Spotify vs Audio CD
- Thread starter Vivek Batra
- Start date
Sean de Silva
Well-Known Member
Interesting article
amp.theguardian.com
Disc-go: Should you get rid of your CDs?
They’re ugly and they clog up your cupboards. But just like vinyl spun back into fashion, the compact disc could too
D
Deleted member 15865
Guest
Cant understand your reluctance to get a decent transport when you’ve invested so much in the rest of your chain.
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
No further investment on the gear until my dedicated room is ready. I have no complains either.
With a dedicated streamer - based on the rest of your gear - the differnce is significantly better! I urge you to consider to come on board to the "streaming" life
yogitashwer
Member
When comparing bit rate, or the amount of data transferred per second, High-Resolution Audio's bit rate (9,216 kbps) is nearly seven times higher than that of CDs (1,411 kbps) and almost 29 times higher than that of MP3s (320 kbps).
But in actual CD always perform better in real world.
But in actual CD always perform better in real world.
so your saying Flac is higher resolution than CD?
FLAC can handle any PCM bit resolution from 4 to 32 bits per sample, any sampling rate from 1 Hz to 65,535 Hz in 1 Hz increments or from 10 Hz to 655,350 Hz in 10 Hz increments, and any number of channels from 1 to 8.
CD is encoded at 16 bit, 44100 Hz sampling rate.
I guess SACD has a higher bit rate and sampling rate? What I have seen is 24 bit and 92000 Hz
DSD64 is sampled at 1 bit, 44100 Hz x 64 = 2822400 Hz.
DSD128 is 44100 x 128.... and so on.
24 bit 192 kHz is probably the equivalent when DSD is played over PCM.
IndianEars
Well-Known Member
24x176 is an integral multiple of the DSD bit rate.
Nice thread. My experience has been a mixed one but its gets better with time. I listen to apple music at resolutions16/44, 24/96. For mobility and listening on headphones via mobile phone or a portable headphone dac+amp on the go, lets face it any music service with 16/44 and above resolution is a dream come true.
An example of Alan Parsons album. The day I saw it labeled lossless, heard it on my headphone rig and was totally underwhelmed. Muddy. It sounded like hearing a cassette with the tape deck head dirty. Over time this album became better. They may have tweaked something at the backend or are streaming a another master/source. In the interim I upgraded my phone software too so who knows what made the difference. What I noticed was there were multiple versions of an album sometimes which sounded different.
A few other classical albums sounded good on streaming, just about on par with the cd equivalent. So no complaints there. Yes I can hear differences for the better in various albums as the service picks up momentum and phone softwares get updated. Trust me, I have begun to update my phone software only because of apple music
I guess the service's are optimising their streaming sources and end user software as well.
Should take some time for them to get to and stream the whole catalogue with the best source material. I guess thats expecting too much right now as well.
In some cases there are settings in the software which say “Auto” for streaming resolution which I turn off. Who knows if the software is auto downgrading a stream due to bandwidth constraints intermittently ?
Physical media have their own charm and will play consistently as long as they are maintained well.
To me streaming services are a huge convenience and a blessing but not a replacement for my physical media. Maybe in the future.
An example of Alan Parsons album. The day I saw it labeled lossless, heard it on my headphone rig and was totally underwhelmed. Muddy. It sounded like hearing a cassette with the tape deck head dirty. Over time this album became better. They may have tweaked something at the backend or are streaming a another master/source. In the interim I upgraded my phone software too so who knows what made the difference. What I noticed was there were multiple versions of an album sometimes which sounded different.
A few other classical albums sounded good on streaming, just about on par with the cd equivalent. So no complaints there. Yes I can hear differences for the better in various albums as the service picks up momentum and phone softwares get updated. Trust me, I have begun to update my phone software only because of apple music
I guess the service's are optimising their streaming sources and end user software as well.
Should take some time for them to get to and stream the whole catalogue with the best source material. I guess thats expecting too much right now as well.
In some cases there are settings in the software which say “Auto” for streaming resolution which I turn off. Who knows if the software is auto downgrading a stream due to bandwidth constraints intermittently ?
Physical media have their own charm and will play consistently as long as they are maintained well.
To me streaming services are a huge convenience and a blessing but not a replacement for my physical media. Maybe in the future.
Kiran Vaidya
Member
True. Music is not Bit rate anyways. It also does not depend on age (listening capacity due to age)
sud98
Well-Known Member
In my gear, I am able to make out the differences of flac(played via kodi/plex) (being far better) versus Spotify Premium. Will moving from the shield to a budget streamer from Allo make a difference and improve the case for Spotify?
In my experience always CD quality better than streamers , even though never tried Tidal.
True, apple music is far better than spotify,
Beast_of_burden
Active Member
If you have an iPhone try the dongle, its pretty good. I also have a large collection of flacs ripped from cds. Is the difference night and day or does it prevent me from enjoying discovering music on Spotify? It’s thoroughly enjoyable, sometimes I go weeks without playing a Flac. No matter how big, one’s own collection is finally limiting.
chillumphile
Member
+1
there is world of difference in terms of SQ and soundstage.
And I have a fairly entry level setup with LgV40 --> Marantz PM8006 --> Elac b6.2 + REL HT1003 Mkii subs
MIOM
Active Member
I think there's a world of difference between Bryers and Baskin Robins Ice cream because I prefer Bryers
Someone with a far better setup than yours could just as easily feel the opposite way. Or they could feel neither is as good as CD or vinyl. It's simply a matter of perspective (in this case equipment). And why I put zero stock in statements like the above.
I personally prefer listening to CDs over any streamed content. That's me.
Perspective.
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