IDAGIO - For Classical Music Lovers

[Jim Sylva]

On 10/18/2018 at 11:00 AM, Daccord said:

I have it streaming to a Chromecast Audio device, which sends a digital feed to my DAC's optical input. It sounds pretty good. I think I will end up subscribing to idagio, as I'd like to encourage the survival of at least one streaming service geared to classical music.

+1

[Jim Sylva]

Has anyone else checked out Idagio lately? I'm interested in what other people think about the present format.

[Jim Sylva]

On 9/15/2019 at 3:59 PM, rodrigaj said:

I'm not sure about their present format since I dropped their service several months ago. I still follow this topic in the hopes that one day Idagio will develop a DLNA app similar to Spotify Connect, with gapless playback. Airplay did not work out for me.

I'm sorry Airplay did not work out for you.

 

We share the same concerns regarding Idagio's lack of DLNA and gapless playback support. However, Idagio's unique use of classical music's metadata and related search schema are very strong draws for me.

 

Each of the various streaming services I have used have their own particular strengths and weaknesses, so I find I subscribe to multiple services to fill in some of the various inadequacies. In my opinion, this is not ideal.

 

At this point, I am reasonably satisfied with switching between Qobuz and Idagio for most of my needs. I prefer using my Macbook Pro as a control point. Using the Macbook Pro's Mission Control feature, I have set up three desktops; one for general computing, one for Qobuz, and one for Idagio. Since both streaming services support Airplay, I can use the Airplay emulator ShairPort on the ultraRendu and not have to reconfigure the ultraRendu. Thus, the process of switching between Qobuz and Idagio is accomplished simply by using the Control Right/Left Arrows.

 

I applaud Idagio for taking classical music search and retrieval seriously. Now, if they address the DNLA and gapless playback issues ...

[Jim Sylva]

On 9/15/2019 at 9:51 PM, Bob Stern said:

 

Are you a subscriber?  What do you want to know?

Yes, I am a subscriber.

 

I asked the question out of curiosity. There are many people on AS who appreciate classical music. I am puzzled by the apparent minimal interest in Idagio's streaming service. I know it has significant deficiencies, but it's not unique in this regard. I also think it is aesthetically inferior to a couple of very popular services I have seen.

 

However, it is the only service I have used that seems to acknowledge the specific additional metadata required to perform meaningful searches and retrievals in the realm of classical music.

[Jim Sylva]

23 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

I don’t find Idagio's interface unattractive at all.  I strongly prefer its emphasis on text-based results and the ability to drill down into search results by category, artist or composer.  

Actually, I like the way Idagio displays on my Macbook Pro.

 

Also, I am tired of apps that fill small-screened mobile devices with icons and images when text would be much more efficient, displaying considerably more info on each screen. The fewer screens required to navigate, the more cohesive sets of data seem to me.

[Jim Sylva]

19 hours ago, mkozlows said:

 

I agree that's true of the services out-of-the-box, but Roon actually does a good job of this, too. Like, upthread, I posted a screenshot of Idagio's results when you search for "mozart kv 504". If you do that on Roon, you get a page that shows you artists, albums, tracks, and compositions that match.

 

Thank you for the info about Roon's treatment of classical music. I have spent more time than I enjoy organizing my classical music, so I have been hesitant to pass the metadata on to Roon due to concerns about not liking the results. 

[Jim Sylva]

7 hours ago, Musicophile said:

I share the concerns about Qobuz so-so tagging and average search function. What keeps me from switching to dedicated services like Idagio are two things:

 

1) the massive discounts you get on high res downloads as a sublime subscriber.  I still like to buy the music I really care about as I’m still skeptical about the long term viability of high res streaming at reasonable cost. 

 

2) While a majority of my listening is classical music I’m also a huge jazz fan, and it is nice to have access to all other genres when one has guests. 

I agree.

 

I have more classical music than any other genre, and my jazz collection comprises my second largest genre.

 

You are much more knowledgable about classical music than I. The structure of Idagio allows me to not only find music of my choice, but also serves as a pedagogical tool.

 

I have bit the bullet, and subscribe to both Qobuz and Idagio. Not ideal, but Idagio is helping me to learn more about the vast world of classical music.

 

Qobuz allows one to conveniently choose a specific genre. Maybe Qobuz could develop a schema tailored to the requisite metadata parameters of classical music which would be evoked after one chose the Classical genre. Wishful thinking, I know!

[Jim Sylva]

36 minutes ago, rodrigaj said:

FYI, Regarding Idagio and gapless playback. Apparently, gapless has been available in iOS since April.

 

Here is part of their version history:

 

 

Thanks for the update.