Spotify vs Qobuz

I've come across many posts (our users and others) that said they used Spotify to discover new music and listen with their other streaming accounts, and personally I'm impressed with Spotify for coming up with music that matches what I listened to.

If one does not really want to pay for it since it will not be used for serious listening, there is also Spotify Free. The Spotify Free account (as opposed to free trial of the paid Premium account), however, is obviously restricted in various ways, but at least with a streamer with authentic (i.e. not open source / reverse engineered) Spotify Connect SDK, you can stream it to your gear even with a Free account. Occasionally I tell users to create a Spotify Free account to verify their internet connectivity when they encounter streaming difficulties.

Spotify is the better experience for me. The sound quality of Spotify Premium is quite exceptional on an optimized digital playback system.

wklie said:

I've come across many posts (our users and others) that said they used Spotify to discover new music and listen with their other streaming accounts, and personally I'm impressed with Spotify for coming up with music that matches what I listened to.

If one does not really want to pay for it since it will not be used for serious listening, there is also Spotify Free. The Spotify Free account (as opposed to free trial of the paid Premium account), however, is obviously restricted in various ways, but at least with a streamer with authentic (i.e. not open source / reverse engineered) Spotify Connect SDK, you can stream it to your gear even with a Free account. Occasionally I tell users to create a Spotify Free account to verify their internet connectivity when they encounter streaming difficulties.

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Great advice.

The current player I am using I'm running Squeeze Player on so it seems to integrate well with Qobuz and Spotify.

I couldn't imagine using Spotify soley though for serious high-end listening. But to each their own.

MichaelsMinute said:

So I keep hearing how good Spotify is at curating new music so I wanted to try it for myself. They are offering a free trial and I signed up.

The hype is real - REALLY good at finding me great new music, and past songs I really enjoy. Wanting to try testing it with a less typical genre, I searched for 'Dirty Electro' as in the past Qobuz produced nothing worthwhile. The same search on Spotify had an entire playlist ready to go with some really, really good music.

I do think the app is overly complicated on Spotify vs. Quboz. Plus Spotify ONLY has a dark UI, not a light one, and forces music books on my home page with no way yo turn that stuff off. In this regards, Spotify is pretty far behind others (Tidal is also a superior user experience in my opinion).

SQ is not bad, but when comparing the same songs between Spotify and Qobuz there is a pretty noticeable difference. Spotify isn't bad, but certainly not as good as Qobuz.

I think I'm going to keep Spotify to find the music, then find it on Qobuz to listen to.

Anyone else compared them?

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I don't listen to electro music but maybe this isn't the "one" you were searching for but me searching for those words you noted, I got this

brodricj said:

Spotify is the better experience for me. The sound quality of Spotify Premium is quite exceptional on an optimized digital playback system.

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What sample rates does Spotify Premium stream? Is it even lossless?

Don't fall into this sample rate marketing trap. Spotify Premium is 320 kbps. Most of the music I listen to is in Electronic genre. When I find music I like on Spotify or Sound Cloud I try to source it on CD. When I couldn't find one particular album on CD I reached out to the artist and asked why he doesn't publish his music on CD? His answer was, all his remixes start out as 320 kbps sourced from the original artist. There is no point in producing his music at CD sample rates because the original content he starts out with is 320 kbps. And this is entirely consistent with my findings at home. For a lot of content in Electronic genre, streaming from Spotify Premium does not sound significantly different to playing the CD on my Grandioso transport. That is because the content was created at 320 kbps. I would defy almost all but golden ear audiophiles from being able to pick the difference between Spotify Premium and CD in this genre. Both sources sound virtually identical.

brodricj said:

Don't fall into this sample rate marketing trap. Spotify Premium is 320 kbps. Most of the music I listen to is in Electronic genre. When I find music I like on Spotify or Sound Cloud I try to source it on CD. When I couldn't find one particular album on CD I reached out to the artist and asked why he doesn't publish his music on CD? His answer was, all his remixes start out as 320 kbps sourced from the original artist. There is no point in producing his music at CD sample rates because the original content he starts out with is 320 kbps. And this is entirely consistent with my findings at home. For a lot of content in Electronic genre, streaming from Spotify Premium does not sound significantly different to playing the CD on my Grandioso transport. That is because the content was created at 320 kbps. I would defy almost all but golden ear audiophiles from being able to pick the difference between Spotify Premium and CD in this genre. Both sources sound virtually identical.

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Your response feels more defensive than mine does trapped.

My response explains why Spotify is my preferred source of content. It sounds no different to lossless CD quality. Because much of the content I like was created at 320 kbps.

Peace.

There's a CLEAR difference between Spotify Premium 320kb and Red Book CD quality. I can easily hear the difference on my system. Of course, Spotify doesn't even compare to Qobuz.

I stream Spotify in the car and at work via Bluetooth on the boom box in the shop.

Naturally, I stream only Qobuz on my home system. And honestly, I have no issues with the way Qobuz curates music for me whenever I let it do so.

Now Tidal on the other hand, I could be listening to Bruce Hornsby or J.S. Bach, then stupid Tidal would start throwing in hip-hop and rap garbage. One of many reasons I dumped Tidal.

I really like the sound quality of Qobuz. However their search option is BAD. I like the band Om and have been listing to their album Advaitic Songs. So I made this band a favorite. But when I look at the albums by that band I see many many albums except albums by the the band Om. This happens with many more artists. Looking for classical music can be a real pain as well.

Learned a few things from this thread.

1) I don’t seem to be alone in that neither Roon, nor Qobuz is particularly good at curating new songs following an album, or playlist playing.
2) I swapped from Tidal to Qobuz when it became available in the US due to both the interjection of often explicit rap, and images, into my system, when not asked for.
3) A Spotify account might be the better way to find new music, and replace SeriusXM in my car.

My wife (big on listening to music, not a gear head) has been totally on her own Spotify account for years, playing on her computer, and through the Sonos system in the house. I’ve never messed with her Spotify account, except to debug for her. She did mention that her curation got a lot better when she went through her list of favorites and deselected songs that she no longer liked.

I have a few short playlists in Qobuz, none in Roon, ad don’t typically “favorite” much. Makes me wonder if I put more effort into either, that either Roon, or Qobuz would do a better job at curating songs once mine run out.

Of course my enjoyment of music is pretty diverse, and mood dictates current listening.

Bones13 said:

Learned a few things from this thread.

1) I don’t seem to be alone in that neither Roon, nor Qobuz is particularly good at curating new songs following an album, or playlist playing.
2) I swapped from Tidal to Qobuz when it became available in the US due to both the interjection of often explicit rap, and images, into my system, when not asked for.
3) A Spotify account might be the better way to find new music, and replace SeriusXM in my car.

My wife (big on listening to music, not a gear head) has been totally on her own Spotify account for years, playing on her computer, and through the Sonos system in the house. I’ve never messed with her Spotify account, except to debug for her. She did mention that her curation got a lot better when she went through her list of favorites and deselected songs that she no longer liked.

I have a few short playlists in Qobuz, none in Roon, ad don’t typically “favorite” much. Makes me wonder if I put more effort into either, that either Roon, or Qobuz would do a better job at curating songs once mine run out.

Of course my enjoyment of music is pretty diverse, and mood dictates current listening.

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Hello - Qobuz IMO is still far superior to Tidal in curation, but not as good as Spotify.

The Spotify app is pretty horrible for user experience on many levels. Pretty sad a company as large as them can't figure out UI. This seems to be a common complaint with many users.

Mordante said:

I really like the sound quality of Qobuz. However their search option is BAD. I like the band Om and have been listing to their album Advaitic Songs. So I made this band a favorite. But when I look at the albums by that band I see many many albums except albums by the the band Om. This happens with many more artists. Looking for classical music can be a real pain as well.

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So you are saying that when you search in Qobuz you don't find any albums by Om. Not sure I follow unless you made that particular album a fav and that album is not showing up as one of your fav.

If Qobuz is lacking in suitable playlists or in prompting you to new music (based on your previous listening), you have looked at Spotify Premium that attracts a subscription (unless you put up with ads) and offers poorer sound quality.

Rather than consider Spotify, why not use Roon? This maintains the quality of Qobuz or Tidal, or your own Library, is ad free and offers its "Radio" feature that adds tracks after your chosen tracks have ended. Best of both worlds perhaps?

This Radio feature is the only aspect of Roon that I found truly useful during my one month trial. Apart from that feature, I find that using BluOS with Qobuz or Tidal is just as good as Roon. BluOS offers "similar artists" but this needs positive accessing and then visiting those new artists' pages. Not as helpful as Roon's Radio, but at least it's free.

I don't use Roon so no reason to defend them, however, I have friends who do and I thought it did a great job of picking tracks after a song has ended. Either we might have been looking or my friend out of the room when a track ended and Roon had always picked and played a track similar to what just ended. In fact, this feature makes me wish I could use Roon.

Sometimes I take some classical music in the car on Qobuz. Always, after the last track it chooses a Beethoven Symphony, within the first 5 tracks. The choice is not bad, but a little bit more creativity would be appreciated.

As I've before, I dumped Roon almost a year ago and haven't missed it one bit.

Been streaming Qobuz via Auralic's Lightning DS app on the iPad or Linn Kazoo on the laptop. I have never had any complaints about what Qobuz curates for me after the album I was listening to has ended. In fact, for me, it does every bit as good a job as Roon did.

As for the Qobuz search feature, I have never had any problems finding a band or artist I was looking for, along with whatever albums they have, likewise with the band Om.

Has anyone tried JPlay IOS? It is a control app developed by Marcin, founder of JCAT.

Having purchased a new DAC last fall (Briscasti M1 Series II) with its NetCard there is the option of using the M1 as an endpoint via Ethernet.
Getting into the Ethernet thing is has been an issue in itself but the challenge of running cable through the walls and learning about ethernet protocols and terminating cable has been part of the fun.
Anyway, using a Bryston BDP3 set to DLNA/server mode and attaching it and the M1 to my router via Ethernet, JPlay IOS grabs ripped albums (BDP3) and Qobuz favorites in one neat interface. Each can be view seperately as well.

After a selected album plays, JPlay then chooses another track from ripped albums, Qobuz favorites or from Qobuz at large in a similar genre. It too grabs information about the artist and album/track.
It actually seems to be getting better at finding stuff on Qobuz the more it is used(?).

As a relatively new app, there are a few glitches but Marcin is active in forums and updates are issued. JPlay IOS can be used in conjunction with a NAS and MinimServer
making a separate music server unnecessary. Perhaps better in my case as the BDP3 with current firmware was not primarily designed to be a server only.

All in all it's running stable and I'm happy with the results so far. Now to see what kind of additional SQ can be squeezed out of this new Ethernet set-up. Lots of ideas have be gleamed from various threads here.

Enjoy the Sounds,

John