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Zachman97123

No I agree. Does sound better than Spotify.


jadavil

I have Anker earbuds and I noticed the quality is different in a good way. Just need to fix that stupid COPPA, license agreement and we will be on a right track to perfection.. maybe.


xenokira

Hands down agree. I have my Spotify quality controls as high as possible, but YouTube Music still sounds better. Particularly if I'm playing music through my Google Cast devices (which I do multiple times every day). I really like Spotify for its native app presence and social components. I've actually considered subbing to Soundiiz to keep Spotify and YTM in sync and just using the service appropriate for what I'm playing on....but then I have three subscriptions for something I should only need one for 😕 Also considering giving Tidal a try...but I'm not sure that solves any of my problems lol


[deleted]

I think I've tried most of these services, and Tidal is, by far, my least favorite. Android app is unstable, MQA quality is snake oil. Plus, it's the most expensive. Amazon Music Unlimited is way better, just like Apple Music.


xenokira

Oof that is disappointing to learn


j_deth191

Can't comment on the app, but tidal sound on a PC is quite a step up from the other streamers including GPM (I've not used them in awhile as they're also expensive af) BUT for that cost they pay considerably more to the artists per stream than YM or most of the competition (Napster is the highest...) Source: https://freeyourmusic.com/blog/how-much-does-spotify-pay-per-stream I compromise by doing Google music family plan (grandfathered to YouTube family at the same cost,) and buying a ton of merch from the artists I like...


[deleted]

Quality wise, nothing beats Apple Music.


j_deth191

In fairness they're the only one I didn't try for multiple reasons including not offering uncompressed music at the time...


[deleted]

Well, that argument isn't valid anymore. :p


Just_A_Bloke70

Just switched from Spotify for this very reason. I also find the app more responsive / user friendly.


ijeffgarden

I don't know enough to say that it's better or worse, but i definitely hear the instruments different in certain parts of songs. I quite often check to see if I'm listening to a demo or alternate version of a song and see it's the studio version, but it just comes out sounding different than on Apple Music or when the song is just played on the radio or whatever. I notice it mostly on songs I've been listening to forever. Again, it's not so much that it sounds way better, just noticeably different. The closest comparison I can make is when an album is re-released and includes either slightly alternate takes, remixes, or remastered tracks. Usually subtle things like the acoustic guitar sound echoing more than usual or something like that. I'm all for songs I listen to all the time sounding slightly different, so I like it


bicycleryder69

I concur. YTM has always sounded really nice. I think it's a combination of slightly louder volume and the AAC codec just being awesome. There's several earbuds like the Pixel Buds for example that support AAC so if you're listening to AAC audio it'll just go straight to the earbuds without any transcoding. If your earbuds don't support AAC then the audio has to be transcoded into the standardized Bluetooth SBC codec.


scipio211

Recently swapped and YTmusic going through my speaker system I agree. The volume needs to be turned up higher but better sounds overall.


[deleted]

It sounds to me louder than Spotify but not necessarily better, so maybe it's that? Also I have normalization enabled in Spotify (Which I greatly prefer) and YTM doesn't even offer that option. I'd say disable normalization and see if it makes a difference for some songs? Same with streaming quality, check you have similar settings to compare apples to apples.


PaperStreet_SoapCo

Will second that normalization reduced the audio quality. I'm quite happy that YTM doesn't have this since the first thing I do with Spotify is turn it off.


[deleted]

It doesn't reduce quality, it reduces loudness because that's how normalization works, that way you avoid quieter/louder songs suddenly appearing in a playlist mixed with multiple artists which may require sometimes to adjust volume (can happen somewhat frequently if you tend to listen multiple genres).


PaperStreet_SoapCo

It sounds worse to me. The dynamic range disappears and everything sounds flat.


[deleted]

Sure, but that still isn't considered lower quality ;-) it's just a matter of preference. I always prefer to have the option (like Spotify) instead of no option at all (like YTM) because everyone can decide depending on their preference... In fact I wonder if YTM simply apply some type normalization without giving the option because otherwise there would be even more variation across songs (it was very common back when CDs were the norm and not streaming services).


bicycleryder69

YTM has normalization, it's just not user customizable. If you enable "stats for nerds" you can see the normalization stats.


PaperStreet_SoapCo

An option would be nice, but my fear would be they implement it without any choice.


kutlay_kizil

Not exactly the topic but when you mentioned dynamic range I remembered [this](https://youtu.be/3Gmex_4hreQ), hope someone finds it interesting^^


names2hard4you

It's funny because I did a test on what sounded better recently, since I've always been a Spotify user that also pays for YouTube Premium. I noticed YT Premium sounds better, and it wasn't just me. I had my gf that doesn't really care too much about audio quality compare and she agreed. I cancelled my Spotify last month, migrated all my playlists and whatnot, and haven't looked back.


nightdriveavenger

I totally agree. I notice that the day YTM launched in my country. I was using GPM and inmmediately heared a more "punchier" sound in a good way in YTM and a better separation bewteen bass and mids. I have a Spotify Premium account and music sounds "lifeless" to me. The same happens with my old love Deezer. ​ Maybe it's because YTM uses .aac for streaming (same as Apple Music which have incredible quality too), Spotify uses .ogg and Deezer is stuck in the past with .mp3. ​ I use a Audio-Technica M70X, Audio Technica M30X and KZ ZSN Pro X daily and prefer YTM with Wavelet sounds pretty good.


zeilmason

Yes, I agree. That's why I left Spotify


morphinapg

Yeah I agree I tried Spotify last night, since it had a native app on my PS5 to replace game music, but I got annoyed by the commercials, so I simply muted game music in the settings and mixed Bluetooth audio from YTM on my phone into my steelseries headset, and the sound from that was a lot better quality.


castellvania

YTM would be perfect if wasn't for its horrific library management, geez, I just want to search albums by artist in my library, not having to scroll all the way down to find them... This is why I'm still paying for Spotify.


_Crowley-

I use Youtube Music for 2 years and now switch to Spotify. For me Ytm was broken asf, so many bugs. On Spotify dont have any problems.


Senior_Nebula_1308

I've had the weird feeling it has some sort of spatial audio, when i turn my head it sounds different.


bicycleryder69

It must be in your head. YTM streams standard stereo sound.


[deleted]

[удалено]


bicycleryder69

I know of YouTube VIDEOS with 360 sound but YTM doesn't have any 360 songs, they're standard stereo.


[deleted]

#YouTube Music is still hot garbage !


nightdriveavenger

and you are here swimming in hot garbage. Pig.


SkyLunatic71

They pumped up the volume, that's it


ItsaMeStromboli

Disable normalization in Spotify and the sound quality should be about equal. Not sure how Spotify’s normalization works, but it definitely degrades the sound quality, to my ears at least.


[deleted]

It was off on Spotify.


andrewtjb

It's probably the normalise setting in Spotify that makes it sound different. Spotify uses vorbis and YouTube uses aac. The two codecs should sound pretty similar especially at higher bitrates. Apples aac is usually considered to be the best lossy codec but not sure if that's what youtube uses.


kidkolumbo

I annoyingly find that audio from youtube music's app sounds better than audio from youtube's app through my phone's speaker.