My Surprising Choice of Streaming Service

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Hi guys, like all of you I have been pandered by a plethora of streaming apps/services. After a longish stint with Tidal I was finally getting upset with its sound quality (the resolution notwithstanding), boring interface and relatively unintelligent music prediction.

So, over the last two months I was trying out a number of streaming services, from Apple Music (my first go to as I am an Apple gadget person) to YouTube (the strong upcoming contender) to Gaana, Spotify, Hungama and Saregama. Some of these, like Apple Music and Spotify I had subscribed to in the past.

There are a number of things to like about each. For example, Apple Music’s solid UI, lyrics support and Shazam integration, YT Music’s huge collection including videos, Spotify’s native integration with my CXN streamer and general sound quality, Gaana’s Indian collection, Hungama’s value for money and Saregama’s Classical focus.

But then there were some downsides (for me at least) for each of these services. While Apple Music alters the SQ to a noticeable extent, I hate Spotify’s UI and colors, Gaana is too cluttered (attempts too many things), Hungama’s collection, especially international is limited, YT Music sounds distinctly bright and Saregama is focused only on one genre.

Spotify and Gaana were quickly eliminated as I cannot tolerate UI’s I don’t like. I was bored with Apple Music after having subscribed to it since it launched in India. The brightness made me eliminate YT Music as well though I liked everything else about it. The price equation also didn’t favour YT Music. I wanted to subscribe to Saregama Classical, but found its collection too limited and the app too error-prone/buggy. Their curated daily program is unmatched though.

By elimination you’d have guessed what I opted for. Yes, the surprising choice: Hungama Pro! I bet not more than a handful of you are subscribed to it/ ever were, and probably half of you aren’t even aware of the app. I too wasn’t till a couple of months ago.

But it is actually one of the oldest streaming services in the country. And from a focused online media company backed by the legendary investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala who knows a good business prospect when he sees one.

While that adds to the emotional quotient, it doesn’t make sound logic to subscribe. But my experience during the month long trial gave me enough reasons to put down the money. Firstly, the interface - it is a delightful departure from the rest of the crowd while not getting too unconventional like Saregama Classical. Its freshness kept me interested. There are some unique features for example gaming (you get points every time you like a song/album/playlist and can redeem points for gifts/subscription). One of the best features I liked and kept going back to are the Hungama Radio stations, which sounded better in the app (HD quality) than through the inbuilt tuner in the CXN (at 96 kbps only). Now, these are proper stations and some like Hungama B&W, Hindustani Classical, Carnatic Classical, Ghazals, Artist Aloud (unreleased music) offer good value to listeners.

Another plus was their content in my mother tongue - Marathi. And the way the app kept coming up with playlists that appealed to me while not being an overkill. I find its regional content to be a strength. Overall it gives a very Indian feel to the user. I don’t think the content will compete on quantity with the bigger players, but it does a remarkable job in terms of getting me to the music that I end up liking.

But all of these would have amounted to nothing for the audiophile in me if the sound quality was not upto mark. And I can vouch for it now after comparing hard and long with other options. Hungama doesn’t sound distorted to me in any way, it feels like a balanced (neither bright, nor dull) sound. I don’t know what the HD resolution (for Pro i.e. paid users) is, but my guess is 256 or 320 kbps.

And, last but not the least, at Rs 499 for an annual subscription it is easily the most cost effective of all the options. It is actually what one pays for a quarter on some of the competition. Though this wasn’t my primary reason, it is also not insignificant.

So that’s it. I felt like sharing my experience and decision with you. Each one of us values different things and so there’s room for so many apps. But it’s possible that some of you, with similar sensibilities as mine might try Hungama out and probably like it too after reading this. Especially those with a bit old-world preference and not hung up on quantity. I was myself surprised how this left-field choice managed to keep me interested, engaged and happy through the trial month. I can’t say how long it will continue to do so. But as of now I am feeling good and right about the decision.

I shall leave you with a few screenshots of the app for visual pleasure.

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00B6EA20-B56C-4867-8AA1-302AE4349EED.jpeg

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A 2009 Forbes story on the founder of Hungama. What stands out is how they’ve managed to remain real in a world that depends excessively on optics.


Also, what I guessed above, about Hungama’s regional music prowess, seems to be a conscious strategy as this keynote address by the CEO at a musical event suggests:
 
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With regard to Tidal,

1. Did you find the sound quality a problem with music in all languages? Whenever I have tried popular hindi or tamil music on tidal, the sound quality was pretty poor. Indian classical music sounds pretty decent though. With western music, I found it to be stellar. For regional language music, Tidal is not the solution. It is best to build a personal collection from carefully selected Cds / Lps through a group of like minded friends if sound quality is paramount.

2. Music prediction and discovery is not tidal's strength. I agree.
 
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If I may ask, how did you compare or found the bitrate of each streaming service
@abhishek105, some of these apps reveal the bit rate, some don‘t. But I guess they are all between 256-320 Kbps for the paid versions. Hence, that wasn’t a deciding factor.

With regard to Tidal,

1. Did you find the sound quality a problem with music in all languages? Whenever I have tried popular hindi or tamil music on tidal, the sound quality was pretty poor. Indian classical music sounds pretty decent though. With western music, I found it to be stellar.

@square_wave, more so on Indian content. But even western I found something missing on the dynamics side - there’s a bit of softening my ears hear. That doesn’t suit my polite Castle speakers for sure.

Indian classical, I have always felt, sounds good on most systems/sources. I wonder what it has to do with. In fact I had put up a poll thread on this subject a while ago:

Thread 'Why do Indian classical albums ‘sound’ good?'
https://www.hifivision.com/threads/why-do-indian-classical-albums-‘sound’-good.80401/

Based on the responses, ‘dedicated/focused music labels‘ and ‘purely acoustic music’ came out as the prominent reasons.
 
I definitely agree with the reasons of Gaana, very irritating. With ads in when using it free and keeps asking for get paid subscription even you are already one. And keeps interrupting with some random videos...

Tidal which I am using now is good for western music, but finding Indian albums is itself a guess game.

Wil try Hungama pro now. Thanks!
 
more so on Indian content. But even western I found something missing on the dynamics side - there’s a bit of softening my ears hear. That doesn’t suit my polite Castle speakers for sure.

I felt the same when I was using the Cambridge CXN V2 Streamer. The dynamics were lost and most of the music were lifeless. After adding an external DAC, the sound became lot better.

When it comes to Tidal vs CD , the gap is getting closer and Closer.
 
I felt the same when I was using the Cambridge CXN V2 Streamer. The dynamics were lost and most of the music were lifeless. After adding an external DAC, the sound became lot better.

When it comes to Tidal vs CD , the gap is getting closer and Closer.
Thanks. But you experience is dissimilar from mine as I am satisfied with the dynamics (especially macrodynamics) from the CXN v2 while using other streaming services. Yes, surely there are DACs that can improve upon it... but that’s a different point.

And by the way no word on Amazon music ?

Interesting! It was jot even in my trial list. And I am a Prime member and find Prime Movies as my movie app of second choice after MUBI. Probably because I had given Amazon Music a try when it launched and found it distinctively lacking in sound quality. I need to check if things have improved since.
 
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Hi guys, like all of you I have been pandered by a plethora of streaming apps/services. After a longish stint with Tidal I was finally getting upset with its sound quality (the resolution notwithstanding), boring interface and relatively unintelligent music prediction.

So, over the last two months I was trying out a number of streaming services, from Apple Music (my first go to as I am an Apple gadget person) to YouTube (the strong upcoming contender) to Gaana, Spotify, Hungama and Saregama. Some of these, like Apple Music and Spotify I had subscribed to in the past.

There are a number of things to like about each. For example, Apple Music’s solid UI, lyrics support and Shazam integration, YT Music’s huge collection including videos, Spotify’s native integration with my CXN streamer and general sound quality, Gaana’s Indian collection, Hungama’s value for money and Saregama’s Classical focus.

But then there were some downsides (for me at least) for each of these services. While Apple Music alters the SQ to a noticeable extent, I hate Spotify’s UI and colors, Gaana is too cluttered (attempts too many things), Hungama’s collection, especially international is limited, YT Music sounds distinctly bright and Saregama is focused only on one genre.

Spotify and Gaana were quickly eliminated as I cannot tolerate UI’s I don’t like. I was bored with Apple Music after having subscribed to it since it launched in India. The brightness made me eliminate YT Music as well though I liked everything else about it. The price equation also didn’t favour YT Music. I wanted to subscribe to Saregama Classical, but found its collection too limited and the app too error-prone/buggy. Their curated daily program is unmatched though.

By elimination you’d have guessed what I opted for. Yes, the surprising choice: Hungama Pro! I bet not more than a handful of you are subscribed to it/ ever were, and probably half of you aren’t even aware of the app. I too wasn’t till a couple of months ago.

But it is actually one of the oldest streaming services in the country. And from a focused online media company backed by the legendary investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala who knows a good business prospect when he sees one.

While that adds to the emotional quotient, it doesn’t make sound logic to subscribe. But my experience during the month long trial gave me enough reasons to put down the money. Firstly, the interface - it is a delightful departure from the rest of the crowd while not getting too unconventional like Saregama Classical. Its freshness kept me interested. There are some unique features for example gaming (you get points every time you like a song/album/playlist and can redeem points for gifts/subscription). One of the best features I liked and kept going back to are the Hungama Radio stations, which sounded better in the app (HD quality) than through the inbuilt tuner in the CXN (at 96 kbps only). Now, these are proper stations and some like Hungama B&W, Hindustani Classical, Carnatic Classical, Ghazals, Artist Aloud (unreleased music) offer good value to listeners.

Another plus was their content in my mother tongue - Marathi. And the way the app kept coming up with playlists that appealed to me while not being an overkill. I find its regional content to be a strength. Overall it gives a very Indian feel to the user. I don’t think the content will compete on quantity with the bigger players, but it does a remarkable job in terms of getting me to the music that I end up liking.

But all of these would have amounted to nothing for the audiophile in me if the sound quality was not upto mark. And I can vouch for it now after comparing hard and long with other options. Hungama doesn’t sound distorted to me in any way, it feels like a balanced (neither bright, nor dull) sound. I don’t know what the HD resolution (for Pro i.e. paid users) is, but my guess is 256 or 320 kbps.

And, last but not the least, at Rs 499 for an annual subscription it is easily the most cost effective of all the options. It is actually what one pays for a quarter on some of the competition. Though this wasn’t my primary reason, it is also not insignificant.

So that’s it. I felt like sharing my experience and decision with you. Each one of us values different things and so there’s room for so many apps. But it’s possible that some of you, with similar sensibilities as mine might try Hungama out and probably like it too after reading this. Especially those with a bit old-world preference and not hung up on quantity. I was myself surprised how this left-field choice managed to keep me interested, engaged and happy through the trial month. I can’t say how long it will continue to do so. But as of now I am feeling good and right about the decision.

I shall leave you with a few screenshots of the app for visual pleasure.

View attachment 52535

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Thanks - very detailed and well thought out review. I generally use Spotify but it starts showing limitations when it comes to regional or Indian classical. Amazon Music is no better - in terms of content or the UI. I've tried Gaana in the past but had to drop it due to bugginess (and terrible support). I'll give Hungama a try.
 
Spotify user here. I quite like the UI - or at least find it no more or less pleasing than the others.

What I like about Spotify is :
- their integration with hardware (My Denon receiver, Marantz amp, and Echos all stream Spotify natively). I dont have to stream via Bluetooth
- Its fully multi-platform - I control whats playing on any system, from my phone, iPad or PC
- their playlists are really good

But I guess, it just suits my requirements. Everyone's will be different.
 
Thanks. But you experience is dissimilar from mine as I am satisfied with the dynamics (especially macrodynamics) from the CXN v2 while using other streaming services. Yes, surely there are DACs that can improve upon it... but that’s a different point.



Interesting! It was jot even in my trial list. And I am a Prime member and find Prime Movies as my movie app of second choice after MUBI. Probably because I had given Amazon Music a try when it launched and found it distinctively lacking in sound quality. I need to check if things have improved since.
When comparing cds vs tidal, how are you doing the comparison ? A dedicated cd player via its own dac vs streaming via cxn ? If that is how you are doing it, there are quite a few variables in the equation, no ?

If one is using the same dedicated dac for both applications. CD transport vs a fairly good streamer feeding the same dedicated dac, the differences start getting very slim. Sometimes the cd with you can be a better release than the master on tidal..vice versa also. So it starts getting very album specific sometimes.

I have never noticed a blanket issue of dynamics loss for all albums when I check cd vs tidal.

In a highly resolving music system with very high end cd transport feeding a very high end dac, the cd playback has a slight edge over tidal if you are listening in the sweet spot. This has been reported by some folks who have done such comparisons. I have checked a few albums like this in a custom made high end system and if you are nit picky, you can hear the difference. I found the difference to be more about " body " in the images and " tone ". Dynamics loss happens due to resolution loss. I did not notice that.

There are also people reporting that tidal sounds better with their dedicated budget level dac than their cheap cd player playing the same cd album :)

In hifi, context is very important. A classical music collector with a fantastic collection of carefully selected and bought cds with a dedicated dac / transport may find his cd's sounding better than tidal. Another guy with an eclectic taste in music with a collection of randomly bought cds may find tidal better. It all depends on one's point of comparison.
 
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When comparing cds vs tidal, how are you doing the comparison ? A dedicated cd player via its own dac vs streaming via cxn ? If that is how you are doing it, there are quite a few variables in the equation, no ?
This thread is about Hungama (its comparison with other lossy streaming services) and not Tidal. But to answer your question, I play CDs through the CXC transport. So everything from the DAC (CXN) onwards is common between CD and Tidal/streaming.

@SachinChavan you missed the Qobuz as well . I guess Amazon HD is not available in India?
@Vivek Batra, not easy to subscribe from India. I have heard good things about it though And the international audiophile community seems to prefer Qobuz over Tidal.

What about Saavn or Jio Music?
I prefer not to support a conglomerate that wants to get a pie of everything. I prefer focused plays.

I didn’t plan to do an exhaustive comparison. For that matter there’s also Wynk and some other services that I didn’t try. Nor is this supposed to be an objective comparison. Its just a sharing of my personal and subjective evaluation and decision.

It‘s revealing how everyone is talking about their favorite platforms here. Except one FM no one has referred to the platform under focus, Hungama. Probably because we are used to review-comparisons. This isn’t one, folks. It’s not the place to establish which is the best streaming service. :)
 
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With regard to Tidal,

1. Did you find the sound quality a problem with music in all languages? Whenever I have tried popular hindi or tamil music on tidal, the sound quality was pretty poor. Indian classical music sounds pretty decent though. With western music, I found it to be stellar. For regional language music, Tidal is not the solution. It is best to build a personal collection from carefully selected Cds / Lps through a group of like minded friends if sound quality is paramount.

Yes. For western music, its pretty decent and some of the albums are quite extraordinary. For regional content, its a HIT or MISS... While most of the regional contents are rather poor, some of them are quite good. For eg, yesterday night i was listening to the track "Yen Uyirey (Reprise)" by K.S.Chitra and it was really good.

2. Music prediction and discovery is not tidal's strength. I agree.

Spot on.. You will have to try all the similar artists to figure out someone that is even remotely close.

If one is using the same dedicated dac for both applications. CD transport vs a fairly good streamer feeding the same dedicated dac, the differences start getting very slim. Sometimes the cd with you can be a better release than the master on tidal..vice versa also. So it starts getting very album specific sometimes.

Second that! Exactly my experience so far!
 
Amazon Music a try when it launched and found it distinctively lacking in sound quality

I don't know what they do with Amazon Music - guess it is designed to be listened with headphones. With Fiio DAC and Sennheisers, they were too bright and sharp. Seems they inherently put a U-shape sound signature to the music.

Tidal so far has been my preferred choice - but then, the music in there is hit or miss. They say hifi is CD, but it is not consistent.
 
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