Do you still use Spotify?

Yes, I still have both on my NDS. The only reason I use Spotify is to see if their catalog includes an albums that are missing from Tidal. I guess I am comparing the catalogs of the two services as part of my evaluation of each.

I still almost exclusively listen to Tidal instead of Spotify due to it's far superioir sound quality. Still irritated however by the drop outs on Tidal that do appear to be lessening.

I don't have access to Tidal.  Had Spotify for a while but decided to quit. Didn't like the quality and for exploring new things I use You Tube or other mechanisms.

Regards.

Erich

When the free trials end, I'll ditch the lot of them as a protest against the substantial overcharging we're expected to tolerate in the UK. £10 in the UK, $10 in the US. They can all go and stick their 'rip off Britain' products where the sun don't shine as far as I'm concerned.

Yes - Tidal is not yet working anywhere near where it should be for me here in Singapore. Averaging 2-3 dropouts per track most evenings and weekends. Even if I select High quality (320) on Tidal I still have dropouts which I don't get with Spotify.

Tidal is still a bit behind Spotify in licensing some of the artists/albums I'd like to listen to e.g. T.Rex.

Tidal implementation in the Naim android app is not as good as the native Spotify App - I need to keep resetting the display ordering for my music and it crashes daily (Google Nexus 5 and 7).

Spotify discovery knocks spots off Tidal - I really like Spotify's weekly 30 playlist which always throws up some good new/old music I hadn't heard or had forgotten.

Despite all this, I will still go with Tidal if they can fix the dropouts as the sound quality is so much better, but right now Tidal wouldn't be worth it for me even at $3/month. The service is just not ready for primetime..

Best scenario all round would be if Spotify added reliable CD-res streaming, I would pay $20/month no problem.

Ditto, I am using Spotify more than ever as dropouts in Tidal are totally unacceptable. Occasional tracks with play through but 80% have at least 4-5 dropouts per song and so no point listening. I would happily pay the $20 a month for Tidal if it provides acceptable service , but when free period ends that will be the end of Tidal for me.A pity.

I've dropped Spotify, as I'm not really interested in sub-CD quality services. I'm lucky enough not to be suffering much from Tidal technical problems, and I'm pleased that they now seem to be providing gapless even though they haven't announced it. I'd still prefer Qobuz, but I'm enjoying Tidal's integration into Naim.

I have both. Yesterday, I decided to play the new Jeff Lynne Alone in the Universe album and gave a listen to Enya's treacly new offering. Both of these are of course very good recordings and the output from Spotify was fine, asbare all good recordings.  Older, poorer recordings do sound pretty awful through Spotify, but so do my poorly recorded CDs. Tidal is very good but has limited availability of my own favoured music, but have never yet had a problem with Tidal itself.

Tidal trial runs out in January and probably will not go any further with it, primarily because I have lots of playlists and music on Spotify. Have been messing around with ripping to my NAS and am listening to some of it on my Muso as I write. Here we have the same situation. Remastered or well recorded new stuff sounds great, but the poor stuff still sounds, err, poor. Using my Muso app on the iPad to output flac music from the NAS is also fine, but can I find a satisfactory way to do this from a MacBook Air, it's pathetic. I used dbpoweramp to load the limited amount, outside of iTunes, on to the NAS, but the challenge to do the whole lot, recatalogue etc is daunting. Nevertheless, that which is on the NAS is  probably the best to my ears. 

My experience exactly - Spotify sound quality was just not good enough - annoyingly worse than say Radio Paradise which I can enjoy and is supposedly the same bit rate. Tidal is fine apart from the occasional drop out which seems to be becoming less frequent.

I have never used Spotify. I didn't update the NDS until the introduction of Tidal. Although I used Tidal when it was first offered, now I find that I'm scarcely using it at all. In fact I hardly use the NDS, preferring instead the sound of vinyl to all things digital.

Since Tidal was implementedi have dropped Spotify.

The catalogue was perhaps better than Tidal, but I never came away from listening to Spotify on my system feeling satisfied somehow.

I was able to convert all of my Spotify created playlists into Tidal playlists losing just the odd track or two in the process so there was no reason to hold me back from switching.

I like the SQ of Tidal, I like the Naim integration and I also rarely suffer any dropouts, luckily, unlike others on here.

As long as I can afford it in Hi-Fi quality, I will continue.

Should my circumstances change, I imagine this would be one of the first luxuries I would switch off though.

My elder son uses Spotify extensively on the Naim, but I've rarely used it - just enough to know the sound is rasping and unpleasant. I use Tidal more . . . I'm undecided on whether I use it enough to subscribe when the free period runs out.

Whilst the sound quality on Tidal is superior I still find myself using Spotify quite regularly for music discovery.  The Spotify curated playlists are really good, not only for new music but for music I wouldn't ordinarily listen to.  I find Tidal very poor in this area.  For me Tidal is okay if you know what you want to listen to, but I'm curious and like to discover new or unusual music and Tidal just doesn't cut it IMO.

Another Spotify feature I like is the social / playlist sharing / following which is another area where Tidal have some catching up to do.

Lossless streaming on Spotify would be perfect and make me extremely happy.  I wonder why they're taking so long to do make this available.

I'm using ITunes streaming for my IPhone and to create playlists for fun and to discover artists.

I have plugged my PC and IPhone to my system through the MAC TV Box. I'm listening from time to time to streaming music on my system, but the quality is definitevely poor. So, I'm listening to the music thhat I have transferred on my PC, in the original CD format for a better quality; it needs more space but storage is cheap.

It's okay to listen streaming music on my Iphone, at the office, in the subway. At home, it's different.

My question is: what others are doing ?

Listening to music with CD's on their HIFI system and listen to streaming music for the convenience. What elements of your system hhave you changed ? Stille a need for a CD unit ?

Largely listening to music via UPNP from a NAS to my 172xs. Sometimes vinyl, sometimes Tidal. Sold my CD player years ago and certainly don't miss it.

My elder son listens to Spotify on the Naim, but I don't, and I don't have a subscription now. I wish Tidal was more reliable and the range of music greater, and then I would consider switching to cloud-based streaming. One day someone will crack that, I'm sure, but for now I use Tidal for music I don't own, or don't like enough to own.

What I'm saying is that music over Spotify or Itunes is very practical but compressed almost ten times compared to the original format..

If you buy the banking system from Naim or others HIFI mfgrs it's expensive compare to a PC or Sportify, but you don't loose anything..( if you save in the original format)

So what's he purpose to have a HIFI system connected to a unit that gives compressed music like MP3 or AAC ?

...bound to say that it sounds alright to me and the firmware update to 4.3 seemed to improve the SQ ? I have no complaints...

I use Spotify as a source after Vinyl, CD.

Ditched Spotify Premium for Tidal HiFi.

Still using Spotify free version on the Muso via airplay.

The playlists on Spotify are much better.

Tidal keeps having drpouts on the Muso if connected directly using the Naim App.

When I use ipad, iphone, imac or macbook air with Tidal Browser App and stream it to the Muso via airplay I never had a dropout (really strange!)

An Airport Express is connected with ethernet cable to the Muso, the Muso Wifi connection was very unreliable, almost useless.

Best regards

JR

A good reference is in Stereophile.com

The title of the document is MP3 vs AAC vs FLAC vs CD by John Atkinson. It's clear and well done. It helps to understand the difference between the different formats.

The best way to appreciate is to do your own test. Listen to a CD and then listen to the same song on your IPhone, Spotify or other. Suggestion: In our eyes from Peter Gabriel or Viva la Vida from Coldplay.

Not on my streamer anymore.

I do enjoy Spotify for the purpose of casual music discovery (esp on my mobile device) but it is too much to pay for so I have terminated my subscription.

Our family spent Thanksgiving week in Los Angeles.  We visited a cool restaurant called Petit Trois.  They played French Hip Hop in the background, about a half a world away from what I hear at home,  and I wondered how I could ever put my hands on a selection.  Sure enough, there is a Petit Trois playlist with 350 followers on Spotify.  It is interesting to me how products and services use Spotify to build their brand.  Imogene and Willie is another hip brand on Spotify.   Sure I have a closet full of vinyl and CD's, but my band width is finite and Spotify helps me see the whole world in a way that I would never do otherwise.  

What Spotify lacks in sound quality, it more than makes up in breadth.  Well worth the monthly debit In my opinion.

No I hate the slow down of my of which it creates and I think with Qobuz I have a better quality (cd quality).