[Neweymatt]

Couldn't agree more.

drftr

Local files are great once I know what I want. But how do I know what I want without streaming. And, no, that's not meant to be a question.

 

[KrólArtur]

Uhm, then I have a different idea of musicality. After the first impression, I actually found Anni better on the DX320Max than on the N30. The reason: the bass is less dominant and yes, everything is indeed "cleaner" and more harmonious.


Can you explain this in more detail? How does it work?

It's simple, after installing the application, you can log in to your Tidal or Qobuz account. After installation, you can use streaming applications and internal memory files, you have a very good equalizer and, in my opinion, the sound is definitely better.

 

[blotmouse]

Especially after I noticed how awful Qobuz and Tidal streaming sounds, this made me cringe in pain inside... Please come back @phiemon

It’s their respective apps, not the streams themselves. Use a 3rd party bit perfect app and it’s relatively undetectable. I’ve tested local files vs. hidef streams on same player- uapp and they are practically identical quality. Folks that can’t tell amp class, os filter, or cable changes won’t be able to tell anyway regardless. It would have to be an even greater margin.

Local still may have the slightest of slight edge in quality with hi def. But Redbook is indistinguishable.

Testing done with Qobuz. I left Tidal years ago and won’t be back even with their flac epiphany.

 

[tjzurlaaa]

Local files are great once I know what I want. But how do I know what I want without streaming. And, no, that's not meant to be a question.

I agree .. I’m constantly discovering new music through streaming and if I did the same through wav or flac that money will add up quicker than a bad cigarette habit

 

[phiemon]

It's simple, after installing the application, you can log in to your Tidal or Qobuz account. After installation, you can use streaming applications and internal memory files, you have a very good equalizer and, in my opinion, the sound is definitely better.

I saw that you have to buy the app. But is the sound quality better than the standard Tidal app?

It’s their respective apps, not the streams themselves. Use a 3rd party bit perfect app and it’s relatively undetectable. I’ve tested local files vs. hidef streams on same player- uapp and they are practically identical quality. Folks that can’t tell amp class, os filter, or cable changes won’t be able to tell anyway regardless. It would have to be an even greater margin.

Local still may have the slightest of slight edge in quality with hi def. But Redbook is indistinguishable.

Testing done with Qobuz. I left Tidal years ago and won’t be back even with their flac epiphany.

So you mean there's practically no difference worth mentioning between local and Tidal/Qobuz hi-res?

Local files are great once I know what I want. But how do I know what I want without streaming. And, no, that's not meant to be a question.

I agree .. I’m constantly discovering new music through streaming and if I did the same through wav or flac that money will add up quicker than a bad cigarette habit

That's exactly my point, correctly understood: I can only listen to music locally if I know it. I often like discovering it. I find the personalized playlists from Tidal and Apple Music really quite good for this. That simply wouldn't be possible locally. Tidal and Apple Music have been instrumental in making me so passionate about music.

 

[KrólArtur]

I saw that you have to buy the app. But is the sound quality better than the standard Tidal app?


So you mean there's practically no difference worth mentioning between local and Tidal/Qobuz hi-res?



That's exactly my point, correctly understood: I can only listen to music locally if I know it. I often like discovering it. I find the personalized playlists from Tidal and Apple Music really quite good for this. That simply wouldn't be possible locally. Tidal and Apple Music have been instrumental in making me so passionate about music.

If you don't want to use Neutron, I think it's definitely a better app than the official Tidal app in terms of sound.The price is affordable in Poland, it is about 10 USD.

 

[Scubadevils]

I find browsing Bandcamp very enjoyable for new music discovery - I've said before that it feels the closest for me to actually browsing music in a physical store. Bandcamp daily is great with a few categories to explore - a snip from today for example:

Or browse by genre / format / best selling etc.

 

[maegnificant]

It’s their respective apps, not the streams themselves. Use a 3rd party bit perfect app and it’s relatively undetectable. I’ve tested local files vs. hidef streams on same player- uapp and they are practically identical quality. Folks that can’t tell amp class, os filter, or cable changes won’t be able to tell anyway regardless. It would have to be an even greater margin.

Local still may have the slightest of slight edge in quality with hi def. But Redbook is indistinguishable.

Testing done with Qobuz. I left Tidal years ago and won’t be back even with their flac epiphany.

I can believe you, because I haven't tried to circumvent the native streaming apps myself, but I would also not put it past these companies to screw up the files in the first place. Something is extremely wrong with the sound. I made this point twice before and I stand by it. My ears are not extremely trained or anything, it is VERY noticeable to me, even without an a/b comparison.

Streaming is cool for discovering music, but honestly even Youtube sounds better to me than Tidal and Qobuz. So I will use that instead. And don't get me started on the whole ownership and crap-payment for artists debate, @CodenameBK201 posted excellent articles on that. I still just cannot fathom how people spend thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars on gear and just don't care about the artists they are actually listening to, people that spend tens of thousands of hours practicing, touring and performing and can barely making a living in most cases. And then it also sounds WORSE.

Sorry, I get kinda mad talking about this.

Buy your music. Appreciate the artist.

Added picture to clarify my point.

 

[Scubadevils]

I can believe you, because I haven't tried to circumvent the native streaming apps myself, but I would also not put it past these companies to screw up the files in the first place. Something is extremely wrong with the sound. I made this point twice before and I stand by it. My ears are not extremely trained or anything, it is VERY noticeable to me, even without an a/b comparison.

Streaming is cool for discovering music, but honestly even Youtube sounds better to me than Tidal and Qobuz. So I will use that instead. And don't get me started on the whole ownership and crap-payment for artists debate, @CodenameBK201 posted excellent articles on that. I still just cannot fathom how people spend thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars on gear and just don't care about the artists they are actually listening to, people that spend tens of thousands of hours practicing, touring and performing and can barely making a living in most cases. And then it also sounds WORSE.

Sorry, I get kinda mad talking about this.

Buy your music. Appreciate the artist.

100% - fantastic to support artists and labels directly, and Bandcamp in my opinion the best way to do this.

I do use Tidal but only really for in the car - I do enjoy being able to just select something on a whim for driving... it might be a family favourite, or an album I haven't heard in years that pops into my head and suits the mood.

 

[tjzurlaaa]

I can believe you, because I haven't tried to circumvent the native streaming apps myself, but I would also not put it past these companies to screw up the files in the first place. Something is extremely wrong with the sound. I made this point twice before and I stand by it. My ears are not extremely trained or anything, it is VERY noticeable to me, even without an a/b comparison.

Streaming is cool for discovering music, but honestly even Youtube sounds better to me than Tidal and Qobuz. So I will use that instead. And don't get me started on the whole ownership and crap-payment for artists debate, @CodenameBK201 posted excellent articles on that. I still just cannot fathom how people spend thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars on gear and just don't care about the artists they are actually listening to, people that spend tens of thousands of hours practicing, touring and performing and can barely making a living in most cases. And then it also sounds WORSE.

Sorry, I get kinda mad talking about this.

Buy your music. Appreciate the artist.

I see this is your experience but damn I don’t agree whatsoever … Apple Music alone sounds perfectly fine to my ears like let’s not blow this flac thing out of proportion.. streaming is incredible nowadays we should all be grateful.. if you love an album enough then buy it to support the artist

 

[CodenameBK201]

Local files are great once I know what I want. But how do I know what I want without streaming. And, no, that's not meant to be a question.

1. Discover artists through streaming
2. Buy hi-res digital albums directly from their website (or Qobuz where applicable)
3. ???
4. Profit!

I agree .. I’m constantly discovering new music through streaming and if I did the same through wav or flac that money will add up quicker than a bad cigarette habit

Not sure I agree with this one. Yes, albums are expensive--I dropped close to 50 bucks for 24 bit flac of both the classic and new Wonka score albums last week--and that value is absolutely subjective when you compare it to, say, the cost of a movie or video game. That said, it seems ironic, to me at least, that we've gotten to the point where no one seems to bat an eye at another $3000 msrp IEM but somehow we're still reluctant to purchase our music. I wouldn't recommend gambling by purchasing music you're not sure you'll like (although, hey, we pretty much all did that back in the CD days--not every track was a banger), but streaming to me is a means to an end, a demo so I can decide if I'm buying an album. If I like an artists few tracks enough, I'll grab all their stuff just to archive. I don't hoard much, but I absolutely hoard music.

Alternatively, and to apply broad strokes to the larger digital media consuming community: nearly everyone I know has a large-scale flatscreen at home, but almost no one I know still buys blu-rays. They either wait for streaming or illegally download. Which is fine for momentary enjoyment, but less so when you want to watch an older film that a service decides to arbitrarily remove.

All of which is to say, yes, YMMV, but also, yes, I am still bitter about Disney+ removing TRON: Legacy.

 

[Progisus]

I would leave Tidal in a heartbeat if I hadn’t subscribed to a family plan. My kids would disown me. Love Bandcamp and Qobuz sublime.

 

[maegnificant]

I see this is your experience but damn I don’t agree whatsoever … Apple Music alone sounds perfectly fine to my ears like let’s not blow this flac thing out of proportion.. streaming is incredible nowadays we should all be grateful.. if you love an album enough then buy it to support the artist

It's not about flac or any file format. Again Youtube sounds way better and they only use 256kbps mp3s as far as I know. There is some weird processing/upsampling going on in the background of tidal and qobuz that screws up the natural noise floor of the recording and it sounds horrible. Never tried apple music, but they also pay artists ****-all.

 

[maegnificant]

1. Discover artists through streaming
2. Buy hi-res digital albums directly from their website (or Qobuz where applicable)
3. ???
4. Profit!


Not sure I agree with this one. Yes, albums are expensive--I dropped close to 50 bucks for 24 bit flac of both the classic and new Wonka score albums last week--and that value is absolutely subjective when you compare it to, say, the cost of a movie or video game. That said, it seems ironic, to me at least, that we've gotten to the point where no one seems to bat an eye at another $3000 msrp IEM but somehow we're still reluctant to purchase our music. I wouldn't recommend gambling by purchasing music you're not sure you'll like (although, hey, we pretty much all did that back in the CD days--not every track was a banger), but streaming to me is a means to an end, a demo so I can decide if I'm buying an album. If I like an artists few tracks enough, I'll grab all their stuff just to archive. I don't hoard much, but I absolutely hoard music.

Alternatively, and to apply broad strokes to the larger digital media consuming community: nearly everyone I know has a large-scale flatscreen at home, but almost no one I know still buys blu-rays. They either wait for streaming or illegally download. Which is fine for momentary enjoyment, but less so when you want to watch an older film that a service decides to arbitrarily remove.

All of which is to say, yes, YMMV, but also, yes, I am still bitter about Disney+ removing TRON: Legacy.

Btw streaming movies also looks way worse than a 4k bluray. These streams are HEAVILY compressed, both in sound and picture quality to save bandwidth. I really dislike what we are doing with our main form of preservation of art right now. Gives me bad ju-ju, if you know what I mean.

 

[maegnificant]

Gonna end my rant now and sleep with this in my ear. Can recommend all three releases of this guy, very forward thinking audio design.

Good night guys and excuse me spamming my ramblings over the cooler.