Change of source format?

[SteveR750]

Apologies if this topic is buried within the forums, but I couldn't find what I was looking for after a quick search. Anyways, it's been a while since I've visited the forums and hi fi in general, and it's only recently because of the need to find some new headphones that I've tried to catch up. I keep getting Tidal ads on my facebook stream - the concept seems good even if the commercial pricing strategy is a bit like it or lump it kind of approach. I'm intrigued enough to consider that maybe it's time to move from a fixed memory based system of FLAC on a hardrive (in my case my PC) using a media player, hardwired to a DAC to an amp etc etc; to a new front end based around high res or rather standard res of CDA from a mobile device streaming into fixed system using the network or better, Bluetooth ?

I can enivisage replacing both my CD collection and Spotify sub with one simple system, with all of the benefits of operating it from a tablet and / or phone and / or PC and / or streamed or synced offline. I'd still buy CDs of course, but never actually play them....

 

[MajorFubar]

Don't know but the thought of completely abandoning every kind of home-based storage personally horrifies me. I'm definitely not ready to abandon my ripped CD collection to the whims of my internet service provider and any music streaming service. I see music streaming as supplemental, certainly not a replacement. Guaranteed the one time I want it the most, something will be down. Like it was the one time last year when I was trying to demonstrate the benefits of Spotify to a family member.

 

[SteveR750]

I'm not sure I could abandon the concept of a closed system either, just that I might not actually use it very often, and only when the internet service cannot provide, which to be fair in the last 2 years has been...never. I've had reasonably high speed BB for best part of 2 years, of around 35Mb, I've now moved and we're getting 65Mb so the prospect of streaming' let alone syncing FLAC files is perfectly feasible. Similarly to Spotify, which is the music source I listen to most, simply because I have no intention of buying a lot of the albums which contain only the one track I like, which after all is one of the juke box playlist biggest appeals, plus a lot of the material I have on CD is also available for streaming. I suspect Tidal's range is nowhere near as comprehensive, though they claim to offer 25 million albums so I could be surprised yet. I guess the big difference is that I could potentially now use an online service for critical listening, which is not the case currently.

 

[Myers]

I have a fair amount of ripped music (nearing 100,000 tracks) & I can't remember the last time I used my Cyrus CD player, I use Spotify & haven't bought an album for months - I like Spotify & don't want to move to another streaming service though - I would prefer higher quality from Spotify at least .flac quality & have a fast & reliable fibre connection & feel my ripping days are rapidly drawing to a close & would be quite happy using streaming only, its a bit of a psychological barrier to go though I feel but IMO its a matter of when not if - I felt a little worried when I moved from playing CD's to streaming .flac now I would't dream of getting a CD out.

I don't produce my own electricity, gas or water & rely on an external provider for such things as with most things in life & streaming music is no different - If Spotify double the cost for HQ that's still only £240 year, that's nothing compared to the amount of albums I used to buy.

My 14 year old daughter sees a fast internet connection as just another service & uses Spotify & nothing else, even if older ones (such as me me) hang on to locally held music the concept of buying physical media is totally foreign to my daughter & friends, my two sons who were both avid music buyers have just about given up on buying music & stream both through pretty good sytems.

 

[SteveR750]

A lossless spotify service would indeed be interesting.

 

[chebby]

A lossless spotify service would indeed be interesting.

Even if their 320k stream lived up to the same quality as my own 320k AAC VBR rips (of the same content), that would be something. But it doesn't. It also has very limited / non-existent choice in the kind of content I listen to. (Especially compared to iTunes that has extensive access albeit in even poorer quality.)

This is why I will be buying and ripping CDs for some time to come.

 

[iQ Speakers]

I recently tried Tidal whilst sounding marginly better throught the Sonos than Spotify lots of albums I wanted to compare were missing. Niether sounded as good as Spotify through the Stream Magic 6 (which bizarly i have now sold!) I have also tried Hi Res stuff through the Stream Magic and IMO is just not worth the cost pain.

PS Chebby what music is missing from Spotify?

 

[Myers]

Frankly I've probably got sufficient music ripped already to see me out in this world & probably the next & the one after that. I did read as I remember either on The Inquirer or The Register a couple of months ago that Spotify are investigating higher quality music streams but were keeping details quiet at that point.

I must admit that for serious listening & by that I mean just listening to music I do tend to use my ripped music but for background I'll often use streamed & always on my PC system - I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised at the amount of ancient country music that I like that’s on Spotify, some of which are only obtainable on expensive imports.

 

[chebby]

PS Chebby what music is missing from Spotify?

I said 'content' not music. At least 80 percent of my listening is drama / comedy / documentary / spoken-voice based in nature. (Much of it ripped from my BBC CDs or streamed from iPlayer Radio or podcasts.)

Right now I am listening to this ... Germany: Memories of a Nation. (I also have the Kindle book version for the beautiful colour plates and maps etc. on my iPad.)

 

[SteveR750]

Apart from one or two major ommissions (ACDC being an obvious bunch of out of touch luddites sadly) Spotify's music database is enormously impressive, I've rarely failed to find even some of the moer obscure tracks, e.g. old jazz and blues stuff that I recall my parents listening too when I was a child.

Chebby I'm surprised you find the extreme quality from Spotify to be inferrio to the itunes equivalent, on my windows 7 laptop unless I sit and listen properly Spotify is as impressive as J River playing FLAC files! I.e. much better than I recall itunes playing MP3 files on a PC for sure, though it's a good 5 years since I tried it.