Spotify

There was talk about it a good while ago but it never materialised so 320k with Premium is the best you’ll get. If you want better quality then best to switch to Tidal HiFi which is FLAC and it integrates nicely with the Naim app too, music curation is not as good as Spotify but I can find most stuff I’m in to without a problem. Why not take out the free 3 month trial? 

Thanks MERKY I think I’ll have to go to Tidal but was told Spotify were recently trialing a lossless service to select customers. I like the Spotify site and am reluctant to leave if they are about to roll out a lossless service. 

I never found Spotify to sound particularly good, Apple Music although only 256k sounds considerably better, Tidal is very good though and as close as you’ll get to a CD and frequently indistinguishable. Probably just a matter of time before all the main subscription services are lossless though. 

I have Tidal and Spotify, even Deezer at one point (to be honest mainly due to a family account and until recently Tidal did not work in the car).

I managed to listen a few times, to a few tracks to Spotify Extreme, yes the UI is easier as native, but the sound is dire, limp and lifeless, but i prefer the Spotify playlists as Tidal is very US of A orientated.

I also used HiRes rips to USB, which are clearer better, than Tidal or Spotify.

In conclusion though Tidal wins, a slight compromise vs ripped and all the ease.

Of course, a lot will depend on whether Tidal have what you want to listen to...

I use Spotify free service, app running on my Mac Mini into Dave DAC, and whilst some things suffer significantly from the compression, I’ve been surprised by how good other things have sounded, so it probably depends on what you listen to and what is playing it. I, too, have heard rumours of higher resolution but not seen (heard!), though I wouldn’t subscribe if it became available because I only use it to audition new music, when quality of the sound isn’t a key concern, and for serious listening only use my locally stored collection which assist decfrom resolution is totally stable, reliable and available indefinitely.

John L F posted:

Thanks MERKY I think I’ll have to go to Tidal but was told Spotify were recently trialing a lossless service to select customers. I like the Spotify site and am reluctant to leave if they are about to roll out a lossless service. 

I think it's a shame that Spotify sound is so poor, as in all other respects, I think it's the best of the web streaming services. You can always do the free trial of Tidal and see what you think. You could also try Qobuz, which you can use with the Nova with Chromecast. I have had a couple of very bad customer service experiences with Qobuz, but apart from that, you may like the sound quality and wide choice they offer. 

To me Spotify has more attack and oohmp. But soundstage is more flat and overall sound more compressed. But with Naim that doesn't matter much.

John L F posted:

I have recently purchased a Nova with Dynaudio special forty speakers using Naim cable. 

I am extremely happy with the sound but the system clearly demonstrates the limits of Spotify. I heard sometime ago that Spotify were looking at lossless quality service and wonder if anybody on this site has any recent information regarding Spotify’s intentions. I would happily pay an additional fee for lossless quality as up to now I’ve been happy with the service.

Do take a look at Qobuz - they offer CD or higher quality streaming packages for use with Chromecast based playback on phones/tablets or their desktop app which also now support UPnP.

Not tried Tidal myself, but already subscribing to Qobuz and Apple Music I don't really feel the need.

Many of the streaming options may be influenced by your musical preferences, Qobuz are particularly strong for classical music.

Qobuz is particularly good for EDM (electronic dance music) EPs as well, I found its selection of European pop, rock and folk better than Tidal as well... I think Tidal is more US centric.

Thanks for the replies. I think the problem is that apart from sound quality in all other respects Spotify is the best provider and sound decent on non specialist equipment used by the majority of users negating the need for them to spend money improving sound quality for minority users.