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Post by boomzilla on May 12, 2020 21:56:02 GMT -5
I may be ready to try online streaming again. In the past, I used TIDAL and was fairly happy with it except for the fact that I already owned most of the stuff that TIDAL offered and that I wanted to hear. At the time, I considered it a negative (why pay for what I already had?). But it does occur to me that if I employ a streaming service, I won't need to spend so much time and money grooming, updating, and backing up much of my ripped music collection.
To justify using online streaming, I want all the following:
1. Full, non-compressed, non-gimmicked CD quality at full 44.1 / 16
2. Compatibility with Roon
3. Enough selection that I can cull my current ripped music collection by at least half
So far as I know, the intermediate TIDAL option offers all this for $20 / month. Are there any other companies that are competitive?
Also, what's the financial prognosis for TIDAL and other streaming companies - I don't want to buy a service that disappears on me.
Thanks - Boom
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Post by repeetavx on May 12, 2020 22:27:50 GMT -5
If you have Amazon Prime, adding Amazon Music HD is cheaper and fits the bill. Check to see if Roon has updated their service yet.
Nevermind. I just read a couple of threads about how Roon would love to be integrated with Amazon Music HD, but Amazon isn't interested. Shame.
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cawgijoe
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"We made too many of the wrong mistakes." - Yogi Berra
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Post by cawgijoe on May 13, 2020 6:43:07 GMT -5
I had Tidal free for I think six months and then paid the %20 per month for awhile. I really like Tidal, but the problem I ran into was two-fold, working full time did not give me the ability to use it a much as I wanted, and my wife and I watch TV in the evenings, I have an all in one system. So I was not getting the playing time to justify the cost.
I ended up going to Apple Music which is half the cost. No, it's not as hi res as Tidal, but it sounds excellent to me and there is a huge music library.
I may end up going back to a hi res music service when I retire.
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Post by Ex_Vintage on May 13, 2020 8:14:18 GMT -5
I really like using Tune-In for finding commercial free stations. There are hundreds if not thousands of stations out there (most are junk), but Radio Paradise, JB Radio-2 and Mooz all offer 320kb or better than MP3 streams that sound pretty good. Its good background music and every once in a while I can find something new to add to my own library. You can also generally get all local AM and FM stations. There are many "community based" stations that are DJ'ed by real people with their own music styles.
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Post by Perpendicular on May 13, 2020 9:17:10 GMT -5
I switched from an Apple Music Family Plan to an Amazon Prime Music HD as a single user. I’m on a 30-day free trial and there is a difference in sound quality. So far, the only thing I don’t like about Prime Music HD is that they lump everything by an artist together. I remember the same thing with using Tidal about three years ago. Basically, Apple Music had three categories even though they would lump a studio album or two into the compilations category. I’d recommend both Amazon or Tidal but haven’t compared the two services side by side.
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Post by megash0n on May 13, 2020 9:59:46 GMT -5
I switched from an Apple Music Family Plan to an Amazon Prime Music HD as a single user. I’m on a 30-day free trial and there is a difference in sound quality. So far, the only thing I don’t like about Prime Music HD is that they lump everything by an artist together. I remember the same thing with using Tidal about three years ago. Basically, Apple Music had three categories even though they would lump a studio album or two into the compilations category. I’d recommend both Amazon or Tidal but haven’t compared the two services side by side. I've been on Amazon HD for a few months and really like it. It is rare to find anything less than CD quality (16bit/44.1khz). Most of the stuff I listen to is 24 bit/44.1khz minimum. I don't think Apple even has this option. Amazon has released "exclusive mode" for their Windows app although it still isn't working properly yet. Hopefully they will get all that working soon. I just set my shared mode audio to 24/96 for now. It sounds great. |
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cawgijoe
Emo VIPs
"We made too many of the wrong mistakes." - Yogi Berra
Posts: 4,896
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Post by cawgijoe on May 13, 2020 10:04:11 GMT -5
I switched from an Apple Music Family Plan to an Amazon Prime Music HD as a single user. I’m on a 30-day free trial and there is a difference in sound quality. So far, the only thing I don’t like about Prime Music HD is that they lump everything by an artist together. I remember the same thing with using Tidal about three years ago. Basically, Apple Music had three categories even though they would lump a studio album or two into the compilations category. I’d recommend both Amazon or Tidal but haven’t compared the two services side by side. I've been on Amazon HD for a few months and really like it. It is rare to find anything less than CD quality (16bit/44.1khz). Most of the stuff I listen to is 24 bit/44.1khz minimum. I don't think Apple even has this option. Amazon has released "exclusive mode" for their Windows app although it still isn't working properly yet. Hopefully they will get all that working soon. I just set my shared mode audio to 24/96 for now. It sounds great. Does anyone know what the streaming quality of Apple Music is? |
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Post by tropicallutefisk on May 13, 2020 10:17:37 GMT -5
I have Tidal and have been very pleased with it. Initially I was reluctant to join because, like you, I had much of my music on a drive and wasn't sure I'd get much out of having a streaming service. However, I have had Tidal for over a year now and I believe its actually saving me money. I have not bought a Hi Res album in all this time. Its also allows you set up and save several playlists which are handy when I'm doing casual listening at home or in the car.
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Post by megash0n on May 13, 2020 10:19:25 GMT -5
I've been on Amazon HD for a few months and really like it. It is rare to find anything less than CD quality (16bit/44.1khz). Most of the stuff I listen to is 24 bit/44.1khz minimum. I don't think Apple even has this option. Amazon has released "exclusive mode" for their Windows app although it still isn't working properly yet. Hopefully they will get all that working soon. I just set my shared mode audio to 24/96 for now. It sounds great. Does anyone know what the streaming quality of Apple Music is? 256kbps according to one site. |
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cawgijoe
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"We made too many of the wrong mistakes." - Yogi Berra
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Post by cawgijoe on May 13, 2020 10:39:43 GMT -5
STREAMING SERVICE MAX MOBILE QUALITY (KB/S) MAX DESKTOP QUALITY(KB/S) SUPPORTED FORMATS Qobuz 320 4,608 MP3, FLAC Amazon Music HD 320 3,730 FLAC Tidal 320 1,411 FLAC, ALAC, AAC Deezer 320 1,411 FLAC Spotify Free 160 128 AAC Spotify Premium 320 320 AAC Google Play Music 320 320 MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, or ALAC Slacker Radio 320 320 MP3 Apple Music 256 256 AAC YouTube Music 256 256 AAC Pandora 192 192 AAC SoundCloud Go+ 256 256 AAC Apple Music streams using AAC 256kbps, which is more than enough for most people even if it doesn’t quite have the specs that Tidal or Deezer has. At the time of writing this article, there is no high-resolution streaming option for Apple Music but that may be changing. Recently, the company has basically re-branded its “Mastered for iTunes” library of high-quality files to “Apple Digital Master.” Does this mean they’re getting ready to stream lossless files through Apple Music? Who knows, but it’s a step in the right direction even if most people probably won’t care. Found this on-line...need to go back and give them credit. Sorry...tried to separate the copy into columns for legibility with no luck.... Sound Guys - credited |
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KeithL
Administrator 
Posts: 9,929
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Post by KeithL on May 13, 2020 10:49:44 GMT -5
I currently prefer Amazon (because they have a better selection than Tidal or QoBuz... at least on US titles.. and the quality is excellent). They also seem to have a very clean signal (very few dropouts and problems - at least for me - compared to the others).
Note that I only do desktop... and no mobile... and Amazon streaming isn't available for a lot of platforms.
Note, however, that what Amazon calls "HD" is really CD quality..... The do actually have some HD files as well (but they call them something like "ultra-HD"). Another important thing to note is that, while they STREAM in CD quality, Amazon's DOWNLOADS are only MP3. (At least the last time I looked...) I'm also going to add a somewhat personal "editorial note" here.... Apple asks for iTunes submissions to be at 24/96k.... They then turn around and only offer to sell that music to their customers in lossy compressed formats...
(I've found myself unable to purchase CD-quality versions of a few albums because they were only available from Apple.) I don't know what Apple plans to do... or if they will eventually offer lossless music for sale... but I find their current policy to be remarkably hypocritical. (Apparently "Apple cares about quality music" and "Apple cares about their customers"... but not enough to sell quality music TO their customers.)
STREAMING SERVICE MAX MOBILE QUALITY (KB/S) MAX DESKTOP QUALITY(KB/S) SUPPORTED FORMATS Qobuz 320 4,608 MP3, FLAC Amazon Music HD 320 3,730 FLAC Tidal 320 1,411 FLAC, ALAC, AAC Deezer 320 1,411 FLAC Spotify Free 160 128 AAC Spotify Premium 320 320 AAC Google Play Music 320 320 MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, or ALAC Slacker Radio 320 320 MP3 Apple Music 256 256 AAC YouTube Music 256 256 AAC Pandora 192 192 AAC SoundCloud Go+ 256 256 AAC Apple Music streams using AAC 256kbps, which is more than enough for most people even if it doesn’t quite have the specs that Tidal or Deezer has. At the time of writing this article, there is no high-resolution streaming option for Apple Music but that may be changing. Recently, the company has basically re-branded its “Mastered for iTunes” library of high-quality files to “Apple Digital Master.” Does this mean they’re getting ready to stream lossless files through Apple Music? Who knows, but it’s a step in the right direction even if most people probably won’t care. Found this on-line...need to go back and give them credit. Sorry...tried to separate the copy into columns for legibility with no luck.... |
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Post by brutiarti on May 13, 2020 11:12:42 GMT -5
Tidal just to suck at searching and creating mixes. Now I'm really happy with the way that you can discover new artists.
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KeithL
Administrator
Posts: 9,929
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Post by KeithL on May 13, 2020 12:12:44 GMT -5
That's a good thing.....
Not offering WASAPI mode was the one thing that I found lacking with Amazon....
(Hopefully they'll actually get it working soon.)
I switched from an Apple Music Family Plan to an Amazon Prime Music HD as a single user. I’m on a 30-day free trial and there is a difference in sound quality. So far, the only thing I don’t like about Prime Music HD is that they lump everything by an artist together. I remember the same thing with using Tidal about three years ago. Basically, Apple Music had three categories even though they would lump a studio album or two into the compilations category. I’d recommend both Amazon or Tidal but haven’t compared the two services side by side. I've been on Amazon HD for a few months and really like it. It is rare to find anything less than CD quality (16bit/44.1khz). Most of the stuff I listen to is 24 bit/44.1khz minimum. I don't think Apple even has this option. Amazon has released "exclusive mode" for their Windows app although it still isn't working properly yet. Hopefully they will get all that working soon. I just set my shared mode audio to 24/96 for now. It sounds great. |
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Post by repeetavx on May 13, 2020 12:19:15 GMT -5
Another important thing to note is that, while they STREAM in CD quality, Amazon's DOWNLOADS are only MP3. (At least the last time I looked...) Apple asks for iTunes submissions to be at 24/96k.... They then turn around and only offer to sell that music to their customers in lossy compressed formats...
So much for the "death" of physical discs. |
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Post by boomzilla on May 13, 2020 13:03:54 GMT -5
Well, I just looked - Roon supports TIDAL and Qobuzz, but NOT Amazon Music HD (yet). Roon's waiting, apparently from what I read online, to see if Amazon achieves critical mass with their streaming service before deciding whether or not to support it. So for the time being, I may just buy a year of TIDAL while I wait for Roon to decide.
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Post by megash0n on May 13, 2020 13:16:20 GMT -5
That's a good thing.....
Not offering WASAPI mode was the one thing that I found lacking with Amazon....
(Hopefully they'll actually get it working soon.)
I've been on Amazon HD for a few months and really like it. It is rare to find anything less than CD quality (16bit/44.1khz). Most of the stuff I listen to is 24 bit/44.1khz minimum. I don't think Apple even has this option. Amazon has released "exclusive mode" for their Windows app although it still isn't working properly yet. Hopefully they will get all that working soon. I just set my shared mode audio to 24/96 for now. It sounds great. No doubt! It appears they are trending that way. No use of implementing what they did if there was no intention of it being "right" |
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Post by foggy1956 on May 13, 2020 16:30:50 GMT -5
That's a good thing.....
Not offering WASAPI mode was the one thing that I found lacking with Amazon....
(Hopefully they'll actually get it working soon.)
I've been on Amazon HD for a few months and really like it. It is rare to find anything less than CD quality (16bit/44.1khz). Most of the stuff I listen to is 24 bit/44.1khz minimum. I don't think Apple even has this option. Amazon has released "exclusive mode" for their Windows app although it still isn't working properly yet. Hopefully they will get all that working soon. I just set my shared mode audio to 24/96 for now. It sounds great. Exclusive mode is now available on Amazon HD |
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Post by megash0n on May 13, 2020 19:09:05 GMT -5
That's a good thing.....
Not offering WASAPI mode was the one thing that I found lacking with Amazon....
(Hopefully they'll actually get it working soon.)
Exclusive mode is now available on Amazon HD It doesn't work though. |
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KeithL
Administrator
Posts: 9,929
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Post by KeithL on May 13, 2020 20:25:15 GMT -5
Hopefully, now that they seem to have recognized that it is an important feature.... It won't take too long for them to get it working properly.
We shall see.
Exclusive mode is now available on Amazon HD It doesn't work though. |
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Post by megash0n on May 13, 2020 21:28:36 GMT -5
Hopefully, now that they seem to have recognized that it is an important feature.... It won't take too long for them to get it working properly.
We shall see.
I concur. Why would they put forth the effort if not to have it working correctly? I'm not one of those that has to have perfection, but you know... It isn't like exclusive mode is something that's unheard of. If you are going to bother delivering HD quality, it is because you are going after a market that cares. That market is going to want exclusive mode. |
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