Are you impressed with Spotify's quality?

I can't check Spotify at the moment but maybe the 'After The Goldrush' remaster is at fault, not Spotify. In which case there's not much Spotify can do.

I've been on Premium for 5 months and generally the music quality is very good. However, not all albums are at 320. I have also noticed some albums that used to stream at 320 but are now lower. I am not sure why. One example is Van Halen's A Different Kind Of Truth. When it first came out the quality was excellent but now it has been 'topped and tailed'. 

Another interesting thing with Spotify is that some albums appear when I log on using the laptop, but not on the PC. Other days I will get Spotify on the PC but not on the laptop. The mobile app seems to have everything. Maybe that is because the app is Premium only? I am not sure on this one either. For example, I can get Dan Patlansky's Move My Soul on the PC but not the laptop. It is the same account and I don't know why.

Yes, but the caveats are as mentioned; they have no control over the mastering quality of the album chosen.  That said, they sometimes have several versions of a release, so you might strike lucky.  Depends though.  By and large, very impressed and have been a Premium user for over a year now.

I used to be on Spotify Premium and whilst the sound quality was OK, I don't think it is good enough as a main source in a good quality system.  Red book CD is substantially better sounding and is really the minimum I would want to be regularly using for listening to my music.  For me, services like Spotify and Napster are fine for trying before you buy the CD or CD-quality download (or higher) but that is as far as it goes.

Absolutely agree, definately way short of being good enough as the main source in a decent system. Red book CD is an absolute minimum requirement.

FWIW i have Spotify Premium and very rarely use it as i find the quality on the whole quite poor.

I think Spotify is fine for discovering new music (though the catalogue has some major gaps). And for low-volume background listening.

Oh, and for the kids wanting to listen to what their school mates are listening to (e.g. Michel Telo - Se eu te pego) .

As one who sits just a few feet from the office Spotification system, which runs continuously, couldn't agree more. It's like being trapped in the shopping mall from hell all day!

Since the intencity of my HiFi'ing has reduced, I have come to appreciate my music in a different way, relaxed and easy, no changes or upgrades. Spotify has always been fairly good especialy late at night, I rarly suffer the problems that are reported? I use the Unlimited service, cheap skate?? no, I simple dont need or want all the knobs and whistles on offer on the premiun service. I use Spotify as a music libury, especialy apreciative of the old stuff, 40's 50's and 60's. My system is of resonable quality. I hear poor quality sometimes but it is obviously the recording they are using not the quality of the 'Spotify presentation', I can and do exercise my right to use the 'off button' on ocasions. Then I got to thinking, if I'm happy in general with Spotify unlimited presentation at the lower bit rate? . . . why are other so unhappy with the Premium service, am I that easy to please, I dont think so, I still prefer vinyl. So where from her . . . could it be the 'service provider' that has some bearing on what you finaly hear? I use Virgin Media, opical cables, is this the answer, a 'better quality cable' . . . now there is a can of worms to get your head around, after all, 'interconects' has been don to death . . . CJSF

IMHO, Spotify Premium is indistinguishable from uncompressed CD.

I also only use Spotify to discover new music to buy / download. For that purpose it is really excelent.

pg

well it sounds good to me but Im not paying for it after my free virgin media account ends. Sounds the same as the flacmusic i ripped from cd or maybe I just dont have a system you can tll the difference on. I can tell the difference between onboard and sound card easily and spotify low/spotify high but not the difference between mp3 320 and flac.

Spotify Premium uses Vorbis, which is significantly more efficient (hence "better") than mp3.

It's because you are listening to and enjoying the music and not the system. You have reached hi-fi 'contentment' as it were.

To literally answer the thread title without going into whys and wherefores: yes, I am.  90% of the time it's absolutely good enough.  I have about 150 CDs ripped losslessly to my Mac for those occasions where either it's not good enough or the albums aren't available.

It's brilliant for the price. 

Incidentally, hi-bit rate .ogg and lossless aren't distinguishable on my system/with my ears through the same software player.

But Spotify does just sound a couple of % worse than the same CD ripped losslessly.

I think the fault is the Spotify software player rather than the source files. Last year there was a Spotify player called Fidelify that improved the quality of Spotify on the PC, sadly it's broken now.