First impressions doing 1h listening on Spotify Lossless vs 1h listening on Qobuz Connect. Different songs from a large varied playlist, just the overall feeling of the sound. I checked multiple times to have no EQ settings in any client, nor volume normalization, and let both go.
Findings:
* Overall, no mayor difference as you would expect. I did not checked if I was hearing 24bit or 16bit, nor the sampling rate, focusing on the experience.
* Feels like I'm hearing a more low-medium presence in Spotify, vs Qobuz. It kind of reminds me of how I perceived Tidal when comparing to Qobuz.
* Qobuz feels more detailed, with better separation, if you put attention. Spotify seems to "Glue" together the sound, but not as much as a digital artifact. I was initially assuming I left on normalization or some EQ... but I was not
Additional:
* Few songs are available in 24bit on Qobuz that are not found in Spotify (yet?)
* Found no song rendered still in Ogg from Spotify, I was ready for some and was a positive finding
My setup (Home Office):
* WiiM Ultra + Vibelink Amp (optical) + Acoustic Energy 501
* Tested at volume = 30, Vibelink Amp volume full scale up
I'll keep switching here and there among the two, I have 4 months before Qobuz subscription ends. Dropping it may not be so crazy, if you are not into esoteric gear.