Hi Folks - Thanks for the consideration given my remarks. A couple of additional points:
- The V-Link was not part of the headphone listening that compared Spotify Premium vs Tidal HiFi.
- I doubt distortion played a role. Both formats sounded EXCELLENT with only slight advantage to Tidal HiFi as noted above. I'll add that I actually liked the bass from Spotify Premium a little better.
- For me any difference between the two was not significant and not worth the 2x price differential for Tidal. If you judge the differences otherwise, no problem. I am certainly not offended...or convinced to revive my Tidal subscription ;-)
- I did not report Tidal to be buggy.
- Not all MP3 files are created equal...MP3 is only a "container"; it doesn't speak to "contents".
- Based on listening tests, mp3s at 256 kbps were found indistinguishable from CD (G Mitchell citing testing by Fraunhofer and Thomson; see link below). I know, "HERESY"!
- Do I think there are individuals with exceptional hearing acuity or who have developed listening skills that make them outliers on the bell curve? Yes. Doubt I'm one of them, though....and yet, strangely content.
- Bit rate is not the absolute and certainly not the sole determinant of audio quality from a digital file.
- "A low-res file in a hi-res bucket is still..... low res."
- Spotify Premium is not an MP3 service. It uses compression software called Ogg Vorbis.
- It is claimed an Ogg Vorbis file will "sound" better than an MP3 file of the same bit rate.
- Just posted elsewhere on Audiogon by Pokey77:
"High Resolution Audio Demystified"
This a great, though lengthy, presentation by Dr. Mark Waldrep.
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/high-resolution-audio-demystified-mark-waldrep
http://grahammitchell.com/writings/vorbis_intro.html
(see especially the section "Just Say No To Bit rates")
Enjoy the music whatever medium you choose.
- The V-Link was not part of the headphone listening that compared Spotify Premium vs Tidal HiFi.
- I doubt distortion played a role. Both formats sounded EXCELLENT with only slight advantage to Tidal HiFi as noted above. I'll add that I actually liked the bass from Spotify Premium a little better.
- For me any difference between the two was not significant and not worth the 2x price differential for Tidal. If you judge the differences otherwise, no problem. I am certainly not offended...or convinced to revive my Tidal subscription ;-)
- I did not report Tidal to be buggy.
- Not all MP3 files are created equal...MP3 is only a "container"; it doesn't speak to "contents".
- Based on listening tests, mp3s at 256 kbps were found indistinguishable from CD (G Mitchell citing testing by Fraunhofer and Thomson; see link below). I know, "HERESY"!
- Do I think there are individuals with exceptional hearing acuity or who have developed listening skills that make them outliers on the bell curve? Yes. Doubt I'm one of them, though....and yet, strangely content.
- Bit rate is not the absolute and certainly not the sole determinant of audio quality from a digital file.
- "A low-res file in a hi-res bucket is still..... low res."
- Spotify Premium is not an MP3 service. It uses compression software called Ogg Vorbis.
- It is claimed an Ogg Vorbis file will "sound" better than an MP3 file of the same bit rate.
- Just posted elsewhere on Audiogon by Pokey77:
"High Resolution Audio Demystified"
This a great, though lengthy, presentation by Dr. Mark Waldrep.
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/high-resolution-audio-demystified-mark-waldrep
http://grahammitchell.com/writings/vorbis_intro.html
(see especially the section "Just Say No To Bit rates")
Enjoy the music whatever medium you choose.