[Dutch1Schaefer]

Want to get opinions on what your favorite streaming service is and why.

 

[HWB3]

I use Amazon HD Music. I tried it free for three months and enjoyed it. I pay $80 a year so it's reasonably priced. There are probably other streaming services with higher resolution but I'm fine with how it sounds.

 

[wailord]

I enjoy using Tidal whenever they do a promotion

 

[gimmeheadroom]

If they're bitperfect (Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, but the latter only over a streamer but not via the desktop app) they're all going to sound exactly the same... if they host the same master. I don't know about scAmazon. Spotify is not hires so on a resolving system it will not sound as good as the 3 I mentioned above.

What it should come down to is, does the service have the type of music you want, and do you like the apps and interface?

I like Tidal Hifi Plus, I have several MQA DACs and Tidal is very cheap here. I also have Deezer Hifi, it's fine, sometimes I can find something I want to listen to on Deezer that's not on Tidal but it feels like they don't have as much music in the categories I listen to. If Qobuz ever comes here and it doesn't cost like it does elsewhere I would give it a try also.

I mostly don't use the apps because I have Bluesound streamers. But I find both the Tidal and Deezer apps attractive and pleasant. Deezer navigation is annoying though, Tidal is really good about letting you go back the way you came so you can move around more quickly.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

For SQ alone it's hard to beat Qobuz, and I've tried them all.

BTW, we had a poll on this not long ago.

 

[Jetblack08]

Every streaming service has pros and cons it seems. I used Spotify for the longest as they had artist I like that were exclusive to them. I changed to Tidal when I craved higher resolution.
One day I saw a video on Youtube where audiophiles were asked which streaming service they preferred and most picked Qobuz. I tried it and had to agree Qobuz sounded the most natural to my ears.
Next problem I ran into was Qobuz didn't have a lot of albums 24-bit 96kHz on the artist that I liked while Tidal had those same albums in "Master" quality. "Master" quality on Tidal sounds good but not as good as hi-rez on Qobuz to my ears.

So these days I switch between Qobuz and Tidal depending on what album I want to hear.

 

[ClicketEKlack]

I’m currently running Qobuz on an iMac-> Topping D90 -> Topping A90 (pre) -> xduoo MT-604 -> Focal Utopia. I find it the best-sounding of all the streaming services, BUT, I also get pops of distortion and drop-outs. They also happen with Amazon Unlimited. Apple Music plays flawlessly, but it A) doesn’t sound as good as Qobuz and B) does not select streaming rates. Anyone know why this could be happening or have any suggestions?

 

[RONJA MESCO]

I use Amazon HD Music. I tried it free for three months and enjoyed it. I pay $80 a year so it's reasonably priced. There are probably other streaming services with higher resolution but I'm fine with how it sounds.

$80? If you're already on Amazon, it should never cost that much. Am I missing something?

 

[Barnstormer13]

I use tidal. Pretty good catalog, but their algorithm for suggesting new music blows compared to Spotify. That, and occasionally artists disappear from their catalog. I would probably use Amazon or Qobuz except I’ve got a big library in Tidal. I like that there’s lots of options for streaming to a DAC.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

$80? If you're already on Amazon, it should never cost that much. Am I missing something?

There is mp3 limited prime music included and Unlimited HD tier which is extra.
Amazon just couldn't finish this great initiative and left off without implementing proper bit-perfect.
Not worth it IMHO, even that it's the cheapest esp. for Prime members.
Apple Music lossless is limited to Macs
Tidal shoves MQA crap down the throat
That really leaves only Qobuz, even with its limited discovery capabilities.

 

[ClicketEKlack]

Qobuz and Tidal are the only ones who seem to have given even a passing thought to how audiophiles listen to music -- i.e., through an external DAC.

Even Mac users need to manually switch bitrates for Apple Music, which is idiotic. Unless the "oversight" is intentional and designed to steer us toward the next iteration of AirPods Max (lossless).

Tidal's MQA, whatever one thinks of it, makes some devices like my Shanling M8 run hot and lose power quickly, so that's a non-starter.

Amazon has the same bit-rate issue as Apple Music, and does indeed feel like an unfinished spec house. Which leaves... Qobuz. Which sounds superb and is very expensive.

If Apple or Amazon could make simple changes, they could have more subscribers. The fact that they haven't made them yet suggests they don't care all that much.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Qobuz is $10.83 per month for 12 months subscription or $129.99, $12.99 monthly otherwise.

 

[kRed]

I'm pretty happy with both Apple music and Tidal (got a full subscription to both).

Some say that Apple has better masters and for sure they could, but honestly I don't think anyone could really tell them apart from each other or even from standard CD (which I often use). Probably if I really try hard to spot some difference when A/B I may find something, but as now I can't really say what I hear better on a apple 24bit 96Khz compared to Tidal standard 16Bit 44.1Khz.
I mostly use streaming service to discover new music and to listen to hard to find stuff.

For me, Tidal algorithm works pretty good tho.

 

[fufula]

Tidal. Good SQ and best music suggestions (beats Spotify in my case).

 

[Degrayr]

Amazon Music Unlimited.

Good balance between large library of songs (especially Asian songs) and audio quality.

Best sounding streaming app for me is Qobuz though, but the library is tiny in comparison.