[zalive]

How one can know whether Deezer (or any other similar service) streams non-compressed files of best quality (HD or at least 16/44.1 lossless) rather than upsampling their mp3 lossy files?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

How one can know whether Deezer (or any other similar service) streams non-compressed files of best quality (HD or at least 16/44.1 lossless) rather than upsampling their mp3 lossy files?

I don't remember what but there are Windows apps that help with this. I'm sure somebody will know.

No, it just uses your default device, no ASIO/WASAPI option either.

I'm starting to understand what you wrote a little better now. I am on the hifi trial and it looks like it is using the Windows default device as you said but somehow doesn't use the DAC driver for that device. I can't find any settings for this and both my USB DACs think they're getting a 48 KHz PCM stream no matter what I set the Deezer app to (there are only three choices, 128 / 320 / 16/44.1)

How do you get Deezer to talk to a USB DAC using the correct driver?

 

[fufula]

How do you get Deezer to talk to a USB DAC using the correct driver?

You don't, unfortunately. Unless there are some third party solutions that let you do that that I haven't heard of. You can choose your playback device in Tidal which streams HiFi as well and features a little better interface.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

You don't, unfortunately. Unless there are some third party solutions that let you do that that I haven't heard of. You can choose your playback device in Tidal which streams HiFi as well and features a little better interface.

Wow! This sounds like it's gonna be an unsucessful end to my Deezer trial. Their UI is rubbish but I didn't care so much. I like that I can get some albums and fills that aren't on tidal. Qobuz isn't here yet.

 

[fufula]

Wow! This sounds like it's gonna be an unsucessful end to my Deezer trial. Their UI is rubbish but I didn't care so much. I like that I can get some albums and fills that aren't on tidal. Qobuz isn't here yet.

The UI is pretty bad, yeah. No drag & drop, pretty limited customizability. Are the suggestions any good though? Last time I checked they were pretty sucky, but I've heard they've improved their algorithms recently.

I think Tidal's still running their 3-month HiFi trial right now so go ahead and grab it. I'm testing it right now, but despite me using the app alongside Spotify and trying to teach it what kind of music I listen to, the suggested albums and releases are still pretty much all over the place and mixed up with all kinds of mainstream crap I'd never asked for. But at least it allows for bitperfect playback so that's something.

I too wish they finally opened up Qobuz to more countries.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

The UI is pretty bad, yeah. No drag & drop, pretty limited customizability. Are the suggestions any good though? Last time I checked they were pretty sucky, but I've heard they've improved their algorithms recently.

I think Tidal's still running their 3-month HiFi trial right now so go ahead and grab it. I'm testing it right now, but despite me using the app alongside Spotify and trying to teach it what kind of music I listen to, the suggested albums and releases are still pretty much all over the place and mixed up with all kinds of mainstream crap I'd never asked for. But at least it allows for bitperfect playback so that's something.

I too wish they finally opened up Qobuz to more countries.

I've been on tidal hifi for a while now. I think the sound quality is very good. It seems to be working all the time although I did have a couple of hours when it didn't play reliably over a Bluesound node 2i. I agree with you finding music is difficult and I also didn't like their suggestions but it seems to have gone better over a long period. It doesn't matter so much to me for me the main thing is that it has all the albums that I want, usually jazz. Unfortunately they have a lot of gaps in their catalog and some incomplete albums. Deezer had the missing songs and albums I was looking for so if it had better audio control I would have kept them both. Now I'm not sure what to do. I must say Deezer does sound really good even without properly exploiting my DAC drivers. I just did a test with two USB DACs and Tidal, Deezer, and foobar. It looks like Windows audio settings take control for Deezer (and I guess that means Windows is upsampling which is really dumb) whilst on Tidal and foobar things work as expected. Although all the mp3s I play show as 44.1 KHz the MQA files from Tidal and foobar, flac and DSD and SACD rips display the right things (PCM and actual sample rate) whilst Deezer stays at whatever I set the Windows device to. Really hard to believe they have a hifi plan and haven't figured this won't fly very well.

I can't really say for sure about the deezer suggestions. My impression is they figure out what I listen to quicker than tidal did and I do get some reasonable suggestions. I expect it would take a while for their algorithm to figure it out, only been on deezer a few days. Seems like your plan of using spotify to find music you like and then listening to it over tidal is becoming a popular thing. I wonder why the streaming services don't realize what we want is both

 

[turbomustang84]

Deezer has a few things I really like such as lyrics and better selection but I've switched to Android and the app just is not nearly as good as their iOS offering .

So I've moved to tidal until it improves

 

[Jet Black]

Sorry for coming too late. Rather than opening a new thread I just to post comments and wishing someone would answer.

Between deezer premium plan using a 320kbps mp3 bit rate and spotify premium on a 320kbps ogg vorbis format, which has the better sound quality? They are almost the same in pricing.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Why not deezer hifi? Is it that much more expensive than premium?

 

[fufula]

Why not deezer hifi? Is it that much more expensive than premium?

It's twice as expensive.

@Jet Black technically OGG Vorbis is the better format. Considering the source is the same and the files are not being tempered with in any way, I wouldn't expect anything other than placebo comparing one against the other. I'd say that the comfort of using Spotify and taking advantage of its suggestions far outweights any possible differences in sound, as if there are any, they're far too miniscule to point to objectively. If you're after quality, it's best to invest in a lossless streaming subscription. Tidal would be the better option compared to Deezer, because it's bitperfect and offers better suggestions.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

It's twice as expensive.

@Jet Black technically OGG Vorbis is the better format. Considering the source is the same and the files are not being tempered with in any way, I wouldn't expect anything other than placebo comparing one against the other. I'd say that the comfort of using Spotify and taking advantage of its suggestions far outweights any possible differences in sound, as if there are any, they're far too miniscule to point to objectively. If you're after quality, it's best to invest in a lossless streaming subscription. Tidal would be the better option compared to Deezer, because it's bitperfect and offers better suggestions.

It varies depending on region. Here it is not 2X. Hifi is USD 11.35 equivalent where I live. Not that big of a deal and less than 2 USD from the Tidal hifi price. But Tidal hifi costs also depend on region.

BTW Deezer is lossless but only over something like Bluesound. The desktop app is not.

 

[fufula]

It varies depending on region. Here it is not 2X. Hifi is USD 11.35 equivalent where I live. Not that big of a deal and less than 2 USD from the Tidal hifi price. But Tidal hifi costs also depend on region.

BTW Deezer is lossless but only over something like Bluesound. The desktop app is not.

You're right about the prices. Just checked and it is actually a little cheaper than Tidal here as well.

You're wrong about lossless streaming, though. Deezer lossless is in fact currently available through the desktop app, which - as I said - does not allow for bitperfect playback. Check their page for details: https://www.deezer.com/en/offers/hifi

 

[gimmeheadroom]

You're right about the prices. Just checked and it is actually a little cheaper than Tidal here as well.

You're wrong about lossless streaming, though. Deezer lossless is in fact currently available through the desktop app, which - as I said - does not allow for bitperfect playback. Check their page for details: https://www.deezer.com/en/offers/hifi

I don't need to check the details, I need to check what I typed

Yeah what I meant is deezer hifi is lossless but not bitperfect over the desktop app. I think we're agreeing vehemently

And I wanted to point out if you have Bluesound or maybe some other streamer then Deezer hifi is also bit perfect.

 

[fufula]

I don't need to check the details, I need to check what I typed

Yeah what I meant is deezer hifi is lossless but not bitperfect over the desktop app. I think we're agreeing vehemently

And I wanted to point out if you have Bluesound or maybe some other streamer then Deezer hifi is also bit perfect.

Ah, I thought you might've had the old info from back when Deezer HiFi was only available with certain hardware. Although back then it was Sonos I think. Funny how they're repeating the same mistake but with bitperfect playback now.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Ah, I thought you might've had the old info from back when Deezer HiFi was only available with certain hardware. Although back then it was Sonos I think. Funny how they're repeating the same mistake but with bitperfect playback now.

No, I've been on deezer hifi for a couple of years and quit for almost a year when they had their screwup with losing logins and having to go through recaptcha again.

It's really annoying how bad their tech support is and how they seem to have no idea why people expect bitperfect with a hifi tier. I know it works bitperfect over Bluesound because I can play MQA over my node 2i. If I play the same file from the desktop app it breaks MQA. Not that they have many MQA albums.

The main reason I have deezer hifi is because Tidal had a lot of albums with songs missing and I could get the whole album on deezer. Tidal is getting a lot better about that though. If qobuz or squatify ever get their together I'll see about ditching deezer and getting one of those. So far Tidal is the only lossless bitperfect service available here.