[James Tanner]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/sirius-xm-is-buying-pandora-1537788241?mod=hp_lead_pos9

[2bigears]

  where the hell did they come up with that kinda cash ?  Didn't think they were doing that good.   

[charmerci]

where the hell did they come up with that kinda cash ?  Didn't think they were doing that good.   

If you look at the sub-heading of the article - it's an all-stock deal.

[Krutsch]

That's an interesting deal for SXM.

I am a subscriber and love it on long road trips, but have stopped listening on my daily commute. There are WAY too many channels, resulting in absurdly lossy compression. Classical music compresses easily, so that doesn't sound too bad, but try something like metal - the artifacts created make it unlistenable. I realize most people don't care about sound quality.

I used to be a Pandora subscriber, but their catalog and playlist algorithm is shallow, for my tastes. For newer pop, it's an interesting way to discover new music, but try creating an "Artist Station" from Frank Sinatra and you will hear Bobby Darin's "Beyond The Sea" about 20 times a day. Lots of repetition. Again, most people don't care.

With newer cars featuring dedicated internet connections, and built-in Spotify Connect, both services will soon be dead. Spotify really was visionary with Spotify Connect - my kid can bring up the app on her iPhone and "drive" the Spotify app built into our car. And, once you get used to skipping a song you don't like, or replaying one you do like, there is no going back to linear programming.

I *really* wish the BDP had support for Spotify Connect, but I can only dream...

[Calypte]

I *really* wish the BDP had support for Spotify Connect, but I can only dream...

In fact, knowing what I know now, I would not have bought Bryston, due to it not having Spotify.  Except for the buggy Manic Moose software, the BDP-pi has performed wonderfully.  The sound is fabulous.  The physical construction of the product is perfect.  Support in this forum has been top-notch.  But most competing products have Spotify.  Bryston doesn't.

[NHSkier]

Just get a used Sonos Connect, which has Spotify capabilities, and run it through one of your DAC's other inputs. No need to compromise your Bryson product with lossy audio. 

I have had a Sirius subscription for 14 years and the sound quality has gotten progressively worse. At this point, I only listen to the talk and sports programming. Everything else is borderline unlistenable.
 

[Krutsch]

Just get a used Sonos Connect, which has Spotify capabilities, and run it through one of your DAC's other inputs. No need to compromise your Bryson product with lossy audio. 

I have had a Sirius subscription for 14 years and the sound quality has gotten progressively worse. At this point, I only listen to the talk and sports programming. Everything else is borderline unlistenable.

I have one already and listen to it 10x the time I listen to the BDP. Reality.

[RDavidson]

microRendu also works with Spotify Connect 

[James Tanner]

HI Folks,

Maybe my system is out of wack but I can not listen to streamed music other than at low levels and as a background while doing other things.  Maybe its a Canadian delivery issue? Not sure.

I find all the streams (even one at 48K) very thin sounding with terrible dynamic contrasts and severely compressed transients.

Not sure whats up?

james

[mick wolfe]

Speaking of Canadian, I'm currently listening to the Ray Bonneville station on Pandora 1.  Sounds pretty good to me, especially for casual listening and discovering new music. Definitely good enough to "wick it up" a bit at times. Different situation here as I'm in AZ. Cox is my internet provider.  Old Dell laptop USB output into a Wyred Recovery/outboard power supply/ Grant Fidelity TubeDac 11, Certainly nothing fancy by today's digital standards, but very listenable.

[Anonamemouse]

HI Folks,

Maybe my system is out of wack but I can not listen to streamed music other than at low levels and as a background while doing other things.  Maybe its a Canadian delivery issue? Not sure.

I find all the streams (even one at 48K) very thin sounding with terrible dynamic contrasts and severely compressed transients.

Not sure whats up?

james

Streamed music has *always* been messed with. In addition to that, Data always gets lost between the transmitter and the streamer. Which is why I stick to everything of quality locally, and streaming radio is just wallpaper.

[NHSkier]

James,
Agreed. I've never understood the love for streaming radio stations. Spotify's 320kbps quality is about as low as I can go. My wife loves Pandora for background listening, but the compression drives me nuts. If it was up to me, I'd be listening to high-res tracks via a local device (BDP or Salk Streamplayer) 90% of the time.

[dB Cooper]

Spotify, as noted, tops out at 320k (and uses Ogg Vorbis)- OK for some types of music. Apple is 256K AAC which supposedly compares to >320k MP3 or Ogg.

I do not experience any of the shortcomings the OP mentions in Reply #8 with Tidal or Primephonic.

[RDavidson]

Agree, the amount of (noticeable) compression when listening to Spotify largely depends on the type of music. The more dynamic and complex the music is, the worse the compression is. Also agree that Spotify is definitely not the best for audio quality. I like it for background listening while I work, but some types of music (that isn't horribly compressed) is quite listenable.

[James Tanner]

From Paul at PS Audio


Streaming wars

Sometimes wars are won without much of a battle. Such is the case with the Streaming Wars.
As I have reported more than a few times I am not a big fan of Tidal. It’s a nice service with a decent library but sound quality always was an issue. Compared to my reference of CDs played on DMP there was not even a contest. In fact, the difference is so stark that I do my best to keep Tidal unavailable in Music Room One because it does not properly represent the system’s capabilities.

But now there’s Qobuz, the French company with their 40 million track library and quality streaming soon to be available in the States. Team members at PS Audio have been given accounts so that we might learn about this service and I must tell you, I am impressed. Blown away, in fact. While not quite as good as DMP it’s within spittin’ distance.
Qobuz allows you to not only stream but to download onto your local hard drive (they are encrypted so don’t get too excited about copying them onto discs) and sound better played back from the drive than streamed over the internet.

Finally, a streaming service that works like you’d want it to. No more fussing with MQA in the hopes it’ll be “better” than the original. Now you can enjoy a library that’s multiple lifetimes big and much of it at 192kHz 24 bits.

[Calypte]

While not quite as good as DMP

What's DMP?

[Calypte]

I do not have streaming.  I have a friend, an American who lives in The Netherlands, who is a professional recordings producer, mostly classical repertoire with soloists, chamber ensembles, and symphony orchestras.  He says nearly 100% of his listening is streaming, to the extent that he gave away his CD collection.  He raves about Idagio, which has just very recently become available in the USA.  What I'm reading in this thread, especially the comment from Mr. Tanner, is that we in North America are still on the outside looking in, excepting maybe for the new Idagio (which I haven't tried yet).

[James Tanner]

What's DMP?

Digital Media Player - like our BDP.

James