antanast
New Head-Fier
Im pretty sure it’s not placebo effects but comparing the master versions from Tidal they sound better than the equivalent lossless version of Apple Music. What do you guys think?
Tidal Master vs Apple Lossless
- Thread starter antanast
- Start date
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
Different mastering?
How do you know it isn't bias? Did you do a blind comparison? That's how you become pretty sure.
How do you know it isn't bias? Did you do a blind comparison? That's how you become pretty sure.
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antanast
New Head-Fier
Im playing the same song from both apps and swaping them. Blinding testing would be the best bet but need someone to do that for me lol
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
It's probably mastering differences. They used different copies of the same song.
Did you volume match? A very slight volume difference can make one sound flat and the other more full.
One other thing... You are saying one sounds "better" than the other. That is a subjective preference. Subjective preferences are subject to the effects of bias. A blind test would reduce that possibility. Then if there was a difference, all you could say that there was a difference. You wouldn't be able to say one is the correct sound and the other is incorrect without knowing how the original artists and engineers intended it to sound.
In any case, it's highly doubtful that Apple or Tidal are better or worse than each other when it comes to fidelity. I'm sure both of them are audibly transparent.
Did you volume match? A very slight volume difference can make one sound flat and the other more full.
One other thing... You are saying one sounds "better" than the other. That is a subjective preference. Subjective preferences are subject to the effects of bias. A blind test would reduce that possibility. Then if there was a difference, all you could say that there was a difference. You wouldn't be able to say one is the correct sound and the other is incorrect without knowing how the original artists and engineers intended it to sound.
In any case, it's highly doubtful that Apple or Tidal are better or worse than each other when it comes to fidelity. I'm sure both of them are audibly transparent.
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antanast
New Head-Fier
I get you and agree. For now it seems that some songs sound more detailed on tidal master vs apple
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
There's no technical reason why that would be so.
Do you have a Mac or a PC?
Do you have a Mac or a PC?
gimmeheadroom
Headphoneus Supremus
A lot could depend on your setup. I don't have apple anything and I am not going to. But, I'm happy with the Tidal sound and many of the MQA albums sound very good. I would like a choice between Redbook and MQA, so I have other services in addition to Tidal. Since Qobuz isn't available here, Tidal is the best deal.
antanast
New Head-Fier
Well maybe there is. Tidal master versions are always higher sample rate than their corresponding lossless on apple music. I am using mojo 2 right now and the sample rate colours are different comparing both
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
There is a crystal clear example of bias!
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
As long as the sample rate is 44.1, it contains every frequency your ears can hear. Sometimes it's bumped to 48kHz, but that is for technical reasons that don't impact audible fidelity.
It's either bias, mastering differences or different levels. All three of those can produce what you describe. File format can't.
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antanast
New Head-Fier
So in your opinion is the master subscription of tidal worth it?
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
I chose which service to subscribe to because of their selection of music. Some services have a deeper catalog than others. The technical specs of all the services, even those that aren’t lossless, are all pretty much the same. Given the same song and the same mastering, they will all sound the same in a controlled test.
Placebo effect can fool you into believing lossless and high data rates sound better, but the lossy codecs and data rates used by streaming services are audibly transparent.
Placebo effect can fool you into believing lossless and high data rates sound better, but the lossy codecs and data rates used by streaming services are audibly transparent.
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old tech
500+ Head-Fier
What difference would this make? Or is this going to be another example of your Apple fanboyism?
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
I've heard people claim that decoding Apple codecs in some Windows OS is problematic. That is a problem that might have been solved by now. It was quite a while ago. It might have been just PC fanboyism too. Lossless should be lossless.
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I do tend to find the less expensive service to sound great! That could bias, however.
I did do a blind test and found I had more money left with the cheaper service.
I did do a blind test and found I had more money left with the cheaper service.
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