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Music Quality: Spotify on Sonos Connect vs Mac Output from Tidal?


gswpitt

Question

I currently have a Sonos Connect and that streams music at 44.1 Khz 16 bit to my Receiver with a Built-in DAC.

I am testing a Trial Version of Tidal and the Audio Midi Settings on the Mac display 96Khz 2 ch 32-bit integer when playing streaming music at a higher resolution.

Can anyone clarify if the Mac/Tidal output is significantly better than through the Sonos Connect (with Spotify and iPad)? Is this better than CD quality?

Thanks in advance.

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When Tidal is set to 'exclusive mode' and 'force volume', then 44.1/16 audio (CD quality) and max 96/24 (in case of MQA) will be streamed. The Mac's USB audio class 2 drivers will send lossless PCM to your DAC. Any OS-level sound settings are ignored.

 

I don't think Spotify currently has an option for streaming lossless CD quality audio, so in that sense Tidal hifi is better than Spotify. Whether you will easily hear the difference is another matter.

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Are you using the DAC in the Connect (via RCA jacks to your receiver) or bypassing it (using digital-out) and using the DAC in the receiver?  You should be able to access Tidal on the Sonos as well, and compare that feed to your MAC.  As mentioned above, Spotify is a lower resolution format, so Tidal (CD quality or hi-res) should sound better in either case.  Your trial ID for Tidal should work with Sonos.  You can access a Tidal account from multiple sources. So test Tidal from the MAC as well as from the Sonos (with its internal DAC), and then via the Sonos to the receiver's DAC.

 

I have a Connect in one of my systems, but bypass its internal DAC and use a Meridian Direct DAC.  Although limited to CD quality, it sounds pretty damn good with the Meridian DAC.  I stream Tidal as well as FLAC files from a NAS drive.

 

Whether or not you'll hear a difference between CD quality and hi-res really depends on the rest of your system.  16/44 CD quality can sound pretty good when done right.

 

 

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