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Post by MartinT on Jul 30, 2019 8:46:19 GMT
What digital sources do you use and why?
By all means comment but PLEASE VOTE so that we can draw up a picture of streaming usage right now.
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Post by MartinT on Jul 30, 2019 8:49:26 GMT
My primary source is Qobuz Studio with up to 24/192 PCM streaming. I supplement that with Spotify HQ at 320kbps Ogg.
I do have a few files and I very occasionally use YouTube but I have not ticked those as they are not primary sources for me.
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Post by zippy on Jul 30, 2019 9:07:39 GMT
A recent change in my habits due to signing up for Qobuz. I used to listen mainly to FLAC files ripped from my CD's, and occasionally Amazon Music (the free-with-Prime version)
Now I find I use Qobuz HiFi almost all the time, once in a blue moon my FLAC files and no longer Amazon.
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Post by Stratmangler on Jul 30, 2019 9:25:25 GMT
It's interesting that you chose not to include optical media players. There are still plenty of folk still using them exclusively. I do occasionally, for movies and concert footage, but that's entirely down to the absolutely enormous amounts of data that can be stored on a Blu Ray disc, and my lack of will to extract it.
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Post by jandl100 on Jul 30, 2019 10:01:02 GMT
As of even date, Tidal [for its sq] and to a lesser extent YouTube for live music vids.
I'm letting my Spotify Premium sub lapse.
DVD player for occasional films and for CDs with music not yet available streamed.
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Post by John on Jul 30, 2019 10:06:41 GMT
I have a mixture of red book files and Spotify. Both are resampled to 176 by the DAC I prefer my files Still sound better but really love the variety of music on Spotify I did try Qobuz but not for me as most of the music I enjoy is not even available and very hard for me to find music I enjoy on 192 The user interface on the Limetree with Qobuz is awful compared to Spotify I might try Tidal again and report back
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Post by John on Jul 30, 2019 10:09:41 GMT
I forgot to mention YouTube which I enjoy for live music and sometimes good for discovering music
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Post by MartinT on Jul 30, 2019 10:12:27 GMT
It's interesting that you chose not to include optical media players. There are still plenty of folk still using them exclusively.
I did think about that, Chris, but wanted to ask about files/streaming and not local media carriers in this instance.
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Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2019 11:07:59 GMT
I use files on my streamer, plus files on my computer upstairs and Spotify.
Files imported onto the streamer always sound the best by a country mile. Files on my computer are next up and then Spotify slightly behind, but it has to be said that if I just listened to Spotify I would be more than happy with the output I recieve from it.
I have tried Tidal and Qobuz but just didn't see the added value, because neither could compete with files imported onto the streamer, which is a shame because I was hoping that might be an avenue for me to move away from physical media, maybe one day.
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Post by Slinger on Jul 30, 2019 12:33:47 GMT
My main source is files. That has now overtaken CDs, which are still my secondary source. I mostly use Spotify and YouTube to check out recommendations, and YouTube is still great for disappearing down the rabbit hole, usually long after I should have gone to bed. I very rarely use Amazon Music, although I have done.
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Post by MartinT on Jul 30, 2019 13:11:48 GMT
and YouTube is still great for disappearing down the rabbit hole Isn't it, just? Not just music, but cars, old TV programmes, all sorts of nostalgia, science etc. I could stay up all night watching stuff!
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 30, 2019 13:12:32 GMT
My main source by a very long way is CD
YouTube is my main source for sampling and the odd full album. Amazon for the 30 seconds per track sample they have, not Amazon music so not ticked Spotify a lot less but frequently for links here, ticked.
By next year I could add files
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Post by petea on Jul 30, 2019 13:41:16 GMT
Tidal and YouTube for exploring new stuff (and internet radio on the former). I also like to check out live performances on YouTube. I am slowly burning my CDs to the server and I also buy HiRes files for new / favourite stuff when I can find it. I still plan to keep physical CDs though in the UK, but only favourite albums - the others will be stored after burning. The stuff on the server is mirrored between UK and Germany.
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Post by julesd68 on Jul 30, 2019 15:37:34 GMT
As of even date, Tidal [for its sq] and to a lesser extent YouTube for live music vids. I'm letting my Spotify Premium sub lapse. What's the classical selection like on Tidal, Jerry? I'm just using Spotify - happy with sound quality but hate the lack of tools to organise my library.
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Post by jandl100 on Jul 30, 2019 16:01:15 GMT
As of even date, Tidal [for its sq] and to a lesser extent YouTube for live music vids. I'm letting my Spotify Premium sub lapse. What's the classical selection like on Tidal, Jerry? I'm just using Spotify - happy with sound quality but hate the lack of tools to organise my library. Well - obviously! - I find the Tidal classical catelogue satisfactory. It wouldn't be my primary source otherwise. There are some things it lacks that Spotify has, but also vice versa. But looked at pragmatically, there are orders of magnitude more music than I could possibly have time to listen to and assimilate. As for sensibly organising a library with any of the streaming services I have tried (quite a few!!) - fawgedabowdit !!! I just have a single album library listed by most recent inclusion first - which actually is just fine for the way I use it. Before I started streaming I fully expected to treat it like my CD shelves, religiously ordered alphabetically by composer, and then by music genre for each composer. I am far more 'stream of consciousness' in my listening with streaming, and I just love that! -- it's a constant state of musical exploration. Yum.
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Post by julesd68 on Jul 30, 2019 16:15:31 GMT
LOL.
Ok, I will certainly give it a go but will lower my expectations for a properly organised library!
Are you using the standard or hifi quality? I believe I am right in saying that the standard is supposedly the same quality as Spoti premium ...
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Post by jandl100 on Jul 30, 2019 16:45:17 GMT
LOL. Ok, I will certainly give it a go but will lower my expectations for a properly organised library! Are you using the standard or hifi quality? I believe I am right in saying that the standard is supposedly the same quality as Spoti premium ... I'm using Tidal Hifi. The 'standard' is not as good as Spotify - Spot's use of the .ogg file format seems to provide it with a significant advantage. Tidal Hifi is £20 a month against £10 for Spot, but to my ear and on my system as currently constituted it suits me better and is worth it. -- mind you, you can get 3 months of Tidal Hifi free at the moment - my free period ends in September but current plans are for it to continue from there at £20 a month.
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Post by julesd68 on Jul 30, 2019 22:53:39 GMT
hmm - that's good information, I will probably stick with Spoti for the while.
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Post by MartinT on Jul 31, 2019 5:21:45 GMT
Tidal Hifi is £20 a month against £10 for Spot, but to my ear and on my system as currently constituted it suits me better and is worth it. Interesting, Jerry. I thought you had found Tidal too tilted towards brightness compared with Qobuz?
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Post by MartinT on Jul 31, 2019 5:26:14 GMT
As for sensibly organising a library with any of the streaming services I have tried (quite a few!!) - fawgedabowdit !!! I agree, but I do find Playlists useful. I have 7 of them at the moment and put my favourite music into them. It's only necessary to have any one track from an album in a Playlist as I can hit Album in Volumio and play the whole album. They are not so much libraries as reminders of what I have found good in that genre as I can't remember it all. I also have a Playlist 'Queued for Listening' that I place music recommended here into, which I can listen to in the evenings. If I like them, they get put into a permanent Playlist.
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