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Tidal/Deezer/Qobuz. .. AIR or Sonos?
#1
How do you guys play Tidal/Deezer? Is the recommended way via AIR from a Mac or direct attached Sonos? Any substantive sound differences?
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#2
I had tried both Tidal and Deezer. Both offers CD-quality music (well actually both stream FLAC, 16/44.1 files). Deezer CD-quality music will ONLY be played on Sonos. I had tried using Sonos Connect and Bluesound Node to play Deezer (using the same account), and Sonos definitely sounds better (you can hear the differences).

I gave up on Tidal as in China Tidal's streaming is poor and often has dropouts. And, Deezer's support is a lot better and more responsive than Tidal.
Before: Le200, KEF LS50, AQ Type4, NUC 5i5RYH/8GB/128GB M.2SSD, Roon, Win8.1/AIR2.1.3/RoonBridge, MM/AIR3/RoonBridge, QNAP TS-212P 5TB NAS, AQ NRG-X3

Now: KEF LS50W, NUC5i5RYH/8GB/128GB M.2SSD, Roon, QNAP TS-212P 5TB NAS,iFi iSilencer3.0+DC iPurifier+iPurifier2, Sonos ZP80+SPDIF iPurifier


Location: Cyberjaya, Malaysia
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#3
Hi

I'm using a sonos connect via optical To stream Deezer. Sounds pretty close to Air/JRiver streamed from a pc. I haven't tried to see if I can get flac on Deezer via the pc to try air as a direct comparison yet.

Even via Sonos, with some tracks Deezer has different mastering to my ripped CD making a comparison that way quite difficult. I think it's best not to get neurotic about this as the quality via the Devialet is way better than my old Linn and Dynavector gear whichever way I stream and I have access to 30 million tracks via Deezer!

Cheers

Chris
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#4
Love playing tidal from my squeezebox touch into usb on devialet, i can also play deezer, spotify and bbc radio at 320kb....great.
You can also do this cheaply with a rpi2 running picoreplay and lms running in the background, its solid.
Devialet 120 <> Cremona Auditor M <> roon core running on my iMac via Air Ethernet with iPad/Android remote.
MQA via Tidal app also plays great but not as user friendly as have to use splashtop app to control remotely.
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#5
(06-Apr-2015, 09:34)craigyoung Wrote: Love playing tidal from my squeezebox touch into usb on devialet, i can also play deezer, spotify and bbc radio at 320kb....great.
You can also do this cheaply with a rpi2 running picoreplay and lms running in the background, its solid.

I'm streaming Tidal through squeezelite on my HTPC->USB (ASIO) to the Devialet.
Roon->HQPlayer->McIntosh C47->McIntosh MC301s>Transparent Super->Wilson Audio Sabrinas w/ Shunyata Denali, Rega RP8, Rega Apheta 2


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#6
Let me rephrase my question. . I know that I can play via sonos - I have multiple sonos units. My question is this:

Is there a substantive quality difference between a Sonos box for Deezer/Tidal connected to the D200 vs running it on my Mac and using AIR to the D200? Further, is AIR always better (assuming it works for you) than connecting wires to the D200
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#7
I cannot tell you about Tidal or Deezer. In my setup I'm able to compare Qobuz streaming with flac's on the Sonos Connect (modified by Magna Hifi) and Qobuz streaming with my HTPC (Windows8.1+SSD) and the Qobuz desktop app running on it via Air ethernet. I do prefer the last combination SQ-wise. I'm lucky I can say that Air is running without glitches in my situation (one of the happy few).

They are close in quality, I must say, but I definitely prefer the Air connection. The Sonos upgrade by Magna Hifi to 'Ultimo' level made quite a difference I must say. It was worth every penny/Euro. Cheers, ChM 
■ Devialet 1000 Pro & Roon Lifetime ■ Dynaudio Sapphire ■ Streacom fanless HTPC-SSD (W8.1) ■ Sonos  Connect (+Magna Ultimo mod) ■ Qobuz Studio  Qnap TS 219 P II ■ v.d. Hul The Revolution LS cables ■ PS Audio Quintet ■ picture: Sony VPL-HW65ES & LG-OLED65C9
Amsterdam NL
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#8
I am also potentially interested in using a Sonos Connect for streaming Tidal or Qobuz, etc and have, in addition to the poster’s question, two further questions:
1) What is the difference in SQ between a (lossless) streaming service via Sonos and ripped CDs on, say, a MacMini/iTunes connected via AIR/Ethernet? Has anybody experimented?
2) Are there any indications that Devialet will integrate a lossless steaming service in the near future? (i.e. as Linn have done with Tidal)
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#9
(08-Apr-2015, 17:21)Charlemagne Wrote: I cannot tell you about Tidal or Deezer. In my setup I'm able to compare Qobuz streaming with flac's on the Sonos Connect (modified by Magna Hifi) and Qobuz streaming with my HTPC (Windows8.1+SSD) and the Qobuz desktop app running on it via Air ethernet. I do prefer the last combination SQ-wise. I'm lucky I can say that Air is running without glitches in my situation (one of the happy few).

They are close in quality, I must say, but I definitely prefer the Air connection. The Sonos upgrade by Magna Hifi to 'Ultimo' level made quite a difference I must say. It was worth every penny/Euro. Cheers, ChM 

Thanks - this is the answer I was looking for. . .

A side comment on Qobuz vs Tidal/Deezer Elite.  I have used all three and found Qobuz sound quality noticeably better.  Particularly with the kind of music I listen to - jazz and classical - I could easily tell which I preferred (Qobuz).  However, it suffers the same problem that Tidal has. . .lots of missing music from their catalog.
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