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Lossless Streaming Comparisons.....

SWL3600

SWL3600

Super Member
Between Tidal HI-FI, Amazon HD, Qobuz and Deezer.....how would you compare/rank them vs each other?

I've yet to check out Qobuz and Deezer. My Tidal HI-FI experience on a Windows 10 desktop app was a huge disappointment.

Right now I'm using Amazon HD and I'm finding that the mobile app through Android/CCA sounds better than the desktop app. The desktop app has a lot of songs in SD where the mobile app through android seems to have everything I'm looking for in HD and/or HD Ultra.

Who's gonna sink or swim? Will Spotify ever go with Lossless streaming? I don't see it happening any time soon but I'm crossing my fingers.

Does anyone else know what a cd player is? A turntable? Not me.....:music:
 
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Been streaming since 2012. Started w/ MOG .. really liked it .. was only using it on my Desktop PC nearfield set-up.

Then went to XBOX Music which was free at the time .. then signed up for a Special w/ Spotify premium and latter RDIO.All were on nearfield set-up as well. My Desktop rig was very basic .. not very discerning or revealing .. so all the services sounded similar to me at the time .. hindsight being 20/20.

Went from nearfield to incorporating streaming in my traditional stereo living room rig. Just prior to that .. signed up for Tidal (lossy) for purely economic reasons .. military discount that gave me the service for a dollar more then I was paying for MOG some years earlier. Been rolling w/ Tidal lossy since. Various streaming upgrades and I'm getting a really good sound to my ears :music: for the kinds of music I stream .. which is mostly post legacy Vinyl era. Usually upgrade streaming rig (one way or another) once a year .. so far have not reached a point of "diminishing returns" to my ears.

Still have a TT and a 30 year collection of Vinyl from the Classic Rock era .. occasionally buy some newly pressed Vinyl as well.
When I play Classic Rock .. usually it's on Vinyl. Never sold my CD collection but don't spin them .. most (greatest hits, anthology, best of .. etc) are ripped to DAP and used for summer walks or in the car .. basically mobile use.

Will I switch to lossless .. :dunno: .. maybe if Tidal (stays around) and pulls a Qobuz (stops offering MP3 option). If the price was not much different (per month) on MP3 (lossy) vs Lossless .. I'll go lossless. It's purely a budget decision to me. I like having a subscription to Tidal .. even though I'm running lossy .. I like supporting a lossless streaming company .. which I believe should be an option in the marketplace.
 
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I'm using Qobuz sublime and I'm finding it sounds as good as the files on my NAS drive. Beings I use the same audio equipment for both, I'd be surprised If it didn't.
 
Qobuz is the best IME, but I also have a Deezer subscription for their broader selection. I had Tidal for a while, and thought it was really overrated - sometimes equal, but often inferior to CDs ripped to my server. Haven't tried Amazon HD.
 
I am currently using both Tidal and Qobuz with Roon Core on a dedicated music server.

With standard CD-quality titles, I cannot hear a difference between the two streaming services or a difference between streaming and my ripped files.
 
The main issue with Amazon is the lack of "exclusive mode". Tidal uses MQA. That leaves Qobuz, which is what I am currently using with Macs running Audirvana. This also gives your the ability to control the app with an iOS device.

In other words, I think Qobuz is the clear winner right now. That is just my opinion based on using Tidal, Amazon and Qobuz services.
 
Qobuz is the only one I subscribe to, having had Deezer and tidal in the past (and tidal was through numerous free trials, since I won't support a company that supports mqa). I found suspect files on tidal that were lossless yet sounded bad, which was supposedly due to digital watermarking on the files provided to them from the record company. So tidal had serious trust issues with me. Deezer did nothing to attract me, and neither Deezer nor Amazon HD can be integrated with Roon, so that rules them out. Plus I don't care to give money to Bezos Inc. if I don't have to.
 
Wildcat said:
Qobuz is the only one I subscribe to, having had Deezer and tidal in the past (and tidal was through numerous free trials, since I won't support a company that supports mqa). I found suspect files on tidal that were lossless yet sounded bad, which was supposedly due to digital watermarking on the files provided to them from the record company. So tidal had serious trust issues with me. Deezer did nothing to attract me, and neither Deezer nor Amazon HD can be integrated with Roon, so that rules them out. Plus I don't care to give money to Bezos Inc. if I don't have to.
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I just gave Roon the heave ho in the past couple of days . I really wanted it to be a thing that would work for me, but several things about it continue to bug me concerning the rather poorly designed interface. However I will miss Roon Radio, and that's what made it a tougher decision. I do get Roon now a little better tho. Roon is primarily a service, not an in depth software application. Now I am finding that the Qobuz app on my win 10 is in some ways a better interface than Roon, but limited of course.

Audirvana ever since the latest upgrade has been a no go, hangs up and other bugs and refuses to even start on my laptop. Hopefully at some point they will return to focus on their windows version as much as the Mac one. Until then I'll be forced to stream from the QB app.
 
imral3 said:
However, you did mention getting mostly SD on your desktop. So, there's that.
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To clarify.....on my desktop I get mostly HD and Ultra HD but I get several tracks that show SD. On the Android/CCA EVERYTHING shows either HD or Ultra HD.

A lot of times I'll compare Amazon HD to Spotify Premium on the desktop. So many times an HD or an Ultra HD track will sound no different than a 320 track on Spotify. Not the case with Android/CCA......they always sound better.

I've noticed that on the Amazon desktop app that less song skipping as well as reinstalling the app temporarily fixes this. There's a guy on the Hoffman Audio thread that was experiencing the same thing and I think he figured out the problem. I'll have revisit that site and check it out.
 
I tried Spotify Premium , Apple Music , Deezer Premium and Tidal Hifi

Spotify by far had the worse sound quality. Apple is a bit better , Deezer is another step above and Tidal Hifi is by far the best sounding streaming service tried.

i stil use Tidal Hifi , it sounds great but the app on ios/tvos is a bit buggy. The Tidal app on my apple tv 4k is really bad. I can’t even put a song in a playlist , i can only select the whole album.

i haven’t tried Qobuz yet.
 
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