Paul, your comment regarding bit depth and sample rate being fixed as set via MIDI may apply to Macs but not iPhones or iPads. I believe both the iPhone and iPad OS adjusts bit depth and sample rate dynamically based upon each song’s recording rates. This is based upon my experience as an Apple Music subscriber who owns all three Apple devices.
@@themoistgreenorganic They got everything i ve ever looked up. Including pretty unknown small artists. Just have to look them up. The app can be better to be fair. But it does work. And through my streamer, with blue os app, sounds better the tidal. By a mile. Tidal is cool if you have a so so stereo. But for the serious hardware qobus is better
Apple along with anyone else claiming 'better than CD quality' streaming services should be viewed with the utmost suspicion when vast numbers of original studio master recordings are not - and never will be - available to them or anyone else for reasons including the 2008 Universal Studios fire.
Apple is only doing this as a defense move against Spotify HiFi. They don’t give a damn about HiFi. There’s no way to use Apple music bit-prefectly on a HiFi streamer.
There is, in fact, there are multiple options. Airplay 2 supports at least the CD quality as well as Chromecast and Sonos. For the higher option, which is for most people not really necessary, yes, you are a bit out of luck. Depends on your priorities but for me the CD quality is enough. Your mileage may vary
@@allansh828 AirPlay 2 does 16/44.1 which is exactly the CD quality option. So that should not be a problem. Chromecast supports multiple options up to 24/96.
@@allansh828 No, it does not. You are probably mixing up Airplay V1 and Airplay V2 ;). V2 leaves it untouched until its maximum which is 16/44.1 (CD quality). Everything above will be downsampled.
THX describes it best: “Apple Music for MacOS doesn’t have an exclusive mode, so the macOS audio output format is set by MacOS Audio Midi Setup. If you’ve chosen 24-bit 176.4 kHz per above, then all Apple Music playback will be upsampled to that rate” to your DAC. “We recommend 176.4 kHz because it’s an integer multiple of 44.1 kHz and 88.2 kHz, to ensure lossless upsampling for nearly all music.” iOS does not interfere like macOS (currently) does.
Apart from that, would there be any difference in audio quality between using an iPad, iMac or Mac Mini as the source / streamer? Also, is there a difference in quality between a USB C out, and a Lightning out, as my iPad only has the lightning out?
Qobuz through Audirvana is as good as it gets. The two companies are very close (both French) and cooperate to help deliver the best possible sound. Also worth noting that Audirvana was originally designed for (and sounds best on) Mac. Vive le French Connection!
Lol chances are if humans were even capable of hearing the difference between sample rates at such high numbers between these two.. at his age he wouldn’t be even be capable of hearing it 😂
AAC is made by several companies and not Apple, but basically by companies in the MPEG group. It is better than MP3, which is why Apple uses it for iTunes/Apple Music. Apple Music does sound good on the Mac but it doesn't offer a way to auto adjust the bit rate to match what the DAC can do, so using the Audio Midi Setup program is a necessity. But you can use an iDevice with the appropriate dongles to get auto-switching for your DACS.
But on the apple website it says something about you can get their ACC quality with beats headphones and apple headphones like they would he own unique ACC
Unfortunately where I live Qobuz isn't available. I use Tidal MQA but through Audirvana and Audirvana makes a big difference to sound quality. That said it also depends on the recording.
Hello fellow music lover, don't stress though Qubus does definitely sound better as I'm fortunate to have access to both. TIDAL is still great, it's just that Qubus tops it hands down. That being said don't get caught up in the technical stuff just sit back and enjoy your music, my friend. The world is in a mess we need our music to chill.
Thanks for the heads up. Not heard of Audiovana. I use USB audio Pro player with Tidal and boy it improves the sound over stock Tidal. Plus it gives you all the meta data of each track.
@@mrgee918 I believe this past summer the Tidal app (on Android at least) added the ability to bypass Android system audio processing and output bit-perfect audio. So in theory it should sound as good as UAPP now.
@@benmmurray Wow. Thanks for the heads up. I just picked up Onyx THX amp for my S20+ and you're right, when I opened Tidal it gave me the option to use the Onyx. However, using the Onyx, Tidal via UAPP still sounds better than Tidal direct. Not by much but there's a difference.
I’ve been using Apple Music primarily on my iPad and iPhone with an external dongle DAC and IEMs without the 48/24 limitation. Fortunately there are a number of compact lightning to USB C adapters on the market so I don’t need to use the bulky Apple camera kit cable. On Android phones the Apple Music app is still going through the Android audio subsystem which also limits the output to 48/24 and the app doesn’t recognize external dongle DACs. For comparison Amazon Music HD is capable of 192/24 on both IOS and Android with external dongle DACs. On top of that Amazon Music HD also runs on my Bluesound Node 2i so it’s definitely more capable than Apple Airplay at present.
Amazon Prime Hi-res and Qobuzz does it all better already. While digital electronic music composing works great on macs, the playback quality on Apple Music is a whole different Story. And you are wrong. Studios don't record in CD quality. Qobuzz receives studio masters btw., that simple. And Amazon can also afford to get the Studio Originals. And that's what they do. Can't speak for Tidal, Spotify etc. So it is with Apple. Sony jumped into Spotify and ramped up Lossless Choice at least. My Deezer Hifi clearly is alright too. But I had a Chance to test the Hi-res Choice of amazon prime music with a dedicated device. With it it was clearly a difference in details and quality. Like refurbished... Talking about refurbished Sound: Exciters doing that job for nearly 40 years now. So at the end, it aldo comes down to Psycho Acoustics...
But depth is set in MIDI settings if you’re using MacOS to stream Apple Music, as mentioned in this video. However, if you use an iOS device (iPad or iPhone) you get automatic sample rate switching to match the source audio.
i have 8000 songs in ALAC on an ipod Classic, for 1 year i subscribed to both Tidal & Qobuz. i did many many A/B/C comparisons. Qobuz was _always_ best. ipod freq beat Tidal, too. i discontinued Tidal. i almost never use the ipod anymore. Spotify said they were stepping their library up tp cd quality by the end of the year. now *_could be_* a game changer.
I wholeheartedly agree with Paul on this one, Qobuz does sound MUCH better than Tidal, Deezer, and many other services. I found Tidal had "Compression" issues with some labels (may be due to licensing in United Music Group owned labels). I have found a few albums had compression issues in Qobuz, but few so far. When I talk of "compression" issues, I am referring to a "swirling" or blurring sound heard in the mids and highs of some files (United Music Group labels) which includes: Capitol, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Interscope, Island, Motown, Polydor, Republic and Virgin EMI, and Verve.
@@N0zer0 I had issues with the Tidal 'sound' also, on other forums it's been said that Tidal adds their own form of DSP, don't know if true.. Here in Australia to me it sounded bass heavy, thick and somehow 'recessed' or something. Perhaps the word 'compression' is being used in the post above to try and describe the experience of listening to Tidal, not the definition that's mostly used to describe a process in the recording studio. I might add that no matter what I used to hear Tidal it always sounded as I've described. My home system is either streamed from an Android device (or sometimes via a laptop/Jitterbug/USB to coaxial box) to a NAD M33, through Kimber cable out to GoldenEar Triton Ones (or via headphones socket out to Focal Clears). In car from Android either blue toothed or cabled to the car audio system. MQA versions just sounded louder more than 'better'. I can't figure it out, don't really know why..
For me Amazon Music HD seems to have best value. For $12.41 one can get family plan for a year (if you are prime member). Stream is though BlueOS to my Dena Frips and I am all set. Cannot beat this value.
There is a way to get the correct bit output so that it matches what each track is recorded in. Just use either an iPhone (must be version 8 or higher) or an iPad (similar age) or iPad pro any model. Go to settings - then Music - Set audio quality to high-res lossless. Then connect the unit to a dac of your choice (or pre-amp with built in DAC) and you can see for yourself - if the DAC has a display - that the sample rate changes depending on the albums/songs you are playing. So minimum CD quality (44.1 - 16 bit) right up to 192, -24 bit and some even coded with Atmos on top. Yes, iTunes is horrible - Apple Music is better on Macs but have limited experience and it is so much easier just connecting the phone and then use my iPad to control everything from the chair.. Anyway hope someone can use this tip
This works just fine on android phones, i use apple music lossless on an android plugged into a focusrite usb interface/DAC. I was authentically surprised when he said CD's usually sound better on their equipment. Im using a yamaha receiver, and some astonishingly good AR speakers, and apple music almost always sounds better then a CD when an A/B is done. At worst it sounds identical. At least with the music i listen to. Im using restored/modified acoustic research series 660 monitors with a 100hz high pass and dayton refrence 10" subwoofer crossed at 100hz, GRS ribbon tweets, i designed the crossovers myself with the specific inductance of each driver taken deeply into consideration.. I have smooth clean response from the bottom of the audible range to damn near 40khz. within 3db of flat from about 36hz to about 36khz Apple Music high res > CD, to my ears on my setup, basically always. Hate to say it, but sounds like PS Audio needs to seriously step up their DAC game if my $150 usb interface into (mostly) vintage equipment resolves more detail from a streaming service. I use the same interface/DAC for CD playback as well from a PC, and that performs better then most high end CD players or transports as well already. (Hell, just about any blueray player with optical or coaxial out will as well, really, its not hard at all to out perform a $1400 cd player, a visit to just about any thrift store can provide this) The new Tesseract (If you are an audiophile or fan of insane mixes, as well as incredibly artistic, but *very heavy music {its Prog}, check them out.. i havent heard a vocal performance like this since Freddy was around) i have on vinyl, CD, and in my apple music library. The vinyl sounds great, the CD sounds incredible, the stream is absolutely mind-blowing. I cant wait to hear it on a dolby atmos-capable surround system the way it was intended, because apple has it. You cant even put that on a CD, its just too much information, you need good blue ray player with an optical or coaxial out to even deliver that info from an optical disc to a receiver
Paul, the biggest let down with Apple is that there is no way to bring it to your stereo comfortably. There is no steamer transferring Apple music with highest quality without a wired connection
3:05 When you say, "and it does sound better..." , have you conducted a blind testing to conclude this? Because I've been scratching my head to successfully ABX between 160 kbps Opus and about 4200 kbps 24 bit / 96 kHz lossless streams with foobar2000 on M50X
I agree, Paul. Particularly about Tidal. MQA is compressed and then manipulated. Might as well get an old 1970s 10 band graphic equalizer and make it “smile” or “frown” depending on your mood.
I tend to listen to albums and change the midi settings to the specifications of each album so that is not upsampling or downsampling. I usually have subscription to all the services and will share my thoughts at somepoint. Thanks for your thoughts Paul.
Great view (and opinion) on the new streaming method from Apple. I have to concur that Apple's iron fisted controls over how their existing music media needs to be processed internally by their own devices (and software) seems detrimental to end quality of the file played back. That being said it feels like a parallel to how CD digital signals get modded from the I'squared S bus data into an optical toslink digital stream. Of late I have also been listening to RUclips's music streaming services and the music choices are not too shabby either. A plus point that it can be streamed into their Google home smart speakers and screens natively over WiFi.
For anybody wondering: it seems like up until today, the only way to listen to Apple Music in high resolution without any resampling, is to connect a compatible DAC directly to an iOS device.
@@KhemBMD yes plenty of good budget DAC's out there starting around the 100$ - 150$ mark... but the iPhone or iPad is the expensive part. My phone's a Google Pixel so that's no option with Android resampling everything to 48khz by default. My computer is a 2,5K MacBook Pro, yet still there's no way to have it stream Apple Music in original quality unless I manually adjust the sound quality of my audio output device in the Audio/MIDI settings to match the quality of the source files.
Not sure what you are talking about anymore.. Using a DAC set to 24/192 in the MIDI settings, Apple Music still gives you that output. Granted, very few tracks on Apple Music has got 24/192 but a lot of tracks have got 26/96. Apple Digital Masters follow a set standard and they usually sound far better than most older CD masters. Besides, the lossless catalogue provided by Apple Music far surpasses the Qobuz one. I know since I use both (I still prefer buying uncompressed albums over any streaming service, though).
Interesting. I’ve tried em all. For me, one other important factor to be considered is how their auto play algorithms work. Begin with a Charlie Parker recording say, ‘My little suede shoes’ and 40 minutes later what will you be listening to? Spotify, Miles Davis. Tidal, Cardi B. Apple, Abba. Amazon HD, Portico Quartet. I have no great love of Jeff Bezos and his astronaut chums, but got to say Amazon HD sounds better than most and I just seem to end up listening to interesting new artists. All for £7.99 a month (I have a Prime account), that’s around 12 dollars US…
TIDAL Master is the absolute best digital streaming service hands down no better depth of library or quality of playback on multiple devices with a family plan that equates to about $5 per listener. Apple isn't garbage and Amazon is a close second but QOBUZ is circling the drain.
Hi, I am a happy Apple Music user, with a good pair of IEM (Thieaudio Monarch MKII) and a couple of decent DAC/AMPs (Hidizs S9 Pro, Fiio Q3). I am very happy of my setup, but I am considering another possibility: a DAP capable to play lossless Apple Music (possibly including hi-res), with a good sound quality (possibly even better than my current dac/amps). Do you have any suggestions? Thank you
I tried some hifi sony daps (wm1a, wm1zm2) and found that difference in sound quality against dac dongles like M15, RU6, DC03pro etc. isn't worth spending $2k+ on these brick size daps. Do you find apple music better than tidal+UAPP?
@@shahkhan110 yes. In January 2022 I bought a ibasso dx300 second hand (used only for 2 weeks) for 750 euro instead of 1300. I added a microsd 1 Tb for offline listening. In July I bought amp13, an amplifier which has tubes to be inserted in ibasso dx300. This, paired with thieaudio monarch mk ii gives me a set which I like a lot. However when I am around I mostly use AirPods Pro 2. Of course not hi-fi but not bad sounding and really convenient and comfortable (and anc can be really useful)
Support the bands and labels that make all this possible buy the albums in their entirity and also get the liner notes, art work and everything else with it. That will make it possible for bands and labels to do more stuff, there's not enough money in streaming and or single song downloads.
I agree with your reality. I don't get why folks pay to stream music, when it's best to buy the CD or Album etc then just stream from your own devices! ✌
@@202One on the music business level, it's not the way bands/labels make money (through streaming) so how can labels invest in new talent, or current bands continue to create more great music is people are streaming songs especially if it's just 1 song in a.very big play list. Also the way an album in sequenced invite the listener to listen from start to finish and feel out the whole album in it's entirety.
@@202One there is an even more compelling reason to buy physical media. It's called self-sufficiency. In times where slogans like "you will own nothing and will be happy" are hinting at the economic models that are about to come, taking ownership of something that can't be controlled might be a really decent idea.
Going against the tide here...I like Tidal more over Qobuz...had both. Not only does Tidal sound better, it's app and cross platform integration is superior to Qobuz. What I don't like is the Rap/hip hop garbage (my opinion) it keeps pushing in your face....that needs to be balanced a lot. Also, MQA does sound better to my ears. There, I said it!🤗
I tried pretty much all the available streaming platforms around a year ago and ended up choosing Qobuz because of its sound quality compared to others. I've been using it through the Roon software which for some reason I find sounds better than through it's native client. Also, I can't hear any difference what-so-ever when using a CD of the same track or the track exported to Roon or streamed through Qobuz inside Roon, so yeah, I would say it's a pretty safe bet at least by quality standards. Also the library is good enough, I'd say I find 98% of what I'm searching for.
@@labnine3362 and also a big misconception is that sample rate increases quality when really all it does it increase dynamic range and resolution as well as file size which nine times out of 10 is actually worse sounding because people don’t know how to mix 196Kbs because of the harmonic frequencies in a lot of audio files perceive the harmonic frequencies as higher quality when in reality, it’s distortion
Tidal HiFi subscription -16bit/44.1 khz is enough for normal "audiophile" people ..... Mr.Paul is on the High End side , there's no High End streaming music service on the market ... yet
Update they support Android and Windows now. You might need a EQ program/ sound enhancement app if you want HiRes on Windows 11 as realtek don't support it. I also recommend an external DAC dongle for HiRes.
The DAC inside of iPhones suck, and the dac in those thunderbolt to 1/8” are even worse. I’ve got an old iPhone 6s Plus and the dac and headphone in it are the best they made (still not very good). The 7 and beyond did not have built in dacs or headphone amps
24/44.1 is enough, i record my music and all the bands i like produce 24/44.1 (dah) but if you want more go for audio interface and flat headset or flat speakers, because trying to hear oversampled music with wrong shaped audio hardware is just hearing at shaped/colored music, is like hearing what the mastering enginner didn't do, if you go for full hifi, do it right.
I know this review was one year ago however I live in the UK I have £25,000 worth of audio digital streaming equipment and I gotta say tidal definitely sounds better Cobuz ,,,
Apple Music works best on IOS devices - Iphone/IPad , it’s not really for MacOS yet ( too many bugs atm but knowing Apple , a fix is otw ) , use an IPad Pro connected via USB I guess is the best way. The quality and consistency is higher than Tidal IMO , dynamics , dark background , resolution etc. Abyss engineers have also done a comparison and confirmed the same. I just stream with my IPhone pro , using my Iwatch as a remote. Def no need for MQA.
Apple Music does run on Android actually. Wondering if it still does the conversions, because a lot of players are actually able to get around the Android system conversion.
@@rl7487 Yes, Apple Music is lossless (hires and cd quality) on Android (since end of July). It's on Windows that it's still lossy, which is stuck with iTunes.
Has anyone streamed the new HQ apple audio on an apple TV 4k? I looked at buying one and they support FLAC,AIFF,WAV and apple lossless but don’t get specific on the sample rates.
Yes, I know the ATV resamples everything not 48 kHz to 48 kHz, for now. The iOS hi res tracks are 24/48 on tvOS. All devices are connected to a Yamaha TSR 700 via HDMI. I have over 200 CDs ripped using ALAC. I have compared listening to a CD on my PS3, HD DVD, and 4K player to the rip of that CD and the Apple Music version on my ATV 4K. I could not tell any difference. That was before Apple Music went full lossless Digital Masters. Now there is a noticeable difference, especially with the Beatles catalog. I have the original CD releases from the 80’s and new versions sound much better, the Giles Martin remixes are amazing. The Wall is another release where the newest Apple Music version sounds better than the CD, as does the rest of the Pink Floyd albums. One album I do not have the CD of, Marty Robbins’ iconic album “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” sounds like it was recorded yesterday. There was something special going on at Colombia Records in 1959. Whoever was mixing and mastering was a genius. The jazz transfers are a joy to listen too. For a modern recording, give Bill Frisell’s “Valentine” a listen. You won’t be disappointed, as well as anything by Hiromi.
Apple Music also offers spatial audio. It can certainly become the new fashion there are several playlists of spatial audio That you can get with headphones from Beats and apple .You should be able to get dolby atmos if you have an Apple TV
I use Apple Music on my M11 Pro LTD and it sounds great. I have Qobuz, and just resubscribed to Tidal yesterday to do a comparison. I will most likely keep a couple services. For example, I really like how David Bowies catalog sounds of Apple Music, but Qobuz edges out a lot of other music on other services.
Paul, as usual, when you ask 5 people the same question, you get 4.5 different answers…the comments show this in spades. Nonetheless I enjoy your videos.
Paul the only person on the planet who isn't aware that AAC is widely loved by audiophiles as being superior to MP3, and probably one of 12 people who have an issue with 192 upsampling (or not wanting to lock it at 44? i have no idea what the issue is here, who cares)
I use a 2021 iPad Pro w. a USB C to A adaptor to feed Apple Music into my Holo Audio May DAC KTE. The iPad automatically switches to the correct sample rate/bit depth if set to "Up to 192kHz/24bit" in the settings. The iPad is powered by a "Magic Keyboard" simultaneously. The rest of the chain is ARC Ref 3, Electrocompaniet ASW600 NEMO monoblocks and Focal Sopra No3. Works and sounds like a dream. Qobuz is not available in Denmark where I live and I wouldn't touch Tidal with a firepoker, so Apple's recent entrance into CD quality and higher is great!
I’m going to try the lighting hdmi adapter and send the hi res file directly to the AV receiver to do the rest …currently I’m sending it via USB adapter to the Schitt modi 3 DAC to the receiver via the Schitt Vali preamp
@@larskristiansen7735 Thanks, didn't know. I signed up to be notified once they opened in DK, but they must have forgotten that... Anyway, Apple Music is less expensive
@3:01 "We get enamored with this idea of higher resolution -- 192 (kHz) 24 (bits) -- and it does sound better" I respectfully disagree. 192 kHz / 24 bits "can" sound better than CD quality. But it is wrong to say that is "does" sound better than CD quality. In fact, a badly mixed / mastered song will sound worse at higher resolution, because we will hear more of how bad the song was mixed and mastered (and we have oceans of poorly mixed / mastered songs). I guess that a case could be made that hearing more flaws in high resolution content is "better", in that although such a song will sound worse, the higher resolution was better at bringing the bad sound to the surface. By far, the most important aspect of any recording is in the studios not eff'ing up the sound quality, via endless equalization, compression, etc. Only when the studios get it right (which is a rarity), will the higher resolution song sound better than its CD version. By the way, Paul is correct about Qobuz. They are #1 in sound quality. Cheers!
Agreed. A great recording and produced CD sounds great. Even better though, a DSD recorded track sound wonderfull even on 24 bit 48 khz. Qobuz is great, I happily forgive them the lagging. And I believe they dropped their prices.
Apple Music has the family plan for up to 5 users for about 15 bucks per month. There are 5 in my family. It is now available for Android. I use my iPad to a dac to a tube headphone amp/preamp and I’m good to go. I have Sennheiser HD 600, Grado SR 325X and AKG K702 headphones 🎧 where I do most of my vinyl and digital listening. Great vid as usual👍.
I use an Chromecast Audio puk, that they stopped doing, I stream Apple Music controling it with my android phone. Chromecast Audio with mini SPIDIF streaming at CD quality. Sounds beautiful. I'm puzzled how Google stopped producing that magic little thing.
And yet, when you get yourself a streamer, it truly blows that puk out of the water. Got a bluenode, which isn't even that expensive, using the preamp dac. And qobus. And yupp. I also used to puk, and now internal chromecast in the tv. Day and night compared to a streamer
@@CyberBeep_kenshi I agree, I heard the Cambridge Audio CXN and it's awesome but I only stream to discover New music and when I like I buy on CD or vinyl.
I never see PLEX, Kodi etc. discussed. I stream tidal, RUclips, Netflix etc. And play local files over Kodi all they android apps. People seem unwilling to spend an hour or two learning to do something themselves with open source software.
Paul, correct on macOS the sound will be resampled to the default sample rate specified unless it matches the songs sample rate. IOS and iPad OS on the other hand as indicated below by several people, does change the sample rate on the fly to match the tracks sample rate. I discussed this with my buddies at Apple and this is correct and they will probably at this time not give access in libraries or other software the ability to access down to the sample rate and bit rate level. They do have libraries to access the service for all their OS's and Android for developers as well as web access. But all of that will go through the operating systems mixer which may resample the track. My suggestion is a iPad Pro with USB-C as you can get some splitters to power the iPad and have complete USB access directly into the iPad Pro. At that point it would give you a complete sample rate = track sample rate for any song you play. BTW AAC is not Apple specific it is a standard upgraded version of MP3. Thanks, Gordon Wavelength Audio, ltd.
Because Tidal is inferior, it uses MQA which is lossy and they modify to enhance the sound so you are not getting a sonicly accurate original copy of the music. If you're not picky about that sort of thing then I guess it doesn't matter much.
I'm using Spotify (mostly used by my Daughter, lets see if Spotify ever deliver on their promise of highres files), Tidal (this time on a 3 month free trial) and since about a month back I'm using Qobuz. On my system with the latest BluOS NODE player, PS Audio Sprout and Buchardt S300 speakers. Qobuz is noticeably better. Also like how they present new music and playlists. Lots of really high quality stuff. Tidal doesn't really have that much content that is Highres. The NODE streamer also streams Neil Young Archive streams and that's all very high quality and it's only $20 / year.
@@peter71ify I can't say that I agree but it probably also matters what system you use and also what material you play. Something you would very commonly hear at audio shows when they demo their system is Chris Jones. If you look up his album Moonstruck on Tidal and Qobuz and compare it's a huge difference. One is obviously that Tidal only have the CD quality and Qobuz have the Highres version. Can you give a similar example on something? I'm curious to test myself on my system.
Spotify is about to release a CD quality subscription level. This will probably mean the death of the smaller streaming services such as Tidal and their fraudulent MQA. Spotify Connect allows the subscriber to direct output wirelessly from the native Spotify app. Unlike Apple Air Play, the selected file is streamed directly and does not go through the listeners device. No need for hard wiring etc. most modern powered speakers, integrated amps and streamers can use Spotify Connect. a well produced album delivered at CD quality cannot be bettered.
Spotify is not going to do it by free. It has a cost. Apple and Amazon are just giving to his customers HIFI quality by the same price. Also we have the fact Spotify burns money, its popular but they don't make money. So not only Tidal is going to die. Spotify and others as well too. The unique survivors are going to be the services by massive companies, Google, Apple, Amazon. Music services are not an important part of their incomes, they don't even care if they make money with it. Its only a service and entry for their ecosystems.
In a current dispute between my credit card and Tidal after an email saying they canceled my subscription, but I’m still being billed. Word to the wise!
Most everything I listen to wasnt released in anything better than 16/44 PCM. Most new artists I enjoy discovering are either on bandcamp, YT, or soundcloud, not hi-res. Mixtape blogs such as ChancesWithWolves, also not hi-res. If im lucky, I get an occasional hi-res DVD-A/SACD/BDA re-master of classic records, or find meticulously captured 24bit flac Vinyl Rips. I simply wont do streaming services as of right now.
I mean, this is in line with Paul's emphasis on recording quality over resolution. Personally, I think the recording is more important than anything, and it's almost difficult this day and age to produce a 16/44.1 track that does not sound fantastic. However, I still content a lot of tracks have more fidelity in their full bit depth versions.
@@kalaskrille Oh your absolutely right, though in my experience I find you wont notice the difference unless your %100 focused and in your sweet spot, or have a good set of over ear headphones on.
@@AllboroLCD Nah you're right. I can only use Spotify at work and it would be ridiculous to not enjoy the music cos I don't have any good audio gear at work (or high res content). For me though (at home) I usually have access to both the highest res versions as well as streaming options so it's a no brainer to listen to the higher res version, but it has made me really notice some differences. In particular there is often a difference between Apple Music high res file that's also a digital master and the poorly adjusted Spotify version.
You just can't hear it. I hate bluetooth because if there are 4 cymbals being played you can only hear one sound for all of them and it doesn't sound right.
i look past Apple to the Company i don't ever want to deal with anything that has a Apple name on it This Host won't bring it up because you guys are all friends. Or think alike These guys Detest the Lets go Branden sign . ill pay my Q. bill Keep renting your Apple i phones , laptops This is a bad report and MISLEADING
To be honest, it’s not about the music, it’s about companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and many others. The first bag of crack is free, then it’s pay for your addiction time. These companies squeeze out the competition by offering a “product” at a “GREAT” price ?? All they do is squeeze the other competing companies out of business by offering a low price to customers, after the smaller companies fail due to stupid humans getting their deal from the larger company, obviously too stupid to realize once the other companies are out of the way, the “DEAL” goes away and like a drug dealer, the Apple, Google and the rest have the idiots hooked, start paying for your dime bag. Oh and when the shareholders/drug lords want their cut, you can bet you sweet a$$ prices will continue to rise quickly. So on that note, no thank you to the juggernaut companies, I will stick with the companies like Tidal.
1.High time that Paul does something against his "not invented here"-syndrom, and listen objective to MQA via Tidal. 2. "7 Million or 70 Million on Qobuz, I dont know" classifies the quality of this comments as poor unprepared opinion. 7Mio or 70 Mio is a HUGE difference and would decide if you find most of stuff, or almost nothing beside "main road" of musical taste. And what value would a streaming service be, if every second search leads to 0. I have admired Pauls youtube videos for a long time, but it is getting more and more difficult to do so.
You might be interested in looking at this video: ruclips.net/video/MJtf5MrhF34/видео.html At least at 44.1 kHz Apple, Qobuz, Tidal and Deezer are digitally lossless and bitwise identical. So any difference may come from client software or different services. Unfortunately the comparison above did not test any higher resolutions.
Lossless setting for apple music go up to 24 bit and 48 kHz . The next level is Hi-res setting. You can buy a DAC for iPhone . And I actually think the phone sends out exactly that data that the streaming contains to it. Shouldn't it also apply to iPod and an Apple Computer if you are connected external DAC
No idea what you are talking about. I have a lightning connected DAC and my phone sets the quality level automatically. How exactly are you listening to Apple Music?
Hu!? Have I missed something extremely obvious here? Is there any way to stream to an external DAC within the Apple ecosystem??? I mean, I am not aware of iTunes allowing streaming the digital stream ever leaving it (Would void their strong DRM) so iTunes can only output analog audio from the internal sound card DAC which isn’t great. Same goes for all other Apple devices and products; it always will output to analog out of the Apple stack??? Or is there something I do not know???
Paul, your comment regarding bit depth and sample rate being fixed as set via MIDI may apply to Macs but not iPhones or iPads. I believe both the iPhone and iPad OS adjusts bit depth and sample rate dynamically based upon each song’s recording rates. This is based upon my experience as an Apple Music subscriber who owns all three Apple devices.
Qobuz rules. Pink Floyd just landed which I’ve been waiting for soo long !
How is their catalog compared to Tidal? I’m warming up to changing but Tidal has a lot of live albums that I like.
@@themoistgreenorganic They got everything i ve ever looked up. Including pretty unknown small artists. Just have to look them up. The app can be better to be fair. But it does work.
And through my streamer, with blue os app, sounds better the tidal. By a mile.
Tidal is cool if you have a so so stereo. But for the serious hardware qobus is better
Not sure about Mac but on iOS and iPadOS everything in Apple Music plays bit perfect for me when sent to my ifi hip dac 2
Apple along with anyone else claiming 'better than CD quality' streaming services should be viewed with the utmost suspicion when vast numbers of original studio master recordings are not - and never will be - available to them or anyone else for reasons including the 2008 Universal Studios fire.
Apple is only doing this as a defense move against Spotify HiFi. They don’t give a damn about HiFi. There’s no way to use Apple music bit-prefectly on a HiFi streamer.
There is, in fact, there are multiple options. Airplay 2 supports at least the CD quality as well as Chromecast and Sonos. For the higher option, which is for most people not really necessary, yes, you are a bit out of luck. Depends on your priorities but for me the CD quality is enough. Your mileage may vary
@@thomasa.243 CD quality is enough but Airplay resamples everything, thus smears everything. There's no "bit-perfect" option.
@@allansh828 AirPlay 2 does 16/44.1 which is exactly the CD quality option. So that should not be a problem. Chromecast supports multiple options up to 24/96.
@@thomasa.243 "resample", sigh
@@allansh828 No, it does not. You are probably mixing up Airplay V1 and Airplay V2 ;). V2 leaves it untouched until its maximum which is 16/44.1 (CD quality). Everything above will be downsampled.
Should have said: The iPad automatically switches to the correct sample rate/bit depth if set to "Up to 192kHz/24bit" in the Apple Music settings.
What about imacs ?
@@SuperAmazingAnt imacs you have to choose sample rates.
THX describes it best: “Apple Music for MacOS doesn’t have an exclusive mode, so the macOS audio output format is set by MacOS Audio Midi Setup. If you’ve chosen 24-bit 176.4 kHz per above, then all Apple Music playback will be upsampled to that rate” to your DAC. “We recommend 176.4 kHz because it’s an integer multiple of 44.1 kHz and 88.2 kHz, to ensure lossless upsampling for nearly all music.”
iOS does not interfere like macOS (currently) does.
New iPad mini with USB-C with DAC best solution
Apart from that, would there be any difference in audio quality between using an iPad, iMac or Mac Mini as the source / streamer? Also, is there a difference in quality between a USB C out, and a Lightning out, as my iPad only has the lightning out?
Qobuz through Audirvana is as good as it gets. The two companies are very close (both French) and cooperate to help deliver the best possible sound. Also worth noting that Audirvana was originally designed for (and sounds best on) Mac. Vive le French Connection!
Serious question.... what is wrong with Tidal's sound...? And how does Apple sound better...?
Lol chances are if humans were even capable of hearing the difference between sample rates at such high numbers between these two.. at his age he wouldn’t be even be capable of hearing it 😂
@@TunedInWithNikk wrong again grasshopper
AAC is made by several companies and not Apple, but basically by companies in the MPEG group. It is better than MP3, which is why Apple uses it for iTunes/Apple Music.
Apple Music does sound good on the Mac but it doesn't offer a way to auto adjust the bit rate to match what the DAC can do, so using the Audio Midi Setup program is a necessity. But you can use an iDevice with the appropriate dongles to get auto-switching for your DACS.
But on the apple website it says something about you can get their ACC quality with beats headphones and apple headphones like they would he own unique ACC
You can. Have a larger DAC.
Unfortunately where I live Qobuz isn't available. I use Tidal MQA but through Audirvana and Audirvana makes a big difference to sound quality. That said it also depends on the recording.
Hello fellow music lover, don't stress though Qubus does definitely sound better as I'm fortunate to have access to both. TIDAL is still great, it's just that Qubus tops it hands down. That being said don't get caught up in the technical stuff just sit back and enjoy your music, my friend. The world is in a mess we need our music to chill.
Thanks for the heads up. Not heard of Audiovana. I use USB audio Pro player with Tidal and boy it improves the sound over stock Tidal. Plus it gives you all the meta data of each track.
@@mrgee918 I believe this past summer the Tidal app (on Android at least) added the ability to bypass Android system audio processing and output bit-perfect audio. So in theory it should sound as good as UAPP now.
@@benmmurray Wow. Thanks for the heads up. I just picked up Onyx THX amp for my S20+ and you're right, when I opened Tidal it gave me the option to use the Onyx. However, using the Onyx, Tidal via UAPP still sounds better than Tidal direct. Not by much but there's a difference.
I spy a couple Sprout100's there. Definitely thinking about picking one up when they become available again!
I’ve been using Apple Music primarily on my iPad and iPhone with an external dongle DAC and IEMs without the 48/24 limitation. Fortunately there are a number of compact lightning to USB C adapters on the market so I don’t need to use the bulky Apple camera kit cable. On Android phones the Apple Music app is still going through the Android audio subsystem which also limits the output to 48/24 and the app doesn’t recognize external dongle DACs. For comparison Amazon Music HD is capable of 192/24 on both IOS and Android with external dongle DACs. On top of that Amazon Music HD also runs on my Bluesound Node 2i so it’s definitely more capable than Apple Airplay at present.
and you think you hear anything above 44100 lol
Amazon Prime Hi-res and Qobuzz does it all better already.
While digital electronic music composing works great on macs, the playback quality on Apple Music is a whole different Story.
And you are wrong. Studios don't record in CD quality. Qobuzz receives studio masters btw., that simple.
And Amazon can also afford to get the Studio Originals. And that's what they do.
Can't speak for Tidal, Spotify etc. So it is with Apple. Sony jumped into Spotify and ramped up Lossless Choice at least.
My Deezer Hifi clearly is alright too. But I had a Chance to test the Hi-res Choice of amazon prime music with a dedicated device. With it it was clearly a difference in details and quality. Like refurbished...
Talking about refurbished Sound: Exciters doing that job for nearly 40 years now.
So at the end, it aldo comes down to Psycho Acoustics...
But depth is set in MIDI settings if you’re using MacOS to stream Apple Music, as mentioned in this video. However, if you use an iOS device (iPad or iPhone) you get automatic sample rate switching to match the source audio.
Tidal can't even get their payment system correct! It would not accept any updated payment information and they blamed my financial institutions! LOL
You can't really discern anything above CD quality anyway, so why bother?
i have 8000 songs in ALAC on an ipod Classic, for 1 year i subscribed to both Tidal & Qobuz.
i did many many A/B/C comparisons. Qobuz was _always_ best. ipod freq beat Tidal, too.
i discontinued Tidal. i almost never use the ipod anymore. Spotify said they were stepping their library up tp cd quality by the end of the year. now *_could be_* a game changer.
I wholeheartedly agree with Paul on this one, Qobuz does sound MUCH better than Tidal, Deezer, and many other services. I found Tidal had "Compression" issues with some labels (may be due to licensing in United Music Group owned labels). I have found a few albums had compression issues in Qobuz, but few so far. When I talk of "compression" issues, I am referring to a "swirling" or blurring sound heard in the mids and highs of some files (United Music Group labels) which includes: Capitol, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Interscope, Island, Motown, Polydor, Republic and Virgin EMI, and Verve.
100% agree.
I think Amazon sounds better than tidal.
What compression are you talking about? Tidal master should be uncompressed CD quality with no compression involved.
@@N0zer0 I had issues with the Tidal 'sound' also, on other forums it's been said that Tidal adds their own form of DSP, don't know if true.. Here in Australia to me it sounded bass heavy, thick and somehow 'recessed' or something. Perhaps the word 'compression' is being used in the post above to try and describe the experience of listening to Tidal, not the definition that's mostly used to describe a process in the recording studio.
I might add that no matter what I used to hear Tidal it always sounded as I've described. My home system is either streamed from an Android device (or sometimes via a laptop/Jitterbug/USB to coaxial box) to a NAD M33, through Kimber cable out to GoldenEar Triton Ones (or via headphones socket out to Focal Clears). In car from Android either blue toothed or cabled to the car audio system. MQA versions just sounded louder more than 'better'.
I can't figure it out, don't really know why..
its a placebo lol
For me Amazon Music HD seems to have best value. For $12.41 one can get family plan for a year (if you are prime member). Stream is though BlueOS to my Dena Frips and I am all set. Cannot beat this value.
I love the sound of Amazon music unlimited.
There is a way to get the correct bit output so that it matches what each track is recorded in. Just use either an iPhone (must be version 8 or higher) or an iPad (similar age) or iPad pro any model. Go to settings - then Music - Set audio quality to high-res lossless. Then connect the unit to a dac of your choice (or pre-amp with built in DAC) and you can see for yourself - if the DAC has a display - that the sample rate changes depending on the albums/songs you are playing. So minimum CD quality (44.1 - 16 bit) right up to 192, -24 bit and some even coded with Atmos on top.
Yes, iTunes is horrible - Apple Music is better on Macs but have limited experience and it is so much easier just connecting the phone and then use my iPad to control everything from the chair..
Anyway hope someone can use this tip
So I assume you connect iPhone to DAC thru USB, but how do you control with iPad remotely? Thx
This works just fine on android phones, i use apple music lossless on an android plugged into a focusrite usb interface/DAC.
I was authentically surprised when he said CD's usually sound better on their equipment. Im using a yamaha receiver, and some astonishingly good AR speakers, and apple music almost always sounds better then a CD when an A/B is done. At worst it sounds identical. At least with the music i listen to.
Im using restored/modified acoustic research series 660 monitors with a 100hz high pass and dayton refrence 10" subwoofer crossed at 100hz, GRS ribbon tweets, i designed the crossovers myself with the specific inductance of each driver taken deeply into consideration.. I have smooth clean response from the bottom of the audible range to damn near 40khz. within 3db of flat from about 36hz to about 36khz
Apple Music high res > CD, to my ears on my setup, basically always. Hate to say it, but sounds like PS Audio needs to seriously step up their DAC game if my $150 usb interface into (mostly) vintage equipment resolves more detail from a streaming service. I use the same interface/DAC for CD playback as well from a PC, and that performs better then most high end CD players or transports as well already. (Hell, just about any blueray player with optical or coaxial out will as well, really, its not hard at all to out perform a $1400 cd player, a visit to just about any thrift store can provide this)
The new Tesseract (If you are an audiophile or fan of insane mixes, as well as incredibly artistic, but *very heavy music {its Prog}, check them out.. i havent heard a vocal performance like this since Freddy was around) i have on vinyl, CD, and in my apple music library. The vinyl sounds great, the CD sounds incredible, the stream is absolutely mind-blowing. I cant wait to hear it on a dolby atmos-capable surround system the way it was intended, because apple has it. You cant even put that on a CD, its just too much information, you need good blue ray player with an optical or coaxial out to even deliver that info from an optical disc to a receiver
if you using iPad its passing what ever is the resolution of the file to the dac, so 24bt 96khz is going to be the 24/96 and so on .
Paul, the biggest let down with Apple is that there is no way to bring it to your stereo comfortably. There is no steamer transferring Apple music with highest quality without a wired connection
3:05 When you say, "and it does sound better..." , have you conducted a blind testing to conclude this? Because I've been scratching my head to successfully ABX between 160 kbps Opus and about 4200 kbps 24 bit / 96 kHz lossless streams with foobar2000 on M50X
I agree, Paul. Particularly about Tidal. MQA is compressed and then manipulated. Might as well get an old 1970s 10 band graphic equalizer and make it “smile” or “frown” depending on your mood.
my Linux system don't touch sample rates until it is forced to play more than one source at the same time
Yupp, play Angel from Massive attack and you'll hear the bass distort, where qobus is clean as a whistle
I tend to listen to albums and change the midi settings to the specifications of each album so that is not upsampling or downsampling. I usually have subscription to all the services and will share my thoughts at somepoint. Thanks for your thoughts Paul.
Entertaining and informative as always. I just love listening to Paul. Thank you!! 😀😀😀
Me, buying CDs in 2021.
YES !!!
I am with you!
Ditto!
Cheers to you, keep it going in 2023! Heading to a second hand CD event tomorrow
Hi, where and how you find CD with hi res ? Or all of them sounds great? Thanks in advance
Great view (and opinion) on the new streaming method from Apple. I have to concur that Apple's iron fisted controls over how their existing music media needs to be processed internally by their own devices (and software) seems detrimental to end quality of the file played back. That being said it feels like a parallel to how CD digital signals get modded from the I'squared S bus data into an optical toslink digital stream. Of late I have also been listening to RUclips's music streaming services and the music choices are not too shabby either. A plus point that it can be streamed into their Google home smart speakers and screens natively over WiFi.
Too bad the sound quality isn't there or they would be the best.
What about Amazon music?
For anybody wondering: it seems like up until today, the only way to listen to Apple Music in high resolution without any resampling, is to connect a compatible DAC directly to an iOS device.
They’ve gotten quite good in the budget space for these tho so it’s not far out of reach if you want the huge library and the quality
@@KhemBMD yes plenty of good budget DAC's out there starting around the 100$ - 150$ mark... but the iPhone or iPad is the expensive part. My phone's a Google Pixel so that's no option with Android resampling everything to 48khz by default. My computer is a 2,5K MacBook Pro, yet still there's no way to have it stream Apple Music in original quality unless I manually adjust the sound quality of my audio output device in the Audio/MIDI settings to match the quality of the source files.
Not sure what you are talking about anymore.. Using a DAC set to 24/192 in the MIDI settings, Apple Music still gives you that output. Granted, very few tracks on Apple Music has got 24/192 but a lot of tracks have got 26/96. Apple Digital Masters follow a set standard and they usually sound far better than most older CD masters. Besides, the lossless catalogue provided by Apple Music far surpasses the Qobuz one. I know since I use both (I still prefer buying uncompressed albums over any streaming service, though).
Interesting. I’ve tried em all. For me, one other important factor to be considered is how their auto play algorithms work. Begin with a Charlie Parker recording say, ‘My little suede shoes’ and 40 minutes later what will you be listening to? Spotify, Miles Davis. Tidal, Cardi B. Apple, Abba. Amazon HD, Portico Quartet. I have no great love of Jeff Bezos and his astronaut chums, but got to say Amazon HD sounds better than most and I just seem to end up listening to interesting new artists. All for £7.99 a month (I have a Prime account), that’s around 12 dollars US…
TIDAL Master is the absolute best digital streaming service hands down no better depth of library or quality of playback on multiple devices with a family plan that equates to about $5 per listener.
Apple isn't garbage and Amazon is a close second but QOBUZ is circling the drain.
Hi, I am a happy Apple Music user, with a good pair of IEM (Thieaudio Monarch MKII) and a couple of decent DAC/AMPs (Hidizs S9 Pro, Fiio Q3).
I am very happy of my setup, but I am considering another possibility: a DAP capable to play lossless Apple Music (possibly including hi-res), with a good sound quality (possibly even better than my current dac/amps).
Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you
I tried some hifi sony daps (wm1a, wm1zm2) and found that difference in sound quality against dac dongles like M15, RU6, DC03pro etc. isn't worth spending $2k+ on these brick size daps. Do you find apple music better than tidal+UAPP?
@@shahkhan110 yes. In January 2022 I bought a ibasso dx300 second hand (used only for 2 weeks) for 750 euro instead of 1300. I added a microsd 1 Tb for offline listening. In July I bought amp13, an amplifier which has tubes to be inserted in ibasso dx300. This, paired with thieaudio monarch mk ii gives me a set which I like a lot. However when I am around I mostly use AirPods Pro 2. Of course not hi-fi but not bad sounding and really convenient and comfortable (and anc can be really useful)
And a comment on Amazon HD and Ultra HD option?? Is NOT MQA based fo far I know
Support the bands and labels that make all this possible buy the albums in their entirity and also get the liner notes, art work and everything else with it. That will make it possible for bands and labels to do more stuff, there's not enough money in streaming and or single song downloads.
I agree with your reality. I don't get why folks pay to stream music, when it's best to buy the CD or Album etc then just stream from your own devices! ✌
@@202One on the music business level, it's not the way bands/labels make money (through streaming) so how can labels invest in new talent, or current bands continue to create more great music is people are streaming songs especially if it's just 1 song in a.very big play list. Also the way an album in sequenced invite the listener to listen from start to finish and feel out the whole album in it's entirety.
@@202One there is an even more compelling reason to buy physical media. It's called self-sufficiency. In times where slogans like "you will own nothing and will be happy" are hinting at the economic models that are about to come, taking ownership of something that can't be controlled might be a really decent idea.
@@svenschwingel8632 The new Facebook will have most living in his virtual reality world 24-7 (fake food-music-interaction).
@@202OneReally?! You don’t get why?!
Paul is correct, alot of tidal songs sound boomy muffled.
Going against the tide here...I like Tidal more over Qobuz...had both. Not only does Tidal sound better, it's app and cross platform integration is superior to Qobuz. What I don't like is the Rap/hip hop garbage (my opinion) it keeps pushing in your face....that needs to be balanced a lot. Also, MQA does sound better to my ears. There, I said it!🤗
I tried pretty much all the available streaming platforms around a year ago and ended up choosing Qobuz because of its sound quality compared to others. I've been using it through the Roon software which for some reason I find sounds better than through it's native client. Also, I can't hear any difference what-so-ever when using a CD of the same track or the track exported to Roon or streamed through Qobuz inside Roon, so yeah, I would say it's a pretty safe bet at least by quality standards. Also the library is good enough, I'd say I find 98% of what I'm searching for.
Qobuz is my favorite too. Better music discovery, especially for new releases. Not centered on RAP!!! A++
if they all do lossless they are all the same period.
@@Butterking99 Sorry to disagree but the software delivering the streaming is not all created equal. Also, sources for the music may vary.
@@labnine3362 the software isn’t what your hearing and isn’t your equipment or lower quality its the stream service’s different luf ceiling’s
@@labnine3362 and also a big misconception is that sample rate increases quality when really all it does it increase dynamic range and resolution as well as file size which nine times out of 10 is actually worse sounding because people don’t know how to mix 196Kbs because of the harmonic frequencies in a lot of audio files perceive the harmonic frequencies as higher quality when in reality, it’s distortion
Im ready to ditch Tidal because of MQA... Qobuz is not available in Canada so im waiting for a better alternative..
You mentioned the issue Apple Music has on MacOS. Would Tidal also suffer from this if using the Tidal app on MacOS?
Tidal HiFi subscription -16bit/44.1 khz is enough for normal "audiophile" people ..... Mr.Paul is on the High End side , there's no High End streaming music service on the market ... yet
Paul is correct, most music is 16 bit 44 kHz. Which to me sounds just right.
Gotta be real... Anything over 16-bit, 44.1 is imperceivable to me. I can definitely tell the difference between lossy and lossless formats though.
Update they support Android and Windows now. You might need a EQ program/ sound enhancement app if you want HiRes on Windows 11 as realtek don't support it.
I also recommend an external DAC dongle for HiRes.
Very misinformed on this topic….
Are you...?
The DAC inside of iPhones suck, and the dac in those thunderbolt to 1/8” are even worse. I’ve got an old iPhone 6s Plus and the dac and headphone in it are the best they made (still not very good). The 7 and beyond did not have built in dacs or headphone amps
I found the dongle dac pretty good, but could also be that the iPhone is a much cleaner source that a desktop computer
24/44.1 is enough, i record my music and all the bands i like produce 24/44.1 (dah) but if you want more go for audio interface and flat headset or flat speakers, because trying to hear oversampled music with wrong shaped audio hardware is just hearing at shaped/colored music, is like hearing what the mastering enginner didn't do, if you go for full hifi, do it right.
Apple sounds good?
No! Tidal hifi is okay... Qubus is okay too, but all against analog big scrap!! Spotify 320kbs not so bad...
I know this review was one year ago however I live in the UK I have £25,000 worth of audio digital streaming equipment and I gotta say tidal definitely sounds better Cobuz ,,,
Streaming in high res or low res? I sample music on You Tube....if I enjoy the music, then I simply buy the SACD/CD or LP!!
Thank you - that supports the artist in the best possible way.👍
Apple Music works best on IOS devices - Iphone/IPad , it’s not really for MacOS yet ( too many bugs atm but knowing Apple , a fix is otw ) , use an IPad Pro connected via USB I guess is the best way. The quality and consistency is higher than Tidal IMO , dynamics , dark background , resolution etc. Abyss engineers have also done a comparison and confirmed the same. I just stream with my IPhone pro , using my Iwatch as a remote. Def no need for MQA.
Now that Tidal has switched to FLAC, are you warming up to them?
Apple Music does run on Android actually. Wondering if it still does the conversions, because a lot of players are actually able to get around the Android system conversion.
Apple on android is not playing in lossless
@@rl7487 Yes, Apple Music is lossless (hires and cd quality) on Android (since end of July). It's on Windows that it's still lossy, which is stuck with iTunes.
192 24 does NOT sound better than 44.1 16 and there’s maths behind what I say here!!
Has anyone streamed the new HQ apple audio on an apple TV 4k? I looked at buying one and they support FLAC,AIFF,WAV and apple lossless but don’t get specific on the sample rates.
Yes, I know the ATV resamples everything not 48 kHz to 48 kHz, for now. The iOS hi res tracks are 24/48 on tvOS. All devices are connected to a Yamaha TSR 700 via HDMI.
I have over 200 CDs ripped using ALAC. I have compared listening to a CD on my PS3, HD DVD, and 4K player to the rip of that CD and the Apple Music version on my ATV 4K. I could not tell any difference. That was before Apple Music went full lossless Digital Masters. Now there is a noticeable difference, especially with the Beatles catalog. I have the original CD releases from the 80’s and new versions sound much better, the Giles Martin remixes are amazing. The Wall is another release where the newest Apple Music version sounds better than the CD, as does the rest of the Pink Floyd albums.
One album I do not have the CD of, Marty Robbins’ iconic album “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” sounds like it was recorded yesterday. There was something special going on at Colombia Records in 1959. Whoever was mixing and mastering was a genius. The jazz transfers are a joy to listen too.
For a modern recording, give Bill Frisell’s “Valentine” a listen. You won’t be disappointed, as well as anything by Hiromi.
Apple Music also offers spatial audio. It can certainly become the new fashion there are several playlists of spatial audio That you can get with headphones from Beats and apple .You should be able to get dolby atmos if you have an Apple TV
I use Apple Music on my M11 Pro LTD and it sounds great. I have Qobuz, and just resubscribed to Tidal yesterday to do a comparison. I will most likely keep a couple services. For example, I really like how David Bowies catalog sounds of Apple Music, but Qobuz edges out a lot of other music on other services.
What are your thoughts on all 3, 6 months later?
I love Qobuz for both the sound quality, higher selection of hires and especially new music discovery that isn't rap! So much great stuff...!
I'm trying out Tidal. So far I like Amazon HD better and it's cheaper. How does Amazon HD fit into the mix in your opinion?
Yeah Amazon HD is great! Interface needs a lot of work.
Thank you for the great information. I have a question about Bluetooth LDAC codec is it the appropriate approach for transmitting high-res audio
Am I the only one that uses Deezer HiFi? lol!
Paul, as usual, when you ask 5 people the same question, you get 4.5 different answers…the comments show this in spades. Nonetheless I enjoy your videos.
Apple's closed/proprietary ecosystem is a non-starter for me.
as for everyone with a brain - streaming is nonsense at all
Poor babies.
Best for Apple Music lossless is use iPhone or IPad since they dynamically switches bit rate unlike MacBooks
Heck yeah I love Qobuz that's my go to for hi res music too!
Same
Same here!
please. start looking at making processors. amplifiers are overrated. no pun intended.
Paul the only person on the planet who isn't aware that AAC is widely loved by audiophiles as being superior to MP3, and probably one of 12 people who have an issue with 192 upsampling (or not wanting to lock it at 44? i have no idea what the issue is here, who cares)
I use a 2021 iPad Pro w. a USB C to A adaptor to feed Apple Music into my Holo Audio May DAC KTE. The iPad automatically switches to the correct sample rate/bit depth if set to "Up to 192kHz/24bit" in the settings. The iPad is powered by a "Magic Keyboard" simultaneously. The rest of the chain is ARC Ref 3, Electrocompaniet ASW600 NEMO monoblocks and Focal Sopra No3. Works and sounds like a dream. Qobuz is not available in Denmark where I live and I wouldn't touch Tidal with a firepoker, so Apple's recent entrance into CD quality and higher is great!
Qobuz has been available in the Nordic area (including Denmark) the last apx. six months, and it works great.
Qobuz is not available in most of the world and it’s more expensive. I also use my iPad with an external DAC, and sound amazing.
I’m going to try the lighting hdmi adapter and send the hi res file directly to the AV receiver to do the rest …currently I’m sending it via USB adapter to the Schitt modi 3 DAC to the receiver via the Schitt Vali preamp
@@larskristiansen7735 Thanks, didn't know. I signed up to be notified once they opened in DK, but they must have forgotten that... Anyway, Apple Music is less expensive
I use my MacBook Pro, and the Remote app on iOS works again on the latest update.
@3:01 "We get enamored with this idea of higher resolution -- 192 (kHz) 24 (bits) -- and it does sound better"
I respectfully disagree.
192 kHz / 24 bits "can" sound better than CD quality. But it is wrong to say that is "does" sound better than CD quality.
In fact, a badly mixed / mastered song will sound worse at higher resolution, because we will hear more of how bad the song was mixed and mastered (and we have oceans of poorly mixed / mastered songs).
I guess that a case could be made that hearing more flaws in high resolution content is "better", in that although such a song will sound worse, the higher resolution was better at bringing the bad sound to the surface.
By far, the most important aspect of any recording is in the studios not eff'ing up the sound quality, via endless equalization, compression, etc.
Only when the studios get it right (which is a rarity), will the higher resolution song sound better than its CD version.
By the way, Paul is correct about Qobuz.
They are #1 in sound quality.
Cheers!
Agreed. A great recording and produced CD sounds great. Even better though, a DSD recorded track sound wonderfull even on 24 bit 48 khz. Qobuz is great, I happily forgive them the lagging. And I believe they dropped their prices.
Qobuz is not available in most of the world.
@@pablovi77 I did not know that.
Sounds like the forced HDR problem in the 4K world.
Apple Music has the family plan for up to 5 users for about 15 bucks per month. There are 5 in my family. It is now available for Android. I use my iPad to a dac to a tube headphone amp/preamp and I’m good to go. I have Sennheiser HD 600, Grado SR 325X and AKG K702 headphones 🎧 where I do most of my vinyl and digital listening. Great vid as usual👍.
Tidal has up to 6 for the same price
I use an Chromecast Audio puk, that they stopped doing, I stream Apple Music controling it with my android phone. Chromecast Audio with mini SPIDIF streaming at CD quality. Sounds beautiful. I'm puzzled how Google stopped producing that magic little thing.
And yet, when you get yourself a streamer, it truly blows that puk out of the water. Got a bluenode, which isn't even that expensive, using the preamp dac. And qobus.
And yupp. I also used to puk, and now internal chromecast in the tv. Day and night compared to a streamer
@@CyberBeep_kenshi I agree, I heard the Cambridge Audio CXN and it's awesome but I only stream to discover New music and when I like I buy on CD or vinyl.
@@Chapterrifik ye i love browsing new music! I do support my fav bands with cds. No idea how much they get when i play on qobus
@@CyberBeep_kenshi no idea but I'm pretty sure it's not much as buying physical media
Update on Tidal MAX quality ?
Paul often speaks about streaming services, but I wonder what he thinks of media streaming applications such as PLEX.
I never see PLEX, Kodi etc. discussed. I stream tidal, RUclips, Netflix etc. And play local files over Kodi all they android apps.
People seem unwilling to spend an hour or two learning to do something themselves with open source software.
Paul, correct on macOS the sound will be resampled to the default sample rate specified unless it matches the songs sample rate. IOS and iPad OS on the other hand as indicated below by several people, does change the sample rate on the fly to match the tracks sample rate.
I discussed this with my buddies at Apple and this is correct and they will probably at this time not give access in libraries or other software the ability to access down to the sample rate and bit rate level. They do have libraries to access the service for all their OS's and Android for developers as well as web access. But all of that will go through the operating systems mixer which may resample the track.
My suggestion is a iPad Pro with USB-C as you can get some splitters to power the iPad and have complete USB access directly into the iPad Pro. At that point it would give you a complete sample rate = track sample rate for any song you play.
BTW AAC is not Apple specific it is a standard upgraded version of MP3.
Thanks,
Gordon
Wavelength Audio, ltd.
placebo lol
Apple Music Lossless sounds better than TIDAL to me.
Man just downloaded qobuz 👀 👂🏾 maaaan thank you. This is the quality I’ve been looking for. With these wired dual driver headphones 🎧. 👍🏾 🙌
Tried Qobuz but never thought it sounded very good. Tidal is my choice. Would be interesting to know why Paul think Tidal is so bad.
Because Tidal is inferior, it uses MQA which is lossy and they modify to enhance the sound so you are not getting a sonicly accurate original copy of the music. If you're not picky about that sort of thing then I guess it doesn't matter much.
I'm using Spotify (mostly used by my Daughter, lets see if Spotify ever deliver on their promise of highres files), Tidal (this time on a 3 month free trial) and since about a month back I'm using Qobuz. On my system with the latest BluOS NODE player, PS Audio Sprout and Buchardt S300 speakers. Qobuz is noticeably better. Also like how they present new music and playlists. Lots of really high quality stuff. Tidal doesn't really have that much content that is Highres. The NODE streamer also streams Neil Young Archive streams and that's all very high quality and it's only $20 / year.
I think Tidal has a very balanced and neutral sound. Quboz sounds a bit loudness like. Treble toned down with muddy middle.
@@peter71ify I can't say that I agree but it probably also matters what system you use and also what material you play. Something you would very commonly hear at audio shows when they demo their system is Chris Jones. If you look up his album Moonstruck on Tidal and Qobuz and compare it's a huge difference. One is obviously that Tidal only have the CD quality and Qobuz have the Highres version. Can you give a similar example on something? I'm curious to test myself on my system.
@@webfrasse David Sylvian Secret of the Beehive. Qobuz presents it like a blanket was over the speakers. With Tidal every instrument can be heard
Thank you Paul for another no-nonsense comparison!!! I'm considering signing up for Tidal's 30-day free trial.
Through Best Buy you can get a one year subscroption for I think a $120 Hifi plus
Apple takes over your computer !!! :(
Spotify is about to release a CD quality subscription level. This will probably mean the death of the smaller streaming services such as Tidal and their fraudulent MQA. Spotify Connect allows the subscriber to direct output wirelessly from the native Spotify app. Unlike Apple Air Play, the selected file is streamed directly and does not go through the listeners device. No need for hard wiring etc. most modern powered speakers, integrated amps and streamers can use Spotify Connect. a well produced album delivered at CD quality cannot be bettered.
Spotify is not going to do it by free. It has a cost. Apple and Amazon are just giving to his customers HIFI quality by the same price. Also we have the fact Spotify burns money, its popular but they don't make money. So not only Tidal is going to die. Spotify and others as well too. The unique survivors are going to be the services by massive companies, Google, Apple, Amazon. Music services are not an important part of their incomes, they don't even care if they make money with it. Its only a service and entry for their ecosystems.
Well balanced explanation - as an Apple user I concur with your findings.
In a current dispute between my credit card and Tidal after an email saying they canceled my subscription, but I’m still being billed. Word to the wise!
Forward that email to your credit card company. I have never had a problem with my credit cards giving me my money back.
@@briangc1972 I have. In the works. But still aggravating that they did it in the 1st place.
Have you ever considered Deezer HiFi?
Most everything I listen to wasnt released in anything better than 16/44 PCM. Most new artists I enjoy discovering are either on bandcamp, YT, or soundcloud, not hi-res. Mixtape blogs such as ChancesWithWolves, also not hi-res. If im lucky, I get an occasional hi-res DVD-A/SACD/BDA re-master of classic records, or find meticulously captured 24bit flac Vinyl Rips. I simply wont do streaming services as of right now.
I mean, this is in line with Paul's emphasis on recording quality over resolution. Personally, I think the recording is more important than anything, and it's almost difficult this day and age to produce a 16/44.1 track that does not sound fantastic. However, I still content a lot of tracks have more fidelity in their full bit depth versions.
@@kalaskrille Oh your absolutely right, though in my experience I find you wont notice the difference unless your %100 focused and in your sweet spot, or have a good set of over ear headphones on.
@@AllboroLCD Nah you're right. I can only use Spotify at work and it would be ridiculous to not enjoy the music cos I don't have any good audio gear at work (or high res content). For me though (at home) I usually have access to both the highest res versions as well as streaming options so it's a no brainer to listen to the higher res version, but it has made me really notice some differences. In particular there is often a difference between Apple Music high res file that's also a digital master and the poorly adjusted Spotify version.
Qobuz is a BEAST!
Apple = Hi Resolution nearly everything
Qobuz = what even is this?
When using IOS/Ipad OS, there are no issues with any transcoding/ downsampling/upsampling. It plays bitperfect to whatever the source is.
You just can't hear it. I hate bluetooth because if there are 4 cymbals being played you can only hear one sound for all of them and it doesn't sound right.
@@waderyun.war00034 not bluetooth. Wired to a DAC
Qobuz is so great.
Qobuz is great. But the library isn't big enough. It would frustrate me how often i couldn't find the song i wanted. Tidal for me.
i look past Apple to the Company i don't ever want to deal with anything
that has a Apple name on it This Host won't bring it up because you guys are all friends. Or think alike
These guys Detest the Lets go Branden sign .
ill pay my Q. bill
Keep renting your Apple i phones , laptops This is a bad report and MISLEADING
To be honest, it’s not about the music, it’s about companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and many others. The first bag of crack is free, then it’s pay for your addiction time. These companies squeeze out the competition by offering a “product” at a “GREAT” price ??
All they do is squeeze the other competing companies out of business by offering a low price to customers, after the smaller companies fail due to stupid humans getting their deal from the larger company, obviously too stupid to realize once the other companies are out of the way, the “DEAL” goes away and like a drug dealer, the Apple, Google and the rest have the idiots hooked, start paying for your dime bag. Oh and when the shareholders/drug lords want their cut, you can bet you sweet a$$ prices will continue to rise quickly. So on that note, no thank you to the juggernaut companies, I will stick with the companies like Tidal.
1.High time that Paul does something against his "not invented here"-syndrom, and listen objective to MQA via Tidal. 2. "7 Million or 70 Million on Qobuz, I dont know" classifies the quality of this comments as poor unprepared opinion. 7Mio or 70 Mio is a HUGE difference and would decide if you find most of stuff, or almost nothing beside "main road" of musical taste. And what value would a streaming service be, if every second search leads to 0. I have admired Pauls youtube videos for a long time, but it is getting more and more difficult to do so.
You might be interested in looking at this video: ruclips.net/video/MJtf5MrhF34/видео.html
At least at 44.1 kHz Apple, Qobuz, Tidal and Deezer are digitally lossless and bitwise identical. So any difference may come from client software or different services. Unfortunately the comparison above did not test any higher resolutions.
Can't stream Qobuz through Apple TV at high res as far as I can tell.
Lossless setting for apple music go up to 24 bit and 48 kHz . The next level is Hi-res setting. You can buy a DAC for iPhone . And I actually think the phone sends out exactly that data that the streaming contains to it. Shouldn't it also apply to iPod and an Apple Computer if you are connected external DAC
No idea what you are talking about. I have a lightning connected DAC and my phone sets the quality level automatically. How exactly are you listening to Apple Music?
Hu!? Have I missed something extremely obvious here? Is there any way to stream to an external DAC within the Apple ecosystem??? I mean, I am not aware of iTunes allowing streaming the digital stream ever leaving it (Would void their strong DRM) so iTunes can only output analog audio from the internal sound card DAC which isn’t great. Same goes for all other Apple devices and products; it always will output to analog out of the Apple stack??? Or is there something I do not know???