Is it possible pandora sounds better than iTunes?

[JMACK45]

I listen through my iPhone and the sound quality coming from Pandora sounds "better" to me than what I'm getting Fromm standard iTunes Player (mp3s are mostly 320). Is it possible that Pandora applies some type of EQing to the music and it is "pumping" up the sound some and my iTunes is set to flat and not adding anything to the music? It just sounds louder,cleaner, and a little richer? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[SpiderNhan]

I may be wrong with my numbers here, but I think Pandora without the premium streams at 128kps and with premium it streams at 192kps. This was also over a year ago in which I checked and they may have updated the service since. I don't use iTunes, so I can't comment on that, but it sounds peculiar that higher bitrate files would sound worse.

 

[bigshot]

Pandora uses MP4, not MP3. The more modern codec might be what you're hearing. It's conceivable that 192 AAC sounds a tiny bit better than 320 Frauenhofer MP3.

 

[JMACK45]

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback. I don't know much about mp3 vs mp4 so something to look into I guess. I have been under the impression, mainly from Head-fi, that streaming sound was inferior to direct from Dap, especially with 320 mp3s...but I do notice a the difference. I wonder I this is the type of difference an amp would make for might be time to for me to try one...or maybe experiment with a equalizer app ( more wallet friendly).