Spotify/streaming service question?

[Iggy]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance but I’m a total noob (just 24 hours into WiiM Amp ownership) but loving the sound quality so far through my Diamond 12.2s

At the moment I’m using free Spotify, but do I get any signal/audio quality improvement if I upgrade to a premium paid for version?

If not, is there a standout ‘best’ service for this, even if it has a monthly subscription?

I do have a monthly subscription to Amazon Music which is currently coming through an Alexa, but if you think that’s wasted I could maybe swap that to the WiiM Amp instead?

Sorry for what may be irritating noob questions.

I’m in the UK if that makes any difference?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kampernaut]

At the moment I’m using free Spotify, but do I get any signal/audio quality improvement if I upgrade to a premium paid for version?

Yes: https://support.spotify.com/us/article/audio-quality/. The premium streams sound richer to me.

Other services offer lossless and hi-res streams, but whether or not you will notice the difference will depend on your ears, equipment and room. Experiment with the free trials to see.

Each service is different from a music discovery perspective.

 

[wiimamp user]

With the free Spotify you,ll get advertising too i think?
Dont know i have a paid subscription.
Maybe try a free trial for Spotify or Tidal?
Mostly i use Tidal now..cd quality..

 

[merifon]

You can start the free month subscription for quite any service and decide by yourself.
It depends from personal tastes but after long and meditated comparison, I choose Tidal, for price, for lossless, for hi-res, for connectivity, for best lyrics management and for not so mainstream suggestions.

 

[harkpabst]

You can log into your Amazon Music account from within the WiiM Home App and play music from there. If you are on Amazon Music Unlimited (sometimes referred to as Amazon Music HD) you should have access to a proper catalogue of HiRes Music. Even Standard Definition should sound better than any Spotify plan, because Spotify is always lossy.

You can also cast from the Amazon Music app to the WiiM Amp either using the Alexa Cast or Google Cast protocol.

Tidal and Qobuz are the other two major services offering losslessly compressed and HiRes audio. Both can be used from within the WiiM Home App. Tidal also has its own streaming protocol Tidal Connect, which is supported by the WiiM Amp. Qobuz are working on something like that, but currently only supports Google Cast (which isn't gapless).

Lots and lots of options. To enable a music service within the WiiM Home App go to the Browse page, section Music Services an tap on Manage.

 

[wiimamp user]

I agree with @merifon for listening to music i choose Tidal.
I have a paid subscription for Spotify too will keep this also.

 

[wiimamp user]

I would say try a free trial period within Tidal.
Did this too..
Did keep it..great app, excellent quality and connect feature..
Great recommendations within the app and so on.
I also will keep a paid subscription for Spotify.
Hopefully they will offer Spotify sub premium soon.

 

[wiimamp user]

You can get a 30 days free trial with Tidal

 

[Iggy]

Thanks very much everyone, just been looking at the options online, Spotify seems to have a lot of things I’ll probably not use like sharing etc, my main interest is feeding the best signal quality into the amp. I’m going to try the Tidal free trial and take it from there

Thank you all again for your support and time

 

[Burnside]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance but I’m a total noob (just 24 hours into WiiM Amp ownership) but loving the sound quality so far through my Diamond 12.2s

At the moment I’m using free Spotify, but do I get any signal/audio quality improvement if I upgrade to a premium paid for version?

If not, is there a standout ‘best’ service for this, even if it has a monthly subscription?

Between hi res Amazon Music, Qobuz, Deezer and Tidal to a degree it depends on personal choice. Both Amazon Music and Tidal allow you to use their own apps and cast/connect to a WiiM device - Qobuz and Deezer don’t have that feature. Amazon Music, and to a lesser degree Deezer, would allow you voice control of playback such as you currently do with your Echo. Tidal (in the uk) and Qobuz don’t have voice control.

I do have a monthly subscription to Amazon Music which is currently coming through an Alexa, but if you think that’s wasted I could maybe swap that to the WiiM Amp instead?

It all depends what type of subscription you have - if it’s the £5.99 single device plan, you can’t swap that to a device such as a WiiM as it’s only available for echo and fire tv devices. You’d need to upgrade to the £9.99 pm individual plan which would allow you to play one stream on any one device or multi room music group (which could contain the WiiM amp as well as echos) on your account.

Given the other services are similarly priced and you’re used to Amazon Music, I’d stick with that and amend your subscription plan if need be.

 

[Wiimer]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance but I’m a total noob (just 24 hours into WiiM Amp ownership) but loving the sound quality so far through my Diamond 12.2s

At the moment I’m using free Spotify, but do I get any signal/audio quality improvement if I upgrade to a premium paid for version?

If not, is there a standout ‘best’ service for this, even if it has a monthly subscription?

I do have a monthly subscription to Amazon Music which is currently coming through an Alexa, but if you think that’s wasted I could maybe swap that to the WiiM Amp instead?

Sorry for what may be irritating noob questions.

I’m in the UK if that makes any difference?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,
Were you using Echo speakers before Diamond 12.2?

If so, the difference in sound quality due to the speaker change would have been significant. By comparison, the difference in sound quality between lossless and lossy may be minimal.

However, it is worth trying other streaming services to find the best for you.