Out of curiosity I tested the Qobuz stream buffering time of hires and CD quality tracks within Spark while streaming to the Phantoms.
I have a sublime subscription that allows Hires streaming from Qobuz when the track/album has been purchased.
I selected from Herbie Hancock the album 'Inventions and Dimensions' that I purchased from Qobuz in 24/192k quality and the album 'Speak Like a Child' from the same artist I did not purchase.
Here are my observations regarding track buffering times (the time it takes for Spark to download and buffer the entire track):
Spark setting Hi-Res:
purchased album 'Inventions and Dimensions'
- Track: Succotask (7:40) selected from purchased albums took 1:36 to buffer
- Track: Succotask (7:40) selected through normal search artist/albums took 1:38 to buffer
not purchased album 'Speak Like a Child'
- Track: Speak Like a Child (7:49) selected through normal search artist/albums took 0:25 to buffer
Spark setting Lossless (FLAC):
- Track: Succotask (7:40) selected from purchased albums took 0:27 to buffer
- Track: Succotask (7:40) selected through normal search artist/albums took 0:28 to buffer
not purchased album 'Speak Like a Child'
- Track: Speak Like a Child (7:49) selected through normal search artist/albums took 0:24 to buffer
As last I checked the file sizes Qobuz has for Succotask (7:40):
Succotask (7:40) as 16/44.1k FLAC: 44.7Mb
Succotask (7:40) as 24/96k FLAC: 154.7Mb (= 3.46 times the CD quality file size)
Succotask (7:40) as 24/192k FLAC: 265.5Mb (= 5.93 times the CD quality file size)
From these few measurements regarding buffering times I conclude:
- The buffering times were quite consistent, only 1-3 seconds different between different trials.
- Buffering of purchased albums with Hi-Res setting took about 3.5 times longer than with Lossless (FLAC). This indicates that the streaming is indeed Hires but it is rather 24/96k than 24/192k.
- With the purchased album it made no difference when I selected the files through my purchased albums or through regular search.
- The not purchased album that is also available on Qobuz as 24/192k buffered in streaming at about the same time independent on the setting Hi-Res or FLAC.
- As main conclusion I would say you really get Hires Qobuz streaming through the Spark application to the Phantoms.
- In all trials I did not experience any larger delays from selecting the track to the start of play. The streaming (as I'm used from Qobuz) was very stable without a single dropout. It was always within 1-2 second to start paying, which is a good performance, specifically for Hi-res at (I guess) 24/96k.
It should be like this, of course. Maybe others can confirm similar results. I have my doubts if 24/192k streaming would provide audibly better SQ than 24/96k streaming. And the risk of dropouts would be higher for sure as we are talking about streaming through internet.
I have a sublime subscription that allows Hires streaming from Qobuz when the track/album has been purchased.
I selected from Herbie Hancock the album 'Inventions and Dimensions' that I purchased from Qobuz in 24/192k quality and the album 'Speak Like a Child' from the same artist I did not purchase.
Here are my observations regarding track buffering times (the time it takes for Spark to download and buffer the entire track):
Spark setting Hi-Res:
purchased album 'Inventions and Dimensions'
- Track: Succotask (7:40) selected from purchased albums took 1:36 to buffer
- Track: Succotask (7:40) selected through normal search artist/albums took 1:38 to buffer
not purchased album 'Speak Like a Child'
- Track: Speak Like a Child (7:49) selected through normal search artist/albums took 0:25 to buffer
Spark setting Lossless (FLAC):
- Track: Succotask (7:40) selected from purchased albums took 0:27 to buffer
- Track: Succotask (7:40) selected through normal search artist/albums took 0:28 to buffer
not purchased album 'Speak Like a Child'
- Track: Speak Like a Child (7:49) selected through normal search artist/albums took 0:24 to buffer
As last I checked the file sizes Qobuz has for Succotask (7:40):
Succotask (7:40) as 16/44.1k FLAC: 44.7Mb
Succotask (7:40) as 24/96k FLAC: 154.7Mb (= 3.46 times the CD quality file size)
Succotask (7:40) as 24/192k FLAC: 265.5Mb (= 5.93 times the CD quality file size)
From these few measurements regarding buffering times I conclude:
- The buffering times were quite consistent, only 1-3 seconds different between different trials.
- Buffering of purchased albums with Hi-Res setting took about 3.5 times longer than with Lossless (FLAC). This indicates that the streaming is indeed Hires but it is rather 24/96k than 24/192k.
- With the purchased album it made no difference when I selected the files through my purchased albums or through regular search.
- The not purchased album that is also available on Qobuz as 24/192k buffered in streaming at about the same time independent on the setting Hi-Res or FLAC.
- As main conclusion I would say you really get Hires Qobuz streaming through the Spark application to the Phantoms.
- In all trials I did not experience any larger delays from selecting the track to the start of play. The streaming (as I'm used from Qobuz) was very stable without a single dropout. It was always within 1-2 second to start paying, which is a good performance, specifically for Hi-res at (I guess) 24/96k.
It should be like this, of course. Maybe others can confirm similar results. I have my doubts if 24/192k streaming would provide audibly better SQ than 24/96k streaming. And the risk of dropouts would be higher for sure as we are talking about streaming through internet.
