Only certain artists/albums streamed with good quality the rest of 99% just about same low-quality compressed stream that is maximum MP96.
The cheaper you go the less disappointed you will be. I use add-free YouTube and switch between YouTube cast and YouTube Music.
IF you only listen to newer popular music or do not care about having the best sound quality you can at all times, maybe so.
My experience to date is that CD resolution is as designed suitable for most all cases.
The verdict on value of higher than CD res recordings at best varies case by case. I might still be able to do without higher than CD resolution but I don’t mind having that capability for teh price of Qobuz, which is ballpark no different than Spotify.
BTW I have access to Spotify as well and to-date have used that to stream when looking to discover new music.
But its Roon that provides the ultimate user experience, sound quality aside. YOu can add Qobuz to that for ~ the same cost of Spotify, if I am not mistaken.
Spotify in most all cases falls short on sound quality compared to streaming my own CD resolution FLAC files using most any streaming technology at my disposal for Spotify: Airplay, Google Cast, USB 2 wired connection.
Roon’s built in streaming engine to me sounds like it is a cut above the others and consistently delivers the better sound with same thing playing via Roon than those other 3 I compared it with.
I have read many others also report that Roon seems to consistently deliver better sound than other comparable streaming technologies.
I find that to be true out of the can.....I have not even attempted to tweak the sound in a room using the DSP tools Roon provides users. I will be trying that soon in a different room in my home that could really benefit from some custom DSP.
Stay tuned in upcoming days for more on that.