How To Get The Best Sound From Pandora & Rhapsody?

If you're fond of Pandora and Rhapsody give mog.com a try. The streaming from mog is at 320 kbps, compared to Pandora's maximum of 256 and there's an audible difference. I've almost completely abandoned Pandora and Spotify in favor of mog.com, both because of the audio quality and the ability to either play whatever I want or let mog offer options.

Mitch4t - Sorry, I've never used Rhapsody and can't compare their catalog to Mog.com's.

None of the online streaming sites have everything you might want to hear. Fortunately, you don't have to choose just one. It's exploring the music that's important to me, not the bit rate.

I use Mog.com almost exclusively because it lets me control my listening experience more than the other sites but if I really want to sample something they don't have I look elsewhere. And when I find something I really like I buy the CD.

Great responses, Mitch4t.

If all of us had waited until we could afford a system that would pass
muster with some of the people on this forum we would never have
listened to music at all.

In 1957 my "reference" system was a Sylvania transistor
radio tuned to late-night AM stations from the Texas/Mexico border.
I've been happy to hear new music from any possible source ever since.

Sure, I want to hear the music I love at the highest possible resolution
but, just as in romance, the process of discovery is sometimes the best
part.

Cal3713 - I think that's a pretty fair summary.

But there's no getting around the reality that the law of diminishing returns applies to DACs. I own three, a $100 Audioengine D1 in my garage/workshop, a $300 Musical Fidelity VDAC in my office and a $1,600 Simaudio 300D in my living room.

They all sound great but there's no way the VDAC is three times as good as the D1, nor is the 300D five times as good as the VDAC. You buy what you can afford and what makes sense with the rest of your gear. Just depends on how much money you're willing to throw at those smaller and smaller improvements.

I don't know a lot about the reclocking issues, other than that every brand claims they have solved the jitter problem in the DAC, itself. Truth, hype, marketing? Beats me.

And, after hyping mog.com so heavily earlier in this thread I got a message yesterday from the company saying the service will change dramatically on April 15. The company was bought by the same folks who market the Beats headphones and the new service will be called Beats.

The cost will go from $5 a month to $10 and will add a complex algorithm interface for playing music you might like, in addition to the same self-directed system that has made mog.com so valuable.

It's unclear what that means for a home user, the early information focuses on iOS and Android apps. It's hard to imagine they won't have at least a browser interface but that remains to be seen.