[Calvinyjj]

Hey guys, I have been wondering anyone notice any sound quality difference between Tidal and Apple music?
I have been using my fiio m11plus DAP and made some serious analysis and found out that for the same 16bit44k(cd quality) streaming, to my ears:

Tidal: More intimate vocals, slightly smaller soundstage, slightly sibilant prone but stronger base response.
Apple Music: more expansive soundstage, less sibilant prone but weaker base response.

And surprisingly overall sound is better on Apple Music
Hope someone give it some listening analysis because its fascinating and I might make a jump into full time Apple Music subscription soon.
Thanks for your time and happy listening!

 

[MPCK1967]

I've been listening for a few minutes now going back and forth between the two and I don't hear any difference on my M8 + FH7. What song are you listening to? There could maybe be different masters on each service. Also, if the file has an MQA variant and you're playing the non MQA, it still uses the MQA but doesn't do any unfolding

 

[originalsnuffy]

In theory for the same title and same resolution Apple wins because MQA is compressed slightly. In the real world they sound the same.
Sometimes Tidal has an edge as some jazz titles seem to have Tidal exclusive hi res versions.

 

[myromeo]

The only difference I notice between tidal lossless (not mqa) and apple lossless (not high res) which in theory should be the same is the output level on tidal is lower than apple. If I play today through UAPP I can not tell a difference. The one big difference there is tidal UAPP vs Apple Music, at least on my A105, is battery usage. Apple Music uses nearly double the battery to UAPP

 

[Calvinyjj]

Thanks for your input guys, I just realised my embarrassing mistake when i try to connect to my External Dac/AMP fiio K9pro, I was using just a normal phone cable fast charging cable to connect my DAC/AMP to my computer and when i switched with the proper USB 3.0 USB A to USB C cable from Fiio, it makes a day and night of a difference. I was stunned by just how a USB 3.0 cable could do the quality of signal transmission into DAC/AMP? Any body have this experience before?