As some of you may recall, I've been using Spotify Premium (320kbs) as my main source for a year or more now.
Every now and then I get a little niggle and wonder if "near CD quality" really is suitable, and start pondering afresh about the lossless sources such as Tidal.
In fact a month or so back I tried Qobuz, but was immediately disenchanted by the paucity of its classical music catalogue. It was back to Spotify with relief.
But yesterday I invested 20 squid in a month's Tidal membership, once again - I've had quite a few months of Tidal membership before, in fact I started my streaming adventure with Tidal. But then an audio chum convinced me into having a go with Spotify Premium, and I've been happy with that ever since and let the Tidal sub lapse.
.
My system has come a fair way in the last year so I just thought I'd try lossless again.
Hmm. I do hear a difference against Spot Premium, although direct A/B comparisons show it to be fairly subtle on most material I have tried so far. Sorry, it's been all classical!
Yes, it is just audibly higher rez.
But it also puts a bit of an 'edge' on the sound that becomes a bit insistent and relentless after a while.
It actually gave me a headache after a few hours.
It was great fun on Fazil Say's exuberantly eastern and superbly recorded Mesopotamia symphony, where the extra razzle dazzle came across well. Definitely just that bit more impressive and enjoyable. But for string quartets and piano and ordinary symphonic sounds I went back to Spotify with more than a bit of relief!
I'd also forgotten what a struggle the Tidal search facilities can be to use on classical music. Spotify's is much superior.
And whilst Tidal does have some classical material that Spotify lacks, Spotify easily wins overall for the breadth of its catalogue.
Anyway, back to the sq ---- Maybe my system has been fine tuned to suit the subtlely softer sound of Spotify 320kbs as it has been my main source for over a year?
I've got the month of Tidal subscription to play around, it'll be interesting to see if I decide to keep both Tidal and Spotify. I may well try playing around with cables and such like goofery to see if I can tune in a better presentation from Tidal.