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Music streaming services


wuzzzer

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I've never paid for one, just used Pandora mainly.  Thinking of upgrading to a paid, high quality service.  I'd be using either my TV or my UHD player's apps.  I know Spotify is on my UHD player but I'm not sure of any others.

What do you use?

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I've been waiting for Spotify's HiFi service to come out, but sadly that didn't happen last year.  I still use it though and generally like the service though.  Seems to have the largest catalogue all around for music.  Tidal was a second choice, but it's missing quite a bit, and the pain from having to move my already existing playlists is enough to irk me a bit.  Plus it's not Sync friendly. haha

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Spotify???  I'd stay as far away from Spotify as I could.  Neil Young called out podcaster Joe Rogan for providing false Covid info.  He pulled all his music,  Then Joni Mitchell pulled all of her music and today I'm thinking the Foo Fighters pulled their stuff.  Going to be interesting watching the artist's solidarity.

 

Just some info I saw when I checked it out a bit ago.  

https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-lifestyle/star-entertainment/spotify-removes-neil-young-songs-after-ultimatum?&geo=en_US&p2=^EQ^zz00us^&lang=en&doi=2018-11-19&o=ATCHHP

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I'm using Amazon Music Unlimited. I already had an Amazon Music subscription for my Echo, so it was an inexpensive upgrade to go to the Unlimited level when I got my Bluesound Node. I've been happy with it. I can't think of anything I've tried to find that hasn't been available, and everything is CD quality or better. Most of what I listen to is High Res. They claim to have some MQA, but I haven't found any so far.

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I was skeptical of streaming quality several years ago. But after a free 2 month trial subscription to Tidal's top tier and BluOS for the streamer there was no going back. On my system, IMO the sound quality is superior. (Check out my profile equipment list for all the other sources I use).

 

The downside of Tidal? First, their search engine sucks. Lots of people say that Tidal doesn't have a lot of music they're looking for. Not necessarily true.

 

Tidal's staff really needs to learn how to archive artist, composer, title & genre better. Classical recordings are particularly a mess. A lot of what you search for and can't find is because of the way Tidal has it cataloged, and how/what you entered for the search.

 

Another thing is I’ve found it easier to search and manage my lists using a browser as opposed to using the app on my tablet. The tablet and browser user interface do not look or interact the same way. They are very different, almost as if they were different platforms/services. It’s often difficult to find certain music using the app, even if you’ve added it to some of your own lists. If you can’t find something try searching for it differently. Example: if you search “Carmina Burana” you are not going to get all Carmina Burana recordings because some dummy at Tidal will have cataloged some recordings with Carl Orff as the “artist” when he is the composer. So you may have to search for the orchestra, or the conductor, or a main soloist, etc. It can get pretty messy and frustrating. But trust me, if you enter the search “correctly” (LOL) you WILL (most likely) find it.

 

There’s also been a lot of complaining about Tidal & MQA. I’ve even seen some idiots make stupid statements like “Tidal’s MQA”. They really have nothing to do with each other.

 

And as far as Tidal MQA goes, there’s almost always a CD (non-MQA) version available as well as other versions. Some sound different, others I can’t tell. Some are worse, some *marginally* better.

 

Don’t expect to get full hi-res resolution if you’re using a pc/browser for streaming. MQA will not completely “unfold” using a browser. And who knows what Windows/Apple OS and hardware is doing to the signal on the way to what ever you’re using. For me, the BluOS streamer (card) is in the amplifier so no extra cables or signal breaks either.

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I'm extremally happy with the quality of Qobuz, better than Amazon HQ and Tidal. HOWEVER, there user interface, exploring new music, etc. isn't as robust as Tidal or Spotify. 

 

I have not tried Roon yet, that's my next thing I'm going to try, but I heard that Qobuz with Roon is top notch.

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23 minutes ago, wuzzzer said:

Turns out my wife has had Amazon Music for quite some time and I had no idea.

Well, guess I'll be using that!  😀

Yes they have the free music with any Amazon, and then for $8 a month they have the "Unlimited" which has the HD songs (CD) is what they consider "HD", and the UHD is up to 196K with a free trial of that. 

 

Here is the breakdown.

 

https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited/why-hd

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35 minutes ago, Travis In Austin said:

Yes they have the free music with any Amazon, and then for $8 a month they have the "Unlimited" which has the HD songs (CD) is what they consider "HD", and the UHD is up to 196K with a free trial of that. 

 

Here is the breakdown.

 

https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited/why-hd

 

Yeah apparently we have the Unlimited.  Listening to Led Zeppelin Ultra HD right now.

 

My receiver (Sony STR-ZA2100ES) is set up for hi-res audio but when I play through my TV it says "Track quality 24-bit/96kHz.  Device capability 16-bit/48kHz.  Currently playing at 16-bit/48kHz.

I wonder if the limiting factor is my TV or my receiver?

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