Nettlesomeness
Head-Fier
I'm not sure if that's a bias on my end but I could hear a difference in sound quality with youtube music's highest setting vs their videos.
Why does Tidal sound better to my ears?
- Thread starter SilverEars
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bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
There is a simple way to find out if it is bias.
Has anyone compared Spotify vs Tidal? Basically every magazine/website etc claims Tidal is better and I swear I could hear a difference a while ago (even knowing that Tidal’s volume is higher, hence it can fo.
Now I reached my peace of mind and I can claim I don’t hear any difference, at all, nor my 15 year old daughter. And I use Sennheiser HD 800s and Audeze LCD i4 for the tests.
Same story with Qobuz.
Now I reached my peace of mind and I can claim I don’t hear any difference, at all, nor my 15 year old daughter. And I use Sennheiser HD 800s and Audeze LCD i4 for the tests.
Same story with Qobuz.
Zer0.p0int.Zer0
100+ Head-Fier
I think Tidal is better. I have not listened to Spotify since I switched to Tidal years ago, but back then Tidal SQ was clearly superior to my ears. I tried Qobuz on a free trial and SQ was similar to Tidal, but did not subscribe due to price difference (I pay only $5/month for tidal).
Well, since this is the science forum, ‘I think’ is not enough. I’d like to know if someone did any kind of test. I also thought Tidal was better but when I started to compare them closely, no difference whatsoever.
Zer0.p0int.Zer0
100+ Head-Fier
ok sorry. I need to stop reading the “science” forum I guess.
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bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
Feel free to read. You might learn something!
Brad Wilk gets 132K month in royalties. RATM hasn't put out an album in how long? I thing they do just fine in royalties
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jagwap
1000+ Head-Fier
The problem I have found trying to do any blind tests on these services is that you never know which master is being used.
The quality of the average master has indicated to me that Tidal has been better for me. But that is not scientific, as it only includes music I like.
The quality of the average master has indicated to me that Tidal has been better for me. But that is not scientific, as it only includes music I like.
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
It might be label specific too. It all depends on what the streaming service is given by the record label. Some might care more than others. And some might be mastering specifically for streaming, while others just rip the CD. Probably hard to generalize across the board.
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I used Tidal for about 4 years and its definitely better than Spotify (free service - my daughters family plan), but felt short to Qobuz (current service). I tried Qobuz a year ago, better sound quality than Tidal, but lacking catalogue. Tried it again a couple of month ago and the catalogue improved drastically.
What forum are you going to read instead, a forum where the posters are comparing their personal perceptions, rather than any actual sound quality differences?
G
In fact, outside of the science forums there’s so much little (if anything) to be learned that it’s almost funny.
Take for instance the forums dedicated to DACs or to headphones. Whatever change there is in the chain, the bass gets fuller, the stage wider, etc... I could argue that for some people even turning the light of their room would produce serious improvements.
The result is that I’m left at square one when I have questions like ‘Does Spotify sound worse than Tidal’ or ‘Is there any difference with Audeze LCD i4 between Cipher cable and a DAP’? Yeah, I can find the answer in the dedicated area, but the info are practically useless, as well as baseless.
Take for instance the forums dedicated to DACs or to headphones. Whatever change there is in the chain, the bass gets fuller, the stage wider, etc... I could argue that for some people even turning the light of their room would produce serious improvements.
The result is that I’m left at square one when I have questions like ‘Does Spotify sound worse than Tidal’ or ‘Is there any difference with Audeze LCD i4 between Cipher cable and a DAP’? Yeah, I can find the answer in the dedicated area, but the info are practically useless, as well as baseless.
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
If the difference is mastering, and not the capabilities of the format, then the answer to which one is better probably varies from song to song. One service is given a good master and the other one a little bit inferior in comparison. But on the next song, it's just as likely the other way around. If you have to hear the absolute best, then you should investigate the various releases of a particular album and buy the best one, be it either a used original release or a new remastered one. But that is a very expensive rabbit hole that leads to diminishing returns pretty quickly. Personally, I would rather find a good release and focus on the music. I own tens of thousands or records in every conceivable format, and I can think of a few dozen that are clearly inferior. I haven't run into any of those in the past 7 or 8 years though. I think buying CDs and ripping them myself tends to avoid a lot of that.
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Unless we’re talking of a very special edition, I find it extremely difficult to believe that Spotify gets the worst format. Namely because it has the userbase of Qobuz and Tidal multiplied by 1000 (I’m making up numbers but the idea is clear).
Talking about metal, which is a genre I somewhat know, I find downright impossible. Still, so many people swear that the HIRES from Qobuz/Tidal or even the FLAC format sounds better. I’d be very happy to be told which specific songs to check. I used to say the same, now I can’t find myself able to find the slightest difference.
Talking about metal, which is a genre I somewhat know, I find downright impossible. Still, so many people swear that the HIRES from Qobuz/Tidal or even the FLAC format sounds better. I’d be very happy to be told which specific songs to check. I used to say the same, now I can’t find myself able to find the slightest difference.
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