11’s, VMPS Larger Sub; Daedalus/Wywires, Acoustic Zen, Sablon Audio, Wireworld, Shunyata Research cables; Core Power Equi=Power;
Adona rack, Stillpoints, IsoPods, ASC, GIK Acoustics accessories
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May 12, 2023, 04:32 PM #21
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Re: Is Spotify now rivaling Quobuz and Tidal in sound quality?
Tidal has implemented some type of music list sharing now. I don't use the feature so can't say if it's as good as Spotify
Aurender ACS10 w/Audioquest Diamond USB, Esoteric N05xd
Mark Levinson #526, 534 & JBL 4367's
Clearaudio Performance DC w/Maestro cart
Clarus Concerto & their Crimson cables
HT: Marantz AV8003, Linn 5125, JBL SAM3ha, Revel s30,
SVS PC13 Ultra
Transparent, Analysis Plus & Tributaries. PS Audio filtering
Sony XBR-75X940D & BDP
Parasound P6, MBL 8006b, Artisan speakers/subwoofer
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May 13, 2023, 07:51 PM #22
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AudioShark forum is a leading forum site for High End Audio Discussion, Stereo System Discussion, Home Theater System Discussion, Best Home Stereo System Discussion, Home Theater Installation Discussion etc.
The AudioShark forum was created for sharing the passion of high-end Audio. We have Audiophiles from all over the world participating and sharing their knowledge. From novice to experts, you will find a friendly environment for discussing about High End Audio, Stereo System, Home Theater System, Home Stereo System, Home Theater Installation, Amplifiers, Speakers, Subwoofers, Integrated System, Acoustic treatments & Digital Room Corrections and many more.
At AudioShark, we also have incorporated an exciting Marketplace where members can peruse terrific buys on used gear, as well as meet dealers and discuss the purchase of new gear.
We are as crazy about this hobby as you are! So come on in and join us! Audioshark.org the Friendliest Audio Forum!
Industry Participation Disclosure : The owner and administrator of Audioshark is the owner of Suncoast Audio LLC in Sarasota Florida. Suncoast Audio has a full brick and mortar presence in Sarasota with several great show rooms with many world class brands. More information can be found at http://www.suncoastaudio.com
Audioshark is a community of like minded individuals. Audioshark welcomes participation from all manufacturers and owners of all brands and products. It is our belief that online forums provide a community of like minded audiophiles and music lovers to encourage the growth of this wonderful hobby.
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