Streaming Spotify

Since you are talking about Spotify, I wouldn’t sweat it. It’s lossy audio so what does it matter?

Generally audiophiles prefer Qobuz first and then Tidal. I had Tidal for a year or so, my audio guy persistently pestered me to switch to Qobuz… I did, he was right.

First, if you’re not willing to upgrade your music subscription to Qobuz don’t bother as Spotify is a lossy, crap source and nothing can save it.  And yes, if you upgrade your streaming service you’ll need a separate DAC to get decent sound.  Next, do you need wireless control or can you go wired from your cell to a DAC?  If it’s the latter I have some good suggestions, but if wireless a Node 2i might be your best bet from a cost/benefit perspective, but you’ll still eventually want a better separate DAC if you want better sound. Hope this helps, and best of luck. 

Happy holidays all> Thanks for explanations and tips.

Of all the audiophile hardware, the DAC has the least impact on your listening experience. With the right settings, a DAC will improve your Spotify listening experience. If your listening device (phone, computer, etc.) has a poor internal DAC that introduces a lot of static or noise, then an external DAC may be a much needed upgrade. If you want to stream Spotify to any device, you will need to convert Spotify songs to a format using a third party tool such as AudFree Spotify Music Converter.