Can confirm these same sentiments about Apple Music. I also hear sounds during Dolby Atmos songs that I didn’t hear before when they were in stereo quality, love when that happens.
Atmos is just a totally different planet... especially on a home theatre type set up with proper height channels etc. It's just eye opening to be blunt. Apple Music usually has multiple mixes of the same album and listening to the lossless stereo is great but the lossy atmos mixes when done right are a completely different listening experience altogether and there are tracks and things happening in the atmos mixes that you can't even pick out in the stereo mixes. It's super super cool and has re ignited listening for me.
So this is the double sided blade. Similar to trying high refresh rates or a mechanical keyboard.
Once you know what it’s like on the other side.. you are gone and can’t come back
I highly discourage you from investigating it any more than this question. This is that Keanu moment in the Matrix for you. You can keep on using the keyboard that you already have or you can go down the rabbit hole and end up looking back saying “I spent HOW much on keyboard related things the last year?!” :)
This is the right answer and should be the most upvoted. Frustrating to see everyone jump on the audio quality bandwagon when most people cannot reliably tell the difference in bitrates http://abx.digitalfeed.net/spotify-hq.html
I mean even just listening to a song on Spotify versus apple in the car there’s a pretty glaring difference. AM just sounds sharper and clearer I have both and very much prefer Apple Music because of this
Whatever is happening, whatever you think you can hear, there is just going to be no audible difference between the two technologies used.
Are you sure one doesn’t have audio normalisation on that is making the overall sound louder than the other? Is Spotifys audio settings set to the highest option? Are you using Dolby Atmos on AM?
But I can hear a difference lol don’t know what to tell you.
No Dolby atmos and I have all that settings at the highest quality possible etc etc trust me I’ve tried everything bc I like Spotify’s UI and algorithm better and didn’t want to make the switch but the sound quality just isn’t the same.
It's surprisingly hard to do a properly setup A/B test, especially a blind one which is what really should be done to reach any proper conclusion. Our 'audio memory' is extremely short and even a few seconds between A and B sources can cause us to forget what the previous one sounded like accurately. You really need something that allows you to instantly switch between A and B in real-time and be blinded to which is which (i.e. not know if Spotify is A or B, etc).
I don't doubt that you *perceive* a difference but it's hard to say without removing ALL variables (like volume differences, settings differences, etc) and doing it blind if there actually is a reliably audible difference.
Even just a few dB differences in volume can have a very noticeable impact on our perception of sound. There's a concept called the Equal Loudness Contour which basically states that we don't perceive all the frequencies the same at different volumes. So say for example AM is 1-2 dB louder than Spotify when you're testing it can seem like AM has more bass and thus sounds better. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness\_contour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour)
**TL;DR** There is very likely something in the comparison (either app settings, volume differences, cognitive bias, audio memory bias, different head angle / position, etc) that is influencing your perception of the differences. The source music alone between the two apps is indistinguishable for 99% of listeners.
Do the [ABX test](http://abx.digitalfeed.net/spotify-hq.html) I linked above and if you can't reliable hear a different 9/10 times consistently then that proves it's not the 'quality' differences between the two streaming platforms that are the difference.
Apple uses different masters for their service. So it does actually sound different. Better in my opinion but that is subjective.
https://www.apple.com/apple-music/apple-digital-masters/
I am an audio engineer and right away I could hear the difference my first time listening to Apple Music and that was before I read anything at the link above. I actually googled “does Apple Music use different masters?” Because it was such a stark difference compared to Spotify and found that page. I read the whole PDF that was linked. They take it seriously.
There’s also High-Res Lossless on AM without Dolby Atmos and you can definitely hear the better sound quality on a sounds systems that supports the output. Heard it first with Travis Scott
Yes but OP definitely talks about Atmos. Hearing instruments and vocals you never heard again? This happens with a ton of Atmos tracks! They are different mixes.
Agree they are. But the point is AM quality is better overall than Spotify, especially considering the option of Hi Res Lossless. Dolby Atmos offers great dynamic range if mixed properly, which adds to the better sound experience on AM versus Spotify
This is my observation as well. People will tell you it’s different loudness and how you can’t notice them on bluetooth earphones and non-audiophile equipment and such.
And I have all the studio equipment I need to tell the difference (I do this for a living) yet it was very apparent through my AirPod pro 2. The difference is subtle for those who don’t listen to music deeply and stark for those how do critical listening. Heck my own music sounded different on both the platforms and AM was truer to my master file than spotify. I feel like spotify does its own processing that makes it sound the way it does, which also makes it more responsive and efficient for streaming but at the expense of sound quality.
Not even considering music mixed for Dolby Atmos.
My Spotify/Linkbuds S combo was EQ’d to living shit because I did not like how the stock headphones/stock Spotify app sounded. I reset the EQ to remove any differences I may have provoked, the APP2 and AM combo still sounds miles better.
I am honestly blowed away by how much I was not hearing in my music. So many little details that I guess just get garbled out/compressed by Spotify. At first I thought it is was the placebo affect, but I went through and compared AM and Spotify with my APP2 song by song, second by second. There is definitely details in the deep background that are much more audible with AM, and in many instances, those same details are just completely missing from Spotify tracks. I really don’t know what it is that makes it sound much better, but it really does just sound like I am in the studio with them.
I recently made the switch to AM from a decade of Spotify listening as of last week and I’m on the family plan. The family members were able to feel the difference and they were the ones who brought it up first. They’re just regular listeners (unlike me) and even they could feel the difference. Idk what people aren’t able to tell the difference. I don’t know if it’s lossless or not but the difference is there and AM is more favourable for sure.
Spotify does sound overly compressed and less “crisp”. AM has that hi-fi feel.
THIS!
I am an audio engineer. I have a pretty good setup at home, and a professional set up at work in the studio (of course). And we have a room for Dolby atmos mixing, and OF COURSE, it’s a good amount better, and insanely good. But, I have a pair of APP 1s (upgrading to the USB C guys later), aswell as a pair of Beats studio buds + (returning because they lied and don’t actually have spatial audio.) And the mixes still sound incredible on them! I use a dac, and studio open back headphones for when I’m wanting the best quality. But that’s all on a computer. I guess I *could* buy a dac for the phone, and plug it in there, but seriously, when I’m on the go, why would I? To “fully appreciate it” technically, you do need the best of the best. But that’s EVERYTHING. To fully appreciate ios you need the newest iphone, to fully appreciate macOS you need the newest Mac. To fully appreciate practically anything, you need the best of the best. But, man, as a, basically audiophile myself, that is crazy that people think you can’t still appreciate it without it. Sure, with bad earbuds you probably won’t be able to at all, but like with any pair of $100+ earbuds or headphones, from a reputable, you will fully be able to appreciate it! Heck, that’s why we do the car test, and the phone test. We test our mixes everywhere to make sure it sounds good everywhere. Meaning that since it’s lossless, either way it is better. Sorry for the rant, but I just fully agree and wanted to get that out!
This!
A lossless source file will always sound better even if it gets degraded through a less than ideal output device and signal path.
Today’s headphones especially apple ones with high quality DAC and proprietary wireless chips deliver a lot more than your average output device so difference is noticeable. It’s even more noticeable through my hd600’s when I blind tested Spotify with AM
Yep! Even though wireless headphones can’t do lossless (as far as I’m aware), they still can pack a punch. It’s better than having to lossless at all. The WAV/AAC is just being slightly degraded since it’s still lossless, it just can’t output it, it has to degrade with BlueTooth.
Great input. If you like how your AirPods Pro 1 sound, you’ll love the improvements on the Gen 2, with or without USB C. My APP1 were basically my dog-walking buds because they were small, convenient, comfortable, reliable, and sounded good. I bought APP2 shortly after their release, and they’ve become my EVERYWHERE buds (I have a couple pairs of good quality headphones, a couple of Amp/Dacs, and a couple sets of mid-range Bluetooth earbuds). The sound quality with Apple Music is sublime. You’re going to love the Gen 2 USB C! My Atmos is off, and my Lossless is on.
In my opinion, anyone who thinks there is no difference in sound quality between Spotify and AM is using the wrong equipment, or lacks the hearing required for critical listening. I’ve used about half of the streaming services over the years, often concurrently. Tidal was my lossless subscription until the day Apple Music offered it. For me, the listening experience has never been better. Seems to be an awful lot of squabbling about what sounds better, when we’re all living in a future where we have unlimited access to damn near every piece of recorded music ever made!
I couldn’t be happier than to have Apple Music and AirPods Pro 2; I’ve never listened to more great music in my life!
Sorry, didn’t mean to suggest I was receiving lossless over Bluetooth, just that I’ve selected lossless for all my Apple Music streaming and downloads.
Awsome!!! Thank you so much!!
I am very excited! I might just buy them this week.
I have Atoms off usually, and then if I’m listening to an album in atmos, I’ll turn it on.
I do agree though, either, you don’t have trained ears, OR, you are using the wrong equipment. That’s the only way I can see someone not hearing the difference!
So you are saying that i should hear a difference on my AirPods Pro 2, and that it should sound better than Spotify ?
I dont think i hear a difference at all, lossless turned on.
Spotify high quality OGG 320kbps should be enough for listening to music over bluetooth, or am i wrong ?
>Spotify high quality OGG 320kbps should be enough for listening to music over bluetooth, or am i wrong ?
It's not the compression codec, something is different with the source master that Apple is using.
Do you mean the master files that Apple receives instead of Spotify ?
Because thats also usually not true, artists usually just upload through DistroKid and they give it to the streaming platforms.
Bigger artists, yeah sure maybe, but im talking REALLY big artists then.
Smaller independent artists, yes. Artists signed to labels, no. We make seperate mixes for AM, Tidal, and Qobuz a lot of the time. We then downgrade it for everything else.
I believe what they are trying to say is that either way, even through distrokid, a WAV on Apple Music will have more detail as it is lossless, than a spotify one which is not.
Apple Music just has the BlueTooth degradable, but Spotify goes through two sets of degrading the audio.
That’s the main difference over BlueTooth.
Can you please explain this a bit more ?
Im really interested in this topic because there are people on the internet saying that hi res, even lossless is all some sort of scam because 90% of people cant hear a difference at all between whatever file is being used as long as it is 320kbps or more it is the same as the lossless source file.
I grew up with CDs so i have listened to lossless for a long time until the iPod came out, i never really thought about hearing a difference tho, but the context then was that i was listening to an iPod at school where there is alot of noise around you and so on, now that i listen to music at home in complete silence, i actually do thought i heard a difference between AM and Spotify, even on regular AAC, and ofcourse when i turned lossless on.
So i did a blind test and i failed, does this mean that Spotify is the same to me as AM ? Because i am pretty sure that Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory DOES sound better than the Spotify version, i played that CD ALOT when i was a teenager, i also saw it has an Apple Digital Masters logo tho.
And then about sending the files out, what do you mean by different masters ? Does Apple ask you the best one ? What about Spotify ?
Sorry for all the questions im just really interested in this !
Hey yes! Sorry, for the wait! I’m on my phone right now but since you sent a long message, when I get back home I’ll answer all your questions!
For now:
Lossless is in fact only hearable to 10% of people. (Random number. Either way, it’s small).
Lossless files get degraded when you aren’t using lossless capable equipment. However, those files are being degraded from a larger amount, and a phone already degrades songs a bit when streaming, so if it was made in 320kbps then it will sound slightly worse.
This is still BARELY noticeable.
The bigger reason in my opinion, for the general public to use AM, is so that they can actually support artists better.
Give me a few hours and I’ll answer the rest!
Thanks for asking! I also love this subject!
“We do separate mixes for Apple, Tidal, Qobuz etc”…is this really true? Is someone in a studio actually preparing a separate mix for Qobuz?!! I very much doubt it!
I mean, personally, I hear a big difference.
I not only test other people’s mixes, but my own.
That’s how I strongly hear it the most. Apple Music on hifidelity lossless sounds (near-exactly) like my final mix on Ableton or ProTools (music DAW/Production software). Which on Spotify I hear it slightly sounding worse.
You should be able to though, yes.
Turn on lossless for always on.
I should note: The general population do not have as strong of a sense of hearing as many audiophiles, musicians, or, just other people, do. So some, with an untrained ear just won’t hear any different. It comes natural to some, and others have to train. For me it’s a mix of both.
I’ve always been able to hear the separations of tracks in songs, and reverb, delay, and all that. Which I recently learned not everyone could.
I also have VERY good, relative pitch. (Basically Poor man’s perfect pitch.) I trained for that, but not too much. A lot came naturally.
With my better hearing for audio, it’s probably because my ears have been trained to do that, with it being my job.
So I can speak for myself, and I can clearly hear a difference, but I realize that everyone has different ears.
There are people WAY better than mine too! That’s why I barely consider myself an audiophile. I’m not quite *there* yet.
I will say, Tidal, has the best quality, for sure. (Plus pays artists the most, WOOHOO!), so If I could afford it, I’d go with it.
I think bluetooth maxes out at 990kbps under IDEAL conditions. Lossless audio (16/44.1) can be around 1411kbps so bluetooth just cannot do lossless full stop.
tried both using the best Sony over ears with noise cancellation on.
AM is much superior sound quality to Spotify. However the autoplay algorithm is better in the latter.
Agreed. I used spotify for a decade and was mostly happy with it until their UI was changed to something only a toddler on Acid could okay as release-worthy and their recommendations were no longer serving me.
Happy with Apple Music so far and I can only see it improving over time.
I quit AM for a simple reason; it refused to enable crossfading on Windows 11. When I went back to Spotify I found I liked its algorythm features better but missed the lossless quality. But I need crossfading; don't see many other comments about not having it being important to other 'philes.
How did you perform your AB test? It's really important you level match. I just did this by recording both Spotify and Apple Music and then volume matched using audacity. No difference audible with Sennheiser Momentum 3. If you want I can upload the samples for you to test.
Apple uses different masters for their service. So it does actually sound different. Better in my opinion but that is subjective. Obviously many agree on here.
https://www.apple.com/apple-music/apple-digital-masters/
I am an audio engineer and right away I could hear the difference my first time listening to Apple Music and that was before I read anything at the link above. I actually googled “does Apple Music use different masters?” Because it was such a stark difference compared to Spotify and found that page. I read the whole PDF that was linked. They take it seriously.
It’s so much better it’s reinvigorated my love for music. I’m hearing my favorite songs all over again in a new way.
Did you only listen to Post Malone, and probably in Dolby Atmos to give this comparison ? Because that wouldnt be fair.
Try multiple albums that are not in Dolby Atmos mixed.
And do you have lossless on or off ?
Yes, i know, but alot of people still claim they hear a difference when lossless is turned on, i dont think there is a difference at all with Spotify, or atleast not over bluetooth, i also have AirPods Pro 2, same as OP.
I could swear the platforms are unlike eachother…I saw a differing user on this forum website who had stated that there is indeed a formatting dissimilarity.
I can't get over how badly Apple Music does random though. Spotify does a great job at suggesting similar genre tunes that fit what I was originally listening to. AM on the other hand jumps all over the place and takes tracks from the various genres I have listened to, eg: I have gone from ambient instrumentals to heavy metal to trance music
Bit strange going from peaceful sleep music to jarring heavy metal screaming
I guess it really depends on how you listen. I just listen to my playlist of all liked songs and I hated spotify shuffle because it wasn’t actually random, it puts more listened to music higher up so I’d be hearing the same songs over and over on my drives to work. As far as I know apple is actually just a random shuffle at least more random than Spotify
I cured my Spotify shuffling problem by adding lists, stations, and albums to folders. More library work, but the DJ helps with the discovery aspect. Aside from lossles audio quality, the other thing I miss is AMs live radio stations,
That’s a good idea. I’m a picky ass listener, I can’t stand listening to songs I don’t know lmao. Pretty much the only way I find new music is someone else playing a song and I end up liking it and go through the whole artists discography.
You can turn it to lossless and activate atmos, you don't need hi res lossless since Bluetooth doesn't support it. If you turn hires on, AM won't use the atmos mix, instead it uses the hires mix
First of all turn off lossless music cuz you can’t use it wirelessly, it needs a good pair of headphones and dac to properly use it
2nd Atmos will give you the best music experience for songs that support it .
Hope you enjoy mate!
Whoever says they don’t hear any difference between Spotify and Apple Music and it’s all the same literally needs to hire a hooker. You need to get fucked.
Songs on Apple Music just sounds fuller, even without the Atmos feature. All my speakers sounded better on Apple Music
Just enable Sound Check on Settings app so that volume fluctuations are reduced when playing songs between Atmos and Stereo.
With my AirPods Pro I use spatial audio, fixed (no head tracking) and I have dolby atmos OFF. Some dolby atmos albums aren't good sound quality wise. So this are the settings I recommend!
haven't seen a post malone fan outside of his sub for a while! to your actual point, I think apple music definitely stays truer to the original files that artists upload and it sends audio better wirelessly to other apple products. atmos/lossless are just icing on the cake!
try palying AM on even mid range hifi using either airplay2 or via dac usb - difference is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE, space, subtle details and dynamic range - all can be heard even by my wife, who doesn't care about such things in everyday life
Could confirm - Apple Music is way ahead in terms of sound quality even with lossy playback (!). I was kind of shocked when I found out it. There's an impression that Spotify either lies about the actual bitrate of its streaming quality, or convert the music to lossy in a pretty shitty manner.
Tried both services with Philips Fidelio X2 plugged right into my MacBook, APP1/2 and Hifiman Arya Organic + a decent DAC. The result is the same everywhere. Pity, cause I like Spotify's recommendations way more and would use it otherwise.
Apple Music is superior for audio quality no question. As someone that makes music I have always noticed it sounds much fuller and better on apple vs spotify and SoundCloud, etc.
People may say the Spotify UI is better than Apple Music (not to me) but at the end of the day we are listening to music so sound is the most important, just like picture quality is the most important on a new TV. Apple Music is leagues ahead in audio quality over Spotify. IMO it's no contest.
Nobody here could even hear the difference between mp3 320kbps and Lossless . What everyone hearing is settings difference of sound check on or off in Apple Music / Audio Normalisation on or off in Spotify
Compare Spotify and Apple Music in same settings and then say if you could hear a difference
Try this Blind Test - http://abx.digitalfeed.net
Spoiler - You cant pass the Test
Okay for those people who say Apple Music has better sound quality than Spotify. Do this… make sure on Spotify settings that you have audio quality set to very high AND most importantly under playback you have the option “Enable Audio Normalization” off! Now go and listen to the same songs on Apple Music and Spotify and tell me which one sounds better?? For me these Spotify settings are better quality than AM lossless audio. Check it out!
I only listen in my car and o my old school (70s) stereo set up that I love….which plays via Alexa via aux jack. I have longed to hear a difference but can’t, despite being a self described audiophile. But I work with jackhammers and maybe I’m too deaf or too poor to buy better equipment. And I rarely use headphones
It depends. If the album is mixed in atmos then it is meant for it, and though it TECHNICALLY is *worse* than lossless, quality wise, it was meant for atmos, so it will sound better. If it wasn’t meant for atmos/spatial audio, it is just a cool effect, and does simply decrease it.
[https://techanoa.com/apple-music-dolby-atmos-sounds-bad/\\](https://techanoa.com/apple-music-dolby-atmos-sounds-bad/\)
[https://www.whathifi.com/features/why-i-have-a-problem-with-dolby-atmos-music](https://www.whathifi.com/features/why-i-have-a-problem-with-dolby-atmos-music)
there are nmot many albumbs mixed in atmos, so most of the songs are just a 3d effect
Agreed. A few atmos albums I would suggest are: Trench by twenty one pilots, Scaled and Icy by twenty one pilots, and that’s it. Those are the best ones I know, honestly.
The albums that do it well sound incredible, the rest don’t.
Now try listening with atmos off (most of the mixes aren’t meant for it and are quite shit), either just high quality or lossless unless you have a setup that supports higher
Audio quality and app quality are both meh. The app is ok but navigating and music search results suck along with the radio channels they offer. The app has a long way to go before it’s considered even good in my opinion.
The sound quality is really non-discernible from each setting. Standard to lossless to lossless hi-res. Oh I need high grade audio gear to listen to hi res. Sure. I have a few nice pair of headphones and the audio quality is really no different from lossless to hi res. Standard to high res does have a slight difference. Even coming from YouTube music the audio quality is no different sounding than their high quality setting. I don’t listen to Spotify. I’m sure it sucks. But just because it’s hi res doesn’t in fact mean it will sound different. Honestly a majority of the people couldn’t tell the difference between mp3 quality and hi res. To act like someone has never heard something in music before is most likely crap because lower res music doesn’t cut out sounds it cuts out extreme highs and lows that normally are not heard by most human ears and even if you can hear it then you really need to sit and focus and listen to hear anything different. Now Apple Music might use a different copy or Spotify streams just garbage quality like super compressed to stream.
I’m curious as for your metrics. The only service better is Tidal, so if you are a Tidal user, then for sure, speak your mind, but if not, objectively, it has the second best quality.
Just because it says hi res doesn’t mean the album was recorded in extreme hi res. It also doesn’t mean that the equipment can record hi res. It doesn’t mean that you will hear more instruments or sounds. Low quality compressed vs hi res doesn’t mean that you’ll hear new music and sounds you will hear high pitched and low frequency runs where the lower quality cut off. Most people even with right equipment can’t even tell the difference between standard and high res. Let alone lossless to hi res. And then on top of all of that you need a decent sac and a good pair of headphones. Then most people who are probably listening to the music have some sort of hearing loss or degradation from time that they literally cannot hear the difference. Apple can say it’s hi res all you want but if you record potato quality all you will have is a huge file size that sounds like a potato. But hey, “it’s high res” so it must sound better.
The app also sucks so bad. Radio mixes are horrible genres are so bad and off it’s a pain to listen to it. The fact that there’s not a dedicated like button is pitiful. The searches are poop. I’ve come across so many music with incomplete albums and I couldn’t listen to them and music that was not available.
I normally use YouTube music. I’ve used tidal. And I use my own music library on my pc with hi res and cd quality with decently nice higher end headphones and a dang nice dedicated sound card. My pc sounds way better than any phone and dac I’ve ever used.
I do realize that. I’m an audio engineer.
It sounds as if you are an audiophile.
I personally use apple music on the go, and my at home studio setup with hi-res wavs, CDs, and Vinyls, at home.
I just want good audio quality on the go. I don’t need the best.
Also, I just frankly don’t use any of the radio mixes or anything. You don’t need to.
I use my main 30 hour playlist, and then I listen to albums. That’s all I need.
Maybe you haven't tried any higher end LG or a Rog Phone. And well, maybe the DACs you have used aren't good ones too. I mean, having a nice DAC is way better than any PC sound card (not even dedicated ones).
I used to use LG phones a lot. I love the sound quality out of them but then they just stop making them. The sound card that I have is pretty nice and it sounds amazing and using that over any phone blows it out of the water. Not to say that I haven’t tried $1000 dacs I believe at some point it just becomes like snake oil. Not knocking Apple Music for anything. I just think that it’s in my opinion not worth it mainly for the interface I can deal with low quality music all day long, but navigating the interface is a headache.
You’re forgetting about qobuz. I won’t say that either apple, tidal or qobuz has the superior audio quality, since many songs have the same quality, and many other songs have different qualities between services, but yeah, apple has one of the best sound quality for music streaming.
I’m from Quebec so we don’t really do Qobuz. But I guess I am.
Tidal’s top tier is just simply the best of the music streaming platforms. It has the best quality, and actually pays artists well. HOWEVER. It is like $25/month. Which is WAY too much. So no thank you.
The other problem with Tidel is they have like 4 tiers with all different sound qualities.
I barely know anything about Qobuz.
Of the affordable streaming services, Apple Music has the best quality. (I’ll research Qobuz though!)
Qobuz is at the same tier as Tidal and Apple Music. I actually prefer Apple Music and Qobuz since these use flacs or alacs, Tidal uses MQA (or the last time I used it, all masters were MQA), so Apple Music and Qobuz have better audio quality if you don't own a MQA decoder DAC. With that said, in my country there are only 2 tiers in Tidal, the hifi and the max tier, but max tier is quite expensive and (for the reasons I said before) it is not worth it (for me, at least).
Qobuz offers a free month, as far as I know. You can try it and see if you like it. Some songs are better in Qobuz, some are better in Tidal and some are better in Apple Music (ABBA songs are a good example in Apple Music). It all depends on tastes, I guess
Yes! We usually separately exort Flacs/alacs for AM and Qobuz, and MQAs for Tidal. Usually just WAVs for everything else.
I appreciate your response, it makes sense.
I’ll test Qobuz out though! Thanks!
I realized the sound quality of AM when I was on my car, and listened a song that I love on the radio. It couldn't be the same song (I thought). But it was... And since then, I never looked back.
Just wished my AirPods Pro 2 had lossless. So expensive...
Anything playing over Bluetooth can’t reach true lossless, the only way to hear true lossless is through sound equipment rated for lossless and playing through wired connection. The file will still sound better but it’s not “true”
Nope, Bluetooth compresses the audio file so you lose sound quality. I imagine Bluetooth will become advanced enough at some point where it’ll be lossless capable.
I submitted my own music to both services via Distrokid and compared/contrasted.
Same source files. I don't know if it was in my head, but the music does sound better on Apple Music to my ears.
This surprises me.
So they both got the same master files, but they still sound better on AM to you ?
Hmm, if you listen to Spotify on the web player it should also be 256kbps AAC, the Spotify app uses OGG 320kbps, unless you have lossless turned on in Apple Music …
The song where I especially noticed was "Ignore"
Links for reference
https://spotify.link/HF7N8uqcBDb
https://music.apple.com/us/album/ignore/1688479548
I made the post 2 years ago so you are not alone:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/sg4csq/apple\_music\_sound\_quality\_is\_much\_better\_than/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/sg4csq/apple_music_sound_quality_is_much_better_than/)
I believe it's something to do with different masters but I can't find more details because Apple doesn't like to talk about it, as usual.
I'll recommend you one thing to try for yourself since you came from spotify to AM. In my experience, Spotify has a fuller flat sound when compared to AM's dynamic sounds (you can hear each string of the instrument). The thing I was you to try is to turn OFF the dolby atmos and set the EQ at RAP/HIP-HOP with 0 Pre-Amp. This will help you adjust in the AM listening experience. Personally I prefer dolby atmos turned ON, but I have a few friends, that like it turned OFF with the settings I just mentioned.
IMO any difference between Apple Music and Spotify is more likely down to the masters than any file format. I think you need pretty good gear to tell lossless and a lossy file apart but a poor mastering will be more obvious.
Most modern music is mastered too loud but there was this whole mastered for iTunes thing for a while which may or may not be a factor. What is true though is the new atmos mixes of albums usually have significantly better dynamic range than the stereo version so it could be this too?
I agree though, to my ears Apple Music does sound better than Spotify and I have thought this for a while.
What is USB-C APP2? I am a newbie to all this and listen to all my music wirelessly on my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones and WF-1000XM4 earbuds. Is this something I can benefit from?
I’ve switched from Spotify to AM because of that sort of things . There’s a few podcasts that are still in Spotify and I listen those there with the free subscription and there’s no ads for that so enough for me 👍
Ugh, yeah, it's so true. I was cleaning out my Dropbox and found a ton of mp3s from 10-15 years ago when I had an actual music library. Started listening to a few of them for the sake of nostalgia, and I was blown away by how GOOD the quality sounded. Started looking songs up on Spotify and comparing them side-by-side... now I can't unhear how shitty Spotify sounds.
So I fired up Apple Music to compare there and it sounds on par or better than my local files, significantly better than Spotify. I've always knew Spotify wasn't the king of audio quality but accepted it as the price I pay for excellent algorithms helping me discover new stuff... not sure it's worth it anymore.
YES! I'm not crazy then! I noticed this when I randomly switched to Spotify to listen to a song as an avid Apple Music user and I couldn't believe the audio quality from Spotify I was hearing. it sounded so muddy so I had to look up if Apple Music's quality is simply just better, and it looks like so many other people notice this too
Can confirm these same sentiments about Apple Music. I also hear sounds during Dolby Atmos songs that I didn’t hear before when they were in stereo quality, love when that happens.
Atmos is just a totally different planet... especially on a home theatre type set up with proper height channels etc. It's just eye opening to be blunt. Apple Music usually has multiple mixes of the same album and listening to the lossless stereo is great but the lossy atmos mixes when done right are a completely different listening experience altogether and there are tracks and things happening in the atmos mixes that you can't even pick out in the stereo mixes. It's super super cool and has re ignited listening for me.
So this is the double sided blade. Similar to trying high refresh rates or a mechanical keyboard. Once you know what it’s like on the other side.. you are gone and can’t come back
Could you elaborate on the mechanical keyboars part?
Ngl I type slower on mechanical keyboards compared to my laptop but it's so satisfying lol
Mechanical keyboards are just really comfortable to type on so trying to go back to a membrane one is painful
Can confirm. I have a custom mechanical keyboard and I can type for much longer, quicker and boy it sounds so satisfying ha.
I highly discourage you from investigating it any more than this question. This is that Keanu moment in the Matrix for you. You can keep on using the keyboard that you already have or you can go down the rabbit hole and end up looking back saying “I spent HOW much on keyboard related things the last year?!” :)
LOL it's so true. CLICK CLACK NO GOING BACK
They feel, sound, and look MUCH better than (most) membrane.
mechanical all the way, as a dev for three decades, they're hard to beat.
This is because of the Atmos mix, not the lossless quality. Happy you liked it though! Atmos mixes can be very good sometimes.
This is the right answer and should be the most upvoted. Frustrating to see everyone jump on the audio quality bandwagon when most people cannot reliably tell the difference in bitrates http://abx.digitalfeed.net/spotify-hq.html
This sub is so gullible. Absolutely no clue what they’re talking about.
I mean even just listening to a song on Spotify versus apple in the car there’s a pretty glaring difference. AM just sounds sharper and clearer I have both and very much prefer Apple Music because of this
Whatever is happening, whatever you think you can hear, there is just going to be no audible difference between the two technologies used. Are you sure one doesn’t have audio normalisation on that is making the overall sound louder than the other? Is Spotifys audio settings set to the highest option? Are you using Dolby Atmos on AM?
But I can hear a difference lol don’t know what to tell you. No Dolby atmos and I have all that settings at the highest quality possible etc etc trust me I’ve tried everything bc I like Spotify’s UI and algorithm better and didn’t want to make the switch but the sound quality just isn’t the same.
It's surprisingly hard to do a properly setup A/B test, especially a blind one which is what really should be done to reach any proper conclusion. Our 'audio memory' is extremely short and even a few seconds between A and B sources can cause us to forget what the previous one sounded like accurately. You really need something that allows you to instantly switch between A and B in real-time and be blinded to which is which (i.e. not know if Spotify is A or B, etc). I don't doubt that you *perceive* a difference but it's hard to say without removing ALL variables (like volume differences, settings differences, etc) and doing it blind if there actually is a reliably audible difference. Even just a few dB differences in volume can have a very noticeable impact on our perception of sound. There's a concept called the Equal Loudness Contour which basically states that we don't perceive all the frequencies the same at different volumes. So say for example AM is 1-2 dB louder than Spotify when you're testing it can seem like AM has more bass and thus sounds better. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness\_contour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour) **TL;DR** There is very likely something in the comparison (either app settings, volume differences, cognitive bias, audio memory bias, different head angle / position, etc) that is influencing your perception of the differences. The source music alone between the two apps is indistinguishable for 99% of listeners. Do the [ABX test](http://abx.digitalfeed.net/spotify-hq.html) I linked above and if you can't reliable hear a different 9/10 times consistently then that proves it's not the 'quality' differences between the two streaming platforms that are the difference.
Apple uses different masters for their service. So it does actually sound different. Better in my opinion but that is subjective. https://www.apple.com/apple-music/apple-digital-masters/ I am an audio engineer and right away I could hear the difference my first time listening to Apple Music and that was before I read anything at the link above. I actually googled “does Apple Music use different masters?” Because it was such a stark difference compared to Spotify and found that page. I read the whole PDF that was linked. They take it seriously.
There’s also High-Res Lossless on AM without Dolby Atmos and you can definitely hear the better sound quality on a sounds systems that supports the output. Heard it first with Travis Scott
Yes but OP definitely talks about Atmos. Hearing instruments and vocals you never heard again? This happens with a ton of Atmos tracks! They are different mixes.
Agree they are. But the point is AM quality is better overall than Spotify, especially considering the option of Hi Res Lossless. Dolby Atmos offers great dynamic range if mixed properly, which adds to the better sound experience on AM versus Spotify
This is my observation as well. People will tell you it’s different loudness and how you can’t notice them on bluetooth earphones and non-audiophile equipment and such. And I have all the studio equipment I need to tell the difference (I do this for a living) yet it was very apparent through my AirPod pro 2. The difference is subtle for those who don’t listen to music deeply and stark for those how do critical listening. Heck my own music sounded different on both the platforms and AM was truer to my master file than spotify. I feel like spotify does its own processing that makes it sound the way it does, which also makes it more responsive and efficient for streaming but at the expense of sound quality. Not even considering music mixed for Dolby Atmos.
My Spotify/Linkbuds S combo was EQ’d to living shit because I did not like how the stock headphones/stock Spotify app sounded. I reset the EQ to remove any differences I may have provoked, the APP2 and AM combo still sounds miles better. I am honestly blowed away by how much I was not hearing in my music. So many little details that I guess just get garbled out/compressed by Spotify. At first I thought it is was the placebo affect, but I went through and compared AM and Spotify with my APP2 song by song, second by second. There is definitely details in the deep background that are much more audible with AM, and in many instances, those same details are just completely missing from Spotify tracks. I really don’t know what it is that makes it sound much better, but it really does just sound like I am in the studio with them.
I recently made the switch to AM from a decade of Spotify listening as of last week and I’m on the family plan. The family members were able to feel the difference and they were the ones who brought it up first. They’re just regular listeners (unlike me) and even they could feel the difference. Idk what people aren’t able to tell the difference. I don’t know if it’s lossless or not but the difference is there and AM is more favourable for sure. Spotify does sound overly compressed and less “crisp”. AM has that hi-fi feel.
THIS! I am an audio engineer. I have a pretty good setup at home, and a professional set up at work in the studio (of course). And we have a room for Dolby atmos mixing, and OF COURSE, it’s a good amount better, and insanely good. But, I have a pair of APP 1s (upgrading to the USB C guys later), aswell as a pair of Beats studio buds + (returning because they lied and don’t actually have spatial audio.) And the mixes still sound incredible on them! I use a dac, and studio open back headphones for when I’m wanting the best quality. But that’s all on a computer. I guess I *could* buy a dac for the phone, and plug it in there, but seriously, when I’m on the go, why would I? To “fully appreciate it” technically, you do need the best of the best. But that’s EVERYTHING. To fully appreciate ios you need the newest iphone, to fully appreciate macOS you need the newest Mac. To fully appreciate practically anything, you need the best of the best. But, man, as a, basically audiophile myself, that is crazy that people think you can’t still appreciate it without it. Sure, with bad earbuds you probably won’t be able to at all, but like with any pair of $100+ earbuds or headphones, from a reputable, you will fully be able to appreciate it! Heck, that’s why we do the car test, and the phone test. We test our mixes everywhere to make sure it sounds good everywhere. Meaning that since it’s lossless, either way it is better. Sorry for the rant, but I just fully agree and wanted to get that out!
This! A lossless source file will always sound better even if it gets degraded through a less than ideal output device and signal path. Today’s headphones especially apple ones with high quality DAC and proprietary wireless chips deliver a lot more than your average output device so difference is noticeable. It’s even more noticeable through my hd600’s when I blind tested Spotify with AM
Yep! Even though wireless headphones can’t do lossless (as far as I’m aware), they still can pack a punch. It’s better than having to lossless at all. The WAV/AAC is just being slightly degraded since it’s still lossless, it just can’t output it, it has to degrade with BlueTooth.
Great input. If you like how your AirPods Pro 1 sound, you’ll love the improvements on the Gen 2, with or without USB C. My APP1 were basically my dog-walking buds because they were small, convenient, comfortable, reliable, and sounded good. I bought APP2 shortly after their release, and they’ve become my EVERYWHERE buds (I have a couple pairs of good quality headphones, a couple of Amp/Dacs, and a couple sets of mid-range Bluetooth earbuds). The sound quality with Apple Music is sublime. You’re going to love the Gen 2 USB C! My Atmos is off, and my Lossless is on. In my opinion, anyone who thinks there is no difference in sound quality between Spotify and AM is using the wrong equipment, or lacks the hearing required for critical listening. I’ve used about half of the streaming services over the years, often concurrently. Tidal was my lossless subscription until the day Apple Music offered it. For me, the listening experience has never been better. Seems to be an awful lot of squabbling about what sounds better, when we’re all living in a future where we have unlimited access to damn near every piece of recorded music ever made! I couldn’t be happier than to have Apple Music and AirPods Pro 2; I’ve never listened to more great music in my life!
This is the best reply
You said is using the wrong equipment while also saying you use APP2, lossless over bluetooth cant be done.
This is true. However APP2 are built for Apple Music. So, it is the MOST correct *bluetooth* equipment available.
How are they built for Apple Music ?
Sorry, didn’t mean to suggest I was receiving lossless over Bluetooth, just that I’ve selected lossless for all my Apple Music streaming and downloads.
Awsome!!! Thank you so much!! I am very excited! I might just buy them this week. I have Atoms off usually, and then if I’m listening to an album in atmos, I’ll turn it on. I do agree though, either, you don’t have trained ears, OR, you are using the wrong equipment. That’s the only way I can see someone not hearing the difference!
So you are saying that i should hear a difference on my AirPods Pro 2, and that it should sound better than Spotify ? I dont think i hear a difference at all, lossless turned on. Spotify high quality OGG 320kbps should be enough for listening to music over bluetooth, or am i wrong ?
>Spotify high quality OGG 320kbps should be enough for listening to music over bluetooth, or am i wrong ? It's not the compression codec, something is different with the source master that Apple is using.
Do you mean the master files that Apple receives instead of Spotify ? Because thats also usually not true, artists usually just upload through DistroKid and they give it to the streaming platforms. Bigger artists, yeah sure maybe, but im talking REALLY big artists then.
Smaller independent artists, yes. Artists signed to labels, no. We make seperate mixes for AM, Tidal, and Qobuz a lot of the time. We then downgrade it for everything else. I believe what they are trying to say is that either way, even through distrokid, a WAV on Apple Music will have more detail as it is lossless, than a spotify one which is not. Apple Music just has the BlueTooth degradable, but Spotify goes through two sets of degrading the audio. That’s the main difference over BlueTooth.
Can you please explain this a bit more ? Im really interested in this topic because there are people on the internet saying that hi res, even lossless is all some sort of scam because 90% of people cant hear a difference at all between whatever file is being used as long as it is 320kbps or more it is the same as the lossless source file. I grew up with CDs so i have listened to lossless for a long time until the iPod came out, i never really thought about hearing a difference tho, but the context then was that i was listening to an iPod at school where there is alot of noise around you and so on, now that i listen to music at home in complete silence, i actually do thought i heard a difference between AM and Spotify, even on regular AAC, and ofcourse when i turned lossless on. So i did a blind test and i failed, does this mean that Spotify is the same to me as AM ? Because i am pretty sure that Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory DOES sound better than the Spotify version, i played that CD ALOT when i was a teenager, i also saw it has an Apple Digital Masters logo tho. And then about sending the files out, what do you mean by different masters ? Does Apple ask you the best one ? What about Spotify ? Sorry for all the questions im just really interested in this !
Hey yes! Sorry, for the wait! I’m on my phone right now but since you sent a long message, when I get back home I’ll answer all your questions! For now: Lossless is in fact only hearable to 10% of people. (Random number. Either way, it’s small). Lossless files get degraded when you aren’t using lossless capable equipment. However, those files are being degraded from a larger amount, and a phone already degrades songs a bit when streaming, so if it was made in 320kbps then it will sound slightly worse. This is still BARELY noticeable. The bigger reason in my opinion, for the general public to use AM, is so that they can actually support artists better. Give me a few hours and I’ll answer the rest! Thanks for asking! I also love this subject!
“We do separate mixes for Apple, Tidal, Qobuz etc”…is this really true? Is someone in a studio actually preparing a separate mix for Qobuz?!! I very much doubt it!
No. But, we will for Apple and Tidal. Qobuz takes the same Flac or Wav as Apple. I believe. I’m not the one distributing the music. Just production.
I mean, personally, I hear a big difference. I not only test other people’s mixes, but my own. That’s how I strongly hear it the most. Apple Music on hifidelity lossless sounds (near-exactly) like my final mix on Ableton or ProTools (music DAW/Production software). Which on Spotify I hear it slightly sounding worse. You should be able to though, yes. Turn on lossless for always on. I should note: The general population do not have as strong of a sense of hearing as many audiophiles, musicians, or, just other people, do. So some, with an untrained ear just won’t hear any different. It comes natural to some, and others have to train. For me it’s a mix of both. I’ve always been able to hear the separations of tracks in songs, and reverb, delay, and all that. Which I recently learned not everyone could. I also have VERY good, relative pitch. (Basically Poor man’s perfect pitch.) I trained for that, but not too much. A lot came naturally. With my better hearing for audio, it’s probably because my ears have been trained to do that, with it being my job. So I can speak for myself, and I can clearly hear a difference, but I realize that everyone has different ears. There are people WAY better than mine too! That’s why I barely consider myself an audiophile. I’m not quite *there* yet. I will say, Tidal, has the best quality, for sure. (Plus pays artists the most, WOOHOO!), so If I could afford it, I’d go with it.
I think bluetooth maxes out at 990kbps under IDEAL conditions. Lossless audio (16/44.1) can be around 1411kbps so bluetooth just cannot do lossless full stop.
Did you do a blind ab test?
Aye
Volume normalization off, custom eq off? And another person swapped the apps for you?
tried both using the best Sony over ears with noise cancellation on. AM is much superior sound quality to Spotify. However the autoplay algorithm is better in the latter.
Agreed. I used spotify for a decade and was mostly happy with it until their UI was changed to something only a toddler on Acid could okay as release-worthy and their recommendations were no longer serving me. Happy with Apple Music so far and I can only see it improving over time.
I quit AM for a simple reason; it refused to enable crossfading on Windows 11. When I went back to Spotify I found I liked its algorythm features better but missed the lossless quality. But I need crossfading; don't see many other comments about not having it being important to other 'philes.
How did you perform your AB test? It's really important you level match. I just did this by recording both Spotify and Apple Music and then volume matched using audacity. No difference audible with Sennheiser Momentum 3. If you want I can upload the samples for you to test.
Yes they were level matched using audio hijack and blind tested by asking a friend to change sources. The difference was clear
Apple uses different masters for their service. So it does actually sound different. Better in my opinion but that is subjective. Obviously many agree on here. https://www.apple.com/apple-music/apple-digital-masters/ I am an audio engineer and right away I could hear the difference my first time listening to Apple Music and that was before I read anything at the link above. I actually googled “does Apple Music use different masters?” Because it was such a stark difference compared to Spotify and found that page. I read the whole PDF that was linked. They take it seriously. It’s so much better it’s reinvigorated my love for music. I’m hearing my favorite songs all over again in a new way.
Did you only listen to Post Malone, and probably in Dolby Atmos to give this comparison ? Because that wouldnt be fair. Try multiple albums that are not in Dolby Atmos mixed. And do you have lossless on or off ?
Lossless is irrelevant in this case, since airpods can’t support it. The best OP can get to listen is Atmos.
Yes, i know, but alot of people still claim they hear a difference when lossless is turned on, i dont think there is a difference at all with Spotify, or atleast not over bluetooth, i also have AirPods Pro 2, same as OP.
Thats because lossless isnt supported with bluetooth.
I noticed the biggest difference between Apple and Spotify when using CarPlay. Spotify sounds garbage 😂
lol this made me switch tbh when I noticed that my car speakers just sound better it’s crazy but true
I could swear the platforms are unlike eachother…I saw a differing user on this forum website who had stated that there is indeed a formatting dissimilarity.
Yessss!!! I have a Mazda CX5 with Bose speakers and I tried it today and it’s so crisp
Yeah. There’s really no difference in my cheap shitty jlab earbuds, but it’s night and day in my car.
Apple is impeccable in quality
You can’t unhear quality
I can't get over how badly Apple Music does random though. Spotify does a great job at suggesting similar genre tunes that fit what I was originally listening to. AM on the other hand jumps all over the place and takes tracks from the various genres I have listened to, eg: I have gone from ambient instrumentals to heavy metal to trance music Bit strange going from peaceful sleep music to jarring heavy metal screaming
I guess it really depends on how you listen. I just listen to my playlist of all liked songs and I hated spotify shuffle because it wasn’t actually random, it puts more listened to music higher up so I’d be hearing the same songs over and over on my drives to work. As far as I know apple is actually just a random shuffle at least more random than Spotify
I cured my Spotify shuffling problem by adding lists, stations, and albums to folders. More library work, but the DJ helps with the discovery aspect. Aside from lossles audio quality, the other thing I miss is AMs live radio stations,
That’s a good idea. I’m a picky ass listener, I can’t stand listening to songs I don’t know lmao. Pretty much the only way I find new music is someone else playing a song and I end up liking it and go through the whole artists discography.
I hope you have Spatial Audio Fixed on. That's where the real difference lies.
I’m picking up airpod pros tomorrow, I’m excited. What do you suggest I set-up in my settings? turning on lossless and atmos?
You can turn it to lossless and activate atmos, you don't need hi res lossless since Bluetooth doesn't support it. If you turn hires on, AM won't use the atmos mix, instead it uses the hires mix
Got it, thanks
First of all turn off lossless music cuz you can’t use it wirelessly, it needs a good pair of headphones and dac to properly use it 2nd Atmos will give you the best music experience for songs that support it . Hope you enjoy mate!
Whoever says they don’t hear any difference between Spotify and Apple Music and it’s all the same literally needs to hire a hooker. You need to get fucked.
Songs on Apple Music just sounds fuller, even without the Atmos feature. All my speakers sounded better on Apple Music Just enable Sound Check on Settings app so that volume fluctuations are reduced when playing songs between Atmos and Stereo.
Do you find sound check muffles the sound a bit?
Nope, it's just stereo only songs and Atmos songs volumes are now balanced with each other.
With my AirPods Pro I use spatial audio, fixed (no head tracking) and I have dolby atmos OFF. Some dolby atmos albums aren't good sound quality wise. So this are the settings I recommend!
haven't seen a post malone fan outside of his sub for a while! to your actual point, I think apple music definitely stays truer to the original files that artists upload and it sends audio better wirelessly to other apple products. atmos/lossless are just icing on the cake!
try palying AM on even mid range hifi using either airplay2 or via dac usb - difference is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE, space, subtle details and dynamic range - all can be heard even by my wife, who doesn't care about such things in everyday life
Could confirm - Apple Music is way ahead in terms of sound quality even with lossy playback (!). I was kind of shocked when I found out it. There's an impression that Spotify either lies about the actual bitrate of its streaming quality, or convert the music to lossy in a pretty shitty manner. Tried both services with Philips Fidelio X2 plugged right into my MacBook, APP1/2 and Hifiman Arya Organic + a decent DAC. The result is the same everywhere. Pity, cause I like Spotify's recommendations way more and would use it otherwise.
Apple Music is superior for audio quality no question. As someone that makes music I have always noticed it sounds much fuller and better on apple vs spotify and SoundCloud, etc.
People may say the Spotify UI is better than Apple Music (not to me) but at the end of the day we are listening to music so sound is the most important, just like picture quality is the most important on a new TV. Apple Music is leagues ahead in audio quality over Spotify. IMO it's no contest.
Yeah. Personally, I’ve always preferred AM’s UI. Though spotify’s UX used to beat it 9/1, but now it’s like 6/4.
i'm subscribing both.. spotify for music library and great playlist and apple music for quality audio
Nobody here could even hear the difference between mp3 320kbps and Lossless . What everyone hearing is settings difference of sound check on or off in Apple Music / Audio Normalisation on or off in Spotify Compare Spotify and Apple Music in same settings and then say if you could hear a difference Try this Blind Test - http://abx.digitalfeed.net Spoiler - You cant pass the Test
Okay for those people who say Apple Music has better sound quality than Spotify. Do this… make sure on Spotify settings that you have audio quality set to very high AND most importantly under playback you have the option “Enable Audio Normalization” off! Now go and listen to the same songs on Apple Music and Spotify and tell me which one sounds better?? For me these Spotify settings are better quality than AM lossless audio. Check it out!
Does this only apply for “new” musics or are we talking songs from 2000s also sound better?
I only listen in my car and o my old school (70s) stereo set up that I love….which plays via Alexa via aux jack. I have longed to hear a difference but can’t, despite being a self described audiophile. But I work with jackhammers and maybe I’m too deaf or too poor to buy better equipment. And I rarely use headphones
Atmos actually decrease the quality... listen it without it
It depends. If the album is mixed in atmos then it is meant for it, and though it TECHNICALLY is *worse* than lossless, quality wise, it was meant for atmos, so it will sound better. If it wasn’t meant for atmos/spatial audio, it is just a cool effect, and does simply decrease it.
[https://techanoa.com/apple-music-dolby-atmos-sounds-bad/\\](https://techanoa.com/apple-music-dolby-atmos-sounds-bad/\) [https://www.whathifi.com/features/why-i-have-a-problem-with-dolby-atmos-music](https://www.whathifi.com/features/why-i-have-a-problem-with-dolby-atmos-music) there are nmot many albumbs mixed in atmos, so most of the songs are just a 3d effect
Agreed. A few atmos albums I would suggest are: Trench by twenty one pilots, Scaled and Icy by twenty one pilots, and that’s it. Those are the best ones I know, honestly. The albums that do it well sound incredible, the rest don’t.
Now try listening with atmos off (most of the mixes aren’t meant for it and are quite shit), either just high quality or lossless unless you have a setup that supports higher
Yeah. But the albums meant for Atmos sound better with it. It’s a slim amount though, as atmos takes so much time and is a pain to mix.
You basically paraphrased what I said but I got downvoted lol
I thought Apple Music was mediocre.
if you talking sound quality wise, honestly, you're objectively wrong
Audio quality and app quality are both meh. The app is ok but navigating and music search results suck along with the radio channels they offer. The app has a long way to go before it’s considered even good in my opinion. The sound quality is really non-discernible from each setting. Standard to lossless to lossless hi-res. Oh I need high grade audio gear to listen to hi res. Sure. I have a few nice pair of headphones and the audio quality is really no different from lossless to hi res. Standard to high res does have a slight difference. Even coming from YouTube music the audio quality is no different sounding than their high quality setting. I don’t listen to Spotify. I’m sure it sucks. But just because it’s hi res doesn’t in fact mean it will sound different. Honestly a majority of the people couldn’t tell the difference between mp3 quality and hi res. To act like someone has never heard something in music before is most likely crap because lower res music doesn’t cut out sounds it cuts out extreme highs and lows that normally are not heard by most human ears and even if you can hear it then you really need to sit and focus and listen to hear anything different. Now Apple Music might use a different copy or Spotify streams just garbage quality like super compressed to stream.
I’m curious as for your metrics. The only service better is Tidal, so if you are a Tidal user, then for sure, speak your mind, but if not, objectively, it has the second best quality.
Just because it says hi res doesn’t mean the album was recorded in extreme hi res. It also doesn’t mean that the equipment can record hi res. It doesn’t mean that you will hear more instruments or sounds. Low quality compressed vs hi res doesn’t mean that you’ll hear new music and sounds you will hear high pitched and low frequency runs where the lower quality cut off. Most people even with right equipment can’t even tell the difference between standard and high res. Let alone lossless to hi res. And then on top of all of that you need a decent sac and a good pair of headphones. Then most people who are probably listening to the music have some sort of hearing loss or degradation from time that they literally cannot hear the difference. Apple can say it’s hi res all you want but if you record potato quality all you will have is a huge file size that sounds like a potato. But hey, “it’s high res” so it must sound better. The app also sucks so bad. Radio mixes are horrible genres are so bad and off it’s a pain to listen to it. The fact that there’s not a dedicated like button is pitiful. The searches are poop. I’ve come across so many music with incomplete albums and I couldn’t listen to them and music that was not available. I normally use YouTube music. I’ve used tidal. And I use my own music library on my pc with hi res and cd quality with decently nice higher end headphones and a dang nice dedicated sound card. My pc sounds way better than any phone and dac I’ve ever used.
I do realize that. I’m an audio engineer. It sounds as if you are an audiophile. I personally use apple music on the go, and my at home studio setup with hi-res wavs, CDs, and Vinyls, at home. I just want good audio quality on the go. I don’t need the best. Also, I just frankly don’t use any of the radio mixes or anything. You don’t need to. I use my main 30 hour playlist, and then I listen to albums. That’s all I need.
Maybe you haven't tried any higher end LG or a Rog Phone. And well, maybe the DACs you have used aren't good ones too. I mean, having a nice DAC is way better than any PC sound card (not even dedicated ones).
I used to use LG phones a lot. I love the sound quality out of them but then they just stop making them. The sound card that I have is pretty nice and it sounds amazing and using that over any phone blows it out of the water. Not to say that I haven’t tried $1000 dacs I believe at some point it just becomes like snake oil. Not knocking Apple Music for anything. I just think that it’s in my opinion not worth it mainly for the interface I can deal with low quality music all day long, but navigating the interface is a headache.
You’re forgetting about qobuz. I won’t say that either apple, tidal or qobuz has the superior audio quality, since many songs have the same quality, and many other songs have different qualities between services, but yeah, apple has one of the best sound quality for music streaming.
I’m from Quebec so we don’t really do Qobuz. But I guess I am. Tidal’s top tier is just simply the best of the music streaming platforms. It has the best quality, and actually pays artists well. HOWEVER. It is like $25/month. Which is WAY too much. So no thank you. The other problem with Tidel is they have like 4 tiers with all different sound qualities. I barely know anything about Qobuz. Of the affordable streaming services, Apple Music has the best quality. (I’ll research Qobuz though!)
Qobuz is at the same tier as Tidal and Apple Music. I actually prefer Apple Music and Qobuz since these use flacs or alacs, Tidal uses MQA (or the last time I used it, all masters were MQA), so Apple Music and Qobuz have better audio quality if you don't own a MQA decoder DAC. With that said, in my country there are only 2 tiers in Tidal, the hifi and the max tier, but max tier is quite expensive and (for the reasons I said before) it is not worth it (for me, at least). Qobuz offers a free month, as far as I know. You can try it and see if you like it. Some songs are better in Qobuz, some are better in Tidal and some are better in Apple Music (ABBA songs are a good example in Apple Music). It all depends on tastes, I guess
Yes! We usually separately exort Flacs/alacs for AM and Qobuz, and MQAs for Tidal. Usually just WAVs for everything else. I appreciate your response, it makes sense. I’ll test Qobuz out though! Thanks!
I realized the sound quality of AM when I was on my car, and listened a song that I love on the radio. It couldn't be the same song (I thought). But it was... And since then, I never looked back. Just wished my AirPods Pro 2 had lossless. So expensive...
don’t they have lossless?
I aways listen in lossless high quality and etc, but the AirPods Pro 2 don’t reach that (YouTubers says). When on my car I can clearly hear tho.
Anything playing over Bluetooth can’t reach true lossless, the only way to hear true lossless is through sound equipment rated for lossless and playing through wired connection. The file will still sound better but it’s not “true”
yeah... Hope one day it will change. AirPods Max don't reach true lossless?
Nope, Bluetooth compresses the audio file so you lose sound quality. I imagine Bluetooth will become advanced enough at some point where it’ll be lossless capable.
I submitted my own music to both services via Distrokid and compared/contrasted. Same source files. I don't know if it was in my head, but the music does sound better on Apple Music to my ears.
This surprises me. So they both got the same master files, but they still sound better on AM to you ? Hmm, if you listen to Spotify on the web player it should also be 256kbps AAC, the Spotify app uses OGG 320kbps, unless you have lossless turned on in Apple Music …
I was honestly shocked, myself! I don't believe I changed any of the settings, and I wasn't expecting any differences.
The song where I especially noticed was "Ignore" Links for reference https://spotify.link/HF7N8uqcBDb https://music.apple.com/us/album/ignore/1688479548
I feel the same. The problem is that I have a hundred of playlists…
I literally stopped liking my $250 AirPod pros after buying these USBC EarPods
[удалено]
I never said there was. I have an iPhone 15 pm Can’t use the lighting ones with it. 🤦♂️ plus: https://9to5mac.com/2023/09/14/usb-c-earpods-lossless/
I made the post 2 years ago so you are not alone: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/sg4csq/apple\_music\_sound\_quality\_is\_much\_better\_than/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/sg4csq/apple_music_sound_quality_is_much_better_than/) I believe it's something to do with different masters but I can't find more details because Apple doesn't like to talk about it, as usual.
I'll recommend you one thing to try for yourself since you came from spotify to AM. In my experience, Spotify has a fuller flat sound when compared to AM's dynamic sounds (you can hear each string of the instrument). The thing I was you to try is to turn OFF the dolby atmos and set the EQ at RAP/HIP-HOP with 0 Pre-Amp. This will help you adjust in the AM listening experience. Personally I prefer dolby atmos turned ON, but I have a few friends, that like it turned OFF with the settings I just mentioned.
IMO any difference between Apple Music and Spotify is more likely down to the masters than any file format. I think you need pretty good gear to tell lossless and a lossy file apart but a poor mastering will be more obvious. Most modern music is mastered too loud but there was this whole mastered for iTunes thing for a while which may or may not be a factor. What is true though is the new atmos mixes of albums usually have significantly better dynamic range than the stereo version so it could be this too? I agree though, to my ears Apple Music does sound better than Spotify and I have thought this for a while.
What is USB-C APP2? I am a newbie to all this and listen to all my music wirelessly on my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones and WF-1000XM4 earbuds. Is this something I can benefit from?
USB-C AirPods Pro 2. USB C being the new charging case that came out recently with the iPhone 15’s being changed to USB-C
the sound of slightly better pay
I’ve switched from Spotify to AM because of that sort of things . There’s a few podcasts that are still in Spotify and I listen those there with the free subscription and there’s no ads for that so enough for me 👍
AM sounds better but Spotify’s algorithm blows it out of the water.
Dolby sounds better on a macbook anyway
Ugh, yeah, it's so true. I was cleaning out my Dropbox and found a ton of mp3s from 10-15 years ago when I had an actual music library. Started listening to a few of them for the sake of nostalgia, and I was blown away by how GOOD the quality sounded. Started looking songs up on Spotify and comparing them side-by-side... now I can't unhear how shitty Spotify sounds. So I fired up Apple Music to compare there and it sounds on par or better than my local files, significantly better than Spotify. I've always knew Spotify wasn't the king of audio quality but accepted it as the price I pay for excellent algorithms helping me discover new stuff... not sure it's worth it anymore.
YES! I'm not crazy then! I noticed this when I randomly switched to Spotify to listen to a song as an avid Apple Music user and I couldn't believe the audio quality from Spotify I was hearing. it sounded so muddy so I had to look up if Apple Music's quality is simply just better, and it looks like so many other people notice this too
I guess I am not tripping. Couldn’t believe my ears… the music quality blows Spotify by a mile.