Arjunsadasevam
Member
To my ears, Certain tracks via USB pro (bit perfect) setting - Tidal hd - chord Hugo Dac - sounds as good as original CD's
Spotify vs Audio CD
- Thread starter Vivek Batra
- Start date
Most of the people over 30, hardly find any difference between 320 Kbps AAC and CD-quality audio under a regular listening environment. With age, human ears become less responsive to low (100<)/high (>10k) frequency notes.
Listening to music is more than hearing below 100 or above 10!
I know people who are not happy with streaming through Denafrips Terminator , Lumin T2 , Avalons and Symphonic lines! High resolution systems easily show the difference. I have encountered this too.
It’s not only about frequencies getting cut off. Compressed files have a harshness \ shrillness that is not there is good mastered CDs , and are supposedly even smoother \ refined in DSD.
And as one moves higher up the chain with tube pres or tube integrateds, or horn speakers - this difference becomes more glaring.
As more and more opt for streaming , the demand for physical media (CDs ) will only start to grow as their availability becomes more scarce. It has already started in fact, for those superb Indian classical and vintage Bollywood soundtracks from RD \ Bappi Lahiri\ Kishore \ Lata \ Asha which are fetching insane prices in the reseller market, as their streaming quality is extremely poor in any platform including Tidal and Qobuz. It is the vinyl resurgence phenomenon all over again , and the scale is growing quietly every day.
IndianEars
Well-Known Member
Spotify Premium delivers mp3 320Kbps music which is the highest quality of MP3
Compared to that, CD or WAV music is minimum 1411kbps.
Hence the MP3 (Which is a LOSSY Compression) Permanently throws away 75% of the audio bits on a CD.
If you improve your CD Replay chain, you will certainly hear a difference .... the superiority of the CD.
Listen for High Frequency delicacy, Stereo Imaging, Air & ambience of the recording venue, a live presence of the singer as if he or she is singing in your room, rather than over a radio....
These are attributes of "High Fidelity" or HiFi sound that CDs were designed to deliver ....
Compared to that, CD or WAV music is minimum 1411kbps.
Hence the MP3 (Which is a LOSSY Compression) Permanently throws away 75% of the audio bits on a CD.
If you improve your CD Replay chain, you will certainly hear a difference .... the superiority of the CD.
Listen for High Frequency delicacy, Stereo Imaging, Air & ambience of the recording venue, a live presence of the singer as if he or she is singing in your room, rather than over a radio....
These are attributes of "High Fidelity" or HiFi sound that CDs were designed to deliver ....
square_wave
Well-Known Member
In the past, me and couple of my audio nut friends have done a comparison between cd, ripped wave files, spotify, tidal and high res download in a very resolving system.
Spotify scored the worst even at its highest quality. Apart from sounding lossy and less dynamic the sound also seems equalised to make it sound loud. Good for very casual listening. Some blues tracks that was not equalised sounded okay. Looks like they are not messing so much with music that is not very popular with the millennials.
It was a tie between cd and its rip played through a dac that was optimised for pc playback. In a different setup with a dac that is more optimised for cd transport only, the result may vary. This transport in use was a high end one.
Tidal was tricky. Comparison with a cd counterpart was like apples and oranges because the files with tidal can be from a completely different master. Some albums that were high res or sourced from better masters by tidal sounded slightly better than inferior cds that we played. We tried some imported cds against its redbook res counterpart on tidal and tidal was almost 90 percent there. They also don't mess with the files much. so I think it is great value. Unless you are doing super critical listening, tidal is very good for general music appreciation at audiophile levels.
High res downloaded files sounded the best unless they have messed with the master. In such cases the cd sounded more musical and "human ".
Spotify scored the worst even at its highest quality. Apart from sounding lossy and less dynamic the sound also seems equalised to make it sound loud. Good for very casual listening. Some blues tracks that was not equalised sounded okay. Looks like they are not messing so much with music that is not very popular with the millennials.
It was a tie between cd and its rip played through a dac that was optimised for pc playback. In a different setup with a dac that is more optimised for cd transport only, the result may vary. This transport in use was a high end one.
Tidal was tricky. Comparison with a cd counterpart was like apples and oranges because the files with tidal can be from a completely different master. Some albums that were high res or sourced from better masters by tidal sounded slightly better than inferior cds that we played. We tried some imported cds against its redbook res counterpart on tidal and tidal was almost 90 percent there. They also don't mess with the files much. so I think it is great value. Unless you are doing super critical listening, tidal is very good for general music appreciation at audiophile levels.
High res downloaded files sounded the best unless they have messed with the master. In such cases the cd sounded more musical and "human ".
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
Good to see this old thread being revived. My only source is Tidal as of now via pc. I am getting curious with every post that claims CDs are better than streaming. As you have mentioned, that the Tidal is almost close to cd quality, does it make any sense still to invest in a high end cd player? just for the extra 10%
square_wave
Well-Known Member
It depends. Many people own cds of music that is not present on Tidal. Also if you own many cds that you love and you find tidal versions does not sound as good, you may want to consider a cd player. For eg; many people into classical music find that they cds sounds better especially if you own a good transport.
Also, when you own the music, you can play whenever you want ( cd or wav / flacs ). You are also not at the mercy of marketing peeps at streaming companies who may make start applying EQ to the music based on what the AI statistics throw up at the board meeting. Pride of ownership is also a factor. If you have never build a collection of cds and streaming is your first exposure to music, it may be a different discussion altogether.
For me, tidal is "another" source for exploring music. Many albums sound very good. But it cannot replace everything else. Locally stored wav files sound slightly better for most of my music.
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
I never ever bought a music CD. From cassettes, I moved to MP3 on pc and now after a loooong gap, built my 2 channel system. I was in a split before buying dac vs cd player and ended up buying the dac because it's not very easy to build up while music collection from scratch especially in today's time.
Not unless you are also ready to invest in CDs.
Last part. Not true. I’m building up CD and LP collection myself since last one year.
IndianEars
Well-Known Member
I am sorry to be obtuse, but I Dont Like Tidal At All, for serious music listening.
To my ears and on my setup, Tidal completely lacks dynamics ... Its like high quality Elevator music.
Qobuz is better
Hi Res PCM ( eg 24 / 96, 24/176, 24/192) is better than Qobuz. Hi Res PCM has Great PRAT.
SACD Rips offer a different flavour altogether.... Lovely flow, the treble is there but not in your face like in Hi res PCM.
Most often, a Good rip of a Good CD is the best, most balanced of all.
I know my opinion is almost an anti opinion, but its what I honestly experience on my setup.
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
In that case you are more passionate than me
If at some point of time I hear the difference myself, I won't hesitate to buy a player and build my collection again.
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How can you , sir , if you don’t buy a CDP and some good CDs of albums you know ?
It’s like a Catch 22 situation for you.
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
By borrowing one.How can you , sir , if you don’t buy a CDP and some good CDs of albums you know ?
It’s like a Catch 22 situation for you.
I already suggested that to you on another thread on which you had replied it’s not possible for you to borrow if my memory serves me right.
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square_wave
Well-Known Member
I find this quite surprising. I find that "natural tone " and " fluidity " is slightly different with tidal as compared to its locally stored wav or cd provided the local playback source system ( especially the transport ) is top class. I am assuming the dac is the same while doing the comparison.
Existing dynamics in an album is usually a victim with equalisation and lossy compression for streaming and that is something tidal ( hifi version ) cannot influence due to the technology involved in lossless streaming.
Did you try Tidal premium or Tidal hifi ? Tidal premium is 320kpbs mp3 while the hifi version is lossless. Also, how do you stream tidal to your dac ?
All my observations are based on Tidal hifi which is a lossless streaming service.
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IndianEars
Well-Known Member
square_wave
I dont listen to lossy compression.
Tidal HiFi is what i referred to as a high quality elevator music..
I would urge all to try it side by side with playback of the same CD.
It is surprising to see that so many on this HiFi forum are content with lossy compression.
There are also so many posts where the members are not aware of the HiRes (PCM) format.
I dont listen to lossy compression.
Tidal HiFi is what i referred to as a high quality elevator music..
I would urge all to try it side by side with playback of the same CD.
It is surprising to see that so many on this HiFi forum are content with lossy compression.
There are also so many posts where the members are not aware of the HiRes (PCM) format.
+1 tidal hifi is not comparable to wav files, it doesnt sound as open as a wav file and dynamics are all over the place. No streaming service is comparable to local wav files placed on harddisks.
IndianEars
Well-Known Member
TOTALLY agree with you, Firearm12
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