IronKrillGotta say I’m surprised to see Spotify adding something people actually want. It must be getting rough for them.
DamarusI might be out of the loop. Who wants this exactly? There is no audible benefit from lossless audio. I rip all my music to lossless files but that’s archival. There’s nothing to archive with streaming services.
hazelI want this, and although there isn’t always a perceptible difference in audio quality, there sometimes can be. It depends on the content, and I’d rather sometimes stream audio at an excessively high bitrate than always lose the high–end definition that I could have enjoyed where it exists.
All my life I’ve been getting into disagreements with people who believe that because they can’t tell the difference between A and B, I must not be able to either. I find this immensely frustrating.
Raoul DukeI agree. I can definitely hear a difference, mostly in the rhythm section and low end.
You can hear a difference between 320 kbps mp3/aac/vorbis and lossless? Can you prove that with an ABX test?
Eh, I got 40% on 2 tries. It’s something I guess. Either way, why not take the higher quality version if it’s included?
So in other words you may as well have guessed randomly and gotten the same result. I’m against lossless streaming because my bandwidth is a limited resource and it will take longer to load the same track with higher bitrate. As there is no audible difference, there is also no practical reason to choose it.
So quite literally worse than a coin flip, then.
Streaming lossless audio will use up three to six times as much data, along with the higher processing demands to play them back, so there’s always a penalty involved. We didn’t invent codecs for no reason.
I notice the difference with an ABX test. Spent about $700 or so on my audio equipment, so I guess it is “budget” in the audiophile world.
What equipment do you have? My main setup is a Motu M4 with two Adam Audio T5V and multi point room correction done in REW. For headphones I’m mostly using DT 770 Pro 80 Ohm (there’s different drivers depending on the impedance and these sound warmer). I also have a sizeable collection of IEMs with ratings up to a B- on the crin list.
I can hear sounds up to about 16k. I cannot differentiate good lossy encodes from lossless audio.
At that point where it matters, I feel like I should be buying the music from the artist, not streaming. My latest favorite band, Mad Routine, gives you the WAV masters when you buy their albums, and they are meticulous about sound; those lossless tracks actually sound better, even with Bluetooth.
However, I think few bands are actually putting in the effort to have beautifully crafted lossless tracks. Also, I have no way of knowing if Spotify is merely increasing the bitrate but using the same lossy source file, which is what I suspect is probably the case. After all, why share valuable goods when you could pretend and throw out a few buzzwords, instead?
Sounds like you just want it because it is possible. If that’s the case, I’m fine with that. There is however no perceptible difference in sound, ABX tests showed that many times.
People say that, but I definitely hear a difference. Mainly in the bass and lower end. You can’t get lossless with Bluetooth. Or airplay. I also use good headphones and a great sound system.
Can you prove it with an ABX test?
I would if they didn’t lose me a long time ago. On bluetooth headphones it doesnt make a huge difference. But I used to stream to my Home Theater setup and Spotify sounded horrible compared to the source material. I could also tell a difference with a quality headphone amp and my 250ohm DT770 pros.
100% agree, Spotify streaming to my soundsystem always sounded like ass. I thought it was something I set up wrong. I then tried Tidal and it was night and day difference.
The small community of audiophile
Which is filled to the brim with snake oil advertisers who want to separate gullible people from their money.
Based on the vibes of every internet comment field, literally everyone and their mother wants to stream lossless.
You’re right about the audible benefits however
Most people wouldn’t be able to notice the difference even with the best possible equipment, but there is a difference.
Of course there technically is a difference, you can easily see it with any tool that can render a spectrogram. Humans cannot hear this difference though, so there is no point in streaming the extra data.
I mean this is just wrong.
Prove it
Go get your hearing tested
Over bluetooth through a car stereo, no you won’t hear a difference. But over a cable through a decent pair of headphones, there is a difference. Even more with a good DAC, amp, and speakers.
The problem with audio quality is that one bad step in the chain from bits to eardrums will nerf the sound quality. So, if you upgrade one step you have to upgrade all of the other steps too before you will reap any benefits.
As a musician and audio engineer, I would love to say that you should experience a richer music listening experience. On the other hand… fucking rent.
You can read up on my setup on the other comments. As an Audio Engineer you should know better or come with proofs.
You do you, friend. I’m just sharing my experience, not trying prove anything.