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HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

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Itsallaguess
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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#355307

Postby Itsallaguess » November 10th, 2020, 5:27 pm

kiloran wrote:
Itsallaguess wrote:
I actually find the 'Shuffle only' mode of the 'Free' Spotify offering more annoying than the adverts...


That sounds odd. My Chrome web interface and my Android app both play tracks in the correct order from my free Spotify account. I can enable shuffle, and then disable it whenever I wish.

There's certainly nothing worse than "Dark Side of the Moon" in anything other than the intended sequence.


What a star you are...

After reading your post and having a much deeper dig, it looks like the free Android Spotify app is set to 'Shuffle' by default, and it was just a case of toggling the following icon off -

Image

That shuffle icon is green (on) by default, and toggling it off has now aligned my next-track humming with the actual delivery of the next-track audio, so Happy Days indeed....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

kiloran
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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#355311

Postby kiloran » November 10th, 2020, 5:34 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:[
That shuffle icon is green (on) by default, and toggling it off has now aligned my next-track humming with the actual delivery of the next-track audio, so Happy Days indeed....

Itsallaguess

Still a bit odd.... mine is off by default

--kiloran

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#355313

Postby stevensfo » November 10th, 2020, 5:38 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:
stevensfo wrote:
Well, I spent about 15 minutes today using a fairly expensive pair of earphones to listen to parts of this recording and I couldn't hear any difference in quality between Spotify free and Idagio free. I will repeat this test in the future with some decent equipment.

However I did discover one important difference elsewhere: Spotify allows you to go to any movement you like, whereas Idagio would only play the album from the beginning!

That seems to me a pretty huge vote for Spotify.


But if Idagio (which I've not used yet) will at least play the whole album from beginning to end in the order that the tracks are listed, then isn't that a benefit over the 'Free' version of Spotify, which does indeed allow us to play any tracks, but when it comes to albums, will not allow us to continue playing them in the intended track-order, as the 'Free' accounts are locked to 'Shuffle' mode only?

I actually find the 'Shuffle only' mode of the 'Free' Spotify offering more annoying than the adverts...

I suspect it's perhaps a very 'generational' thing, but is there anything more disconcerting for us older album-lovers, than when we might start to hum the opening notes of 'the next track' to our favourite albums, and then we experience the blasted free 'Shuffle mode' of Spotify playing it in a completely different order?

That's just not right....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess



Good point. Well, I've had the Spotify Weinberg Symphony No.2 (don't like it, only to test) going like the clappers while I work and there is no sign of any shuffling. To be honest, I haven't explored any Shuffle features yet. Everything goes in the right direction. Another advantage of accessing Spotify outside the UK? Nevertheless, I will pay for a subscription for better audio after Christmas. I probably wouldn't mind shuffling for jazz/pop compilations but can you imagine listening to 'Peter and the Wolf' where the wolf is captured before they even know about him? Or an Agatha Christie story where the final chapter is read after the first?

Bit it was always the butler anyway. ;)

Steve

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#355315

Postby Infrasonic » November 10th, 2020, 5:43 pm

stevensfo wrote:...I will pay for a subscription for better audio after Christmas...
Steve


If you're buying HiFi bits keep your eyes peeled for six month free Spotify premium codes, I got one with a pair of Sony wireless headphones a while back.

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#355316

Postby swill453 » November 10th, 2020, 5:44 pm

From what I've read, Free Spotify restricts you to shuffle mode only on a phone, but not on a tablet or desktop. No personal experience though, and maybe it's changed recently.

Scott.

Itsallaguess
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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#355318

Postby Itsallaguess » November 10th, 2020, 5:50 pm

kiloran wrote:
Itsallaguess wrote:
That shuffle icon is green (on) by default, and toggling it off has now aligned my next-track humming with the actual delivery of the next-track audio, so Happy Days indeed....


Still a bit odd.... mine is off by default


Hmm...not sure then - I've certainly not turned it on since I originally installed it...

Either way - I'm glad there's been a way to fix the issue as it really was driving me mad, so thanks for giving me the steer to persevere with it and find a solution - as a predominantly 'album-based' consumer of my favourite music, it's going to make a huge difference to my enjoyment of the free Spotify account, and I think I can live with the annoying-but-not-too-frequent ads for now whilst I have a think about the value of the '12 months for 10' Spotify Premium offering via PayPal...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Itsallaguess
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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#355320

Postby Itsallaguess » November 10th, 2020, 5:55 pm

swill453 wrote:
From what I've read, Free Spotify restricts you to shuffle mode only on a phone, but not on a tablet or desktop. No personal experience though, and maybe it's changed recently.


It looks like you're right, and that probably explains why I'd given up on my Android tablet version, which is how I'm mainly using it now...

I'd originally installed it on my phone, realised the Shuffle issue was 'baked-in' to the phone version now (and confirmed via lots of Google browsing), but then incorrectly given up and decided I had to live with it when my tablet install was doing the same thing.

The free Spotify account 'shuffle-icon-fix' in my earlier post does work, but is only valid for my tablet version of the Spotify app, and we really are stuck in shuffle mode for the free Spotify phone apps, but as I'm now using it via my tablet anyway, and the solution works for that, then I'm over the moon having now got there in the end...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#356503

Postby CatcheeMonkee » November 14th, 2020, 2:46 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:
Either way - I'm glad there's been a way to fix the issue as it really was driving me mad, so thanks for giving me the steer to persevere with it and find a solution - as a predominantly 'album-based' consumer of my favourite music, it's going to make a huge difference to my enjoyment of the free Spotify account, and I think I can live with the annoying-but-not-too-frequent ads for now whilst I have a think about the value of the '12 months for 10' Spotify Premium offering via PayPal...


If you use a free Spotify account on a laptop with AdBlock (I have a Chromebook with uBlock Origin, but my old Windows XP was also OK), and without any Spotify app installed, there'll be no ads at all. Access Spotify via https://open.spotify.com . Hope that helps! Works for me ...

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#356800

Postby Infrasonic » November 15th, 2020, 3:58 pm

CatcheeMonkee wrote:If you use a free Spotify account on a laptop with AdBlock (I have a Chromebook with uBlock Origin, but my old Windows XP was also OK), and without any Spotify app installed, there'll be no ads at all. Access Spotify via https://open.spotify.com . Hope that helps! Works for me ...


I couldn't get the web page route to work properly on my Chromebook (Lenovo S340...X86 N4000 CPU), no sound -- not the first time that's happened with web page apps on my Chromebook.
The Android app worked fine first time on my phone -- and the Chromebook when I subsequently installed it. So it seems the issue is the 'Chrome web player'.
I messed with all the Chrome settings for the Spotify page, turned off uBO, turned on all the relevant permissions like protected content, all cookies et al -- no joy.
Googling it came up with a few hits, none of which had a viable solution.
I'm actually on a free six month Spotify Premium trial -- courtesy of a Sony headphone purchase, but come May 2021 I'll probably be back to free so would like to get the webpage/uBO adblock route working.
Any ideas?

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#356941

Postby Infrasonic » November 16th, 2020, 10:19 am

^^ It's okay now, got it working across the board in W10/Chrome/Android with browser and apps.

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#357079

Postby Infrasonic » November 16th, 2020, 4:38 pm

Recent review of Tidal here, comparing the various tiers/quality against the major competitors equivalent offerings...
https://www.whathifi.com/tidal/review
...Whether you’re listening to 320kbps, CD-quality or hi-res streams, Tidal sounds great compared to its rivals. We’d wholeheartedly recommend signing up for Tidal HiFi if you can.

While the 320kbps streams just pip their Spotify and Deezer equivalents with a slightly richer, fuller-bodied sound, tracks streamed in lossless offer much more detail, a better sense of space and a tighter handle on timing than their 320kbps counterparts...
Cont.

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#357108

Postby tikunetih » November 16th, 2020, 5:53 pm

Infrasonic wrote:Recent review of Tidal here, comparing the various tiers/quality against the major competitors equivalent offerings...
https://www.whathifi.com/tidal/review
...Whether you’re listening to 320kbps, CD-quality or hi-res streams, Tidal sounds great compared to its rivals. We’d wholeheartedly recommend signing up for Tidal HiFi if you can.

While the 320kbps streams just pip their Spotify and Deezer equivalents with a slightly richer, fuller-bodied sound, tracks streamed in lossless offer much more detail, a better sense of space and a tighter handle on timing than their 320kbps counterparts...
Cont.


I personally believe virtually no subjective hi-fi mag reviews! I'd bet good money that in proper blind testing none of their reviewers could reliably distinguish between Spotify at 320kbps and Tidal lossless.

By all means folks should spend their money on what makes them happy - it makes the world's economy go round - but I believe they'll be paying for something that "feels good", not perceivably "sounds better". Each to their own etc.

Itsallaguess
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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#357911

Postby Itsallaguess » November 18th, 2020, 8:29 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:
I've never been one for subscribing to any of these fee-based content providers, but I'm beginning to think that I'll get so much good use out of Spotify, and the HEOS 'Spotify Connect' source-quality really is that good, that I might well have to treat myself a little during this very strange period that we're living in at the moment, where personal comforts seem to mean much more right now than they might have done in previous times in my life.

With that in mind, and given that we can all get a free 'trial month' of the advert-free Spotify Premium accounts anyway, I've also found this morning that PayPal offer a '12-months for the price of 10' Premium account voucher for Spotify too, which means that I could treat myself to 13 months of Spotify Premium for just £99 -

With the 12 Months Spotify Gift Card, get 12 months for the price of 10 months (and save £20) -

https://www.paypal.com/uk/gifts/brands/spotify-uk-99

I note that the above page says that this discounted offer only applies to personal, single Spotify accounts, and cannot be applied to Family or Student plans, but as I've no need for those types of accounts at the moment, and a discounted Spotify personal account would be a great personal treat for me, then I'm beginning to think I've got something good to put on my Christmas List already...


Just as an update to the above mention of the PayPal offer, I see that Spotify themselves are now offering 3 months free Premium Individual access, with £9.99 per month from there on, so an option of simply cancelling after the free 3-month period has expired, or continue at £9.99 per month, which for a years use under that proposal, would be £99.90 for a full years worth of Premium Individual access, which is more or less the same as the above PayPal offer, but of course doesn't require an up-front payment of the full £100 cost, as from month 4 to month 12, there is just the monthly payments of £9.99....

https://www.spotify.com/uk/premium/#PLANS

I'm still undecided at the moment, and am getting along fine with my Free account, but I thought I'd post in case the offers interest anyone else, and it's also a good bookmark for me too, if I change my mind nearer to Christmas...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#357925

Postby Infrasonic » November 18th, 2020, 9:24 pm

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/spotify.com
Lists the above 3 month direct deal with spotify, but if you fancy playing chicken you could wait for one of the six month free Premium affiliate deals to come up.
Mine was a Sony purchase through Currys PC World. They have a pretty long redemption window after purchase.

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#357994

Postby Gerry557 » November 19th, 2020, 9:43 am

Op

Panasonic SA-PMX82 at RIcher Sounds for £250. Would that suit???


As for all these streaming recommendations, I'm waiting to try some atmos music.

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#358070

Postby stevensfo » November 19th, 2020, 12:29 pm

tikunetih wrote:
Infrasonic wrote:Recent review of Tidal here, comparing the various tiers/quality against the major competitors equivalent offerings...
https://www.whathifi.com/tidal/review
...Whether you’re listening to 320kbps, CD-quality or hi-res streams, Tidal sounds great compared to its rivals. We’d wholeheartedly recommend signing up for Tidal HiFi if you can.

While the 320kbps streams just pip their Spotify and Deezer equivalents with a slightly richer, fuller-bodied sound, tracks streamed in lossless offer much more detail, a better sense of space and a tighter handle on timing than their 320kbps counterparts...
Cont.


I personally believe virtually no subjective hi-fi mag reviews! I'd bet good money that in proper blind testing none of their reviewers could reliably distinguish between Spotify at 320kbps and Tidal lossless.

By all means folks should spend their money on what makes them happy - it makes the world's economy go round - but I believe they'll be paying for something that "feels good", not perceivably "sounds better". Each to their own etc.


Does anyone know a way of actually measuring the kbps? I only ask because free Spotify sounds perfectly acceptable to me, but depending on where I search, it could be 96, 128 or 160kbps. No idea what it really is.

Agree totally about subjectivity of testing. Many years ago near Grenoble, the organisation of an annual wine competition was changed back from double blind tasting because so many foreign wines were winning! Also confirmation bias. To its owner, a beautiful old valve amplifier is always going to sound best. I should know. I shared an apartment with the owner for a year!

Steve

Itsallaguess
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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#358074

Postby Itsallaguess » November 19th, 2020, 12:47 pm

stevensfo wrote:
Does anyone know a way of actually measuring the kbps?

I only ask because free Spotify sounds perfectly acceptable to me, but depending on where I search, it could be 96, 128 or 160kbps. No idea what it really is.


It depends on both the type of Spotify account and how you're playing the music -

Image

Source - https://support.spotify.com/us/article/high-quality-streaming/

I think any process that uses the hardware-based 'Spotify Connect' route, which isn't specifically mentioned in the above table, will play at 320kbps.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#358085

Postby stevensfo » November 19th, 2020, 1:31 pm

Forget everything I said about Free Spotify without adverts when used abroad etc!!!

I opened my Spotify app just now and was greeted with a 30-second italian video ad for something, with a message saying that if I watched the ad, I'd have 30 more minutes without interruption etc.

Also, I can no longer choose individual tracks. :o This is actually worse than the ads.

When I'd finished my tantrum, put my toys back in the pram and dried my tears, I looked closely and saw another message informing me that my 14-day trial was now finished.

The buggers never said anything about this before.

But at least they're advertising the 3-month free Premium period.

Honestly, what's the world coming to when they won't let an honest person have free access to their service providing millions of songs? I despair! ;)

Steve

PS This being Italy, I don't dare complain, or they may send the boys up from Sicily to do terrible things to me. Like force me to listen to a selection of Gorecki string quartets. Or even worse, Haircut One Hundred's Greatest Hits! 8-)

Itsallaguess
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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#358136

Postby Itsallaguess » November 19th, 2020, 5:05 pm

stevensfo wrote:
Also, I can no longer choose individual tracks. :o This is actually worse than the ads.


Been there - bought the t-shirt!

But then kiloran saved the day and encouraged me to hunt around in the settings, and all is now well...

If you start any track playing in the Spotify app, and then click on the track artwork on the left hand side when it's playing, the song should then show 'full screen', and you might see the icon below coloured in green, which means it's in 'Shuffle' mode - you can click that off, and then you should be able to play individual tracks.

Image

Note that the above is only on my Android tablet - if I use my mobile phone, I can only play in 'Shuffle' mode, as we don't get the chance to view the above icon - apologies if that's the mode you're having to play them in...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

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Re: HiFi buffs? A small but good HiFi system?

#358150

Postby stevensfo » November 19th, 2020, 5:23 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:
stevensfo wrote:
Also, I can no longer choose individual tracks. :o This is actually worse than the ads.


Been there - bought the t-shirt!

But then kiloran saved the day and encouraged me to hunt around in the settings, and all is now well...

If you start any track playing in the Spotify app, and then click on the track artwork on the left hand side when it's playing, the song should then show 'full screen', and you might see the icon below coloured in green, which means it's in 'Shuffle' mode - you can click that off, and then you should be able to play individual tracks.

Image

Note that the above is only on my Android tablet - if I use my mobile phone, I can only play in 'Shuffle' mode, as we don't get the chance to view the above icon - apologies if that's the mode you're having to play them in...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess


Nope, I'm using the app on my phone. Now the shuffle icon has disappeared.

Not worth losing sleep over. I'll probably start the free trial and subscription just before Christmas.

Have to get all those old carols just to annoy the kids! ;)

Steve


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