rocdoc
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2008
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Hi everyone,
I have just started my trial with Amazon HD after about a year of using Tidal. Here is my brief head-to-head set of impressions, with some questions about others’ impressions and thoughts.
This is done not blinded, simply switching back and forth on the same song between the two applications, but I had pretty good equipoise starting out. System: both apps out of an iPhone 11pro, with the camera adapter to send signal to USB, into a iFi Zen Dac powered with its dedicated power adapter, listening with Hifiman Sundara with stock cable. The headphones are new and not fully broken in yet. The Zen Dac had both the “Power Match” and the “Truebass” buttons on. As this gets loud, the volume was somewhere below 9 o’clock, just above where it would start getting imbalanced – gives plenty of detail without hurting my ears). Where available, I listened to the Ultra HD version on Amazon and MQA on Tidal, I specify where that was not the case. This is presented only as listening impressions, what I heard, without delving into potential digital signal correlates – which would be very interesting to do, and if anyone reading can connect some dots (or bits) there, great.
I started with what I was listening to at the moment, a Ring Cycle I am going through while following along the script in a bilingual edition (fun), and then switched to songs I know well.
Here goes, by songs:
Pieces of Act 2 of Gotterdammerung, the Georg Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker recording: honestly this is probably too complex to easily identify subtle differences. Sounded largely the same, except it seemed a bit louder on Tidal. BUT, outside the sound itself, another big difference: Tidal does this weird thing where every time it switches to the next track there is a loud “pop”, and brief change in the volume. I kind of ignored how annoying this was until I listend to the Amazon version without it, and it’s a relief not to be assaulted by that, and enjoy smooth continuity on an opera recording like this.
Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Loving: this is starting the list of tracks I know really well, so good for testing. Interesting differences here. Tidal: Vocals seemed warmer, more pleasant, and more natural. I also thought that the (?studio space) echo of the snare drum rim hits was better and more organic. Amazon: more lively and open highs and cymbal notes. Bass seemed tighter and better defined, although maybe not as extended. But the voice did not sound exactly as I know it from the CD version.
Billie Eilish, Bad Guy. Again, Amazon delivers tighter bass, and more impact of the highs. The finger snaps are more present and impactful.
Lyle Lovett, North Dakota, picked rather randomly off Joshua Judges Ruth, going carefully over the first couple of minutes: the piano sounds more natural on Amazon. In fact, on Tidal, it sounds fake and uneven in comparison. However, the voice, again, seems off and does not sound like Lyle’s voice! Tidal delivers the vocal timbre I’m used to.
Bach Cello suites, recording with Rostropovich. This one was regular HD on Amazon and MQA on Tidal. Hard to put details into words, but, in spite of the supposed lower definition on Amazon, I found it more engaging, like it made me want to perk up and listen to it, compared to Tidal. Not sure I know what to attribute this to.
Beatles, Come Together: on this one the only conclusion was that it may not be a good track for testing. I couldn’t really tell much of a difference. This was the remastered version.
Interface: I’m a bit too new to Amazon to give a proper interface review. I like the detailed info on many albums Tidal has, which does not appear to be there on Amazon. On the other hand, the credits are easier to see on Amazon, at least on classical music. And the fact that many tracks have lyrics scrolling through can be a lovely bonus where applicable. I haven’t found anything on amazon similar to Tidal’s “Classic albums” or “101” sections, which are great for learning. I hope that their suggestions are better than on Tidal, that would be an interesting advantage.
Conclusions and questions: I’m a bit baffled by what seems to be a consistent pattern. It appears that lows and highs are more prominent on Amazon, and perhaps handled better, at least as far as the bass is concerned – it seemed tighter and better articulated than on Tidal, where it appeared rather smeared by comparison to my ears. But the voice issue is troubling. Almost on every song, vocals (both male and female) come through as more organic and truer to what my ears and brain call reference, on Tidal. Then on more complex instrumental bits, even though some span the same frequency ranges, the piano and cello sounded more natural to me on the Amazon versions. I’m confused. Does this make sense to anyone? Oh, that bit about the annoying pops between tracks on Tidal – honestly, I’d be tempted to switch just to avoid those
Curious what others’ impressions have been and what you think of these opinions above. To keep things in the right perspective, I think the listening experience is plenty enjoyable on both interfaces. This is the very definition of a first world problem. But then again, we’re all on this forum, aren’t we….
I have just started my trial with Amazon HD after about a year of using Tidal. Here is my brief head-to-head set of impressions, with some questions about others’ impressions and thoughts.
This is done not blinded, simply switching back and forth on the same song between the two applications, but I had pretty good equipoise starting out. System: both apps out of an iPhone 11pro, with the camera adapter to send signal to USB, into a iFi Zen Dac powered with its dedicated power adapter, listening with Hifiman Sundara with stock cable. The headphones are new and not fully broken in yet. The Zen Dac had both the “Power Match” and the “Truebass” buttons on. As this gets loud, the volume was somewhere below 9 o’clock, just above where it would start getting imbalanced – gives plenty of detail without hurting my ears). Where available, I listened to the Ultra HD version on Amazon and MQA on Tidal, I specify where that was not the case. This is presented only as listening impressions, what I heard, without delving into potential digital signal correlates – which would be very interesting to do, and if anyone reading can connect some dots (or bits) there, great.
I started with what I was listening to at the moment, a Ring Cycle I am going through while following along the script in a bilingual edition (fun), and then switched to songs I know well.
Here goes, by songs:
Pieces of Act 2 of Gotterdammerung, the Georg Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker recording: honestly this is probably too complex to easily identify subtle differences. Sounded largely the same, except it seemed a bit louder on Tidal. BUT, outside the sound itself, another big difference: Tidal does this weird thing where every time it switches to the next track there is a loud “pop”, and brief change in the volume. I kind of ignored how annoying this was until I listend to the Amazon version without it, and it’s a relief not to be assaulted by that, and enjoy smooth continuity on an opera recording like this.
Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Loving: this is starting the list of tracks I know really well, so good for testing. Interesting differences here. Tidal: Vocals seemed warmer, more pleasant, and more natural. I also thought that the (?studio space) echo of the snare drum rim hits was better and more organic. Amazon: more lively and open highs and cymbal notes. Bass seemed tighter and better defined, although maybe not as extended. But the voice did not sound exactly as I know it from the CD version.
Billie Eilish, Bad Guy. Again, Amazon delivers tighter bass, and more impact of the highs. The finger snaps are more present and impactful.
Lyle Lovett, North Dakota, picked rather randomly off Joshua Judges Ruth, going carefully over the first couple of minutes: the piano sounds more natural on Amazon. In fact, on Tidal, it sounds fake and uneven in comparison. However, the voice, again, seems off and does not sound like Lyle’s voice! Tidal delivers the vocal timbre I’m used to.
Bach Cello suites, recording with Rostropovich. This one was regular HD on Amazon and MQA on Tidal. Hard to put details into words, but, in spite of the supposed lower definition on Amazon, I found it more engaging, like it made me want to perk up and listen to it, compared to Tidal. Not sure I know what to attribute this to.
Beatles, Come Together: on this one the only conclusion was that it may not be a good track for testing. I couldn’t really tell much of a difference. This was the remastered version.
Interface: I’m a bit too new to Amazon to give a proper interface review. I like the detailed info on many albums Tidal has, which does not appear to be there on Amazon. On the other hand, the credits are easier to see on Amazon, at least on classical music. And the fact that many tracks have lyrics scrolling through can be a lovely bonus where applicable. I haven’t found anything on amazon similar to Tidal’s “Classic albums” or “101” sections, which are great for learning. I hope that their suggestions are better than on Tidal, that would be an interesting advantage.
Conclusions and questions: I’m a bit baffled by what seems to be a consistent pattern. It appears that lows and highs are more prominent on Amazon, and perhaps handled better, at least as far as the bass is concerned – it seemed tighter and better articulated than on Tidal, where it appeared rather smeared by comparison to my ears. But the voice issue is troubling. Almost on every song, vocals (both male and female) come through as more organic and truer to what my ears and brain call reference, on Tidal. Then on more complex instrumental bits, even though some span the same frequency ranges, the piano and cello sounded more natural to me on the Amazon versions. I’m confused. Does this make sense to anyone? Oh, that bit about the annoying pops between tracks on Tidal – honestly, I’d be tempted to switch just to avoid those
Curious what others’ impressions have been and what you think of these opinions above. To keep things in the right perspective, I think the listening experience is plenty enjoyable on both interfaces. This is the very definition of a first world problem. But then again, we’re all on this forum, aren’t we….
