Whilst Spotify may have its negative side for musicians as you describe, it also has a positive side: I use it to check out new music, music that if I like I buy. i never listen to Spotify in lieu of buying music - the adverts are too annoying, and sound quality whilst with some things are pretty good others aren’t. Without Spotify I would have bought less music than I have.
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I think it’s very odd that anybody would spend all that money on NAIM equipment and then feed it with such a primitive quality source.
It. Doesn’t. Sound. As. Good. As. The. “Hifi” quality competition.
Because you like it’s visual aesthetic? Because you like it’s curating?
So it’s a superior filing cabinet. So what?
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Not sure if that was a reply to me, or just general. In my case I thought I’d made clear that for me it is just a finding tool, akin to going to a record shop and listening on some dodgy headphones (or a crummy booth in the old days). Sound quality is not of great importance, but wide repertoire is, and free availability removes any inhibition. For anything I want to listen to I buy, and so ensure best quality and permanent uninterruptible availability not depending on any commercial service or internet connectivity or subscription payment.
Agree, it might not be fully up to the hifi standard, but having kids around me have me made appreciate the good things of Spotify that have been shared on this forum already; easy access to discover new music.
And equally important:
An. App. That. Works. Flawlessly.
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The audio snobs thinks Spotify is unlistenable. Pretty funny when they would not even know what they listen to in a real AB test.
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When I trialled Spotify I soon realised how un-involving it was. I had a 6 month sub and gave it to my mate to use.
And the interface was so annoying 🙅
I personally do not find Spotify less involving, although I am now uncomfortable about where the fees go (or don’t go).
So why is it that we are on both sides of the fence with this. Is it our ears that can’t hear it, is it that we could hear the difference if someone was next to us to train us in the differences, or is it our HiFi systems, or is it the type of music, or combination of all.
I suspect we may be able to be trained to hear the difference, but honestly I’d rather not be trained if that’s the case - Ignorance is Bliss, and all that.
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I carried out a number of tests using my 24 year old daughter as the guinea pig. I synchronised the same album on my CD player, Spotify Premium and Tidal HiFi. She never knew which source she was hearing and the results were interesting. Sometimes she could hear no difference between the 3. On one track she thought 1 was better than 2 but 3 was best - in actual fact 2 and 3 were the same source. Random sources and random results. Eventually she commented that if it took such effort and concentration to try and hear a difference I was wasting her time! She didn’t want to play when I got the Qobuz trial so it was only my old ears that found no difference.
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Breaking news, Spotify is going lossless.
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I wonder if the legacy streamers supporting Spotify Connect will manage this?
I have had Spotify Premium for years. I have been very pleased with it.
No, it is not as good as my Linn LP12, nor my CD player.
However, as I type I am listening to " Take 5" on Spotifys new higher quality stream (via an inexpensive Lenovo tablet and Spotify Connect into my Azur 851n).
A significant improvement. If they introduce this standard at a reasonable price I think the other music streaming companies will have a bit if competition on their hands
You listen to it now?? Beta tester?
Nope. There was a link on a web page.
I am now listening to a different playlist. Just went to Spotify Home and typed “hifi” and up comes the playlist.
It’s nothing to do with snobbery. If you spend huge amounts of money buying kit to recreate music it makes zero sense to then feed it with lower than cd quality music. Given that Spotify have just announced a cd quality service they clearly agree. After lock down I would be very happy to wager you any amount of cash you choose to charity that I can tell the difference reliably between Spotify and Qubuz on my system with music in a blind test
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In my experience Tidal and Qobuz 16 bit are the same. 24 bit on Qobuz typically adds a nice level of refinement and a more natural dynamic range; well worth having.
If I really like something then there may be LP purchase 
Spotify can sometimes produce surprisingly good results on my Nova. Slightly warmer than Tidal, which adds to the musicality. I was just about able to tell the difference between Spotify and Tidal through my Powernode 2i (slightly more air with Tidal MQA) but they both sound the same through Nova. If Spotify raise their game and get closer to matching Qobuz for SQ, Tidal will undoubtedly struggle to compete.
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I recently bought supernait 3 integrated amp, and trying out tidal trial, in the past I used Qobuz which sounds much better than Spotify. But now from a A/B test between Spotify vs Tidal, Spotify actually sounds really good! Most of the albums I can’t tell the difference, I thought maybe there’s something wrong with my ears, as I used to be able to tell the quality difference between lossless and mp3.
Has Spotify up their game or supernait 3 is that good? I don’t know, in fact tidal sometimes keeps logging me out makes me want to cancel after the trial.
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Since you seem to be familiar with all three, how would you say the apps / functionality compare?
Does Qobuz have mixes (weekly for Spotify, myMix for Tidal) to let you discover new artists, and how good are those?
Spotify’s “Similar to” function has introduced me to dozens of new jazz artists.
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Try Roon with Qobuz.
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