Headphones

my favorite rappers don’t know what a wav file is and drop on youtube exclusively

Hello there! I use Spotify and I would like to share why I use Spotify.

Before I used Spotify, I used to download mp3s. I still have my mp3 files with me. When it felt like an inconvenience for me and always occupying my storage, I tried using Spotify and found it to be very convenient. At first, I didn't pay for the premium subscription and used it to play Lo-Fi and random chill playlists. But as I've discovered new artists I genuinely love and have fallen in love with their music, I started to subscribe for the premium Spotify. From then on, more and more playlists have accumulated in my library.

I think people use Spotify mostly because of convenience and popularity. Had I known about Apple Music's existence on Android, I would've used it first. When I did, it was already too late. And! The average consumer like me doesn't really have the itch to use lossless audio (I'm sorry to disappoint the folks here but I cannot tell the difference between lossless and 320 kbps audio quality).

Music should be fun. It's not always about peak quality and all. Back then, a lot of folks didn't really care about things such as "high resolution audio" or the popular "lossless" audio. Cassette tapes and music played on the radio was enough for most of us back in the days.

That's all. Have a nice day!

I used it for years until I got into hifi headphones. Didn’t know any better

I use Spotify with my 4000$ DCA Stealth headphones.

Why? Because the difference between 320 Kbps Ogg Vorbis and lossless is almost zero, very few people can tell the difference. I can't. Spotify has nice apps that works well.

I spent weeks comparing Tidal to Spotify. Sounded about the same to me. Some stuff I like better on Spotify and some stuff I like better on Tidal. I kept Spotify because I also listen to a lot of podcasts and Tidal is garbage for podcasts.

I use Spotify now to find new music to listen to in the car lol

Same with when I'm home, sure the quality isn't great, but music is music 🤷

Eh, i don't care really, youtube music is good enough for me, it has everything my super weird and nieche music taste likes, and it doesn't sound horrible, do i get the best quality music? no.
But you could make the same argument for cars, why do people buy 600hp cars or 200+ hp motorcycles when they can only go up to 130km/h (ignoring german gigachads here), precisely because even if you get limited you can still have more fun with it

Please do ABX test first.

Because they sound the same. Go take an ABX test on foobar2000, Opus 192kbps vs lossless.

Pd: I'm happy most people in this sub is audiopilled and not placebopilled.

Some music on Spotify is not on Apple Music :(

I have both Tidal and Spotify. I cannot reliably tell the difference between Tidal's FLAC 16 bit 44.1kHz and Spotify's very high setting once I volume match. Volume matching is huge in quality perception. Another possibility is that you straight up don't have 320kbps enabled in Spotify settings and are hearing the ultra compressed lower res versions which do make a big difference. I also have some extremely transparent and high-end headphones, so the gear isn't the limiting factor.

I'd prefer lossless, sure, but the library is more important to me. I tried Tidal, but it was missing several artists I wanted and then the whole MQA controversy meant I wasn't really getting lossless anyway. Not touching Apple Music with a 10 foot pole because I don't use Apple devices and they actively spite users on other platforms.

At the end of the day, I prefer my own FLAC copies anyway, but Spotify fills in when I want to listen to something I don't have.

Here is a fun one for you all. I am around 60 years old. I can't hear anything above around 12 kHz. So no air or sparkle for me! Guess what happens when higher frequency stuff gets lossy encoded at progressively higher compression ratios? Audio compression artifacts! Not just audio compression artifacts, but audio compression artifacts which create sounds at LOWER frequencies! In other words, totally false lossy audio compression artifacts of higher frequencies which are actually heard at lower frequencies and in the upper midrange and the lower treble.

So what do I do? I use an aggressive preprocessing rolloff filter for anything above 12 kHz when I convert original sources to 320 bitrate MP3 files. This prevents any lower octave artifacts from being created during the MP3 compression when set for a 320 kbps bitrate during compression to MP3. How? Since there basically is nothing above around 12 kHz for the lossy MP3 compression algorithm to compress. Since there is nothing to compress, then no lower octave artifacts are created. The result is that, given my age limited hearing which extends only up to 12 kHz, I don't hear any compression artifacts or any difference between the MP3 file and the original source.

Convenience beats quality. My whole family has playlists and I have devices across my home always running with spotify so I can select where I am and turn on a dance party or prep for bedtime or pump white noise.

Sitting at my desk with speakers or nice headphones? Spotify / Soundcloud / Foobar who cares, enjoying music (NEW to me music).

This hobby is subjective, but sometimes I get bamboozled when I see someone doing a review with a high tier equipment and use spotify.

Spotify is pretty trash from what I hear on my end. I am suprised you even mention youtube music. spotify blows youtube music out the water, that said, spotify still trash.

I use tidal, but for the past 2 years, I just purchase the flac files on bandcamp. Once I got into using roon, I never wanted to go back to using any other music listening software

I like having music stored onto my local files and using a DAP so I don't understand why people don't just use or take advantage of "name your price" albums on Bandcamp.

You right tho…..same type of dudes who will say “who cares” or claim “good enough”.

Same type of dudes who complain about their shitty 10 dollar headphones breaking….yet they stay buying dumpster specials. 🤣

I tried Tidal for a few months, and didn't notice enough of a difference from spotify premium, Tidal's catalog is much smaller, they don't have many podcasts, and I can't tell enough of a difference in sound quality.

If I want to go full quality, I have CD's and FLAC rips, but its so easy to find new music, make playlists, and discover deep cuts and smaller artists with Spotify.

Basically, if I like something enough on Spotify, I'll look for physical media.

wdym the lossless streaming services don't sound as good as CDs??? do you know what lossless means?

Some people believe cucumbers taste better pickled...

A local FLAC file is obviously preferable but lesser known songs, especially in languages other than English, are usually impossible to find in any format, let alone lossless. And I'm definitely not paying for anything digital.

Also, when browsing randomly, having the possibility to have any song you can think of immediately available is a massive convenience, worth much more than a lossless format. And in the case of old recordings, or even not so old but from humble studios, the lossless version has a lower quality than a bad quality mp3 of a modern properly recorded track.

And finally, to answer your question, yes: Spotify sounds spectacular on my set-up. The difference between good and cheap gear is massively bigger than that between FLAC and 192 kbps mp3. Lots of files in my local library are downloaded from Spotify and I can't tell any difference between those and the lossless ones.

I'd be really embarrassed by doing this thread if I were you. Power of suggestion is so strong in this hobby.

I listen to mostly podcasts and audiobooks. I love Spotify. I only listen to music in my car over really nice speakers.

Few people can abx test the difference reliably. Fewer (if any) would be able to do it in a blind, standardized test where you can't just cherry pick the spots to look for differences.

It doesn't matter. Spotify has the better service and the quality is virtually indistinguishable from lossless for listening purposes. Get over it

here's someone who's actually done some research (from the guy who outed MQA as a scam.)

I can’t tell the difference anyways.

Can you?