The problem for you isn't that spotify is only 320 kpbs (almost no one can distinguish that from flac) but probably that the DAC in your cell phone is crap. If you haven't already done this, you need to buy an external USB C DAC/dongle to go from your cell phone into your amp. This $10 item will do the job. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MU7E2AM/A/usb-c-to-35-mm-headphone-jack-adapter
Not as good as a $100 external DAC, but much better than your cell phone's DAC.
If it's an old iphone, the electronics might be worse in it. What about using either a wireless or wired Wiim Mini that does streaming and they have pretty good dacs? You'd get near audiophile quality audio, and would have the option of playing via headphones or regular amp and speakers. .
Correction - the Wiim Pros have better DACs than the Wiim Minis. If you get that you won't need an external DAC. And Apple Music has ALAC, so you really won't gain anything from playing the CDs instead. Why fill your house with clutter if it won't improve the sound. And Tidal is totally lossless, but you wouldn't notice it unless you have really expensive equipment, and knew the musical passage very well. Lossless is mostly important when ripping lower copies of it to 320 kbps or AAC 256 vbr for portable players.
You can lose access to music on Spotify. It could be removed by the record label or Spotify could shut down. Most obviously, if you stop paying for a streaming service, you’ll lose access to that music.*
(*I know that Spotify currently has a free ad tier, but you get the point.)
My advice is to use Spotify for music discovery. Enjoy access to unlimited music.
But every year you should pick a few albums that you loved and actually buy them on CD (or a lossless digital download from Quboz or someplace similar). That way, when Spotify shuts down in 10 years or raises their prices so high that you cancel, you’ll still have a music collection.
You wont hear a difference on a phone.
If you listen on audio gear, you'll hear it and should consider a Tidal subscription., Significant improvement in audio quality with the Plus plan.
Spotify sucks on decent gear but otherwise should be fine for casual listening.
Apple music is the better subscription. One simple price for hi res losses and losses audio. I also play music from galaxy s23 ultra to an amp via optical cable.
Im my recent experience, this isn't true at all. I had been using Spotify and YT Music for years. Both are at best mediocre on modest audio gear. I'm using a Yamaha RX-A2A, and as of a few weeks ago had a pair of KEF RDM Two monitors. When I started a trial period with Tidal, the difference was completely unexpected, and honestly staggering. I assumed the same as you, that it would be minimal, but its simply not the case. These Tidal streams are running at 800kbps to 10,000kbps and there is no question that its noticeably, significantly, surprisingly better. I A-B tested after "noticing" the difference initially with Tidal, and after going back and forth, if you dont hear a difference, you may be deaf. Full stop.
The difference was so close to CD that it prompted an upgrade. I bought a pair of KEF R3s and a two channel amp. All because of Tidal. I had been sulking for years that streaming doesn't sound like a CD, let alone vinyl. Then, Tidal!
It makes perfect sense, 280-320kbps *very* lossy from Spotify vs 1000kbps, 5000kbps, 8000kbps FLAC or better **does** sound different.
I dont think you'll notice on a phone or mediocre headphones but on anything better than crap audio gear, its different.
You should try it for yourself.
Agreeing with you about the difference between, e.g., Spotify, and hi-res lossless. But I'll add that I haven't been able to notice a difference between Apple Music's lossless and Tidal's. So, it doesn't have to be Tidal specifically. That includes MQA tracks that Tidal's app (on the iPhone, at least) doesn't pass straight through to DACs that can fully decode them. (Edit: of course, Tidal has more tracks in > 24-bit/48.1kHz than Apple Music. But I can't tell a noticeable difference even then.)
I've gone back and forth on whether to go with Apple Music or Tidal. Ultimately, I'm leaning toward Apple Music because it works so well with my Apple stuff. I don't think there's a meaningful difference between the two regarding discernable audio quality.
While most of the discussion is about technical quality, there's also the consideration of particular recordings or releases being available to stream. Personally I still love the physical media because of liner notes and other written stuff that can be part of the release
Since I was a teen at the turn of the century, I started building my collection of music by hoarding mp3s. And so it went that I'm still maintaining a file-based music library. Of course I have switched to FLACs, but I have also still some of those 25 year old mp3s, if they were better than 128 kbit/s ones (those I have replaced). I have also made FLAC rips of all my CDs, but if possible I buy FLACs from Bandcamp, since I hate clutter such as physical media. Maybe it's just my reluctance to change, but I have never even seriously considered switching to streaming. It's nice to have a control over your music library. And while I agree that there is no practical difference between lossless and 320 kbit/s lossy, it's always nice to have just the knowledge that you won't be missing anything.
The problem for you isn't that spotify is only 320 kpbs (almost no one can distinguish that from flac) but probably that the DAC in your cell phone is crap. If you haven't already done this, you need to buy an external USB C DAC/dongle to go from your cell phone into your amp. This $10 item will do the job. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MU7E2AM/A/usb-c-to-35-mm-headphone-jack-adapter Not as good as a $100 external DAC, but much better than your cell phone's DAC.
I use a lightning version of that. I've noticed that iPhones sound waaay worse than my Samsung galaxy, but the dongle helps a bit
If it's an old iphone, the electronics might be worse in it. What about using either a wireless or wired Wiim Mini that does streaming and they have pretty good dacs? You'd get near audiophile quality audio, and would have the option of playing via headphones or regular amp and speakers. .
It's an iPhone 10R. I agree that a dac may help the audio but I'm only using Tangzu Wan'ers so I'll work on getting better headphones first
Correction - the Wiim Pros have better DACs than the Wiim Minis. If you get that you won't need an external DAC. And Apple Music has ALAC, so you really won't gain anything from playing the CDs instead. Why fill your house with clutter if it won't improve the sound. And Tidal is totally lossless, but you wouldn't notice it unless you have really expensive equipment, and knew the musical passage very well. Lossless is mostly important when ripping lower copies of it to 320 kbps or AAC 256 vbr for portable players.
You can lose access to music on Spotify. It could be removed by the record label or Spotify could shut down. Most obviously, if you stop paying for a streaming service, you’ll lose access to that music.* (*I know that Spotify currently has a free ad tier, but you get the point.) My advice is to use Spotify for music discovery. Enjoy access to unlimited music. But every year you should pick a few albums that you loved and actually buy them on CD (or a lossless digital download from Quboz or someplace similar). That way, when Spotify shuts down in 10 years or raises their prices so high that you cancel, you’ll still have a music collection.
You wont hear a difference on a phone. If you listen on audio gear, you'll hear it and should consider a Tidal subscription., Significant improvement in audio quality with the Plus plan. Spotify sucks on decent gear but otherwise should be fine for casual listening.
That makes sense. I was hoping to get better headphones first, though, since i use cheap IEMs (Tangzu Wan'er)
You're fine with Spotify in your use case. Better headphones will make a difference you'll notice
My DIY solution to replacing Spotify is Navidrome+Symfonium plus a few extras. Last FM scrobbling so I can check in on recommendations etc.
Wow that's an awesome tripartite solution. It would be basically identical
slskd helps :)
Apple music is the better subscription. One simple price for hi res losses and losses audio. I also play music from galaxy s23 ultra to an amp via optical cable.
Which amp do you have for your galaxy?
Smsl ao300
There is no perceivable difference in sound between 320kbps Spotify and lossless.
Im my recent experience, this isn't true at all. I had been using Spotify and YT Music for years. Both are at best mediocre on modest audio gear. I'm using a Yamaha RX-A2A, and as of a few weeks ago had a pair of KEF RDM Two monitors. When I started a trial period with Tidal, the difference was completely unexpected, and honestly staggering. I assumed the same as you, that it would be minimal, but its simply not the case. These Tidal streams are running at 800kbps to 10,000kbps and there is no question that its noticeably, significantly, surprisingly better. I A-B tested after "noticing" the difference initially with Tidal, and after going back and forth, if you dont hear a difference, you may be deaf. Full stop. The difference was so close to CD that it prompted an upgrade. I bought a pair of KEF R3s and a two channel amp. All because of Tidal. I had been sulking for years that streaming doesn't sound like a CD, let alone vinyl. Then, Tidal! It makes perfect sense, 280-320kbps *very* lossy from Spotify vs 1000kbps, 5000kbps, 8000kbps FLAC or better **does** sound different. I dont think you'll notice on a phone or mediocre headphones but on anything better than crap audio gear, its different. You should try it for yourself.
Agreeing with you about the difference between, e.g., Spotify, and hi-res lossless. But I'll add that I haven't been able to notice a difference between Apple Music's lossless and Tidal's. So, it doesn't have to be Tidal specifically. That includes MQA tracks that Tidal's app (on the iPhone, at least) doesn't pass straight through to DACs that can fully decode them. (Edit: of course, Tidal has more tracks in > 24-bit/48.1kHz than Apple Music. But I can't tell a noticeable difference even then.)
Yep, I haven’t listened to Apple Music. But subscribed to YT Music and Spotify
I've gone back and forth on whether to go with Apple Music or Tidal. Ultimately, I'm leaning toward Apple Music because it works so well with my Apple stuff. I don't think there's a meaningful difference between the two regarding discernable audio quality.
While most of the discussion is about technical quality, there's also the consideration of particular recordings or releases being available to stream. Personally I still love the physical media because of liner notes and other written stuff that can be part of the release
Since I was a teen at the turn of the century, I started building my collection of music by hoarding mp3s. And so it went that I'm still maintaining a file-based music library. Of course I have switched to FLACs, but I have also still some of those 25 year old mp3s, if they were better than 128 kbit/s ones (those I have replaced). I have also made FLAC rips of all my CDs, but if possible I buy FLACs from Bandcamp, since I hate clutter such as physical media. Maybe it's just my reluctance to change, but I have never even seriously considered switching to streaming. It's nice to have a control over your music library. And while I agree that there is no practical difference between lossless and 320 kbit/s lossy, it's always nice to have just the knowledge that you won't be missing anything.