Music streaming in hi-fi quality: what you really hear

In consultations we hear the question more and more often: is Tidal or Qobuz worth it, or is Spotify enough? The honest answer depends less on the service than on the route the music takes to the speaker. Here are the facts, sorted by what you actually hear in the end.

Which service delivers which quality?

The catalogues are similar in size, the formats are not:

Important: the high quality has to be enabled in the app settings. From the factory it is usually set to "automatic".

Bitrates: what the numbers mean

A CD delivers 1,411 kbit/s (16-bit, 44.1 kHz, stereo). A stream at 24-bit and 96 kHz comes to around 4,600 kbit/s uncompressed; FLAC halves that losslessly. Lossy formats such as AAC, by contrast, discard parts the ear barely perceives – at 256 to 320 kbit/s a good fifth of the CD's data volume remains.

What do you hear of it? In blind comparisons even trained listeners only rarely recognise the difference between good AAC at 256 kbit/s and CD quality, and only on very good systems. Between CD and Hi-Res it is practically undetectable. Clearly audible, on the other hand, are the mastering of the recording, the speakers and the room.

The route to the speaker: streamer, DAC, Roon

The phone over Bluetooth is the weakest source: it compresses again, and calls interrupt. Better is a network streamer that fetches the music straight from the internet – as a separate device (WiiM, Bluesound Node, Cambridge Audio, Eversolo) or built into amplifiers and active speakers. The phone becomes the remote: Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect hand playback over to the device.

The DAC (digital-to-analogue converter) is inside every streamer; a separate one is only worthwhile once the rest of the system is very good. Roon is the software for collectors: one library across Tidal, Qobuz and your own files, with metadata, room correction via DSP and multiroom over "Roon Ready" devices. That requires a server in the house.

AirPlay, Chromecast and Bluetooth codecs

Dolby Atmos Music

Spatial mixes only make sense with suitable playback: a soundbar or receiver with height channels, or headphones with head tracking. The quality varies from album to album – listening tests are worthwhile before you design the system around it.

Conclusion

Stream losslessly, deliberately set the quality in the app and bring the music to the speaker over the network rather than Bluetooth – that is the part that pays off audibly. Whether Hi-Res or CD quality is decided by the recording, not the subscription. We compare services, streamers and codecs on the same system before anything is ordered; we set up the chain so that everyone in the household can use it.