Does Spotify through sonos stream at 320kbs?

[Jake12988]

Or does sonos lower the quality?

also is there any difference in streaming straight from Spotify to sonos rather than going through the sonos app?

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Or does sonos lower the quality?

also is there any difference in streaming straight from Spotify to sonos rather than going through the sonos app?

i think you are right as Spotify only does that as a max bit rate unlike tidal etc. As far as I know you still can’t get a Spotify cd quality streaming service like you can with tidal, called ‘tidal hi fi’ which I use. The sonos is receiving the Spotify natively so no issue as you mention. What are you trying to achieve Jake?

 

[insider9]

I think the question is whether Sonos receives the full 320kbps unlike destop player that only gets 256kbps. Having listened to Sonos I'd hazard a guess it is 320 kbps.

Although Spotify doesn't specify this (look here)

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

I believe the Spotify servers are set to 320 kbs which will be the native streaming rate to your sonos.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Yes because sonos will get you 1411kbps bit rate from ripped cd in best quality, say if you are playing cd ripped stuff off a nas through a sonos Connect. Can you do tidal which is a better quality if you think it’s worth it?

 

[Rethep]

I bet you won't hear the difference between 256k and 320k, so it doesn' t matter. It's mostly a marketing thing.

 

[Jake12988]

I was trying to work out whether Spotify, through sonos, would play at 320kbps, that’s all

obviously my Spotify app is set to 320kbps, but I wasn’t sure if that ‘extreme quality’ setting would remain ‘on’ when using Spotify through sonos...

seems most of you believe it is still going to be playing at 320kbps, that’s good to know.

As for tidal, not sure on whether to jump ship from Spotify to it. Was hoping Spotify would start supporting lossless audio, but it’s not looking likely anytime soon...

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

I'd love Spotify to go lossless with the library that they /we have at our fingertips but the reality is...do they need to?....does anybody care?most Joe average types couldn't care less what the quality of the stream they're listening to is.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Agreed they couldn’t care on their i thingeys. I’ve found tidal has pretty much got everything new and decent and that you could ever need and I’ve hardly ever searched for stuff I can’t find on it. It’s expensive at £20 per month but on a good hi Fi, I couldn’t compromise.

 

[Jake12988]

Problem for me is, it would be £30 a month as the wife would need it as well. (We currently pay £14.99 for Spotify premium, that price includes the family sharing option thingy’majig)

seems a a lot of money... if it was £20 and both my wife and I could have an account for that price, I’d defo use tidal. Price puts me off, especially as I listen to cds and have a decent selection of them to choose from anyway...

£360 a year on tidal, that’s too steep for us, I don’t spend anywhere near that a year on cds. Shame, as I’m sure I’d really enjoy it!

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I see that problem. Ive been buying around 40 CDs a year which makes sense to use tidal to find stuff and then buy the CDs I really like so I have a master for ripping any future format changes etc.

but I never really understand this family membership thing..... I can play tidal tracks in the hi Fi service (cd quality) through my cyrus streamer, and I can also go on my tidal app on my iPad and similarly play different or the same tidal tracks. Obviously the iPad and Cyrus streamer are on the same account. But if you listening at home from same IP address your wife might be able to use another device. Depends what you are using. Also remember you can download tracks for the tidal app for iPods and iPhones etc, I’m sure the same for android devices, so you could possibly use one account at home for different devices, and if listening out of home, you just download at home onto the device (which you’d probably want to do not to eat up all mobile useage). Don’t know your devices but you could experiment with the tidal month free trial and then see if it’s any good or if you can share an account in the way I mention.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

You can only play through one device at a time when you have a single Spotify premium account...when music is played through another device your stream will cease on whatever you are listening on...it's happened many times to me as my daughter would hijack it quite often and so I've ended up also with the family account thingy jig @£15 per month.

 

[grimharry]

You can only play through one device at a time when you have a single Spotify premium account...when music is played through another device your stream will cease on whatever you are listening on...it's happened many times to me as my daughter would hijack it quite often and so I've ended up also with the family account thingy jig @£15 per month.

Yep that’s us as well

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Yes but what I’m Obviously saying is that for tidal that doesn’t seem to be the case as I was playing music off my iPad from the tidal app at the same time as playing tidal from my streamer. Same account and same login. It doesn’t seem to cut the other one off. Just was suggesting a free trial if it does the same to your devices and is of benefit. It might be an anomaly in my set up though, as obviously you can see why they would not want to have more than one stream per sub as you’ve found out with Spotify. My tidal off fhe streamer is working off an extender via Ethernet and the iPad tidal app is streaming direct to my bt router, so that may account why it’s happening? Confused.

 

[davedotco]

I play a lot of music from the 50s. 60s 70s etc, etc. Tidal does not even begin to compare with Spotify in terms of back catalogue.

Fortunately I do not find myself fretting about hi-fi anymore, I do not worry about soundstage for example, my system plays music with drive and pace and the speakers project music into the room, even at back ground levels, that works for me.

When I tested Tidal uncompressed it added little to the musical experience, I would probably pay extra for an uncompressed stream from Spotify but for the moment, I can live with 320kbs.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I found with my system that if I played Spotify 320 into my sonos Connect, and the Apple Music Service I used to use too, which I think is a similar bit rate, you could definetly tell it wasn’t as good as tidal hi Fi cd quality streaming through my better cyrus streamer.

tidal suits me as I may not listen to lots of old stuff and anything I listen through it, tends to be of the last 20 to 30 years and all new stuff, which is what I want. But I can see how it’s a problem for stuff in the 70s and before as it’s obviously not as possible to load all music onto the service, but undeniably Spotify has a bigger catalogue. So I guess it’s a balancing act depending on what you want.

 

[grimharry]

Yes but what I’m Obviously saying is that for tidal that doesn’t seem to be the case as I was playing music off my iPad from the tidal app at the same time as playing tidal from my streamer. Same account and same login. It doesn’t seem to cut the other one off. Just was suggesting a free trial if it does the same to your devices and is of benefit. It might be an anomaly in my set up though, as obviously you can see why they would not want to have more than one stream per sub as you’ve found out with Spotify. My tidal off fhe streamer is working off an extender via Ethernet and the iPad tidal app is streaming direct to my bt router, so that may account why it’s happening? Confused.

can you play two different tracks at the same time?

 

[insider9]

I can play one track on my streamer and another on my mobile at the same time with no issues. Tidal doesn't work the same way as Spotify which I've used before.

 

[grimharry]

I can play one track on my streamer and another on my mobile at the same time with no issues. Tidal doesn't work the same way as Spotify which I've used before.

Thats interesting so you don’t need family membership for everyone to be able to access at the same time. Brings the cost closer to Spotify. So it’s down to catalogue size against sound quality.

 

[insider9]

I can play one track on my streamer and another on my mobile at the same time with no issues. Tidal doesn't work the same way as Spotify which I've used before.

Thats interesting so you don’t need family membership for everyone to be able to access at the same time. Brings the cost closer to Spotify. So it’s down to catalogue size against sound quality. 

Technically you wouldn't but since you all would have different favourites, playlists, etc. separate membership would still make sense. My wife for example uses Apple Music and doesn't really like anything else.

Tidal made big strides in their app in the last few months. UI is catching up with Spotify and yes there are some differences in catalogue size. In reality the things you really like you probably own already and discovery is equally good. Difference comes down to whether you're listening critically or not. If not then there's no reason to pay extra for Tidal.

Big thing on Spotify is the fact it's got Connect (no Tidal equivalent) and no issues with gapless (it varies per device with Tidal).

 

[grimharry]

I find the Spotify quality a bit hit or miss sometimes one track is excellent and the next decidedly dodgy. The streamer I’m using is fine for Spotify which is lucky because it doesn’t support tidal. Saying that a streamer upgrade is in the list for the future possibly linn sneaky or similar but not for a while.

 

[davedotco]

I find the Spotify quality a bit hit or miss sometimes one track is excellent and the next decidedly dodgy. The streamer I’m using is fine for Spotify which is lucky because it doesn’t support tidal. Saying that a streamer upgrade is in the list for the future possibly linn sneaky or similar but not for a while.

Agree with this, but I think this is a function of recording/production quality rather than anything Spotify is doing. I have commented on a number of occasions that Spotify, despite it's limitations, is perfectly capable of showing up differences in recordings. If you want to take the time, there are plenty of albums that come in different versions (remasters, Delux editions etc) and comparing them can be quite instructive.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Yes but what I’m Obviously saying is that for tidal that doesn’t seem to be the case as I was playing music off my iPad from the tidal app at the same time as playing tidal from my streamer. Same account and same login. It doesn’t seem to cut the other one off. Just was suggesting a free trial if it does the same to your devices and is of benefit. It might be an anomaly in my set up though, as obviously you can see why they would not want to have more than one stream per sub as you’ve found out with Spotify. My tidal off fhe streamer is working off an extender via Ethernet and the iPad tidal app is streaming direct to my bt router, so that may account why it’s happening? Confused.

can you play two different tracks at the same time?

yes absolutely can do so. Not sure after a while if it will ‘time out’ on one, but worth experimenting if you need to.....

 

[Pedro2]

would probably pay extra for an uncompressed stream from Spotify but for the moment, I can live with 320kbs.

+1 but it's taking them some time to stream at CD quality. I'm a little bored waiting.... Worth adding that since Linn have integrated Spotify using Spotify Connect, it sounds pretty good and much better than through the Chromecast/Amazon Firestick that I used to use. It's still marginally inferior to CD, I feel, but not enough for me to abandon and go to Tidal; or have both Spotify Premium and Tidal subscriptions which would be costly (my better half would not willingly relinquish Spotify - domestic problems would ensue!)

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I find the Spotify quality a bit hit or miss sometimes one track is excellent and the next decidedly dodgy. The streamer I’m using is fine for Spotify which is lucky because it doesn’t support tidal. Saying that a streamer upgrade is in the list for the future possibly linn sneaky or similar but not for a while.

Agree with this, but I think this is a function of recording/production quality rather than anything Spotify is doing. I have commented on a number of occasions that Spotify, despite it's limitations, is perfectly capable of showing up differences in recordings. If you want to take the time, there are plenty of albums that come in different versions (remasters, Delux editions etc) and comparing them can be quite instructive.

its the same with tidal for me, big differences in recording quality between some tracks. Tends to be older tracks of 60s etc versus new ones made now. Not that it really bothers me as I just enjoy the music, and accept this. Same with cd of course.