Digital Neophyte - Need advice on streaming Spotify

So I'm a hardcore vinyl guy ... built a listening room around my vinyl rig, and have enjoyed it immensely. But, I've been expanding my jazz collection and repertoire, and I've found that a good, affordable way to find out what I like before I shell out good $$ on quality vinyl is to preview it on Spotify. So, I'm using the USB connection on my Yamaha CD-S300 CDP to allow me to Spotify through my system. I currently have one of my iPads connected to the CDP. What I really like is that I can control that iPad (through Spotify) with my iPhone remotely from my listening chair. It's awesome! What isn't awesome, though, is the quality of the music playback. It's not horrible, but it's certainly many steps below my analog rig. I'm wondering what a logical, and affordable, upgrade path would be. I would be willing to add a DAC, to replace the CDP connection I'm currently using, but I'm not sure what to get that will allow me to use my iPad/iPhone combo like I am now. I know there's a couple iDACs out there (Wadia and Arcam come to mind) but I know precious little about them. Or is there a better way to accomplish what I want to do? I'm not looking to spend a fortune as this will never supplant my analog rig as my primary source. But I would appreciate an improvement in sound quality.

Thanks in in advance for your advice!

Tom

Comments

  • Nightfall
    Nightfall Posts: 10,042
    edited January 2016
    The issue is mostly because you're streaming MP3. Spotify is nice to find new bands, to have a massive catalog at your fingertips, not so nice for critical listening. Try Tidal instead which streams lossless or buy albums on HDTracks.
    afterburnt wrote: »
    They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.

    Village Idiot of Club Polk
  • hochpt21
    hochpt21 Posts: 5,423
    Are you using free Spotify? Or Premium?

    Spotify premium through my modded ps audio DAC sounded really good.
    2 ChannelTurntable - VPI Classic 2/Ortofon 2M BlueAmplification - Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum II, Parks Audio Budgie PhonoSpeakers - GoldenEar Triton 17.2 Home TheaterDenon AVR-X3300W; Rotel RMB-1066; Klipsch RP-280F's, Klipsch RP-450C, Polk FXi3's, Polk RC60i; Dual SVS PB 2000's; BenQ HT2050; Elite Screens 120"Man CaveTurntable - Pro-Ject 2.9 Wood/Grado GoldAmplification - Dared SL2000a, McCormack DNA 0.5 DeluxeCD: Cambridge AudioSpeakers - Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary; LSiM 703; SDA 2A
  • Nightfall
    Nightfall Posts: 10,042
    hochpt21 wrote: »
    Are you using free Spotify? Or Premium?

    Spotify premium through my modded ps audio DAC sounded really good.

    Does free Spotify stream less than 320 and you have to pay to get 320kbps? That's good to know if so.
    afterburnt wrote: »
    They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.

    Village Idiot of Club Polk
  • tlarwa
    tlarwa Posts: 30
    I have Spotify Peemium. I think the internal DAC in the CDP is probably one of the limiting factors. That's why I'm thinking I should get a different DAC. But I'm not sure what to,get that will work,with my iDevice. I don't care so much about running the CDP through the DAC, since I don't listen to many discs. Although if I bought a better DAC that I could run the CDP through, I probably would.
  • tlarwa
    tlarwa Posts: 30
    hochpt21 wrote: »
    Spotify premium through my modded ps audio DAC sounded really good.

    What do you have connected to your DAC that allows you to use Spotify? I guess that's what I really need to know. I want to continue using my iPhone and iPad, as described, if possible.
  • adb3da
    adb3da Posts: 506
    Take a look into Tidal hi Rez. You can get 1 month free. It works very similar to Spotify and has hi rez audio. The catch is that it's double the monthly price of Spotify. Also, the app is not quite as refined as as Spotify. It's worth doing a trial run with the free month.
  • tlarwa
    tlarwa Posts: 30
    Take a look into Tidal hi Rez. You can get 1 month free. It works very similar to Spotify and has hi rez audio. The catch is that it's double the monthly price of Spotify. Also, the app is not quite as refined as as Spotify. It's worth doing a trial run with the free month.

    Does it have a feature similar to Spotify Connect, where I can control Spotify on my iPad from my iPhone? That's a really convenient feature since I can sit in my listening chair and skip around through different music without having to get up!
  • adb3da
    adb3da Posts: 506
    tlarwa wrote: »
    Take a look into Tidal hi Rez. You can get 1 month free. It works very similar to Spotify and has hi rez audio. The catch is that it's double the monthly price of Spotify. Also, the app is not quite as refined as as Spotify. It's worth doing a trial run with the free month.

    Does it have a feature similar to Spotify Connect, where I can control Spotify on my iPad from my iPhone? That's a really convenient feature since I can sit in my listening chair and skip around through different music without having to get up!

    I think that Tidal might be lacking that feature.

    Also, one thing to double check is your streaming quality setting on the iPad. There should be 3 options, and you want to select Extreme. It defaults to the lowest setting.

    As an alternate solution that requires a bit more cash, you might look into the Bluesound Node 2. I have not used one, but a coworker of mine that uses Tidal swears by it. It attaches to your preamp like any other standalone player and you can play a variety of sources through it (i.e. your own music collection on a PC or Mac or an online streaming service like Spotify or Tidal. It's also controlled by iPad or iPhone etc... I've heard the device has a quality DAC built in too so you might kill two birds with one stone. Again, I haven't used one but have heard nothing but good things. Here's a video I found on youtube.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=K0lbdeDS-FM
  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,902
    tlarwa wrote: »
    Take a look into Tidal hi Rez. You can get 1 month free. It works very similar to Spotify and has hi rez audio. The catch is that it's double the monthly price of Spotify. Also, the app is not quite as refined as as Spotify. It's worth doing a trial run with the free month.

    Does it have a feature similar to Spotify Connect, where I can control Spotify on my iPad from my iPhone? That's a really convenient feature since I can sit in my listening chair and skip around through different music without having to get up!

    There is nothing short of a hundred different ways to skin that cat when it comes to streaming music. Most have all the usual music services apps built in for Apple or Android.

    You want to be able to stream your own music too in at least cd quality that you may have downloaded on your computer, not just Spotify/Tidal/Rhapsody or anyone else.

    I went for ease of use and got the Sonos on recommendations from other members and couldn't be happier. So easy a caveman can do it as they say....and I needed that for the wife too. Stream anything on your computer up to cd quality 16/44 plus all the music services you can think off and radio stations from around the globe including your local ones. Feed that into a good dac and your set. The apps for the Sonos are free in either Apple or Android and you enter your music services from there.

    The Bluesound mentioned above has it's own built in dac, works on the same principle but can handle higher rez files.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
  • hochpt21
    hochpt21 Posts: 5,423
    edited January 2016
    For my purposes, I was using a laptop with an hdmi to usb cable connected to my PS Audio DAC.

    I could use my iphone on the couch to control spotify running on my laptop.

    @tlarwa
    2 ChannelTurntable - VPI Classic 2/Ortofon 2M BlueAmplification - Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum II, Parks Audio Budgie PhonoSpeakers - GoldenEar Triton 17.2 Home TheaterDenon AVR-X3300W; Rotel RMB-1066; Klipsch RP-280F's, Klipsch RP-450C, Polk FXi3's, Polk RC60i; Dual SVS PB 2000's; BenQ HT2050; Elite Screens 120"Man CaveTurntable - Pro-Ject 2.9 Wood/Grado GoldAmplification - Dared SL2000a, McCormack DNA 0.5 DeluxeCD: Cambridge AudioSpeakers - Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary; LSiM 703; SDA 2A
  • hochpt21
    hochpt21 Posts: 5,423
    Nightfall wrote: »
    hochpt21 wrote: »
    Are you using free Spotify? Or Premium?

    Spotify premium through my modded ps audio DAC sounded really good.

    Does free Spotify stream less than 320 and you have to pay to get 320kbps? That's good to know if so.

    I believe 160 is the highest on free and 320 only on premium.
    2 ChannelTurntable - VPI Classic 2/Ortofon 2M BlueAmplification - Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum II, Parks Audio Budgie PhonoSpeakers - GoldenEar Triton 17.2 Home TheaterDenon AVR-X3300W; Rotel RMB-1066; Klipsch RP-280F's, Klipsch RP-450C, Polk FXi3's, Polk RC60i; Dual SVS PB 2000's; BenQ HT2050; Elite Screens 120"Man CaveTurntable - Pro-Ject 2.9 Wood/Grado GoldAmplification - Dared SL2000a, McCormack DNA 0.5 DeluxeCD: Cambridge AudioSpeakers - Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary; LSiM 703; SDA 2A
  • Mikey081057
    Mikey081057 Posts: 7,127
    I use Bluesound Node2 also.... It has iOS and android free apps. Tidal actually embeds in to the bluesound app and playback of tidal is thru the bluesound app.... You can config other services, radio and your music server and NAS as well. Very convenient/elegant way to listen to music and radio. My CD's are in storage.
    My New Year's resolution is 3840 × 2160

    Family Room| Marantz AV7704| Usher Dancer Mini - 2 DMD Mains |Usher Dancer Mini-x DMD's Surrounds | Usher BE-616 DMD Center | SVS Ultra Rear Surrounds | Parasound Halo A21 | Parsound Halo A52+ | MIT Shotgun S3's | Dual SVS SB 4000 Ultras | Oppo UDP 203 | Directv Genie HD DVR | Samsung 75" Q8 QLED | PSAudio Stellar GCD | Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ | Lumin U1 Mini | HP Elite Slice PC | ROON'd for life |

    ManCave: HT:Polk LSiM 706VR3 LSiM 703's LSiM 702's|| Marantz AV7002 AV PrePro Sunfire TGA-7401| Sony PS4 Pro| Sony PS4 Pro|SVS PB13 Ultra| Oppo UDP 203 | Music Hall MMF 5.3se TT w/ Soundsmith Carmen | Samsung 55" SUHD TV | Sony PS4

    Patio | Polk Atrium 8's | Yamaha R-N303BL |

    Office BlueSound Node| KEF LS50 | Peactree Nova 125SE |

    Bedroom | Focal 905's | Chromecast Audio |

    Garage | Polk Monitor 5B's

    Closet Yamaha M80 | 2 Polk MP3K subs| Yaqin MC100B with Shuguang Treasures KT 88's & CV181Z's | Tesla E83CC's | Marantz 2252B | Marantz 2385 |Polk SDA SRS 2.3 | LSiM 705's |
  • Mikey081057
    Mikey081057 Posts: 7,127
    The Auralic is also something to look at and does dsd/dxd.

    http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ACARIESMI&variation=BLK

    My New Year's resolution is 3840 × 2160

    Family Room| Marantz AV7704| Usher Dancer Mini - 2 DMD Mains |Usher Dancer Mini-x DMD's Surrounds | Usher BE-616 DMD Center | SVS Ultra Rear Surrounds | Parasound Halo A21 | Parsound Halo A52+ | MIT Shotgun S3's | Dual SVS SB 4000 Ultras | Oppo UDP 203 | Directv Genie HD DVR | Samsung 75" Q8 QLED | PSAudio Stellar GCD | Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ | Lumin U1 Mini | HP Elite Slice PC | ROON'd for life |

    ManCave: HT:Polk LSiM 706VR3 LSiM 703's LSiM 702's|| Marantz AV7002 AV PrePro Sunfire TGA-7401| Sony PS4 Pro| Sony PS4 Pro|SVS PB13 Ultra| Oppo UDP 203 | Music Hall MMF 5.3se TT w/ Soundsmith Carmen | Samsung 55" SUHD TV | Sony PS4

    Patio | Polk Atrium 8's | Yamaha R-N303BL |

    Office BlueSound Node| KEF LS50 | Peactree Nova 125SE |

    Bedroom | Focal 905's | Chromecast Audio |

    Garage | Polk Monitor 5B's

    Closet Yamaha M80 | 2 Polk MP3K subs| Yaqin MC100B with Shuguang Treasures KT 88's & CV181Z's | Tesla E83CC's | Marantz 2252B | Marantz 2385 |Polk SDA SRS 2.3 | LSiM 705's |
  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 7,952
    spam reported.
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es; Squeezebox Touch with Bolder Power Supply
    Game Room 5.1.4:
    Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra

    Bedroom 2.1
    Cambridge Azur 551r; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer
  • I have had Tidal HiFi for a little over a year. There are 2 versions Tidal Premium (lossy quality) and Tidal HiFi (lossless CD quality – FLAC-based 16-Bit/44.1 kHz – and MQA).

    I have not used Spotify so I cannot compare the two interfaces.

    I have two systems that I stream Tidal through. My primary has the Auralic Mini which I love but they are no longer in production. Auralic has its own app for controlling that runs on iOS. Good product and sound. My office rig I have $35 Chomecast dongle connected via toslink to Yamaha integrated and it sounds surprisingly good. In this scenario I use the native Tidal application and find it very intuitive and is controlled with my iPhone..

    I have heard good things about the Bluesound streamers as well as Cambridge.

    I like the convenience and rarely play cds anymore.


    Living Room
    Parasound HINT 6, Yamaha Aventage RX-A 1060, Yamaha BD-S681, Cambridge Audio Azur 851N, Polk S60, Polk S30, Samsung 60" LED

    Office
    Cambridge Audio 851A, Auralic Aries Mini, LSiM 703s

    Douglas Connection ICs and Cables
  • brownie17
    brownie17 Posts: 1
    edited December 2019
    I have Spotify premium,too and had no problems with sound. ;)
    But I have a great story for you. I heard that my friend somehow earns on Spotify promoting his account. He has a cute 3 y.o. daughter with curly hair, he plays guitar, and they sing together all kinds of kid's songs. He uploads them on his account and get followers and a lot of enthusiastic comments. Also, they were invited on the popular BBC show.
    This man is lucky! I want that too, only I have no children. And the last time I played guitar was at a school party. Lol.