Spotify Bitrate

[admin_exported]

Hi,

Can anybody let me know if there is a way of determining what the actual bitrate of music being streamed is?

The recent news about Spotify making 320 Kbps on some content available to it's premium customers is interesting. If I decided to go this route I would like to be able to see what I was getting for my lolly.

Cheers

 

[John Duncan]

If there's a tick against "listen at high quality", it's 320k...

But I can't confirm because I don't subscribe to premium, and I've taken a hit for the team this week already...

 

[idc]

My enable high bit rate box went from grey to white in the past couple of hours, ticked it and .............................. oh!

 

[Dave_]

idc:My enable high bit rate box went from grey to white in the past couple of hours, ticked it and .............................. oh!Has your B/B connection buckled under the Strain?

 

[idc]

...oh my God! I have been wondering for a while why I prefer to listen to Spotify over itunes, even at lossless rates. With enable higer bit rate and a run through my tetser tracks there is an additional dynamism there. I have had spine tingles to Massive Attack and Ash and no distortion with Duffy and Radiohead.

Seriously, goodbye CDs, goodbye downloads. Itunes can now fill in the gaps where I want music that is not yet on Spotify.

I don't care about bit rates, lossless, cable types when the music sounds this good to me. Deep joy

 

[lordmortlock]

I agree, but I'd like someone to explain the science to me. I don't even have the higher bit rate option enabled and direct comparisons between tracks ripped in lossless to itunes and tracks on spotify favor the latter.

Explanation please!

 

[idc]

My assumption is that it is something to do with compression and somehow the compression used by Spotify (Ogg Vorbis q5 codec, no idea what that is, at 320kbps for Premium) does not affect the sound as much as say compression to itunes AAC. This theory obviously falls when the comparison is with lossless. I find Spotify is comparable with lossless mostly.

However, Spotify wins over Apple lossless in its ability to reproduce music such as Duffy 'Warwick Ave' and Radiohead 'Sit Down Stand Up' flawlessly, two tracks which distort and buzz with itunes. Spotify also adds a meatiness and dynamic, especially to the bass line, which I like.

Lordmortlock, I have a Dell Inspiron 1300, what do you have? Could it be something to do with the computer?

 

[lordmortlock]

I use a Dell too - 4550 that I've upgraded over the years. I stream everything through an airport into either a beresford or a quad dac so my understanding was that the pc was simply the source and had no real effect on SQ. Thinking about though I guess the programme (itunes, spotify etc) is actually the source. Is Spotify simply a better source?

idc do all racks now have the option to play in a higher bitrate or only selected ones? I feel a monthly subscription coming on...

 

[idc]

Details here; http://www.spotify.com/blog/

Re the role of the computer. One of my first questions when I joined the forum was what role does the computer have on SQ, since all it does is store music files. The general answer then was it has no impact as all it does is store music files. However, I repeated that a while ago and no less a figure than Andrew Everard suggested that that was not the case and details would follow. I dont know what the outcome is.

 

[lordmortlock]

looking for answers people! Answers...

 

[lordmortlock]

idc:
Details here; http://www.spotify.com/blog/

 

[idc]

It appears to be Ogg Vorbis q9 that is used to stream the music for Premium. Since no one lese wants to play time to look up Ogg Vorbis, but I suspect the terminology will be beyond me.

Incidentally, it is not clear what track is on the higher bit rate.

Again for comparison, I listen to itunes mainly using the jazz eq setting or my own customised which is jazz raised up on the eq. On Spotify I have ticked volume normalisation and hardware acceleration. But neither seem to make any difference. But I don't care as it sound so good.

 

[idc]

Found this http://www.vorbis.com/faq/#what from the Ogg Vorbis web site. Basically it is a different way of compressing music than MP3 and they claim it is better and we clearly agree. I noticed that they say it also supports the lossless format FLAC. At the moment Ogg Vorbis goes from -1-10 with 0, 64kbps and 10, 400kbps. So the 9 that Spotify uses is at the top end. If Spotify use FLAC initially and that then is compressed to 9, i.e 360kbps, you have not lost a huge amount in the compression. Add to that Ogg Vorbis's claim that they are better at compression than MP3 and we have our answer. I think. Anyone?

 

[lordmortlock]

idc: they claim it is better and we clearly agree.

Yep - another night of comparison confirms it. So thats two of us. Anyone else found this? Or are idc and I the only people who actually care?!

 

[John Duncan]

No, I care, but a) my wireless network wasn't playing nice last time I was in a position to actually listen to it properly and b) I don't have a premium subscription.

 

[idc]

The difference between premium and non premium is there, but non premium still out performs all lossy formats with Apple and is often the equal of Apple lossless.

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

I've been signed up to non-premium Spotify since Feb but recently I've found it unusable. The "cursor/track playing" graphic isn't displayed.

Occasionally it's appeared only to go silent seconds later. I've tried re-downloading it and quitting other apps, but to no avail.

Really missing this brilliant pre-purchase/vast reference library tool?

Any suggestions?

 

[idc]

Something is interrupting the streaming and or buffering. I had a similar problem, though it would only happen between about 1600 and 2200. I contacted Spotify and they suggested it was bandwidth throttling by the service provider. So I contacted them and they ran various checks and then blamed BT. However, since then I have only had the occasional problem and pauses are in seconds.

The only thing Spotify could suggest was to go into edit, preferences and uncheck enable hardware acceleration, which is something to do with buffering. I found it made no difference.

You appear to have already done what my service provider suggested I do, to make sure it is not the PC itself. The other suggestion I was given was to re-boot the modem as it can 'clog itself up' when streaming. If that does not work then conduct a speed test (various sites, pick one!) on your internet connection, then contact your service provider and see what they can do.

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Thanks for that.

My iTunes to DAC wireless streaming is running (almost) perfectly so don't think it's the router but will reboot anyway. I'll also try out a few of your other suggestions and see what occurs.

Cheers.

 

[Anonymous]

Due to circumstances with children & access to computers, l moved a PC from my upstairs work area to the front room. In this process, l took the opportunity to have an M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 sound card installed, with the intention of using Spotify.

Must say I'm very pleased with the results, even using non premium bit rates.

Still retain a CD player, though seriously considering the premium service from Spotify.

 

[idc]

So further reading on the internet, including the dreaded wikipedia, and as many reports of blind testing between formats as I could find has concluded that Ogg Vorbis q9 is the reason why Spotify sounds so good.

I have upgraded a lot of my kit over the past few months and my amp and the AKG headphones in particular take a good while to burn in. So I was not sure where I was hearing such sound improvements from. Thanks your lordship for admitting to finding Spotify to sound so good. There is no doubt in my ears that it sounds as good as Apple Lossless. Since I am listening to a mixture of the lower Ogg Vorbis q4 and higher q9 bit rates and there is no sign of which is which, I would say that the difference is not night and day. But some music stands out with it's clarity in particular, so I would guess that that is the q9 stuff. Oh, and now I know there is further improvement in sound to come as my kit burns in, deep joy!

P.S Those naughty people who run Pirate Bay, the illegal file sharing site also use Ogg Vorbis, probably because it is free and free from use restrictions. Is there no shame with them? Spotify have shown them how to please all of the people all of the time.

 

[lordmortlock]

idc: Thanks your lordship for admitting to finding Spotify to sound so good.

Hey no problem... it just does! I'm paying for the premium... if it can sound better than it already does thats got to be worth £10 a month. I just need a remote app now and life will be perfect!

A great way to enjoy music idc

 

[Anonymous]

I've just subscribed to the premium account: the quality is even better, and with the new Airport Express + V-DAC I'm completely satisfied with the sound. A lot of music to listen to, just £10...Wonderful Spotify!