All About Streaming Music Services

[Fëanor]

I'm considering subscribing to a music streaming service ... but which one?  I've been resistant to subscription services in general and not just music streaming services. (I'll admit I'm Netflix subscriber). 

Among hardcore audiophiles, most not primarily Classical listeners, the consensus is Tidal or Quobuz.  Recently it's Quobuz that gets the node from Jazz and Classical listeners amongst that community.  How do folks hear feel about it?

I'd also be interest in comments on the Roon service which is highly favoured by the aforementioned audiophiles.

Currently I listen almost exclusively to my own record collection, all ripped to FLAC or ALAC files, plus some downloads. Those music files reside on a Synology NAS.  My music player is Foobar2000 which I like a lot with the Columns UI customizations I've made.

[Brian]

Idagio and Presto are also options that are classical-specific, if you don't want to listen to other genres, and have some classical-specific features.

You may enjoy this thread: https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,33786.msg1599863.html#msg1599863

[Mandryka]

I'm considering subscribing to a music streaming service ... but which one?  I've been resistant to subscription services in general and not just music streaming services. (I'll admit I'm Netflix subscriber). 

Among hardcore audiophiles, most not primarily Classical listeners, the consensus is Tidal or Quobuz.  Recently it's Quobuz that gets the node from Jazz and Classical listeners amongst that community.  How do folks hear feel about it?

I'd also be interest in comments on the Roon service which is highly favoured by the aforementioned audiophiles.

Currently I listen almost exclusively to my own record collection, all ripped to FLAC or ALAC files, plus some downloads. Those music files reside on a Synology NAS.  My music player is Foobar2000 which I like a lot with the Columns UI customizations I've made.

Spotify without a doubt, their offer is so much better I doubt that Qobuz will remain in business for much longer, and Presto even less so. The spotify catalogue of classical recordings is enormous, more so than those other streaming services, and their sound quality is as good as Cds.

Roon is overpriced and I am pretty sure it will probably be history soon too. I mean, what's the point? You can do everything it does and more for free with the Lyrion Music Server. I'm pretty sure there's a way of integrating with foobar and your LMS, their forum will explain.

I notice that Qobuz had a special deal recently for people who are silly enough to buy a lifetime subscription. Last chance saloon or what?

[Bachthoven]

I'm considering subscribing to a music streaming service ... but which one?  I've been resistant to subscription services in general and not just music streaming services. (I'll admit I'm Netflix subscriber). 

Among hardcore audiophiles, most not primarily Classical listeners, the consensus is Tidal or Quobuz.  Recently it's Quobuz that gets the node from Jazz and Classical listeners amongst that community.  How do folks hear feel about it?

I'd also be interest in comments on the Roon service which is highly favoured by the aforementioned audiophiles.

Currently I listen almost exclusively to my own record collection, all ripped to FLAC or ALAC files, plus some downloads. Those music files reside on a Synology NAS.  My music player is Foobar2000 which I like a lot with the Columns UI customizations I've made.

I use Qobuz and like it very much. They have a massive classical library, and the sound is very good. I also use Roon, both their software and their Nucleus Plus server. This combo sounds quite a bit better than my previous laptop setup. The main downside to Roon is the cost of the software. I think it's $850 or so for a lifetime subscription. I opted for a yearly subscription of $149 in case something better comes along!

[Spotted Horses]

Anyone have experience of how smooth Qobux is on MacOS?

[Todd]

I use Amazon Music.  The library is large enough that I can find anything I want, in all genres, and it includes all the fancy high res LPCM formats up to 24/192 so I can repeatedly hear that there is no sonic benefit to those formats.  (This is even more obvious through headphones.)  I use Amazon Prime, so I got some discount or other when I signed up for Amazon Music.  I've never felt a need to investigate other streaming services, though maybe that will change one day.

[Mandryka]

Anyone have experience of how smooth Qobux is on MacOS?

A friend of mine tried it and found that it was always jumping and stalling. Whether this was a Mac feature or something else I can't say. What I can say is this: as soon as he switched to Tidal the problem vanished.

[DavidW]

Among hardcore audiophiles, most not primarily Classical listeners, the consensus is Tidal or Quobuz. 

That is irrelevant these days; even Spotify offers lossless. The deciding factors, IMO, shouldn't be about sound quality but catalog, curation, ease of use, and other things like possibly Roon integration.

[Mirror Image]

One thing I never understood about Apple...well one thing at least for the purpose of this thread (I've got many problems with them), is why in the world have not offered their Apple Classical app to people, like myself, who primarily uses a laptop computer? Qobuz, Spotify, Presto et. al. have standalone apps for desktop computer users, so why can't Apple see the bigger picture here and offer this option for their customers?

I, of course, don't do streaming, but since its inception Apple Classical has seemed to be cumbersome and unwieldy, but just overall a disappointment.

[Mandryka]

I use Amazon Music.  The library is large enough that I can find anything I want, in all genres, and it includes all the fancy high res LPCM formats up to 24/192 so I can repeatedly hear that there is no sonic benefit to those formats.  (This is even more obvious through headphones.)  I use Amazon Prime, so I got some discount or other when I signed up for Amazon Music.  I've never felt a need to investigate other streaming services, though maybe that will change one day.

This is making wonder whether I should try amazon music. I hate Amazon because of their dreadful customer service and agressive marketing and most of all their rip of prices, but that's neither here nor there. Their app quality may make me swing  (I find spotify's annoying because of the queue concept - it doesn't let me add to the end of a queue, and queues disappear as they are played.)

Amazon seems to have lots of Asian releases, like Spotify, so that's good.

[Todd]

Their app quality may make me swing

I primarily listen via a WiiM and its app, and it's fine.  The Amazon Fire app has the benefit of voice control.  The Amazon Music desktop app is the best of the UIs I use. 

[AnotherSpin]

I have been using Qobuz for quite a while now. I cannot recall the exact number of years, but it has been at least 6-7, possibly more. In the early days, I compared Qobuz with Tidal, and although the quality was fairly similar, I ultimately decided to stick with Qobuz.

When Spotify introduced lossless streaming, I did think about making the switch. However, after comparing the sound quality, Qobuz still sounded better to my ears. I have used the service across various Apple computers and iPhones running macOS and iOS throughout this time, and I have never encountered any significant technical issues. Qobuz app for macOS is fine and Qobuz Connect works seamlessly with my Naim streamer, and the service is fully integrated into my car's audio system.

Since major streaming services offer free trials, I do not see much of a problem with installing a few, testing them out for a while, and deciding which one you prefer. That is exactly what I did at the start, and even recently, I gave Amazon and Apple Music a try.

Before I settled on Qobuz, I had a subscription to Idagio. It is a solid German service, but it only offers classical music and a bit of jazz, whereas I sometimes want to listen to other genres. Also, there is no app and no such features as Connect.

[Madiel]

I use Idagio and Deezer. Both of them cause me very little trouble which is a huge part of why I've kept with both of them for years now.

[AnotherSpin]

I use Idagio and Deezer. Both of them cause me very little trouble which is a huge part of why I've kept with both of them for years now.

I used to enjoy Idagio before moving on to more grown-up platform, and Deezer does look like a credible challenger to Spotify. That said, having to juggle two separate services rather than one would be a dealbreaker for me. I'm also not entirely convinced that Idagio and Deezer offer the same depth of technical features as Qobuz, particularly when it comes to integrations and so forth. I could be wrong, of course.

[Madiel]

more grown-up platform

I frankly have no idea what on Earth that remark could mean. And I don't really want you to tell me.

Because there is nothing juvenile about a platform specifically tailored to classical music that enables you to search for and listen to composers, works and genres in a way that generalist platforms struggle to deal with.

[Fëanor]

That is irrelevant these days; even Spotify offers lossless. The deciding factors, IMO, shouldn't be about sound quality but catalog, curation, ease of use, and other things like possibly Roon integration.

Speaking for myself, streaming service criteria are, not necessarily in order of significance:

• "Lossless" resolution of 16 bit/44.1 kHz, i.e. CD quality.  Also freedom from dropouts and stalls
• Catalog size/depth for the Classical genre
• Ease of browsing that must include Compose, Genre/subgenre, Performing ensemble and/or soloist.

For browsing my own recording files for years I have preferred my customized Columns UI Foobar2000 interface, (see pic).

Thanks to my customization I can drill down by:

• System Folder
• Genre/Composer/Album
• Composer/Genre/Album
• Genre/Album
• Performer/Album

This browse capability does rely on my correcting metadata tags to suit my preferences.

[Madiel]

If you want lossless on Idagio I believe you would have to go to the higher (more expensive) Premium tier.

[DavidW]

Speaking for myself, streaming service criteria are, not necessarily in order of significance:

• "Lossless" resolution of 16 bit/44.1 kHz, i.e. CD quality.  Also freedom from dropouts and stalls
• Catalog size/depth for the Classical genre
• Ease of browsing that must include Compose, Genre/subgenre, Performing ensemble and/or soloist.

I think they all satisfy the first one, but I will say that Qobuz will sometimes have dropouts and require fussing to rebuffer. At least on Windows at work, at home it is never an issue. Qobuz's software is frankly a little janky. They are way slower as well at searching and browsing, and they can strangely lock up.

On the catalog size, I've found that all are great, but I think I have found significant content holes in Idagio. Spotify will still occasionally offer some deep catalog albums that the others don't.

Idagio is the best for ease of browsing and deep, precise search results. I find them all acceptable on searching. Qobuz has good curation of new releases and great albums. Spotify, Amazon, etc., are better done through searching and not browsing. However, Spotify is the best at personalized recommendations that I would actually listen to.