Spotify 16bit/44.1 kHz

[MarkusSmith]

Just yesterday Spotify (premium) won’t play any higher than 16bit/44.1 kHz. As indicated on the WiiM.
I have my WiiM pro hooked up and the input is wifi output to rca to amp.
Has a strong signal 2.4, the 5 is weak but only for the WiiM and no other devices in my house,
It was a much higher rate before and Amazon music is showing as high as 24/192 MHz. So I know it’s a Spotify/WiiM issue.

I’ve double checked all the Spotify and WiiM settings.
Stumped

 

[Mr Ee]

Just yesterday Spotify (premium) won’t play any higher than 16bit/44.1 kHz. As indicated on the WiiM.
I have my WiiM pro hooked up and the input is wifi output to rca to amp.
Has a strong signal 2.4, the 5 is weak but only for the WiiM and no other devices in my house,
It was a much higher rate before and Amazon music is showing as high as 24/192 MHz. So I know it’s a Spotify/WiiM issue.

I’ve double checked all the Spotify and WiiM settings.
Stumped

Spotify premium is a 320kbps stream.
It 'reports' as 16/44 as that's sort of what it's wrapped up in, for want of a better explanation.

 

[MarkusSmith]

Spotify premium is a 320kbps stream.
It 'reports' as 16/44 as that's sort of what it's wrapped up in, for want of a better explanation.

I’m curious as to why Spotify showed a higher rate then the 16bit/44 yesterday but today it won’t show anything but that.
It only does this for Spotify.
My ears are telling me it doesn’t sound the same as the other content from other providers.

Spotify premium is a 320kbps stream.
It 'reports' as 16/44 as that's sort of what it's wrapped up in, for want of a better explanation.

I’m also getting the same results with other streaming services. Says 24/192 plays in 16/44

 

[Mr Ee]

I’m curious as to why Spotify showed a higher rate...yesterday

I honestly believe you must have been mistaken! Spotify simply isn't dishing out more than 320kbps.

I’m also getting the same results with other streaming services. Says 24/192 plays in 16/44

Can you explain what you mean by plays in 16/44?
Where are you seeing that?
I understood your first post to mean you were using the pro's analog out to your amp.

 

[MarkusSmith]

I honestly believe you must have been mistaken! Spotify simply isn't dishing out more than 320kbps.


Can you explain what you mean by plays in 16/44?
Where are you seeing that?
I understood you first post to mean you were using the pro's analog out to your amp.

 

[Mr Ee]

You need to add some text in a reply for the conversation to continue!!

 

[MarkusSmith]

David Gilmour
Recorded at 24/96 Says it on Amazon music, tidal,qobuz.

When I play it through the WiiM pro, via wifi, on amazon music I get 2576 kbps @ 24/96 (as shown in the WiiM app) sounds amazing.

When I pay the same album on any of the other services I get 264 or 320 kbps @ 16/44.1
They are all the same cd quality even though they all have it recorded at master level and above.

I know as a fact that WiiM been showing higher rates then 320-16/44.1 with Spotify as I’ve been testing out various speaker combinations on the various services as I’ve just got 2 new complete systems with 3 different amps and now a DAC arriving Sunday.

I can 100% notice a difference between an album on Spotify 2 days ago at 24/96 and today at 16/44.1. I’m pushing nice clean 80-150w /ch

 

[Wiimer]

David Gilmour
Recorded at 24/96 Says it on Amazon music, tidal,qobuz.

When I play it through the WiiM pro, via wifi, on amazon music I get 2576 kbps @ 24/96 (as shown in the WiiM app) sounds amazing.

When I pay the same album on any of the other services I get 264 or 320 kbps @ 16/44.1
They are all the same cd quality even though they all have it recorded at master level and above.

I know as a fact that WiiM been showing higher rates then 320-16/44.1 with Spotify as I’ve been testing out various speaker combinations on the various services as I’ve just got 2 new complete systems with 3 different amps and now a DAC arriving Sunday.

I can 100% notice a difference between an album on Spotify 2 days ago at 24/96 and today at 16/44.1. I’m pushing nice clean 80-150w /ch

As @Mr Ee said, I think you made a mistake. WiiM will never play Spotify 24/96.

However, if you connect via Chromecast, the WiiM will show 24/48 24/44.1. This is a dummy. It doesn't actually exceed 320kbps.

 

[Mr Ee]

Sounds like you've got Amazon sorted.

Qobuz - I'm assuming you are playing this through the wiim app, not chromecast.
I believe the max sample rate you'll get depends on your settings both within the qobuz app (or website) itself, and the settings in qobuz in the wiim app.
i.e. open qobuz in the wiim app, then top left there's a three line 'hamburger' menu. Choose the streaming quality from there.

Tidal - all up up in the air atm, but 44khz max for flac, mqa depends on your wiim settings / external dac capabilities.

Spotify - I'm afraid we'll have to disagree on this one! The (very) long awaited (and still waiting) Spotify HiFi will be 16/44 "CD quality".
It's only 320kbps atm.

 

[MarkusSmith]

Sounds like you've got Amazon sorted.

Qobuz - I'm assuming you are playing this through the wiim app, not chromecast.
I believe the max sample rate you'll get depends on your settings both within the qobuz app (or website) itself, and the settings in qobuz in the wiim app.
i.e. open qobuz in the wiim app, then top left there's a three line 'hamburger' menu. Choose the streaming quality from there.

Tidal - all up up in the air atm, but 44khz max for flac, mqa depends on your wiim settings / external dac capabilities.

Spotify - I'm afraid we'l have to disagree on this one! The (very) long awaited (and still waiting) Spofity HiFi will be 16/44 "CD quality".
It's only 320kbps atm.

Amazon has never had any issues. It’s always shown that it’s playing the same as what is stated for quality from Amazon.

I have the top tier for all the services mentioned and the WiiM app up until 2 days ago has always shown higher rates playing for the others until today. All the setting in the separate music apps and in the WiiM app are set to the maximums support in each.
I’ve only had the WiiM pro for 2 weeks so. I’ve been able to hear the better quality before the WiiM was purchased just never had a display to actually show me.

Tidal hi fi plus states upto 24/192 not sure why they would only provide 16/44.1 but maybe that is what it is.
My stand alone DAC comes in tomorrow or Sunday so I’ll see but Clearly the WiiM is supporting (or saying it supports) 24/96 and higher from Amazon so it should support higher from other streaming sources.

Maybe I had early secret access to the Spotify hi res for the last week that I didn’t know about. Lol

I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed this change since the update.
Thanks for your responses,

 

[Mr Ee]

Tidal hi fi plus states upto 24/192 not sure why they would only provide 16/44.1 but maybe that is what it is.

Tidal switches from "Max" to "High" with Tidal-Connect enabled on many albums.

Firmware 4.8.526344 (Build date 20230815) Today i've got my WiiM Pro. I have a Hifi-Plus abo and selected "Master" In the Tidal-Account-Quality settings. I have no MQA compatible devices. I have selected "MQA beta: On" and "no MQA" at the external DAC settings. On many albums on Tidal (for...

forum.wiimhome.com

So I should have been more specific in my earlier post. Flac 44khz max via indirect Tidal connections, such as via apis like wiim home will use, and tidal connect.

 

[MarkusSmith]

So Spotify, decided to smarten up, or at least show it lol. Added the Apple Music to the mix and although the ear tells me there is some slight differences in overall brightness and some tones, they are all pretty much sounding equal now.
Call it what you will, maybe the WiiM is showing the upconverted output?
All I can say is it sounds amazing now across all the various platforms and I can’t wait to get the stand alone DAC.
Side note. This WiiM pro rocks and will take your system to the next level regardless of what you are feeding it.

 

[Wiimer]

So Spotify, decided to smarten up, or at least show it lol. Added the Apple Music to the mix and although the ear tells me there is some slight differences in overall brightness and some tones, they are all pretty much sounding equal now.
Call it what you will, maybe the WiiM is showing the upconverted output?
All I can say is it sounds amazing now across all the various platforms and I can’t wait to get the stand alone DAC.
Side note. This WiiM pro rocks and will take your system to the next level regardless of what you are feeding it.

I displayed the same track on Wiim but it is 320Kbps. Very strange.

 

[Brantome]

Yeah, really weird Spotify result...

 

[d6jg]

Spotify is 320kbps encoded in 16bit at 44,100 kHz and is delivered in Ogg Vorbis format. Technically this is slightly higher quality than 320kbps mp3 but only slightly.

IF that’s a big if they ever get higher quality together I suspect it will be delivered via Spotify app in the first instance and certainly not through the API

 

[d6jg]

Display issue in the app methinks

 

[Brantome]

Display issue in the app methinks

Yeah, coming round to that thought too - maybe a hangover from what was played before. I momentarily thought it might be playing a hi res local file, but you can’t play them with Spotify Connect which you’d need to play them on the WiiM.

 

[Brantome]

Display issue in the app methinks

Yeah, it’s a display bug, easily reproduced. I played this track from Amazon Music Unlimited on my Pro Plus, then without stopping, cast it from my iPad Spotify app and the resolution didn’t change. In fact, the cover art and track details didn’t change either when it moved on to the next Spotify track. I’ll submit a bug report. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[CrystalGipsy]

Amazon has never had any issues. It’s always shown that it’s playing the same as what is stated for quality from Amazon.

I have the top tier for all the services mentioned and the WiiM app up until 2 days ago has always shown higher rates playing for the others until today. All the setting in the separate music apps and in the WiiM app are set to the maximums support in each.
I’ve only had the WiiM pro for 2 weeks so. I’ve been able to hear the better quality before the WiiM was purchased just never had a display to actually show me.

Tidal hi fi plus states upto 24/192 not sure why they would only provide 16/44.1 but maybe that is what it is.
My stand alone DAC comes in tomorrow or Sunday so I’ll see but Clearly the WiiM is supporting (or saying it supports) 24/96 and higher from Amazon so it should support higher from other streaming sources.

Maybe I had early secret access to the Spotify hi res for the last week that I didn’t know about. Lol

I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed this change since the update.
Thanks for your responses,

Tidal plus hires is only currently available on their own app on phones, tablets and computers no 3 rd party can access them right now at all. So Tidal is still using MQA for 3rd parties. If you don’t have an MQA capable dac you’re limited to the encapsulated rates.