In my, admittedly limited, experience Spotify is far behind other two in sound quality. Qobuz was better of the other two.
Streaming for beginner
I have a PS Audio front end-- DMP disc player and DirectSteam DAC. Very happy with the resolution and performance, especially from my redbook cd collection. For those familiar with the DSD, it is upgradable via a network bridge card to become a dedicated streamer. When I bought this DAC, I was looking ahead to an eventual migration to streaming.
I also have a Spotify account, that currently only serves me as a companion to my iPhone during walks and exercise.
My question: assume my goal is to stream for convenience, simplicity, and achieve audio quality that equals or surpasses that of redbook cd’s. I am not looking to purchase music or download it for storage. What am I missing? I also have a dedicated iPad that can serve as the interface to the DAC/Streamer. Spotify also claims that streaming in high resolution is available on my account. Do I need anything else? Am I oversimplifying this?
I am a beginner when it comes to streaming, so please answer in simple terms since I will not be familiar with a lot of the services and components mentioned elsewhere in these forums. In fact, confusing enough for me that it is forcing me to ask here.
I also have a Spotify account, that currently only serves me as a companion to my iPhone during walks and exercise.
My question: assume my goal is to stream for convenience, simplicity, and achieve audio quality that equals or surpasses that of redbook cd’s. I am not looking to purchase music or download it for storage. What am I missing? I also have a dedicated iPad that can serve as the interface to the DAC/Streamer. Spotify also claims that streaming in high resolution is available on my account. Do I need anything else? Am I oversimplifying this?
I am a beginner when it comes to streaming, so please answer in simple terms since I will not be familiar with a lot of the services and components mentioned elsewhere in these forums. In fact, confusing enough for me that it is forcing me to ask here.
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- 92 posts total
I have a similar setup as you with a DS Memory Player and DS DAC with the Ethernet Bridge II card. I could be wrong but I think it is a Roon endpoint and not a streamer. Someone can confirm. I have an Innuos Zenith MkIII and Phoenix routed via Ethernet to that Bridge II card. I have an Eero Pro nearby that is connected to an SOtM switch to which the Innuos is connected via its Ethernet LAN port. This is a pretty optimized system and not necessary for a beginning streamer. I think that if you have a router nearby and can either net from it to a streamer if needed and then from there to the Bridge II card you should be all set. If you need a streamer (I forget if you do) then you can get a good relatively inexpensive one and go from there. For high quality Ethernet cabling on a budget I highly recommend the Cat8 Supra cables from Sweden which you can get on eBay. |
I agree with the sentiment toward Spotify vs. Tidal and Qobuz. I like MQA files but I wonder how much of the sound quality is from the remastering process rather than the file format. The system I am working toward is here. Hope this helps! |
- 92 posts total