Spotify Might Have Lossless Streaming, but Qobuz Still Has My Heart

Spotify recently launched lossless streaming, which should have been a win for audiophiles everywhere. Despite this, Spotify's lossless option didn't win me over.

It took Spotify a long time to master lossless streaming; most other music streaming services have offered this for years. One in particular, Kobuz, has been my favorite for a long time.

What is Lossless Audio on Spotify?

According to Spotify, their lossless streaming (and downloading) option features 24-bit audio with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz.

When I contrasted this with their lowest quality streaming option, the difference was immediately apparent. However, when I raised the quality to a high level, it became quite difficult to distinguish, and I suspect that the limiting factors were often the songs themselves, rather than the limitations of 24bit/44kHz audio.

What do sample rate and bit depth mean?

When listening to music, the bit depth (in this case 24-bit) indicates the maximum difference in volume between the softest sound and the loudest sound. The 24-bit format provides a difference of up to 144 decibels, which is usually enough – you'll be hard-pressed to find a song that uses more than that.

The sample rate tells you how many times per second the sound you're listening to is sampled. Thus, a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz corresponds to 44,100 samples per second. Typically, the highest audio frequency you can record at any given sample rate is half, so a 44.1 kHz recording can contain sounds up to 22 kHz, well above the limit of normal human hearing.

While ultra-high sampling rates (such as 192 kHz) may not be immediately useful for listening, they can provide useful overhead for audio engineers who have to turn raw recordings into finished products.

Qobuz supports higher sound quality

While Spotify's new lossless setup is definitely a step forward, Gobuz Provides audio up to 24 bit/192 kHz.

There's some debate about whether you'll ever need such a high sample rate (or bit depth, for that matter), but it's nice to have the option if you want it. Many people swear they hear a difference, and if it makes listening to music better, what's the harm?

Is Qobuz more expensive than Spotify?

Regular Qobuz streaming plans cost about the same as Spotify plans, with the exception of the Sublime plans, which offer a discount on music you can buy and keep forever. Qobuz also offers a discount to annual subscribers, making it cheaper than Spotify.

Qobuz lets you own your music

The big selling point for me is their slightly more expensive set of plans.

If you opt in, you can get up to 60% off DRM-free, lossless audio content that's yours forever.

A 60% discount is quite significant. No matter where you shop, lossless music will cost between $10 and $50 per album. Compared to vinyl records, it's not that expensive, but if you buy them regularly, the discount adds up.

However, once you buy it, you can keep it for yourself. You can burn it to a disc and put it in your CD player. You can create a backup copy on your hard drive and store it in a safe place for the future. If you don't delete the files, you will still have the album.

Owning your music matters.

In recent years, physical media such as CDs, vinyl records and even cassette tapes have increased in popularity. Part of this is nostalgia, but part of it is also practical: if you have a CD or record, you won't have to worry about a license change that will suddenly take it away from you.

Taking a quick look through my old Spotify playlists, I found over a dozen songs I'd added that were “no longer available in my region.” If I try to play one of them, it just disappears.

Spotify isn't alone in this. Apple and Amazon have had disagreements over similar things in the past. Apple is facing multiple lawsuits over the removal of things people “bought” from iTunes due to changes in licensing terms, and Amazon is facing a class action lawsuit over the removal of purchased Prime Video content.

Lossless and Hi-Fi are not everything

Despite the benefits you can get from high quality lossless formats, it is not the only factor that determines audio quality, and I would argue that it is not even the most important.

An album with terrible mixing and mastering will sound bad whether you listen to the 16-bit version at 24 kHz or the 32-bit version at 192 kHz.

If the song's instrument or vocals were recorded using equipment that colors the tone in a way you don't like, the most you'll get from the hi-fi recording is a lot of detail that you don't like.

No matter where you stream or buy music, take the time to find versions of songs you like.

How you listen to music matters just as much as what you listen to, so don't neglect your audio equipment. A pair of disposable airline headphones won't sound good, no matter how good the audio recording is. A decent amp and some headphones go a long way, and you won't have to spend any money either.