macrotech2 wrote: ↑2022-01-15 10:19 Looks like there won’t be any hi-res Spotify in the immediate future. https://www.androidcentral.com/spotify- ... definitely

Agree,
OTOH there are hardware manufacturers like Lumin (under NDA with Spotify) who made their devices ready for Spotify HiFi working with Spotify Connect. This would not make any sense without launching of Spotify HiFi.

Despite me starting the thread, it has moved on over time, but I've just come back to have a quick look at it. I'm surprised that people say they like the offering from Spotify. I am coming to the end of a Spotify Premium trial, and find the sound quality to be quite mediocre compared with my own music, or even the flac streams from Radio Paradise.

In the end, none of these streaming services has got me excited. The quality of Tidal was fine, but the cost did not justify the membership, as much of what I searched for was not available on the platform, and I've come to the conclusion that the services are more suited to people who are starting their music appreciation lives, and not very much in 'late middle age'.

Without rereading the whole thread, my understanding is that the Spotify preference is by those using the Källa streamer. I’m in the minority preferring Qobuz over Spotify with mine. The KDS/3 you are using isn’t designed or optimised in the same way and I’m not surprised you don’t like Spotify there.

On a side note, and to disprove your theory, I’m very much in late middle age, having turned 60 last year. What I have found with Källa is that I’m listening to whole albums again, rather than jumping around single tracks as I starting doing with digital media.

I started with Tidal and KDS/2 when my excellent Zone-ripper gave up the ghost, and I did not want to risk getting a poor NAS drive - I have heard too many of these over the years.

Tidal was much better than my back up Nas drive and I was happy. I later found Qobuz to be even better and switched .

Then, one day I heard my daughter streaming Spotify on a lowly sneaky and realised, that on my network, it was much more musical, although the sound was not as 'good' as Tidal or Quobuz.

Spotify sounds fantastic with Kalla ( with most, but not all of the recordings I have tried to date) and gives my LP12 a good run for its money on all but old vinyl.

I have no plans to try qobuz or Tidal at the moment. Enjoying Kalla and spotify too much.

macrotech2 wrote: ↑2022-02-10 11:34 On a side note, and to disprove your theory, I’m very much in late middle age, having turned 60 last year. What I have found with Källa is that I’m listening to whole albums again, rather than jumping around single tracks as I starting doing with digital media.

I was thinking more along the lines of the fact that I already have most of the music that I like, so there is far less to gain from a streaming service, which I found was lacking in the more obscure stuff I'm now seeking.

Peter Lanky wrote: ↑2022-02-10 10:27 Despite me starting the thread, it has moved on over time, but I've just come back to have a quick look at it. I'm surprised that people say they like the offering from Spotify. I am coming to the end of a Spotify Premium trial, and find the sound quality to be quite mediocre compared with my own music, or even the flac streams from Radio Paradise.

In the end, none of these streaming services has got me excited. The quality of Tidal was fine, but the cost did not justify the membership, as much of what I searched for was not available on the platform, and I've come to the conclusion that the services are more suited to people who are starting their music appreciation lives, and not very much in 'late middle age'.

I bought a one-year Spotify premium voucher and like you find it quite poor. That some albums are missing I can sort of understand but the conclusion is that keeping my own cds and rips will be for the long run.
Musch worse is the quality compared to own FLACs (on an LSNAS). Especially many 70s/80s/early 90s hard rock albums are even quite terrible. On newer music, the difference is much smaller though - but that makes for a rather small part of my listening.
Mainly based on experiences on a Sneaky+Unik system in the kitchen but I often stop listening to many of the Spotify albums which almost never happen when listening to FLAC files which are most often really enjoyable in spite of the very basic Sneaky/Unik kitchen system.

I have a love/hate relationship with Spotify.
I appreciate its engagement and musicality, otoh I miss some sound quality which Qobuz provides.
So I am deeply disappointed with Spotify's decision not to launch Spotify lossless.
It simply doesn't make sense for me to be offered compressed music files in 2022.

A quick reminder to make sure that the Spotify settings are optimized - this makes a huge difference.

The default ones sound terrible and the optimal ones sound great.

u252agz wrote: ↑2022-02-10 17:29 A quick reminder to make sure that the Spotify settings are optimized - this makes a huge difference.
The default ones sound terrible and the optimal ones sound great.

In my case the settings are fully optimized.
Sadly analog is climbing new heights with Radikal/2 and Ekstatik and digital is relying on 320kbps sources.

matthias wrote: ↑2022-02-10 16:59 I have a love/hate relationship with Spotify.
I appreciate its engagement and musicality, otoh I miss some sound quality which Qobuz provides.
So I am deeply disappointed with Spotify's decision not to launch Spotify lossless.
It simply doesn't make sense for me to be offered compressed music files in 2022.

I agree. With even a modest 64gb storage device, it can hold around 200 one hour albums of music at CD quality in flac format, and I believe that Broadband delivered to most people is more than capable of carrying CD quality music.

u252agz wrote: ↑2022-02-10 17:29 A quick reminder to make sure that the Spotify settings are optimized - this makes a huge difference.

The default ones sound terrible and the optimal ones sound great.

What are these settings, where are they located and how does one identify the optimal ones?

Peter Lanky wrote: ↑2022-02-10 20:16 What are these settings, where are they located and how does one identify the optimal ones?

Sorry, have Spotify Apple desktop app only.

On the Apple menu bar > Spotify > Preferences > Settings:

Explicit content ON

Audio quality > Streaming quality > VERY HIGH

Audio quality > Download > VERY HIGH

All other settings OFF

And:

Sound Normalization OFF

matthias wrote: ↑2022-02-10 17:34

u252agz wrote: ↑2022-02-10 17:29 A quick reminder to make sure that the Spotify settings are optimized - this makes a huge difference.
The default ones sound terrible and the optimal ones sound great.

In my case the settings are fully optimized.
Sadly analog is climbing new heights with Radikal/2 and Ekstatik and digital is relying on 320kbps sources.

There's nothing sad about getting even more out of the LP12 - its great that Linn continue to raise the bar with these amazing upgrades.

Have you tried Kalla yet with Spotify?

u252agz wrote: ↑2022-02-11 09:32 There's nothing sad about getting even more out of the LP12 - its great that Linn continue to raise the bar with these amazing upgrades.
Have you tried Kalla yet with Spotify?

The "sadly" was referring to the digital, not the analog.......
Had so far no opportunity to try Källa, further I don't know if I stick to Spotify in the future.......

lejonklou wrote: ↑2022-02-10 20:56 And:

Sound Normalization OFF

I trust Gapless Playback ON (0s) is OK? Doesn't seem to affect the musicality, on briefest comparison, and classical pieces can be irritating if it's not enabled...

Yes, never heard any difference with that setting.

Interestingly this setting is not available on Spotify for MacOS.

matthias wrote: ↑2022-03-02 19:29 Interestingly this setting is not available on Spotify for MacOS.

Consistently inconsistent: it's there on iPadOS & Android, but not in the Win app...

Does someone have experiences feeding Källa with Spotify from one of the later MacOS devices with Apple silicon chips?
Spotify announced some time ago that the app is out of Beta and now fully working natively on these Macs.
Thanks

Two questions for all Spotify users:

Do you always update Spotify when a new version is available?
Do you think that new versions are more musical?

Thank you

matthias wrote: ↑2022-03-10 16:54 Two questions for all Spotify users:

Do you always update Spotify when a new version is available?
Do you think that new versions are more musical?

Thank you

I didn’t think one had control of Spotify updates and the dozens of third party software that’s related.

matthias wrote: ↑2022-03-10 16:54 Two questions for all Spotify users:

Do you always update Spotify when a new version is available?
Do you think that new versions are more musical?

Thank you

I’ve never noticed a Spotify update. However, it’s possible that I’m having a Chris Kamara moment!

https://youtu.be/McdjBaChdBA

matthias wrote: ↑2022-03-10 16:54 Do you always update Spotify when a new version is available?

Yes

matthias wrote: ↑2022-03-10 16:54 Do you think that new versions are more musical?

No. If there have been any differences during the last 6 months, they've been too small for me to notice.