Streaming – Discovering Similar or New Music


There are multiple ways to search for similar or new music when streaming.  The most common way is to manually scroll down the page to find ‘Similar Artists’ – when currently listening to a particular artist.  Different streamer apps have different approaches.   Some offer a manual search only.  Others offer both manual and automatic.   

Which streamer apps do a great job?  Which do not?  EG: Innous Sense, Aurender Conductor, Auralic Lightning DS, Lumin, etc.  

Please share your tips & experiences.   With & without Roon.

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This thread is not about comparing sound quality.  Just the ease of discovering similar or new music.

steakster

I'm not quite sure of the details here, but when I cue up a particular song on Qobuz, Qobuz automatically cues up a number it deems to be similar. I actually find it to be a bit annoying, as the song it chooses is, more often than not, superficially similar but generally inferior in quality.

Maybe off topic but I've always looked at who is playing on a disk I like and go in search of their recordings.  Looking to expand as opposed to similar?  It's worked well for me over the years.  

I’m not big on building playlists but I do have an appreciation for the Spotify interface with regards to suggesting other titles/artists that “Connect” with what I’ve been listening to. I haven’t had much experience yet with Qobuz as I’ve only recently started using it.

Along the lines of what @bigtwin describes the interface in my Naim Uniti Core has an excellent method of supplying album/artist facts and recommending similar music.

Once a disk is ripped onto the server album art and data are brought in via Rovi, Music Brainz and Free DB. On the album page is a press review of the title and a link to a booklet. The booklet lists all track/performer/credit data as well as pictures of the artist. All references are hyperlinked for immediate browsing. At the end of the booklet there are multiple page lists of similar artists and recordings with hyperlinks. You can also use the descriptors provided with the associated links to sort your library by genre. It’s really nice.

Mostly when it comes to finding new music or artists though I rely on the AOTY website. This site lists all music releases by genre or by release date. I check it and sort every couple of weeks, audition the music via my Lumin on Qobuz/Spotify and makes notes of what I want. When I have enough titles to keep me busy for a few weeks I place an order and then repeat the process. It never ends!

My experience is with Lumin and Roon.  I have both Tidal and Qobuz subscriptions.  To me, it's not even close....Roon wins!  Roon wins for selecting the best highest resolution sound quality.  I have my Roon set up to bias Qobuz because I like that everything is hi-res.  I have also used the Lumin app and while it also does a fabulous job with playback I find Roon easier and faster to work with on an Apple mobile device.