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Vital hi Fi accessories that don't cost all that much?

The Gregory Porter album on Spotify is stunning. Try it. I am not asking anyone to compare the same album to a lossless format though...

I have had it in a lossless format for some six months now. I agree it is quite good and it does not sound too bad on Spotify.

To say it sounds stunning on Spotify is a bit of a stretch for me.
 
So finding your system sounding sublime using Spotify actually means it is wrongly set up.

Give me strength.

Right. If it is transparent enough it should sound sublime with great lossless recordings... and less than sublime with spotify.
 
All things being equal lossless is obviously better...but well mastered 320kbps will beat poorly mastered lossless.

Last month I listened to 6 tracks comparing Tidal with Spotify Prem. Before becoming bored to death I managed to decide 1 tracks was slightly better on Tidal, 1 track was a bit better, 1 was better on Spotify and 3 were indistinguishable.
 
Done a lot of comparisons have we?

Don't know about you but I have done a few: spotify premium vs FLAC; Spotify premium vs CD.

If your system cannot use the additional information present in a lossless file in order to get a better result in terms of SQ there should be something quite wrong.
 
Here's my listening companion. Perhaps I need some cat's pee deflectors:D. (not really, he's house trained)
magnus.jpg

In my house, sitting on the speaker, is a capital crime for a cat ;)
 
Spotify vs Qobuz.

Its fairly close to me, its a lot closer to CD than I expected to hear on first listen but i am happy to concede that other people hear and get lots more stuff from those differences. A lot of the problems of 320K are stereo field issues, lack of real presence... the music is over there rather than enveloping you. And thats not that important to me, its sure a bonus when I get it, but it does not spoil the music. I generally forget what I was supposed to be listening out for after a few minutes and just settle in to whatever-wherever it comes from. I'm very fortunate in some ways. Spotify is plenty good enough for an audiophile experience. But I do prefer Qobuz FLAC over Spotify, it does reveal stuff Spotify slightly masks and sometimes that is important.

http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/li...on-transcendante-alice-sara-ott/0002894777993

This has been getting a lot of play on my system. Solo Piano shows the limits of a medium more than most. Vinyl cannot really cope well with piano even expensive turntables are quite poor at it. Hard transients and the tone wobbles, then there is asymmetric pressings and the warbly nature of a vinyl press that infuriates me and that does stop me listening. The more I do not listen to an imperfect medium like vinyl the more I hear the limitations of it when I do; MP3 can sound both brittle and wooly (sorry thats the limit of my technical vocab right now) yet FLAC really grabs me. But I have to be listening in a specific way. I am trying not to listen like that all the time. Its not good for the music.

That Liszt grabs me. Its terrific music and if i listen to it on Spotify I don't miss the Qobuz version and vice versa.

Here it is in 320Kbps, the mastering is very good and you can hear how carefully the multi mic placement has been to catch the fast finger work of the last movement... but it does lack a little of the depth and placement of the FLAC on Quobuz.

https://play.spotify.com/album/3wxs...e&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open

I can live with either
 
Since subscribing to Qobuz I find I rarely listen to Spotify now. It now sounds muffled in comaprison. A few albums sound good but I believe that's down to the origianl mastering and production.Well mastered albums can sound decent on most streaming services.(I predominently listen to Classical and Jazz). I subcribed to a 30 day trial with Tidal but pulled my subscription after 5 days. Tidal's classical and jazz catalogue was generally poor.
 
I don’t think you can compare any file >320kbps unless you have exactly the same mastered release (i.e. determine if one streaming site is better than another just cos you are listening to the same album).

I have plenty of CDs that sound flat or harsh…1442kbps in their case is irrelevant.
 
In my house, sitting on the speaker, is a capital crime for a cat ;)
I do keep covers over them when I'm not there, but he hopped up one evening via a chair and I couldn't resist photographing him before shooing him off! Luckily he didn't use his claws to grip on.
 
Don't know about you but I have done a few: spotify premium vs FLAC; Spotify premium vs CD.

If your system cannot use the additional information present in a lossless file in order to get a better result in terms of SQ there should be something quite wrong.

"Something quite wrong" my ar*e. The consensus on here going by previous comments is that there is next to nothing to separate Spotify Prem from CD.

If you think there is anything worth talking about in terms of SQ I think you have (how shall I put it) a lively imagination.
 
"Something quite wrong" my ar*e. The consensus on here going by previous comments is that there is next to nothing to separate Spotify Prem from CD.

If you think there is anything worth talking about in terms of SQ I think you have (how shall I put it) a lively imagination.

If you think that spotify is as good as lossless in terms of SQ, good for you! You have access to a very large audiophile library for a few quid per month. :D

About the supposed consensus I really don't care but to my ears it is quite different.

So IMO either your setup is flawed or your auditory system is (very) different from mine.
 
A tripod torch, so I can see what I'm doing behind the cabinet when the cables fall out, without having to hold the torch.
 
A dedicated mains electrical spur to power the music system.

Cost me £160, which is less than a tenth of what an equivalent box upgrade would have cost to deliver the same benefit.

Next trial is a balanced power supply from those nice people at Airlink. All installed by a qualified electrician, with the prior electrical & (most importantly) safety approval of the music system manufacturer.
 
I forgot: getting a really good chilled out open attitude is one the best accessories. Quite rare and sometimes available on the NHS, but it can be had for free.
 
"Something quite wrong" my ar*e. The consensus on here going by previous comments is that there is next to nothing to separate Spotify Prem from CD. .

Then the 'consensus' is wrong. I use spotify premium and it's pretty mediocre. Sometimes I despair at the easy acceptance of mediocrity. Any normal person can surely hear that 320kps is inadequate.
Why do people on enthusiasts forums actively praise a lowering of quality? Surely, we should be pressing, always, for better quality. Excellence is the goal, not commercial pap inflicted on us because it is more profitable.
 
I forgot: getting a really good chilled out open attitude is one the best accessories. Quite rare and sometimes available on the NHS, but it can be had for free.

Can only agree Clive!

It's easier said then done. When working full time as well as running another business and studying, I didn't have a chance to actually live. I was earning a ton of money but couldn't actaually enjoy it.

Then I was taken ill so I just let go, stopped my studying and left my full time job, I didn't worry about it because there was nothing I could do. I have kept my PA hire business going and my school want me to go back on casual hours. I'm now earning less but plenty enough to pay my bills and have a life, I'm finding far more enjoyment in music and life in general now.
 
I have a couple of questions. Why is it that some people feel compelled to piss on someone's cornflakes when they've clearly expressed that they're happy with something? Is their intent to be helpful or an annoying killjoy?

I think the Gregory Porter albums sounds sublime on Spotify. I must be lucky. Even 320kbps streaming music sounds sublime on my system. Or maybe it's just that I'm not focusing on those things which are insignificant to the overall musical gestalt.

I also think Roosevelt was right.

comparison-is-the-thief-of-.jpg


Here's Walter. He's one of my best friends and favorite people on earth. He doesn't care about audio gear, video gear, computers, or the things you look at or listen to on any of those things. He just likes napping, belly rubs, and snuggling under the covers. He's perfect and I wouldn't change anything about him.

I5b24Vk.jpg

I think some people try to be helpful, others set out to be annoying. Try being a linn owner, you get some right stick. I have read comments along the lines of "linn owners but linn kit just to show off" or "they spend all their time trying to justify their purchase to others" or "they are sheep bought in by marketing BS". It's all a load of bollocks, we buy the kit because we like it, simple as that.

And yes, spotify can sound excellent. The most important thing is the mastering. A very well mastered album will sound better even at 128k than a poorly mastered album at 24/96 or played on a top end vinyl system.
 
Then the 'consensus' is wrong. I use spotify premium and it's pretty mediocre. Sometimes I despair at the easy acceptance of mediocrity. Any normal person can surely hear that 320kps is inadequate.
Why do people on enthusiasts forums actively praise a lowering of quality? Surely, we should be pressing, always, for better quality. Excellence is the goal, not commercial pap inflicted on us because it is more profitable.
Cheapest is always best praised on pfm, surely you know that by now, if it's a cable, it has to be the cheapest, an accessory of any kind, downloaded music has to be the worst possible rate that sounds no different to the highest rate etc.. etc..even cheap whole hifi systems get more praise here, it always makes me smile as I imagine most of it eventually ends up on ebay for peanuts, I have been down the road of "look how cheap I purchased this & it sounds better than my main system" route, it doesn't work out in the end but nice while it lasts until you realise it sounds shite.

The times I have read "good on yer" or similar to an op who has sold his 10,000 system to make way for a beer budget disaster, all praised by some who own systems costing way more but wouldn't dare to go down this route as they know it only leads to spending more in the end. Funny.
 


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