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Spotify vs tidal vs qobuz
#1
Good evening all, 

What do I try for someone who is completely new to streaming please?

Leaning toward Qobuz but is the price premium worth it?

Thought I'd ask before I sign up to all 3 to try!
Living Room: Devialet Dione
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#2
I'm a big fan of Roon and both Tidal and Qobuz are fully integrated so either of those would get my nod. I've used all three and I personally lean toward Qobuz, particularly if you want to take advantage of the hi-res streaming.
Devialet 440 Pro (two 220s)- Oracle CD transport - Kuzma Stabi S/Stogi S turntable - Von Schweikert VR-35 speakers - JPS SC3 SCs - PI Audio power conditioning -
Triode Wire Labs ICs and PCs - Roon on NUC 8i7beh running ROCK
Durham, NC USA
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#3
If you can get Qobuz, that may be the best service if, as I understand it, you like classical music. It is not available (yet) in Canada. Spotify has the largest music selection, but is generally a lower quality stream (that may not actually matter; recording and mastering quality are the critical factors IMHO). Tidal is good quality but as it is owned by Jay-Z the music focus is, I think, quite hip-hop and peripheral styles.

We've had Tidal twice and cancelled it. Deezer Hi Fi is our preference. A better / larger music library, FLAC files, and to my ears, sound quality that is equal to Tidal.

It seems that the price between services is the same for streams of equal quality/ file size. I'd sign up for all three, see how they sound and test the library size and selection, and then drop the one or two that you like least.
Damon
Powernode, NAD M32, Cambridge CD transport, Analysis Plus, Nordost, iFi Nova, CSS Criton 1TDX, KEF C62
Vancouver, Canada
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#4
I am also a deezer fanboy.

Good quality, great app and desktop software, as well as very good A.I. Behind their recommandation engine. Highly recommended
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#5
Spotify sounds surprisingly good on CI card and has best music selection and application.
But you should try all available services using free trial periods.
Fanless HdPlex (HQPlayer) -> Merging Hapi -> Genelec 8351B
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#6
Thank you all.

There is an offer for 3 months Spotify for 99p, so I went for it. No brainer really!

I have a Topping D50 DAC which does 24bit/768khz but even the 24bit/192khz on Qobuz are like 100mb each (I downloaded one just to try and listen to the quality).

I think streaming may be the way forward for me otherwise I'll need to invest in physical storage!

I'll see what Spotify is like and maybe use Qobuz to download the songs I really like.
Living Room: Devialet Dione
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#7
(18-May-2019, 13:04)maxijazz Wrote: Spotify sounds surprisingly good on CI card...

I agree.  On my previous set-up (D200 fed by Bluesound Node 2 via both digital and analog, the latter so I could use the Node DAC for MQA final unfolding) Spotify sounded good.

On my current set-up, with Spotify Connect streamed directly to the CI board on my D220, it is leagues better.  Really surprised me!
Devialet Expert 220 Pro Kinki EX-M7 power amp tethered to a fiber-fed Lumin X1 streamer via Grimm XLRs, Vivid B1 Decade speakers in Rosso Barchetta red (only 200 produced in a limited edition), Roon Nucleus with a Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SSD, etherREGEN switch fed by a Sonore opticalModule (and Sonore-supplied transceivers and 1M optical cable) with a SOtM dCBL-Cat7 cable to my Nucleus and a DH Labs Reunion Cat8 to my Lumin T2 streamer, Keces P8 linear power supply feeding a (to come) NUC and EtherREGEN switch with an external AfterDark OCXO clock., and opticalModule (5V/1A), AudioQuest Niagara 1000 power conditioner, ASI LiveLine loom (purchased directly from Franck Tchang when I lived in France), Less Loss Firewall for Speakers and Roon lifetime license with Tidal streaming.
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#8
Spotify is equalized!
Direct and best over all quality in following ranking

1. Quboz
2.Tidal
3. Spotify

Not includes Amazon Music, Apple Music and others.

Audiophile greetings
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#9
For more than half a year, I relish Qobuz Sublime+. It‘s expensive, agreed, but streaming is very good. Most of all, it makes me independent of this MQA business I would have to pay extra on my Aurender N100H.
SonicTransporter i5 - AirPort Extreme - Devialet Expert 120 - ATC SCM 19 v1
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#10
I’ve used Spotify, Qobuz and Tidal. I’ve now given up my sub to Spotify but keep those for Qobuz and Tidal (for the moment) as there’s enough distinct content on each to make it worthwhile for me. Like most people on this site, though, f I had to go for only one, it’d be Qobuz. This decision is based more on its fit with my musical taste than with SQ, which is to my old ears fine on both.
(Marantz cd7 || Linn-Lyra Kleos || Naim NAT01 || Roon Rock) -> DM CI -> Magico S5, with various wires interceding, mostly Transparent, the rest Opaque, I suppose
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