Spotify free vs Premium vs Gaana free vs paid streamed vs downloaded vs Tidal

[Deleted member 15865]

I was in the purchaser mode for long time with this strategy. Sample through free service and buy the ones that are really worth. But off late I have stopped buying and sticking to just streaming. It is too fleeting to consider buying any music these days. Music from my times are mostly purchased ones (90s and 2K) - Cassettes and CDs. So I bought those and they are with me. New music is not pushing me to purchase anymore. May be I am getting losing the grip and modernity is taking over.

See the point. My collection too is skewed towards old music (50s to 80s). But I still keep discovering new music that I like to purchase. There’s no dearth of good new music in a vast sea of mediocrity. But beyond that, I still keep discovering old music that’s new to me. Either the genre or deep within a known genre. I think a music aficionado will run out of physical space to store CDs before he runs out of good music that deserves to be bought. Though I extensively stream to discover music, I couid never get myself to listen to an entire album online (could be down to my digital distractedness). While with CDs, I almost always end up listening to an album in its entirety. And with good music, I value that communion.

For streaming we are paying every time for the subscription and internet to listen to the same track over time.

You don’t. You only pay a fixed monthly fee irrespective of how many tracks you listen to how many times. Yes, the streaming service‘s pay out to those artists may go up, but not your outlay.

 

[Nitin K]

Found Spotify premium to be ok despite being on high quality streaming setting. Maybe because I am comparing cd's & good quality MP3 recordings that I have.
The connectivity of the app with receiver is excellent though. Yet imho with the exception of a few songs that I have heard, a lot more quality is desired overall.
But for the price they charge I guess one can't complain.

 

[Music Freak]

I prefer ONLY Gaana when I want to listen " 90s regional music ". Quite a few albums sound pathetic on Tidal as they are just upscaled.

For the rest & latest, I rely on Tidal & fallback to Gaana if it misses the music I'm looking for. So, oscillating b/w these extremes "Gaana's HD & Tidal's High Res". As a result, no place for Spotify now!

 

[noblejose]

Anyway to stream from gaana to allo usbridge signature?
I'm able to stream tune in radio to Allo USBridge Signature using bubble upnp; also local flac/wav files from minimserver..

 

[Deleted member 15865]

An update: Google seems to have upped the ante with YouTube Music app recently. It’s so un-Google like in its latest design - uncluttered, slick design, excellent UI - almost Apple Music level. The sound quality at 256 kbps in the paid version doesn’t feel inferior to Spotify like it earlier used to. I just could not get used to Spotify’s color theme and UI design. YT Music, not surprisingly for Google, is also quite good with its predicting ability and is pretty good at music discovery.

Tidal better get a reasonably priced India version soon. Else it will keep losing audiophile Indian subscribers in the economically stressed period.

 

[ssf]

Tidal better get a reasonably priced India version soon. Else it will keep losing audiophile Indian subscribers in the economically stressed period.

I have come out of Tidal.
Aged ears, average system and high cost made the decision easy.

 

[irv]

I listen to both Gana and Spotify.By comparing i feel better sound quality when using gana streaming.

You are right. I was not satisfied with Spotify and subscribed to gaana and there is a big difference in quality. Now I don't use Spotify though I had paid for one year subscription.

 

[irv]

I am using the free version of Spotify on my shield and it’s doing a good job. But Spotify advertises that premium is 3 times better in clarity. Is it true or just a gimmick? Can some one who tested both confirm?

I strongly recommend you try gaana. I had subscribed to Spotify for a year but was not satisfied . Recently I tried gaana and was impressed. No turning back to Spotify. Try it and let me know.

 

[Love4sound]

I strongly recommend you try gaana. I had subscribed to Spotify for a year but was not satisfied . Recently I tried gaana and was impressed. No turning back to Spotify. Try it and let me know.

I am using Apple Music and happy with its performance.

 

[Weathered]

I use Tidal hifi for western music and Gaana hd for regional music. Looking forward to see if Amazon Music launch their hd service in India.

 

[Love4sound]

Thats Blasphemy !!!!!

Spotify premium is very good, Gaana has good Indian collection, apple music I guess a notch above all but not so extensive Indian collection, youtube premium sounds too colored and has some low end distortion on my setup. Anyway YouTube premium is inexpensive, so no harm in subscribing. I keep fiddling through spotify as the phone as a remote is very convenient. (May be my experience with others in this expect is not extensive).

Don't forget Tidal.......

I only listen to english music so quite happy with apple music. Well right now i listen only in stereo mode

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Well right now i listen only in stereo mode

What caused the change?

On my last 2500km drive, I downloaded around 1000+ songs with auto playlist sync.

2500/(1000x5/60) = 30 Kmph
You drive slow!

 

[Love4sound]

2500/(1000x5/60) = 30 Kmph
You drive slow!



What caused the change?

After getting the Denon 4500 I liked the pure direct mode better. The stereo tracks when upmixed using dsp loose a lot of bass and clarity.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

The stereo tracks when upmixed using dsp loose a lot of bass and clarity.

Hmm... processing always comes at a cost.

 

[himadri]

Thats Blasphemy !!!!!

Spotify premium is very good, Gaana has good Indian collection, apple music I guess a notch above all but not so extensive Indian collection, youtube premium sounds too colored and has some low end distortion on my setup. Anyway YouTube premium is inexpensive, so no harm in subscribing. I keep fiddling through spotify as the phone as a remote is very convenient. (May be my experience with others in this expect is not extensive).

Don't forget Tidal.......

Nowadays in Corona times when getting new music CDs handcarried from abroad is not possible for sometime ,I have discovered that Spotify premium through J River is quite good actually.The tonalility is intact and you only loose the expansive sound of a wave file.But the fabulous jazz, rock and indian collection of Spotify is a bargain.
Cheers

 

[MaSh]

2500/(1000x5/60) = 30 Kmph
You drive slow!

Wow, interesting how you equated a measure of distance with an approximate number of songs to derive my speed.

MaSh

 

[himadri]

True. Exactly my path. Everything routed through JRiver.

But I made a discovery and it made me feel uncomfortable:

I played a track recorded by a chap of his setup playing, on YouTube through my iPhone and compared same by playing on Spotify premium, again on my iPhone. The highs were well resolved in the former and the chap used some digital media to play that particular track and not a TT.

Hence there is definitely much more left to be desired even playing through Spotify Premium.....

Yes there is definitely some sweetening involved in the J River algorithm , but what the heck , it is the only player where I can listen to the truncated lower resolution of a 320 kbps file without having an ear fatigue in extended listening.

 

[Michelangalo]

I have gana premium and it sounds good to me.

 

[sandeeprawat]

Anyone has any feedback on Wynk Music in terms of audio quality?

 

[Pardeep Bansal]

Anyone has any feedback on Wynk Music in terms of audio quality?

I used to listen to wynk music a lot. They have 320 kbps music files and a good collection of songs too but quality is not that good as compared to apple music, Spotify premium or even Amazon music