Streaming Services


Hello, Folks -

In an attempt to (somewhat) get with the times, I am incorporating streaming as a source in my audio system.

In my research I’ve seen that sound quality varies among the providers.

I’m looking for a provider suggestion. A service that you feel has high sound quality.

For the most part this would be for classical music. Some classic rock and jazz would be a plus.

I’m a fuddy duddy with my equipment and am not looking to change anything out. What I have:

Conrad Johnson HD3 USB DAC

Conrad Johnson Premier 16LS Preamp

Conrad Johnson Premier 12 Mono Block Power Amps

Vandersteen Quattro Loudspeakers

PGS interconnects

MacBook Pro

Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you very much for reading my post.

Regards,

Randy

 

rbschauman

Thank you all for the responses! The consensus is Qobuz and I will go with that service.

For me, a tremendous value in creating this thread being that in my newness to streaming I had not even heard of this service before. I am very grateful to now know of it!

For now, the Conrad Johnson HD3 USB DAC I have does have a USB port that I'll hook to my MacBook. Once that's down, I'll begin a next step with equipment upgrade.

Thanks again, everyone!

Best,

Randy

I've tried pretty much every individual streaming service there is, and personally have concluded Qobuz is my favorite. Sound quality is best in my experience and the music selection covers everything I could imagine.

 

Tidal isn't bad either but MQA is hit or miss in terms of sound quality, and their selection definitely skews more towards hip-hop and pop. I was not impressed at all with the highest level version of Amazon Music.

I’ve had Spotify, Amazon,Tidal,and Qobuz.  I found Spotify to have the largest library, Qobuz has the best sound quality.  

+1 @ghdprentice ...

Of the many choices there are all in one streamers with built in DAC's and separates. DAC a must.

There's something called ROON that has the best interface.  It's a shell over your Qubuz(or many others) account and is tiptop.  You should sniff that out too. It can run with a computer but as many have said please don't do that. Some streamers are not compatible with Roon and please be cautions to get one that's roon compatible as someday you may wind up there.

Steaming's best when not done via your computer. Treat yourself and fasten your seatbelt.

 

 

 

 

They have free trials so you can see and hear for yourself. I have Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify, all together they’re cheaper than buying a couple LPs per month.