Damn you Flac to hell and back.

m7rso

Hath Wammed
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Aug 14, 2009
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Graham
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  1. No
I have been going about my business quite happily, listening to a bit of John Martyn on Spotify and enjoying it very much indeedie thank you. I loves a bit of Spotify, their music catalogue is enormous and I love thinking of a song and being able to hear l0 or so iterations, 5 of which may be by the original artist, then another 5 by pretenders to the crown, some of which are amazing. I then pick the version I like most and add it to my playlist. This is why Spotify is my music provider of choice.
About a 2weeks ago, my mate Andy @bencat was around and fiddled with my Imac, allowing it to play some flac files from harddrive without downloading said harddrive onto the imac therby overfilling the computers internal drive and rendering it useless. Anyhoo thinks me, ill have a listen to the same recording on Flac…since Andy has the patience of a Saint and did the business for me….Church with One Bell…Glorybox. Ayeaye, thinks I, that sounds a bit fruitier than normal. More….of everything! Wtf. Lets try a bit of Avalon, not listened to that for a bit but it used to be my recording of choice whenever I got new gear.. another wtf with an Omg. Lets try acouple more, 30 to be precise. Well its a completely different system that I am now listening to from two hours ago and pre-flac. Damn me to hell and back for not doing this sooner and damn you Spotify for lulling us all into a false sense of security. The sooner Spotify upgrade to flac or equivalent the better. In the meantime go f#£& yourself Spotify. I will still be using you……
 
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bencat

Amplifier Destroyer
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Feb 6, 2010
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Andrew
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Don't believe him Graham it is just not true . Next time you are round at mine I have a Richard Thompson album for which I have the hi res down load in both FLAC and WAV . I have listened to this on random not knowing which track was which format and the going back through what notes I made . What was obvious was every track was lovely but I was not be able to identify which format any of them were . Bob may be much better than me at this but if you fancy a go yourself you are more than welcome . Sorry about the FLAC but it just is better .
 

StingRay

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Apr 27, 2016
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Ray
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I don't find Spotify any better than Deezer, catalogue wise and it is more expensive and not even cd quality. I got Deezer for £5.99 pm, not sure if this offer is still available. You can get Tidal for £10pm. Qobuz is slightly more and is better on some genres, also has proper HiRes.

I doubt Spotify will do Flac, they said they would launch over 1 year ago, the competition has undercut them.
 
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tackleberry

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Jan 28, 2010
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Leeds..ish
HiFi Trade?
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Having recently bought a streamer and giving it a reasonabley good time doing comparisons, qobuz flac sounds better than Spotify, wasn’t sure when I first got it.
 
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It Cost How Much!?!

Twisted
Wammer
Oct 27, 2008
17,429
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Hartford, Cheshire
AKA
Bob
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Don't believe him Graham it is just not true . Next time you are round at mine I have a Richard Thompson album for which I have the hi res down load in both FLAC and WAV . I have listened to this on random not knowing which track was which format and the going back through what notes I made . What was obvious was every track was lovely but I was not be able to identify which format any of them were . Bob may be much better than me at this but if you fancy a go yourself you are more than welcome . Sorry about the FLAC but it just is better .
Pop round mine and have a listen to a CD ripped in both formats on the Innuos.
 
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oldius

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Staff member
Dec 30, 2008
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Geoff
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
For me, Spotify is the best streaming service for the music lover. Its sound quality is not as good as Qobuz, but its catalogue and interface is significantly better; it doesn't give me Chris DeBurgh or Europe on my Weekly Discovery either. Still, if I really like something on Spotify, I try to find it on Qobuz, because the quality is better. I currently have Amazon HD on trial but I don't like it as much. I have also had Tidal and thought the same.
 

JANDL100

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Dec 5, 2006
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Jerry
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I use Spotify.
Every now and then I have a sanity check of a month's sub with a non compressed service - recently Amazon Music, prior to that Qobuz.
I always return to Spotify with relief for the reasons given by Oldius in the previous post; music catalogue (and superior UI), Spotify is best imo, and not by a little. It's about the music, right?

I actually like Spotify's more relaxed presentation. I'm getting old. 67 as of yesterday. Pipe & Slippers.
 

Sir_Franc

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Nov 10, 2005
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East Sussex
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Rick
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
Flac can be compressed as much as you like and remain lossless, but they can also be saved uncompressed if space isn't an issue. I've been told WAV files sound better on Naim systems. This could be something to do with the code Naim uses rather than one format being better than the other. My default format is Flac.
I might be a rare one in as much I like the sound of some MP3's. To my ears it can sometimes sound more organic and have more body to it. This mainly applies on more simply vocal / acoustic music. Don't bother with pop music as that'll be all bass boom, but quieter stuff can be real mellow without being a dull.
 
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