I've been using Pandora for many years. I dunno what's going on with Pandora, but it doesn't seem to keep up with new music lately. I usually pick a genre I'm in the mood for, playing in the background. When I hear something I like, I'll get the CD and rip it.

I see Spotify mentioned on this forum a lot. It that the best service? Kinda expensive for a streaming service. Is it worth it? If so, why?

Michael_d,
I only somewhat recently started up with streaming music. Already being an Amazon Prime member starting up with Amazon Music HD seemed the way to go. Sorry but I can't compare my experience with another service.
So what do I think of it?
It does what it's advertised to do .It sounds very good through my 2 channel system. Have not tried it in my Theatre yet.
I'm like you , I hear something I like I'll look into that artist further online, most likely ending up buying cd's.

Jeff

Amazon Music HD is fine but it will not play on the Air.

Reasons for streaming Spotify:

- listen to any music anywhere
- find new music easily for you and loved ones
- share songs and playlists
- create playlists
- supported by many devices
- no need for additional boxes that need space, create clutter and gather dust

Reasons for not streaming Spotify?

No Air
No need

Amazon Music HD appears, at least to me, to check a lot of boxes, the important ones.
Of course YMMV

Jeff

No Air? How do you rock out at the skateboard park? What do you carry when you're strolling in the 'hood with your homies? Nude yoga with Adrienne sounds much better on the deck with the Air.

Don’t mind Mojo he has an active imagination social life

Well obviously we're not doing nude yoga on the deck now. It's winter. We have to wear our long johns and ski goggles.

I currently have Spotify Premium and have used it fir the last 2 years. It’s really great. Tons of music , easy interface and in my opinion very intuitive.

I’m one month into a Tidal subscription as well. Just wanted to try it out to compare. I got the top of the line one to access the “ Masters “ recordings. I gotta say I can’t really tell the difference between 24 bit or 16 bit.

I really think the most important part is how well the reciting is done.

The Tidal interface is similar to Spotify but not quite as intuitive. The Tidal off line / downloaded feature works a lot better though. The Spotify app fails all the time when playing off line. I’ve been travelling A TON ( domestically ) and headphones snd downloads are my escape these days. Really sucks to have your tunes fail to hen you need them the most.

I’d say for a new “ streaming “ customer , go for Spotify. Most bang the buck. And TONs of podcasts too.

Wow, don’t know what all that means. It was an attempt at being funny? Supposed to be humorous yes?
Ok
I’ll continue to linger on the Boards, perhaps all I need to appreciate it is more exposure.
Perhaps not, and I’d really hate to waste any time.

My comments with respect to my choice of streaming service were not clear? How I arrived at that choice is somehow not valid?
I attempt to contribute my experience and if it doesn’t align, mockery is the final dismissal?

Jeff

Hi Jeff

I am an Amazon prime member but never tried their music streaming service. I think I'll give it a chance.

I use top tier Tidal and Qobuz through a Gold Note DAC and power supply. Sounds pretty good. Certainly much more convenient than spinning vinyl or the R2R. However, although streaming approaches vinyl/analog sound quality, no cigar.

I'll have to give Amazon a whirl. I do have Prime. I've had it for years, but rarely mess around with their music service.

Jeff- don't concern yourself with the silliness. I appreciate hearing your point of view and experiences. Mojo is, well, just Mojo. Harmless and generally has good intent.

Amazon gives prime members free limited access ... meaning they give you a good sampling of different singles and albums plus a bunch of premixed lists of genre and top hits. I’ve been listening to it as I work in the shop and It’s getting a bit trying.

If you what everything you need to pay the $11 a month fee which for me doesn’t make sense as I would much prefer applying that to one of Apple’s bundles (music, video content, cloud storage, ...) which I’ve been resisting forever as individual offering.

Spotify Premium here. Love it. Tried Tidal. Sounds better but not great for discovering new artists. Playlists and community shared lists way better on spotify. Too expensive imo.

Bluetooth from ipad to Arcam rBlink in Stereo upstairs

Aux jack from Galaxy 10 to work truck (playing offline downloaded daily mixes and discover weekly)

Chromecast Audio to Garage powered monitors with Ipad

Bluos via NAD 777 from Ipad in theater

Use it everyday for hours.

Check. No nude yoga on the deck, skateboarding or strolls with a ghetto blaster for Jeff. I hope my post on Spotify was helpful. Remember, Bezos's AI bots are watching and learning on every purchase. Could be a good thing or bad.

I've been messing around with the free version of Spotify. I like it better than Pandora. Better mix, and newer music. What does the Premium version add?

I'm also wondering how I can set up an interface with this app and my AVR. I really do not like using my phone. I want something that will just sit there on my equipment rack and be available for use, so I do not need to have the 65" TV turned on. Some type of interface I can stream music, and also find my music collection on a hard drive. I was looking at one of the Chromebooks, but I'm not sure if they have a very good audio output that I can plug into the receiver?? Another thought was to get one of those 15" touch screens you find at retail stores, but then I'd need something to run the app.... I'm overthinking this. What should I do??

The Axiom Transformer converts your AVR to a media streamer. I'm still waiting for mine. Or you could plug an Amazon Firestick into your AVR and use the Firestick remote on your TV.

Here's an article about Premium vs. Free. Higher quality, listen off-line and a few other things.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/good-reasons-to-pay-for-spotify/

I have the Fire Stick plugged into my AVR already, and that is how I'm currently interfacing with Spotify, but I have to output video to my TV, and use the Fire Stick remote. I'm just looking for another way to accomplish the same function, but only use a smaller display that will sit on top of my equipment rack (and I'll use the AVR's secondary HDMI output).

I am basically looking to get rid of my old Squeezebox Touch device. The Touch has a Spotify app, but it doesn't work worth a damn, like many apps/plug-ins, so it's gotta go. I've been trying to keep it well past its prime.....

How about just getting a samsung android tablet and running the Spotify app on that?

I actually have an Android Tablet (Samsung) that I rarely use...... I didn't think about using it. I'll need to look into that option.

Connect it to WiFi, download Spotify, enter your credentials, select Firestick and away you go!

The app recognized my AVR immediately and connected to it without a problem. The AVR's display even says "Spotify". It's a Denon 3500. Pretty cool.

Your Denon and Firestick both have a Spotify app. It might be interesting to see if you can hear a quality difference between Spotify via the Firestick vs the Denon.

I'll mess around with both options next weekend.

I'd like to connect the tablet to the AVR with a cable, but I'm not sure what I need. I have the S9 tablet with mini USB output. It's unclear if I can use an HDMI adapter cable, or if I need a different hub to allow for charging. Might you know?

Wi-Fi appears to be working fine, but I'd rather use a hard connection.

The only ways I know of getting audio from a tablet to a receiver is via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or the headphone jack. Your Denon supports Bluetooth but it is quite battery intensive for your Sammy. It sounds like the headphone jack is the way to go for you.

You'd do this by connecting to one of the Audio In connectors on the back of the receiver. You will need a 3.5mm to stereo RCA cable (see below). Make sure you don't confuse the right and left jacks when connecting to the receiver. Also make sure to choose the correct length when you order.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...udio+cable&qid=1614627750&sr=8-3

Spotify connect lives in your AVR. It pulls directly from spotify server. Your tablet is only acting as a remote to queue server requests. No cable required.

No audio data is transmitted from your tablet to AVR.

No need to mess with firestick. As mentioned, the Denon is pulling directly from server.

http://manuals.denon.com/AVRX3500H/eu/en/SXQWSYnpjwflgv.php

Wifi is entirely fine. Only need 1mbs or so for spotify streams.

It isnt video, so not very “expensive” on your network.

Welcome to streaming! And excitingly soon to be CD quality!

Trevor, you're of course right. But Michael wants to control Spotify from his tablet and he wants to do it wired. That was the only way I could think of doing it.

If his tablet is on his network it does it through the app wirelessly. Just need to hardwire tablet to network. There is no wired tether between the denon possible for that.

There I am. Kinda smug grin. Oh well ugly mug. Lol. Hi everyone.

OK, that makes sense. I thought the tablet was pulling data from Spotify, then sending the audio stream to the AVR. But if the Denon is getting the data directly from the interweb, then that's as good as it's gonna get.

I was having weird issues between Paypal and Spotify yesterday when I tried to upgrade to Premium. Spotify kept giving me error messages. I finally got a receipt from Spotify today, so I'll check the audio stream for bitrate tonight.

Yup. I use an old Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 with the Gold Note streamer and the MControl wifi app for Tidal and Qobuz.

Works pretty well.

Did you get the Transformer yet? I need to find something that I can steam Spotify with in my garage setup. I may end up buying one for that system, but at $300, I'm thinking it may be overkill. I only have the M3 ceiling speakers in the garage and I use an entry-level Denon AVR to drive them.

Not yet. I'm not sure what else you could use with your Denon. Maybe use your phone or tablet and a cable from the headphone jack?

I was considering the andover songbird music streamer.

That looks pretty good.

Hi all I am using Amazon Music and the sound quality is quite good and it stream through the N3 with no issues.

RJ

RJ, how are you streaming Amazon Music through the N3? Please teach me.

Screw it.....Songbird ordered. I'll update after I get it.

What's an N3?

I've messed around with Spotify enough to conclude that i like it way-mo-betta than Pandora. SQ is excellent too.

The N3 is the original Axiom Air. It is now called Axiom Force. It's sibling is the Air Freedom.

BTW, the conventional belief is that the N3 name came from M3 because it is the same driver complement as the M3. It's been said Ian didn't want to call it O3 because that doesn't comply with the Climate Accord. So Andrew said, "Meh, call it N3" and that stuck.

That's all horse-shit though. The truth is that N3 represents explosive power; after all, it is the chemical name for Azide.

Thanks. I should have known this, I actually own an N3..... duh....

Yeah but that knowledge ain't in the manual.

I got the little Songbird streaming device. It does what it's advertised to do. The app works well, sound is good. Spotify works.

I learned that Spotify cannot stream to two different sound systems simultaneously...... sonofabitch. I have to either pay extra for their couples plan, family plan or download a playlist and go "offline" to play the download while streaming to the second system. That's dumb. Seems like a simple "sync" players button wouldn't take too much effort.