Android vs. iOS for Tidal: Which Offers Better Sound Quality with an External DAC?

[Dragonmilenario]

Hello everyone! I have two old phones that I no longer use: an iPhone XR and a Poco F3. I’d like to repurpose one of them as a portable music player for Tidal in offline mode. Both phones have 128 GB of storage, which is sufficient for my needs. My plan is to remove all unnecessary apps and keep only the Tidal app. I intend to connect either of these phones to an iBasso DC04 Pro dongle.

Tidal works well on both devices, so my question is focused on achieving the best music quality. Here’s the dilemma: Android devices reportedly don’t have bit-perfect streaming using the original Tidal client (except with UAPP), but I require offline availability, ruling out UAPP. On the other hand, I’m uncertain about iOS—does it have bit-perfect capability or not? Does it offer better audio quality?

In summary, which option is superior: Android or iOS with the Tidal Original Client and a external dongle DAC?

 

[hlbeh]

Interesting Topic... I felt that using IOS Ipad USB provide a better quality from Tidal comparing with SAMSUNG...even using UAPP.

However, lately, I would like to say with UAPP and Xiaomi 13 Ultra Andriod 14... it's sounded as good as IOS Ipad...

I was like what the #$@% ... can throw away all my Samsung.

 

[jjach]

I've been using Android with UAPP and it sounds amazing on bit perfect mode. Can't speak for iOS but from what I've read it doesn't restrict or resample the signal. So inherently the iOS should be a better player. I definitely would check some of the other posts on this topic