Internet video quality is going up, while music quality is going down

GodAtum · 25 Sep 2018 at 09:49

IMO internet video quality is going up with the likes of 4K HDR Atmos, but internet music quality is going down with poor quality MP3s. I want to be able to stream more lossless music!

VincentHanna · 25 Sep 2018 at 10:38

Get TIDAL if it's really bothering you?

Fubsy · 25 Sep 2018 at 10:41

Yep, another for Tidal. If you want it you have to pay for it.

Begbie · 25 Sep 2018 at 10:43

There was talks of Spotify doing a flac subscription.

x-st · 25 Sep 2018 at 10:53

I did blind listening tests and for the majority of things I can't tell the difference between V0/320 and Lossless. What are you listening to OP and what speakers/headphones are you using? Are you sure it's not just a placebo sort of effect? (not the right term but you know what I mean).

krooton · 25 Sep 2018 at 15:07

x-st said:
I did blind listening tests and for the majority of things I can't tell the difference between V0/320 and Lossless. What are you listening to OP and what speakers/headphones are you using? Are you sure it's not just a placebo sort of effect? (not the right term but you know what I mean).

Also, not all mastering is on par, a badly mastered lossless file isn't going to sound better than a well mastered 320kbps MP3.

Shamikebab · 25 Sep 2018 at 15:17

In what way is it going down?

bloodiedathame · 25 Sep 2018 at 15:24

Streaming services are another nail in the coffin for many musicians, do the right thing and buy their CDs and vinyls where possible. Not only will you get the sound quality you want, you'll better help the artist you're buying from.

aardvark · 25 Sep 2018 at 16:12

buy the cd

Rroff · 25 Sep 2018 at 16:17

krooton said:
Also, not all mastering is on par, a badly mastered lossless file isn't going to sound better than a well mastered 320kbps MP3.

One problem I notice increasing lately is the amount of stuff that has obviously been through the MP3/other codec twice (i.e. been imported from an compressed format to a compressed format)

hence you get stuff that is streaming at say 256-320Kbit variable but the actual quality is more like a 96kbit MP3

GodAtum · 25 Sep 2018 at 16:27

Shamikebab said:
In what way is it going down?

Video streaming services seem to have better quality options like 4K HDR, while most music streaming sites still only offer MP3 and even Tidal sometimes isnt great.

Shamikebab · 25 Sep 2018 at 16:38

GodAtum said:
Video streaming services seem to have better quality options like 4K HDR, while most music streaming sites still only offer MP3 and even Tidal sometimes isnt great.

Is it actually going down or is this a sensationalist thread? You've provided no information at all.

ricid · 27 Sep 2018 at 08:25

I think video just has a lot further to go. There's no panel in existence that gets anywhere near the limits of the eye, but you can grab a pair of speakers that reproduce the audible frequency range without needing to mortgage your house. So you are bound to see more obvious advances in video. That's not to say there's nowhere for audio to go, but it may have reached the end of the stereo cul-de-sac.

Martynt74 · 27 Sep 2018 at 11:48

GodAtum said:
Video streaming services seem to have better quality options like 4K HDR, while most music streaming sites still only offer MP3 and even Tidal sometimes isnt great.

So it's not going down, it just isn't getting better (due the fact the market isn't really there to make it worthwhile)

glenimp617 · 27 Sep 2018 at 13:21

There's no market for it. The general public don't know good quality music from bad.
How many spotify subscriptions have changed the quality settings in the app? Not many I bet

How many subscribers have complained to spotify about the quality....again, not many

How many have left over it....not many

so the question I have to ask is, why should they improve if nobody has an issue with it

Ryan-3 · 27 Sep 2018 at 13:34

To be fair, I'm a snob over music quality but on its highest, Spotify really isn't too bad. Although tbh, the only time I've heard of other people changing the quality is to save space on their phone when they're saving it.

Housey · 9 Dec 2018 at 15:07

Ryan-3 said:
To be fair, I'm a snob over music quality but on its highest, Spotify really isn't too bad. Although tbh, the only time I've heard of other people changing the quality is to save space on their phone when they're saving it.

Ive done a LOT of back to back testing, same tracks, same albums etc and pretty much without exception Tidal is better, to my ears. I appreciate sound is subjective to many, but on a high quality set up the difference is apparent to me and others pretty much across the board who I have sat with listening.

Rroff · 9 Dec 2018 at 15:15

EDIT: I'd already posted the same thing as I'd just posted in this thread LOL

Columbo · 9 Dec 2018 at 15:19

TheOracle said:
There's no market for it. The general public don't know good quality music from bad.
How many spotify subscriptions have changed the quality settings in the app? Not many I bet

How many subscribers have complained to spotify about the quality....again, not many

How many have left over it....not many

so the question I have to ask is, why should they improve if nobody has an issue with it

Exactly this.
It isnt going down at all and most people don't have the range of devices to be able to tell the difference between .flac or 128k .mp3 anyway and probably like myself, don't care.
I listen to my music through my 2.1 soundbar or my £50 pair of NC BT headphones and they sound fine to me.

For those that do care and want the best there is choice such as TIDAL or CD's.

TheVoice · 9 Dec 2018 at 17:38

bloodiedathame said:
Streaming services are another nail in the coffin for many musicians, do the right thing and buy their CDs and vinyls where possible. Not only will you get the sound quality you want, you'll better help the artist you're buying from.

Yep, a number of artists I follow in the ambient and dub techno genres have posted their Spotify stats in the past few days, along with the absolutely paltry earnings they get from millions of plays. The only way to support artists like this is to pay actual money for their music on Bandcamp etc, they're not making any significant royalties from streaming services.