Apple Music vs Tidal for SQ


I compared Tidal to Apple music for the first time using speakers, not headphones. Apple seems bright and a bit less smooth the tidal on my system. I never tried the apple codec before but so far not a fan, it seems to have treble that is a bit fatiguing. What is your experience?

kota1

Tidal MQA is a real deal. It sounds better than normal FLAC to me. So, I don't know what every body here is smoking about? I have both Qobuz and Tidal, and to me they are very close in sound quality. 

“I tried Quoboz about 5 years ago and found it a bit fatiguing”

@kota1 

What are your current digital streaming components? 

My experience with Tidal vs. Apple Music is pretty much the same as the OP’s.  I could easily live with an Apple subscription if that was the only one available but I preferred Tidal hands down.  Haven’t tried Qobuz yet but hope to in the next year or so.  Most of my experiences listening to Tidal have been so good I’m reluctant to change anything but, like with all things, there’s the occasional flaw — Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” album is an ear drill of the worst sort on Tidal Masters to my hearing!

@lalitk , very different from 5 years ago. I have been using the DAC in my Marantz HT processor and have 3 different transports. A Bluesound Node (bluos OS is convenient and the SQ is OK), a Sony SACD/CD/ Blueray player (for discs and streaming via DLNA), and finally an X-Box Series-S for streaming online concerts and Tidal via Plex AND listening to Atmos music in my HT. This is where I set up the Apple Music app to check out their lossless and spatial audio.

My DAC was just upgraded today, I got a Sony Signature TA-ZH1ES headphone amp/dac/preamp. I just unboxed it and will set it up later. Will compare Quboz and compare..

https://www.themasterswitch.com/review-sony-ta-zh1es

 

@mofojo Anyone heard any news on Spotify Hifi. Sure are talking their time!

I’m hoping its great since my wife demands to have a Spotify subscription and I demand to have a "lossless" subscription.

 

Since 2017 Spotify has been dragging their feet on/off about lossless - closing out one community forum gripe post to the next by its paying members. Past two years in a row the’ve outright lied about making LOSSLESS available to its subscribers by "year end", a ploy to keep people hanging on tied to their special playlists and outdated learning engine. Both Amazon and Apple continue to surge ahead.

They are knowingly losing more customers to Amazon and Apple now. The latest excuses are around their inability to license content. My guess is their bean counters are being cheap again. WhatHiFi did an article on it months back.