Using Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler to compare streaming services

Posted by: GregW on 22 February 2015

On a previous thread @allan33 made reference to Spotify's relatively poor Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits catalog.

 

I thought I'd do a comparison of the 2 services; Beats and Deezer, I'm now using. I would have included Qobuz, but with the Deezer Elite announcement I let it lapse last week. I'm using both services in Switzerland.

 

In general both services have pretty good coverage of the Dire Straits material. Beats has better Mark Knopfler coverage with the exception of Privateering, and the duet album - Neck and Neck - with Chet Atkins. Both services have the single, Beryl from the forthcoming tracker album.

 

It might be interesting to add results for Qobuz, Spotify and Tidal.

 

Mark Knopfler

 

Beats Albums (Newest to Oldest)

 

Beryl (Single)
Punish The Monkey
Get Lucky
Get Lucky (Bonus Tracks)
Kill To Get Crimson
Real Live Roadrunning
All The Boadrunning
This ls Us
One Take Radio Sessions
Boom, Like That
Shangri-La
The Ragpicker's Dream
Sailing To Philadelphia
Metroland: Music From The Film
Golden Heart
The Princess Bride
Local Hero: The Soundtrack

 

Deezer (Discography)

 

Beryl (Single)
Privateering
Privateering (Deluxe Version)
Neck And Neck
Going Home (Theme Of The Local Hero) (Live / 2014)
True Love Will Never Fade (eBundle)
Boom, Like That (International 2 track)
Boom, Like That (International Maxi Single)


Dire Straits

 

Beats Albums (Newest to Oldest)

 

Private Investigations: The Very Best Of Dire Straits And Mark Knopfler
Sultans Of Swing: The Very Best Of Dire Straits
On The Night
On Every Street
Brothers In Arms
Alchemy: Dire Straits Live
Alchemy
Love Over Gold (Remastered)
Love Over Gold
Making Movies
Communique
Dire Straits (Remastered)

 

Deezer (Discography)

 

The Best Of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler - Private Investigations
Sultans Of Swing - The Very Best Of Dire Straits
Sultans Of Swing - The Very Best Of Dire Straits (Limited Edition)
Live ln Concert
Live At The BBC
On The Night (Remastered)
On Every Street (Remastered)
Brothers In Arms (Remastered)
Alchemy: Dire Straits Live (Remastered)
Communique (Remastered)
Dire Straits (Remastered)
Love Over Gold (Remastered)
Making Movies (Remastered)
Live At Knebworth

 

Posted on: 22 February 2015 by garyi

Well you are not doing a terrific amount to attract new people to streaming thats for sure.

Posted on: 22 February 2015 by ragman
Originally Posted by garyi:

Well you are not doing a terrific amount to attract new people to streaming thats for sure.

Ride across the River ....

 

 

Posted on: 22 February 2015 by GregW
Originally Posted by garyi:

Well you are not doing a terrific amount to attract new people to streaming thats for sure.

Not sure I fully understand. MK & DS a bit dull or the gaps in the catalog?

Posted on: 23 February 2015 by Romi

Wow on my CD Dire Straits always sound very good and its exactly not the type of music to bring to an upgrade audition because Dire Straits music (on CD   will sound good on majority of systems. In addition my local HiFi dealer will not stock any streaming components because in his opinion music from streaming is inferior to sound quality in comparison to Cd when comparing the cost of the two systems.  So he stocks Cdp and turntables as his sources and his stock reach very high end HiFi.

Posted on: 23 February 2015 by SamS
Originally Posted by Romi:

....... In addition my local HiFi dealer will not stock any streaming components because in his opinion music from streaming is inferior to sound quality in comparison to Cd when comparing the cost of the two systems.  So he stocks Cdp and turntables as his sources and his stock reach very high end HiFi.

I suspect he has to earn a living. Given that many here are getting equivalent/better than top CDP results from simple Mac mini or Squeezebox front ends with decent mid priced DACS, I would question your dealers bias and give a dealer with an open mind a go. I would certainly think very, very hard before dropping 'very high end HiFi' £ on a CDP these days. 

Posted on: 23 February 2015 by Romi
Originally Posted by SamS:
Originally Posted by Romi:

....... In addition my local HiFi dealer will not stock any streaming components because in his opinion music from streaming is inferior to sound quality in comparison to Cd when comparing the cost of the two systems.  So he stocks Cdp and turntables as his sources and his stock reach very high end HiFi.

I suspect he has to earn a living. Given that many here are getting equivalent/better than top CDP results from simple Mac mini or Squeezebox front ends with decent mid priced DACS, I would question your dealers bias and give a dealer with an open mind a go. I would certainly think very, very hard before dropping 'very high end HiFi' £ on a CDP these days. 

You may be right and I was a little surprised by his decision but then he explained that to get equivalent sound quality to a CDP from Streaming you have to spend a lot more money.  He has acted on his beliefs and he is not just testing the market, so there must be some merit in his belief and besides some Naimees on HiFi Corner thread have confirmed or argued just that belief.  I personally never heard a Mac mini or a Squeezebox via a DAC , I do not know how to do streaming and cannot find one single Website on Google which would explain in simple English in lay mans terms how to do streaming from start to finish.  I have used turntables, cdp and reel to reel tapes as sources, none of it is complicated, why is Streaming such a mystery..?  The nearest I got to it is playing Internet Radio on a wireless connection.