Would you buy full high-res streaming at €29 per month?

[Bob Stern]

Does anyone have data on whether lost or delayed packets commonly cause audible distortion in high-res audio streaming?  Especially when streaming thousands of kilometers?

 

I believe most audio streaming uses the UDP transport protocol, which does not attempt to verify whether packets arrive in the proper order or are lost altogether.  It merely assumes that packets should be reassembled as audio samples in the order in which they arrive.  You can use a ping test (e.g., in Network Utility in OS X) to observe how variable latency is, hence the risk of packets arriving in the wrong order.

 

The only exception I'm aware of is the new high-res streaming by BBC Radio 3, which uses MPEG-Dash format streamed via TCP transport protocol.  Unlike UDP, TCP is "reliable", which means packets are identified by sequence to ensure reassembly in the correct order even if different packets suffer different latency.

 

Anyone know about other audio streaming services using reliable protocols?

[bmoura]

8 minutes ago, Bob Stern said:

Does anyone have data on whether lost or delayed packets commonly cause audible distortion in high-res audio streaming?  Especially when streaming thousands of kilometers?

 

I've used the PrimeSeat free streaming service from IIJ, Korg and Sony in Japan.  The system streams live music up to Stereo DSD 5.6 MHz.

 

When the bandwidth is not sufficient to receive the full Stereo DSD 5.6 MHz stream, the stream drops down to DSD 2.8 MHz and then PCM 24/96.  Distortion that you describe with other streaming systems hasn't been an issue with PrimeSeat here. 

 

https://primeseat.net/en/

https://primeseat.net/jp/

 

[EuroChamp]

6 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

Does anyone have data on whether lost or delayed packets commonly cause audible distortion in high-res audio streaming?  Especially when streaming thousands of kilometers?

 

I believe most audio streaming uses the UDP transport protocol, which does not attempt to verify whether packets arrive in the proper order or are lost altogether.  It merely assumes that packets should be reassembled as audio samples in the order in which they arrive.  You can use a ping test (e.g., in Network Utility in OS X) to observe how variable latency is, hence the risk of packets arriving in the wrong order.

 

The only exception I'm aware of is the new high-res streaming by BBC Radio 3, which uses MPEG-Dash format streamed via TCP transport protocol.  Unlike UDP, TCP is "reliable", which means packets are identified by sequence to ensure reassembly in the correct order even if different packets suffer different latency.

 

Anyone know about other audio streaming services using reliable protocols?

 

Streaming via Qobuz at least is a simple HTTP transfer, which means, TCP 80 / 443. In fact it is identical to listen to a file first downloaded and then played locally. A difference could be, that the download itself consumes some processor power.

I do not know if the file is written temporarily to the disc or only stored in the RAM. Maybe this depends on the particular software solution you prefer to use.

 

In IT terms Qobuz is not a streaming but a track by track download without the option to save the files by the enduser.

[Musicophile]

1 hour ago, EuroChamp said:

 

Streaming via Qobuz at least is a simple HTTP transfer, which means, TCP 80 / 443. In fact it is identical to listen to a file first downloaded and then played locally. A difference could be, that the download itself consumes some processor power.

I do not know if the file is written temporarily to the disc or only stored in the RAM. Maybe this depends on the particular software solution you prefer to use.

 

In IT terms Qobuz is not a streaming but a track by track download without the option to save the files by the enduser.

A+ does just that with the Qobuz hires stream, download a file to memory and play from there. Works smoothly even for 24/192. The memory load time is simply longer than from my external HD. 

[Dr Tone]

I voted other. Content and audio quality of the content is more important than hires to me.