A hi-fi for your Spotify?

Camera: Olaf von Voss | Editor: John Darko

Should I buy a hi-fi system if all I listen to is Spotify? Or Apple Music? Or any other lossy streaming service? You betcha.

Some suggestions to get you started:

***Loudspeakers***

Q Acoustics 3030i:

Monitor Audio Monitor 100:

Wharfedale Diamond 11.2:

ELAC Debut 2.0 5.2:

Klipsch The Fives (no external amplifier required):

***Amplifiers***

NAD C 316BEE V2:

Emotiva BasX A-100:

Onkyo A9110-S:

Cambridge Audio AXA25:

Rotel A10:

#spotify #applemusic #hifi

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[rockindel]

Thanks for not being an audiophile snob, and making us "budget" people feel like we are on the right path to enjoying quality music

[asplmn]

I went from Spotify to Tidal, and now back to Spotify. Even with my high-end setup, I had to critically listen to hear any subtle differences.

In the end, I decided it wasn't worth bothering over it and sacrificing the catalog and UI of Spotify for something that I had to really focus on to spot a subtle difference.. and this wasn't the case with every song, only just a few were there benefits present.

Also, I have a family plan. :) I would love it if Spotify came out with a Hi-Fi tier

[stigmania]

Recently upgraded hardware: amp and speakers to a system 10x the price of the previous. Mainly use Spotify and huge difference in enjoyment!

[Chris.from.]

Yes! I use Spotify, and listen through my iPhone, a decent set of earbuds, Grado SR-60 headphones, ELAC B-6.2s, and, most recently, a pair of ’90s Klipsches. Other sources include vinyl, CDs, and local lossless files, but I love Spotify for music discovery and much of my listening! 🔥

[ahmadhusaini]

mastering>file size.
Bad mastering with flac files is nothing.

[BKWarren]

As an audiophile of 30 years who really cares about sound, I say "True!"

[nsw]

Dad here. That was brilliantly clear and down-to-earth.
Cheers, John 👍😉

[avss]

This is so true. I have a dedicated listening room with a valve amplifier and good speakers. I have to say Spotify blows me away with how good it can sound. The ready and endless access to all genres of music, and intelligently recorded and mastered music is just outstanding. The equipment makes a huge difference to any source you listen to including streaming sources. I haven’t touched my CD collection in years, and yet I am enjoying my Hi Fi system more then ever.

[guslycardin]

As someone who recently moved from Spotify to Tidal, even I can admit that it's not as big of a jump as people swear it is. Good work as always, and I'm looking forward to that DAC video! :)

[TrynaBeCray]

Wouldn't mind paying more if spotify had a HiFi option

[moneytalks]

I used to be an audiophile, but low end or even middle quality audio equipment is great these days. More important to find good music than audiophile level equipment imo

[BubiGTR]

i've chosen Deezer, because the bitrate can be adjusted through the settings menu depending if i use mobile data or wi-fi. doing so, i stream flac files at home using wifi, and 320kbps with mobile data on the go

[jeremymanton]

I did a comparative test between Spotify Premium, Apple Music and Tidal lossless. My gear is solid, and yet I couldn’t tell a difference between Tidal and the others. I know some people have a critical ear for such things but I feel that the difference in sound quality was so negligible that Tidal wasn’t even worth the consideration. IMHO, spend the money on a good gear. I think lossless music is just for piece of mind.

[karsh]

I went into Hi-Fi about 20 years ago. Basically I have now downgraded my system to the point that I enjoy the music more than the recording. Much more fun and I listen to a much wider range of music and sources as well.

[carlh]

Hi John have been watching your channel for last 6 months. Thanks for all your information. Never really had my own hifi system. But a month ago have weighed things up and always enjoyed music . Brought a bluesound powernode 2I and bowers and wilkins 607. Didn't really have space for much else. Very pleased with it especially with tidal which was free for a month

[hamsterwolf]

I feel most people tend to seek out higher quality when their equipment can handle higher quality sources because its reveals more details in the music. Good audio gear also widens your horizons when it comes to music some stuff just needs that extra resolution to be appreciated like classical music and pop, metal being the exception sounds about the same on most everything.

[Theshilling]

Yes. Definitely.
My setup is geared towards streaming, but I have a massive collection of CDs that I have ripped in .FLAC format. I use a Bluesound Node 2i as the central "server" for my music; it natively streams Tidal and unfolds MQA, it also has a 256GB USB thumb drive with my .FLAC files on it, it also has network shares to my PC and my Wife's Mac, additionally, I have my Microsoft One Drive storing some music as well, and that is also accessible via my share to my PC. I have a set of B&W Formation Duo speakers, and it all works incredibly well, PLUS it sounds amazing.

[MattSB]

Absolutely right. Then, once you have a good system, by all means compare Spotify with say, Tidal but, if you can't hear the difference between exactly the same version of a song (few can in blind tests) stick with Spotify and save some money.

I've tried comparisons myself. As has my brother. We believe that we hear a difference when we know which service are listening to but, our blind tests are always a fail!!

[danilogutierrez]

Its so nice to hear those things. I live in brazil, and high end gear its very expensive, and for many years I used to listen to music in computer speakers, and thank to people like you I gained courage to try to improve my listening experience. Its not like its much today, but now I know I dont need to put a shitload of money to enjoy listening to music (most mp3's and streaming). Thank you.

[jevenator]

I’ve listened to Spotify for the last 5 years. My first audiophile headphones were the HD58x and wow it was amazing. When I got a dac/amp it wasn’t as wow as the headphones but it opened up the soundstage even more and brought even more clarity and nuances to the sound.