<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div><blockquote type="cite"><div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><p>Guys: It was confirmed by investigators such as Ralph Kessler
that Spotify is the worst offender both in target and in use of
peak limiting :-(</p></div></blockquote></div><div>Well, not the worst. At HKU we did a test last year of all streaming services for Dutch Television. Here's an overview of the loudness normalization part:</div><div><br></div><div>Google Play, Deezer, Qobuz and Groove Music have no normalization at all.</div><div><br></div><div>Spotify has a target of app. -12 LUFS (using the original replaygain algorithm), which is turned on by default. They do have a limiter. The limiter has progressive gain and does not bring up a track of let's say -20 LUFS all the way to -12 LUFS. But it does show some audible artefacts now and then, especially on classical music. </div><div><br></div><div>Napster uses radio-like multiband compression for 'loudness normalization' that sounds absolutely horrific.</div><div><br></div><div>Apple Music has an app. -16 LUFS target (proprietary algorithm) that is turned on by default for Apple Music radio and off by default for the other services, which leads to weird loudness jumps when switching between these. They have implemented album normalization, but choose to use the average level of an album in stead of the loudness of the loudest track. Positive gain is allowed, which means that especially classical music suffers from extreme clipping if normalization is turned on.</div><div><br></div><div>Tidal has normalization via their iOS app, with a target of -14 LUFS. When streaming via Airplay the target is -18 LUFS. They do not apply positive gain, normalization is lost for softer tracks. It is turned off by default. They told me that they will turn it on by default only when album normalization is implemented, because that is what their hifi customers demand. I am working (with Thomas) on an advice for them about the optimal target level and album normalization style. The report should be finished within two weeks. Preliminary results: 70% of the people (N = 36) prefers album normalization even in random track shuffle mode. Optionally a 'track normalization' choice can be offered (although this can be confusing for many users). A target level of -14 LUFS for the loudest track on the album seems appropriate for the large majority of albums. </div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Eelco</div></body></html>