[CheepShot]

Why doesn't anyone mention LiveXLive (previously Slacker)? It has been around forever, is/was stock with Tesla, Porsche and about 3k hotels and even billable through T-Mobile. Three different monthly plans at 320k, free/3.99/9.99. Live events, videos, curated stations that are tune-able to your tastes, news and sports highlights and hosts that can be turned on and off. A huge catalog, offline listening and offline unlimited user created playlists. PC is browser based, the Android app is very polished and I expect there is an Apple solution. There is quick lookup of artists and their albums, top songs, reference wikis, the stations and playlists they are on. There's no fussiness, it works with pretty much everything including VPNs. The only limitations I have found is lack of lossless/MQA and lyrics. I rarely see references to this service and can't figure out why.

I keep trying new services and had Tidal Masters for six months last year, Deezer's best for 3mo and Amazon's best for 4mo and many others over the past ten years but Slacker has kept my interest more than any of them. I haven't tried Spotify for a few years and will give that a chance this year. Radio Paradise is listener supported with a decent Android app, it only has 4 stations but it does have offline listening and streams FLAC.

 

[iFi audio]

Why doesn't anyone mention LiveXLive (previously Slacker)?

I remember using LiveXLive years ago, but now it's Tidal and Spotify mainly. I'm not sure whether it's about their database, UI or both, but the odds are that I won't be getting back to LiveXLive.

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,
I don't think there is a streaming provider that is exceptionally good.
They all have deficits in terms of price/performance and quality.
Even in terms of operation, especially in apps, all streaming providers are significantly further behind than programmes that now exist that work well as support and deliver a better audio experience.
You can see this quite well with Audirvana and Roon.
The competition would be much better ordered if all streaming providers supported these two with the release.
As always, it's all about the money and the cost to the users that something like this is not realised.
Then one could perhaps say that streaming provider x is better on Audirvana or Roon or equally.
What you see at the moment is that Dezzer has the best algorithm in terms of playlists.
It sometimes uncovers titles that were no longer on the radar.
Amazon is also unfortunately often to be found in various playlists, I find the sound too strong.
Spotify, Tidal rather less so.
Tidal delivers good sound but very poor algorithm to offer something new for the user.they still rely on classic music Ray Charles,The doors what most do not want to hear.Qubozz relies more on 24/192 nothing new as well as gladly times titles that are not findable and sometimes also with dropouts are to be complained about.
Spotify is okay, but the sound is a bit below average.
In the end, it all comes down to the user's benefit with these things.
If you want Roon, it almost doesn't matter which provider you use.
They have a great interface and you can do a lot, but unfortunately they are very expensive to buy.
Audirvana is also very good, especially the purchasable version 3.5 that used to exist.
Audirvana Studio still has bugs despite the subscription and the fact that it is almost 9 years old.
And unfortunately only usable with Qubozz and Tidal as well as High res.
But it offers a good and stable sound experience.
I think all streaming providers should take another big step forward.
They should overhaul their apps and offer more of what the separate apps like Uapp and so on offer.
There is definitely still room for improvement.

 

[sidpost]

Spotify is working well for me. Whether it is "the best" or not I guess is open to debate but, it remains a good solution for my needs and wants.

 

[Claypole]

I use Tidal, but am currently on a month's free trial with Qobuz.

I have the basic subscription with Tidal, which recently got upgraded free of charge to 'Hi Fi' level of sound quality. The basic level of Qobus (Studio) offers hi res music, but is more expensive.

I prefer the way Tidal works, I like the daily playlists it offers me, and the recommendations are often pretty good too. In my basic comparisons, I can't help thinking Qobuz sounds a bit better, and this is not related to the fact Qobuz offers hi res.

Both services offer offline listening, but with one major difference. Qobuz Studio only really caches music, and if you have to sign out and then back into your account again, the offline content is gone. With Tidal, it's down loaded properly.

Qobuz also sometimes seems a bit sluggish to play music, and maybe a bit glitchy too. Tidal seems better in this respect. I will probably stay with Tidal.

As an Amazon Prime customer, I also have the basic Amazon Music service. It works fine and used to sound good, right up until they started to push the HD service, at which link tthe basic service got hobbled, and now sounds seriously rubbish. I'm talking well under 100kbps streaming quality. Strangely, it still sounds good on my Fiio M6, but that's because I'm running a really old version of the Amazon Music app on it. Very poor practice from Amazon...

 

[Dobrescu George]

With Streaming services being the hot topic for many nowadays, many migrating from or to Spotify, some loving TIDAL and others going with Amazon Music, it is a good moment to mention Streamers, and this one is a special design from Korea, the N25 Streamer, a high-end unit from Cocktail Audio and Novatron!!

This time I heard a difference in sound right away, as it has USB inputs and I can easily compare using a DAC directly from my PC and connecting the same DAC through it, so today's review will include comparisons with three other streamers, as well personal notes about pairings, and more usage notes. If you have more questions, I am always around to help

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2...25-streamer-elegance-usability-connected.html