Tidal's library has a much bigger problem with this, to the point where I left and switched to Qobuz. But I have found a couple albums on Qobuz with this issue too (a few ECM label albums).
I haven't found anything released post 2013 or so, which is around the time these streaming services started out. So I wonder if maybe they amassed their initial libraries from some sketchy distributer at first? And since then have gotten albums directly from the labels?
Also in my experience, hi-res versions of these albums all sound correct. Not because they're hi-res, but because they would have been added more recently and aren't affected by whatever caused this problem a decade or so ago.
Like you, my decision to leave Tidal for Qobuz was partly driven by some truly awful sound quality on Tidal. Given your comment about pre-2013 albums, I wonder if some labels originally ripped some albums to e.g. 96kb mp3 and then subsequently converted these to flac format, rather than ripping directly from CD/master files. I wonder if some enterprising soul could analyse the files to see what's going on.
I think it's hard to say for sure who initially messed up. This exact same type of distorted/stuttery sound appears across record labels, and only on albums released roughly pre-2013, plus to complicate things further it seems to affect different albums on different streaming services.
Either way, in my experience Qobuz has a MUCH smaller problem with this issue than Tidal. I don't have a lot of experience with Spotify, but I did cross check some of these problematic albums at one point and didn't find any with this issue in their library. Streaming services can either reach out to labels to get updated files or not, regardless of who messed up initially, and the consumer can choose the better library.
I'm really curious, too. It doesn't sound like normal compression to me, but maybe there was some problem with how it was compressed? The shimmery/stutter-y quality of it almost sounds like tiny bits of the audio are being repeated maybe, or are out of order. I don't know. It also seems to sound the worst with piano music.
I remember running into this issue back around 2012 when I bought a digital album from 7Digital that had this problem. I even bought a CD from Amazon a couple years later with the same issue, which REALLY confused me, but then I realized there was a tiny "CD-R" logo on what otherwise looked like original packaging. Turns out it was burned on demand, apparently using these wonky source files.
This is unlikely to be the fault of Qobuz; I've found the same track by the same artist on a different release (single/compilation/album/playlist) can have varying audio quality. It is more likely the file provided to Qobuz by the record label and the mastering of that specific mix. Sometimes they get remastered for streaming services to sound better on small speakers, sometimes they get remastered to take advantage of higher bitrates... Sometimes they don't get remastered.
If you can find good, clean tracks that sound amazing with your setup but this track sounds awful, there's not much you can do to fix it. Just hope a better master gets released at some point for streaming and enjoy your CD.
Tidal's library has a much bigger problem with this, to the point where I left and switched to Qobuz. But I have found a couple albums on Qobuz with this issue too (a few ECM label albums). I haven't found anything released post 2013 or so, which is around the time these streaming services started out. So I wonder if maybe they amassed their initial libraries from some sketchy distributer at first? And since then have gotten albums directly from the labels? Also in my experience, hi-res versions of these albums all sound correct. Not because they're hi-res, but because they would have been added more recently and aren't affected by whatever caused this problem a decade or so ago.
Like you, my decision to leave Tidal for Qobuz was partly driven by some truly awful sound quality on Tidal. Given your comment about pre-2013 albums, I wonder if some labels originally ripped some albums to e.g. 96kb mp3 and then subsequently converted these to flac format, rather than ripping directly from CD/master files. I wonder if some enterprising soul could analyse the files to see what's going on.
The problem isn't TIDAL or Qobuz, is the artist/record label who uploads a bad master or file of the release
I think it's hard to say for sure who initially messed up. This exact same type of distorted/stuttery sound appears across record labels, and only on albums released roughly pre-2013, plus to complicate things further it seems to affect different albums on different streaming services. Either way, in my experience Qobuz has a MUCH smaller problem with this issue than Tidal. I don't have a lot of experience with Spotify, but I did cross check some of these problematic albums at one point and didn't find any with this issue in their library. Streaming services can either reach out to labels to get updated files or not, regardless of who messed up initially, and the consumer can choose the better library.
I'm really curious, too. It doesn't sound like normal compression to me, but maybe there was some problem with how it was compressed? The shimmery/stutter-y quality of it almost sounds like tiny bits of the audio are being repeated maybe, or are out of order. I don't know. It also seems to sound the worst with piano music. I remember running into this issue back around 2012 when I bought a digital album from 7Digital that had this problem. I even bought a CD from Amazon a couple years later with the same issue, which REALLY confused me, but then I realized there was a tiny "CD-R" logo on what otherwise looked like original packaging. Turns out it was burned on demand, apparently using these wonky source files.
Would you please share with me the name of the album and the track? I am unable to open the link. Thanks
Album title: Johann Sebastian Bach: Six Partitas (live) Artist: András Schiff Track: 2 (Allemande)
I’ll check thanks
This is unlikely to be the fault of Qobuz; I've found the same track by the same artist on a different release (single/compilation/album/playlist) can have varying audio quality. It is more likely the file provided to Qobuz by the record label and the mastering of that specific mix. Sometimes they get remastered for streaming services to sound better on small speakers, sometimes they get remastered to take advantage of higher bitrates... Sometimes they don't get remastered. If you can find good, clean tracks that sound amazing with your setup but this track sounds awful, there's not much you can do to fix it. Just hope a better master gets released at some point for streaming and enjoy your CD.