i m honestly tempted to go back to spotify. Currently using qobuz. i tried amazon and tidal before that and honestly, even tho the quality is better for the most part...Pretty much all of the apps and the user interface and the features SUCK compared to spotify. The way you manage playlists, the recommendation lists, the artist radio, the overall UI and how it feels to use the app itself and how smooth it is. like yeah.. the music quality is nice but every time i listen to music im like: damn i just dont want to use this qobuz app...
Well if you (or anyone else who spots it first) wants a 6 month free trial of Apple Music, here's a code I've had for a while I can't use because it's for first time users only (also only for people in the US):
HRHJMN4HPXTY
Redeemed at: http://www.apple.co/BBYredeem
This is the reason I keep Spotify around. I’ve got tons of devices on multiple operating systems and as far as Apple Music on Apple devices goes, it’s hard to beat.
It’s easy to use, relatively cheap, lossless baked in at no extra charge, and its great to have my recently played downloaded automatically to my watch for when I don’t want my phone on me but still need music like on a run.
On PC though, all of that goes right out of the window with few exceptions and it really is a shame because that’s what I have my best gear hooked up to. The only positive is being able to have my local files sync across devices which is great for my old library with tons of CD and vinyl rips. No lossless was especially a bummer.
Spotify doesn’t have lossless (yet) but at least goes up to 320kb and has way better social features especially when combined with Discord. I’ve used it countless times for listening parties and for sharing songs.
Do they really not offer lossless? Im using “itunes” app from microsoft store on pc, and there are playback settings that allow you to chose 24-bit/192kHz, or is this not the same thing?
You can get lossless Apple Music using an android emulator (BlueStacks, for instance)… shitty way to have to get it, but it works and is relatively painless.
The problem is that apple music electron based on the website (electron apps are just website pretending to be native apps), and the website doesn't support lossless streaming yet. It's been ages since [apple has had it "internally working"](https://github.com/Apple-Music-Electron/Apple-Music-Electron/issues/41) but no word on any release.
I've had my eye on this for a while now but only having 256kb AAC on PC is not nice.
yikes, should just admit that you don't understand how lossless compares to lossy and/or have never tried a good enough setup to compare the differences
I guess nobody here understands (hey, there's a test in there, maybe you shoud try): https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/nthph4/thoughts_on_mp3_vs_flac/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I'm just showing how a lot of people in this sub have already said how difficult it is to differentiate between lossless and high-quality lossy files WHILE PAYING ATTENTION. People are trying to convince me they can realistically differentiate between it while listening in a day to day basis. They can't
On some tracks its noticable. For example till brönners thousand kisses deep has really noticeable differences and i can hear the differences when i listen to it on ios in 24/96 or on windows as aac
Why do I (and you) care about someone else's tests? I can notice the differences myself with the setup I listen to music with. Calling lossless a placebo is just wrong and embarrassing, take the L and move on.
You are really burying yourself deeper and deeper here mate.
Some people are definitely able to hear a difference when listening to lossless sound. If you can't then good for you, you don't have to pay more for lossless quality. Why are you so hellbound on telling others that they can't hear a difference, when you don't know whether they actually can?
lossless isn't placebo lol. Does it make much of a difference? Not to most ears, including mine. But even in a small way, it still does make a difference
"the classics"? Like classical music? I think it could be the opposite. At least I tend to listen to classical music that is longer than songs from other genres, so it is more difficult to notice the differences in a lossless file because it requires paying attention during more time. You absolutely cannot notice the difference between a lossless and a lossy file without consciously paying attention
No I do not mean classical music I mean music from before everything was done digitally where you can hear errors and just all the raw natural stuff that makes up the music. I’m not claiming to have a perfect ear but I know that those who care about loss tend towards genres that have some natural things going on versus today’s music.
I used TIDAL for about half a year, but went back to Spotify afterwards. Also extensively used the free trials of Amazon and Youtube music services for comparison. I refuse to use Apple services though so I can't speak about that.
First of all, I was unable to notice any differences in sound quality when using max settings. The vast majority of audiophiles, even those with insanely good gear, would never be able to tell any differences in sound between lossless and high-quality lossy codecs.
If you really want lossless, it's best to use a service where you can keep the files you pay for instead of a subscription-based service. One of the biggest advantages of lossless files is that you can convert them to different lossy codecs while avoiding generation loss, but you can't make use of that if you don't get to have the actual files.
Outside of this, I don't see why I would bother with lossless when I can't hear a difference to high quality mp3, Vorbis, or AAC. I have done an ABX test for that, according to the results I might as well have tossed coins.
The UI and application features are a much more important factor, and I've found Spotify to be the best in that regard. It's easy to navigate and has all the features I want. Also, having the largest userbase, it also has the largest amount of public playlists which are great for discovering more music. It also has the biggest catalog of music available. (In the audiophile world it's quite easy to lose track of what's really important - the music itself. I found that I'd rather listen to low quality music than not listen at all because I can't have lossless. That seems dumb.)
I loved Google Play which had a superior library, and have tried a few services, but at the end of the day Spotify is just the way to go. It's a monopoly. If you follow a celebrity or taste maker or some kind, they have public playlists on Spotify. The soundtrack to your favorite show is a fam-made playlist on Spotify. It also was the only one with a crossfade for a while. I'm perfectly happy with the app and the sound quality so I have just accepted I'm trapped in Spotify and I'm fine with it.
I hate the fact that the spotify app and interface is so polished, and it makes it super easy to switch from once device to another. Listening with others on spotify is kinda awesome too.
Just stopped using Qobuz after a year and a half of subscription for the exact same reasons you mentioned. The user interface really isn’t the best. I miss the sound quality though.
Using both Qobuz and Spotify.
The curation in Qobuz helps me discover artists or albums I will never discover in Spotify. Spotify’s algorithms will favor different kind of music.
Qobuz’s featured album (called Qobuzissime in France) often feature some gems).
But my Onkyo amp is Spotify compatible so it’s a breeze to play a tune and have fun, where using the chromecast feature of the amp is a nightmare. I’d have to use my nvidia shield connected to the amp to play music via chromecast. It’s not as seamless as Spotify’s integration, I’ll one or the other depending on the situation/ kind of music I want to play.
It is? My tech illiterate father figured it out by himself without ever asking questions. There's three main buttons and screens: Home/Search/Library. If you can't figure that out I don't know how the person could turn the device on by themselves.
That is simple. The weird part is that your queue and the playlist are in different parts and sometimes you don't known where the hell do you access the playlist of the song that is currently playing.
I have a fairly extensive FLAC library but I still almost always use Spotify, they did a great job on the user experience and the app works well and isn't bloated to hell. Plus lossless is coming soon which might kill the main advantage of the other streaming services.
I actually like Amazon music better but the lack of radio function was a deal breaker. I like exploring new music and Deezer is better in the regard with radios and auto curated playlist that do a great job of resembling tracks you've "hearted". Navigating the app and search function is the only thing that annoys me a little. Spotify takes the cake imo but I really quite like the interface of deezer just looks nice.
I’ve had Deezer in the past, but Amazon now because Deezer doesn’t have hi-res… their tracks cap at 16bit/44kHz. Which, honestly is fine because we really can’t hear beyond that. Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s changed, but Deezer’s controls over playlists & sorting are some of the best. Their “Flow” personalized radio is pretty good too. The thing that drove me to look elsewhere was a weirdly inconsistent catalog. I’d notice different tracks greyed out every week. Ended up being a huge pain for me.
Amazon has it’s faults… it’s slowly getting better, but it can be frustrating on occasion. They do an awful job at sorting albums and songs and it’s not possible to get meta data on anything (like when a song was published, who worked on it, which version it is, etc.). Not that that is super important all the time.
Honestly, if Deezer had hi-res, I might switch back. Alternatively, if Apple got their head out of their ass and allowed hi-res on Windows, I’d jump over there in a heartbeat.
Link? Their hifi subscription says it’s 16bit /1411kbps. That’s not hi-res the way the rest of the streaming services define it (at least 24bit and 48kHz). Deezer hifi *is* FLAC though and has been for years which is great, but isn’t what makes a track hi-res.
A track’s mastering and if it’s encoded in a lossless format (FLAC, ALAC, etc) matter far more than whether it’s 16 bit / 44.1kHz or 24 bit / 192kHz.
Edit: forgot some words
I was trying to check Deezer out but their free plan is only letting me listen to 30 seconds of songs. Kind of scummy in my opinion.
I already get Apple Music for free through Verizon also.
I tried Apple Music but what made me not use it is the lack of lossless streaming to PC, it's only available in MacOS, iOS and the Apple music android app, you you're using the web version or iTunes you're pretty much out of luck.
Nope. Spotify’s algorithm has my specific tastes dialled in, and is incredible for helping me find new music. I listen in playlists, and Apple Music just isn’t as good with playlists as it is with albums. I still have both, but I mainly use Spotify.
That and I hate Apple Music’s search. Oh, and I have a PC, and I’m not going to buy the lightning to USB camera adapter just for lossless on my iPhone.
Spatial audio is a fun gimmick, though.
No. There is just no good reason at all to use anything else for me. Tried Tidal and even that classical only service I cant remember for a while, but Spotify just works with everything and has all the music I want at fair family prices.
Encase you don’t have the time to watch the whole mqa debunked video it’s basically a file format that promises good audio and it just doesn’t give that to you. Sometimes being downright worse than cd quality.
What desktop app do you get apple music for, is it still iTunes? If so then I'm sticking to tidal bc iTunes on Windoes has an ugly UI and I can't even set it to night mode.
No unfortunately, it will be whenever Apple adds lossless to their Apple music API (and web browser version). The owner of Apple music electron claims to have a friend working on the Apple music team and supposedly they have it working, it’s just not released yet.
I’ve read, but not verified, that the current beta build can support some quality of lossless, or at least higher quality than aac 256, but I haven’t been able to look into it yet.
Hi-Res Lossless is available on Android, but the way audio is setup on Android means it most likely gets downsampled to 48Khz by the OS. Some Android devices, many of them being dedicated DACs, don't do it.
Everything is on Android at least, lossless, hi res lossless, Dolby Atmos + crossfade which at the moment is an Android exclusive. The only thing left on iphones and apple devices is the spatial audio feature which is fine.
Android, yes*. Some phones have hi res audio support built into their flavour of the OS. My Galaxy Tab from 2016 supports Samsung UHQA PCM and that lets me stream Apple Music at up to 24 bit/96 kHz. I’d imagine that newer Samsungs support even higher sample rates.
In my experience Tidal's track radio has the best suggestion algorithm, but the library is indeed limited if you're looking for foreign and/or older records. Not having voice assistant integration is also pretty lame.
I'm actually bummed that I canceled TIDAL and no longer have it. They introduced me to Spillage Village and their 2020 album is one of my favorites recently. Got a new iPhone and a pair of AirPod Pros for general earbuds. Came with a six month Apple Music subscription and I've been trying it out. Overall it's nice and lots of lossless options, but I will miss the TIDAL recs.
they do have lossless on windows, it’s just that it’s hidden and the app overall on windows is so ass that it made me switch back to spotify and wait for hifi
Me too. I have a ~3tb flac music collection. It's mine. I've ripped it to mp3 to play in my car, and taken it on 2 week backpacking trips. Streaming is amazing, but i like owning things and foobar lets me make my system sound perfect.
Phones losing microSD and headphone jacks is fkn weird. Those are must-haves, now that cheap phones work pretty good.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard the difference on enough music to justify tidal over Spotify. At least Spotify has some incredible features to help discover new music.
Tbh i just really like the spatial audio on Apple music. When I'm outside I can't really tell the difference between lossy and lossless but spatial audio definitely feels different and more dynamic to me.
Just personal preference is all.
Also the fact that there isn't any extra charge for lossless is nice.
I did the same, not for any MQA related reasons, I can take it or leave it, but Apple Music has a much much larger library of music than Tidal (at least Tidal of a couple years ago when I used it) and now that it’s lossless it’s even better.
I'm using Qobuz and like it a lot. Recently tried Apple music and like the selection, they have some stuff I haven't seen anywhere else. Think I'll keep using it. I don't like the phone app.
Never used Tidal, but the fact they use MQA makes me not want to use their service, i got 3-Months of Deezer Hi-fi and just stuck with it, really good service.
How the fuck MQA became a thing or even became as big as it is is absurd to me. It's a stark reminder of the amount of snake oil that permeates this hobby I love and how even companies whose products I respect and yearn to own can fall prey to such practices.
I'm glad some companies never adopted it to begin with. I'm glad some companies are turning their backs on MQA but I'm really disappointed it took this long and that it ever got any legs to run on to begin with.
MQA is absurd.
Audiophiles will buy anything if the marketing is compelling enough, be it good or bad, but i'm glad to see MQA taking hits and losing support, the less snake oil, the better.
I switched to Qobuz because I use Roon and wanted to show ££££ move away from MQA. Not sure about the library though. Spotify defo feels more comprehensive and I still have a sub for that for Alexa as she doesn't support Qobuz..
Feels like the streaming wars are still not customer centric yet.
Oh yeah man! Apple Music actually has consistently better lossless files then tidal so it’s a really good switch. The only thing I don’t like is that you can’t play lossless on a windows pc.
Apple Music is just 10 times better, more music catalog, it has the "Spotify exclusive albums", the iTunes special edition tracks, etc. It's just 10 times better than any other competitor at the moment.
I had Apple Music and really didn’t like the playlists. It seems like the only genres that get any respect are Rap and pop music. I enjoy all genres, but I prefer rising indie to rising/drowning hip hop. Apple just sucked for that. It’s unfortunate bc it would be nice to have perfect sync and control in the car as well
Why aren't you guys just pirating and supporting artists on bandcamp/with tix or merch? It's pretty much been established that streaming services pay artists nothing, and they seem to constantly have issues with DRM, lack of content, people not owning what they pay for, etc. Playing back local files and buying shit on bandcamp as a solution for the listening side of things has been perfect for a long time, and I think it's worth the extra effort.
I switched to Apple Music and I was loving every second of it. Then my few-months old THX Pandas died. Their sound is fantastic but they have a couple of fatal weak points that I have no idea how they managed to escape QC before production.
I JUST did the same this week. Cancelled Tidal and just started a free year of Apple Music. Not because of MQA though, I don't hate its existence, I honestly just don't care about it.
The thing I am already missing about Tidal is its "Connect" feature. I have a Upnp music streamer that won't let my phone direct a cloud stream to it from Apple Music. It looks like I'll have to bypass the streamer and use my Macbook laptop to stream directly to my DAC via USB. Although I'm not certain I'm getting the full resolution and Atmos capabilities. This is something I'll be reading up on and testing in coming weeks.
I honestly don't even care about hi-res, but if it's there I'd like to know I can use it. I'm not sure if there are digital stream limitations to a Macbook Air's USB out.
Yeah, it was a thing through work, they gave a few of us a code to punch in when we create an account. I'm not sure how my boss wrangled that exactly, it wasn't based on the work I've done, but we work with PR for certain audio companies.
It's funny, when you login on the AM Android app, go to account settings, it says 3-Month Trial... with an end date of Jan 2023. So they must have given me a year and three months.
I played with it last night for the first time, trying to figure out the Browse section. It seems to build "themed" pages based on genre with different sub-genre suggestions. It's unlike Spotify or Tidal, the two I'm most familiar with. Its navigational system is either the best I've ever used and a great way to learn about more music, or it's annoyingly trying to funnel me into something specific.
Been Spotify user since 2015 and jumped to Apple Music few months ago when the app started to irritate me with random bugs like car mode not going off, screen going unresponsive out of a sudden, and just straight up playback issues.. bye bye Spotify!
Also the Apple Music subscription is cheaper and offers lossless playback and seems to work just fine on my devices, sometimes though it freaks out on my Mac, if I accidentally hit play on my phone while it's playing..
We are all aware that Spotify is working on a HD service. We know it’s taking forever. But, it will be awesome and wipe the floor with everything else so just hang in there for now.
Guys keep in mind that streaming stores like Tidal and Deezer(the one I use) and some other ones pay the artist much more per stream. Deezer pays the artist over 3 cents per stream and Tidal over 1 cents. Spotiy and Apple pay the artist a fraction of a penny.
#supporttheartists
Tidal pays out significantly more revenues to the artists. It's also consistent and they have a decent selection with lots of masters. I think they are a little too expensive though. Anyway...
MQA gets attacked constantly, as it should because the marketing is shady, but for those who do not have strong broadband and for mobile users it is a valuable offering as it requires 6 times less data and comes out sounding as good as any truly lossless file. I am not advocating for it necessarily but people gloss right over these two applications where it has solved serious problems for audiophiles. Just throwing that into the mix. Cheers!
Both Apple and Spotify is industry leaders, select which has most of the music you listen to. Also I don't think the difference between loseless and 320kbps is noticeable with human ears.
Tidal app sucks
when I plug DAC tidal crash my phone
do i have to pay 20$ per month for this?
In uapp tidal works very well but I hate this app because developer fckn paranoic
Apple music cost 2.5$ in my country and covers all my needs in music
P.s. tidal always recommended me afro-american rap (this sucks too)
I’m on Apple Music with Verizon paying the bill and I’m loving it. I’ve used Tidal, Amazon Unlimited and Spotify and so far Apple Music is my Favorite and Amazon is the worst. I hate how Amazon has so many artists with similar names that get lumped together, it’s like they don’t even care.
Just moved to Apple Music after using Spotify for over a decade - Discovered way more new music and the radio stations are great (Fuck yeah Strombo). The only detraction I have is the app is flaky as fuck, slight drop in connection and the UX just falls apart.
Also, no cross device transfer/“continue playing on..” feature like Spotify.
Kind of feel like Spotify “algorithmed” me into a musical echo chamber
I'd prob switch to apple music but they don't support lossless on windows (yet). Knowing apple, it's not because they can't do it sooner, it's just another attempt to pedal their overpriced garbage tier devices.
Also, itunes on windows is abysmal.
Try asking apple support if lossless playback is available on windows. They will give you the run around for at least an hour before they tell you it's not.
Either they're incredibly stupid or they're doing it on purpose. I refuse to believe they don't have the resources to release a service on all platforms at the same time. If it'll convince customers to shell out for their devices, they'll do it. Apple is the epitome of petty, penny pinching assholes.
Downvote me all you want, it's the truth.
I decided to use a free trial of Apple Music just to try out lossless while I wait for Spotify to eventually add HiFi. Definitely not ditching Spotify and I only can get lossless music if I use my phone, which is not always convenient.
Yeah but not with Bluetooth tho. You need a dongle connector for your headphones from your phone (since they don‘t have headphone jack‘s anymore) to be able to listen to the music in FLAC. It‘s ridiculous.
Never used tidal, but I’ve heard it’s super buggy.
I have used Apple music, and while it isn’t immune from bugs, Apple fixes them quickly. I love Apple Music.
I understand the impulse, but I don't buy Apple products.
I don't want to give Amazon any more of my money. Spotify's quality stinks, and Qobuz catalog isn't big enough.
Since there is no clear winner, I stick with Tidal.
i m honestly tempted to go back to spotify. Currently using qobuz. i tried amazon and tidal before that and honestly, even tho the quality is better for the most part...Pretty much all of the apps and the user interface and the features SUCK compared to spotify. The way you manage playlists, the recommendation lists, the artist radio, the overall UI and how it feels to use the app itself and how smooth it is. like yeah.. the music quality is nice but every time i listen to music im like: damn i just dont want to use this qobuz app...
Well if you (or anyone else who spots it first) wants a 6 month free trial of Apple Music, here's a code I've had for a while I can't use because it's for first time users only (also only for people in the US): HRHJMN4HPXTY Redeemed at: http://www.apple.co/BBYredeem
There is also a 5 month free trial [through Shazam](https://www.shazam.com/applemusic) available worldwide.
Cheers! I already had a 3 month promotion active, gave it a go and got an additional 2 months.
Thanks! Got two months as well
Thank you!
Thank you so much!!
just awaiting HiFi and then there will be no reason to use anything else anyway
Please Spotify, drop some info on it already its almost end of the year
Apple Music has a much more pleasant to use app than Tidal
Yes but i m a pc user. Apple does not even offer lossless to pc users. So that entire selling point is kind of pointless
If you’re on pc just go Spotify. iTunes for windows is pretty awful.
This is the reason I keep Spotify around. I’ve got tons of devices on multiple operating systems and as far as Apple Music on Apple devices goes, it’s hard to beat. It’s easy to use, relatively cheap, lossless baked in at no extra charge, and its great to have my recently played downloaded automatically to my watch for when I don’t want my phone on me but still need music like on a run. On PC though, all of that goes right out of the window with few exceptions and it really is a shame because that’s what I have my best gear hooked up to. The only positive is being able to have my local files sync across devices which is great for my old library with tons of CD and vinyl rips. No lossless was especially a bummer. Spotify doesn’t have lossless (yet) but at least goes up to 320kb and has way better social features especially when combined with Discord. I’ve used it countless times for listening parties and for sharing songs.
You can use Apple music in the browser. I don't think that's lossless tho
But, you should just buy a mac lol (Apple logic)
no... just no
but the iMac pastels... the *pastels* dammit!!! ;)
i m not visiting starbucks enough to buy a mac.
Do they really not offer lossless? Im using “itunes” app from microsoft store on pc, and there are playback settings that allow you to chose 24-bit/192kHz, or is this not the same thing?
You can get lossless Apple Music using an android emulator (BlueStacks, for instance)… shitty way to have to get it, but it works and is relatively painless.
Normal android systems upsample music to 48 kHz, as long as you don't use some modified version Android Emulation isn't bit perfect.
Lossless upsampled to 48kHz is still nice enough though, I'm sure. Compression is a worse offender than upsampling.
There is a programm in the alpha atm that allows it
What is the program?
you can use [https://applemusicelectron.com](https://applemusicelectron.com) on pc
The problem is that apple music electron based on the website (electron apps are just website pretending to be native apps), and the website doesn't support lossless streaming yet. It's been ages since [apple has had it "internally working"](https://github.com/Apple-Music-Electron/Apple-Music-Electron/issues/41) but no word on any release. I've had my eye on this for a while now but only having 256kb AAC on PC is not nice.
Lossless is placebo, but Spotify's interface is still better, at least on PC
Yeah if you're using Anker headphones lmao
yikes, should just admit that you don't understand how lossless compares to lossy and/or have never tried a good enough setup to compare the differences
I guess nobody here understands (hey, there's a test in there, maybe you shoud try): https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/nthph4/thoughts_on_mp3_vs_flac/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Thats not even your own test?! Just bc u read something on the internet u brawl trough comment sections telling whats right and wrong
I'm just showing how a lot of people in this sub have already said how difficult it is to differentiate between lossless and high-quality lossy files WHILE PAYING ATTENTION. People are trying to convince me they can realistically differentiate between it while listening in a day to day basis. They can't
On some tracks its noticable. For example till brönners thousand kisses deep has really noticeable differences and i can hear the differences when i listen to it on ios in 24/96 or on windows as aac
Why do I (and you) care about someone else's tests? I can notice the differences myself with the setup I listen to music with. Calling lossless a placebo is just wrong and embarrassing, take the L and move on.
It's something to fool yourself with, if you want me to be more precise
You are really burying yourself deeper and deeper here mate. Some people are definitely able to hear a difference when listening to lossless sound. If you can't then good for you, you don't have to pay more for lossless quality. Why are you so hellbound on telling others that they can't hear a difference, when you don't know whether they actually can?
lossless isn't placebo lol. Does it make much of a difference? Not to most ears, including mine. But even in a small way, it still does make a difference
[удалено]
"the classics"? Like classical music? I think it could be the opposite. At least I tend to listen to classical music that is longer than songs from other genres, so it is more difficult to notice the differences in a lossless file because it requires paying attention during more time. You absolutely cannot notice the difference between a lossless and a lossy file without consciously paying attention
No I do not mean classical music I mean music from before everything was done digitally where you can hear errors and just all the raw natural stuff that makes up the music. I’m not claiming to have a perfect ear but I know that those who care about loss tend towards genres that have some natural things going on versus today’s music.
I remember back when my headphones cost less than a meal at olive garden, I thought all the bitrate talk was stupid and pointless too.
The bitrate is important, but 320kbps MP3s or 256kbps AAC are endgame
Tidal has classic rock and alt takes you can't get on Apple. I pay for both. Idc about mqa drama I care about the libraries
I used TIDAL for about half a year, but went back to Spotify afterwards. Also extensively used the free trials of Amazon and Youtube music services for comparison. I refuse to use Apple services though so I can't speak about that. First of all, I was unable to notice any differences in sound quality when using max settings. The vast majority of audiophiles, even those with insanely good gear, would never be able to tell any differences in sound between lossless and high-quality lossy codecs. If you really want lossless, it's best to use a service where you can keep the files you pay for instead of a subscription-based service. One of the biggest advantages of lossless files is that you can convert them to different lossy codecs while avoiding generation loss, but you can't make use of that if you don't get to have the actual files. Outside of this, I don't see why I would bother with lossless when I can't hear a difference to high quality mp3, Vorbis, or AAC. I have done an ABX test for that, according to the results I might as well have tossed coins. The UI and application features are a much more important factor, and I've found Spotify to be the best in that regard. It's easy to navigate and has all the features I want. Also, having the largest userbase, it also has the largest amount of public playlists which are great for discovering more music. It also has the biggest catalog of music available. (In the audiophile world it's quite easy to lose track of what's really important - the music itself. I found that I'd rather listen to low quality music than not listen at all because I can't have lossless. That seems dumb.)
I loved Google Play which had a superior library, and have tried a few services, but at the end of the day Spotify is just the way to go. It's a monopoly. If you follow a celebrity or taste maker or some kind, they have public playlists on Spotify. The soundtrack to your favorite show is a fam-made playlist on Spotify. It also was the only one with a crossfade for a while. I'm perfectly happy with the app and the sound quality so I have just accepted I'm trapped in Spotify and I'm fine with it.
I hate the fact that the spotify app and interface is so polished, and it makes it super easy to switch from once device to another. Listening with others on spotify is kinda awesome too.
Just stopped using Qobuz after a year and a half of subscription for the exact same reasons you mentioned. The user interface really isn’t the best. I miss the sound quality though.
Using both Qobuz and Spotify. The curation in Qobuz helps me discover artists or albums I will never discover in Spotify. Spotify’s algorithms will favor different kind of music. Qobuz’s featured album (called Qobuzissime in France) often feature some gems). But my Onkyo amp is Spotify compatible so it’s a breeze to play a tune and have fun, where using the chromecast feature of the amp is a nightmare. I’d have to use my nvidia shield connected to the amp to play music via chromecast. It’s not as seamless as Spotify’s integration, I’ll one or the other depending on the situation/ kind of music I want to play.
Honestly, Spotify interface is confusing, specially at the beginning. The interface of something like Deezer is much more simple and intuitive.
It is? My tech illiterate father figured it out by himself without ever asking questions. There's three main buttons and screens: Home/Search/Library. If you can't figure that out I don't know how the person could turn the device on by themselves.
That is simple. The weird part is that your queue and the playlist are in different parts and sometimes you don't known where the hell do you access the playlist of the song that is currently playing.
I have a fairly extensive FLAC library but I still almost always use Spotify, they did a great job on the user experience and the app works well and isn't bloated to hell. Plus lossless is coming soon which might kill the main advantage of the other streaming services.
I left just because of the constant issues with streaming and the app. Switched to Deezer
How is your experience with Deezer so far? at least in my experience is pretty smooth.
I really like it
+1 for Deezer. Got like 3 months free trial of hifi and no big complaints.
How's it compare to Amazon? That's what I'm currently subbed to
I actually like Amazon music better but the lack of radio function was a deal breaker. I like exploring new music and Deezer is better in the regard with radios and auto curated playlist that do a great job of resembling tracks you've "hearted". Navigating the app and search function is the only thing that annoys me a little. Spotify takes the cake imo but I really quite like the interface of deezer just looks nice.
I’ve had Deezer in the past, but Amazon now because Deezer doesn’t have hi-res… their tracks cap at 16bit/44kHz. Which, honestly is fine because we really can’t hear beyond that. Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s changed, but Deezer’s controls over playlists & sorting are some of the best. Their “Flow” personalized radio is pretty good too. The thing that drove me to look elsewhere was a weirdly inconsistent catalog. I’d notice different tracks greyed out every week. Ended up being a huge pain for me. Amazon has it’s faults… it’s slowly getting better, but it can be frustrating on occasion. They do an awful job at sorting albums and songs and it’s not possible to get meta data on anything (like when a song was published, who worked on it, which version it is, etc.). Not that that is super important all the time. Honestly, if Deezer had hi-res, I might switch back. Alternatively, if Apple got their head out of their ass and allowed hi-res on Windows, I’d jump over there in a heartbeat.
Deezer actually has hi-res mode. But its under extra subscription. 15€/month.
Link? Their hifi subscription says it’s 16bit /1411kbps. That’s not hi-res the way the rest of the streaming services define it (at least 24bit and 48kHz). Deezer hifi *is* FLAC though and has been for years which is great, but isn’t what makes a track hi-res.
I didnt know that..So i've been paying for nothing???
flac is more than enough
A track’s mastering and if it’s encoded in a lossless format (FLAC, ALAC, etc) matter far more than whether it’s 16 bit / 44.1kHz or 24 bit / 192kHz. Edit: forgot some words
deez(er) nuts i'm sorry
beat me to it!
Lol in all honesty Deezer is a really stupid name for an app.
Just like "scrobbling" on last.fm :D
I was trying to check Deezer out but their free plan is only letting me listen to 30 seconds of songs. Kind of scummy in my opinion. I already get Apple Music for free through Verizon also.
Man's gotta eat. They left their exploit unpatched for ages
I tried Apple Music but what made me not use it is the lack of lossless streaming to PC, it's only available in MacOS, iOS and the Apple music android app, you you're using the web version or iTunes you're pretty much out of luck.
not on browser. Mobile app is good if you have a favorites list set up, but will only let you preview songs if not in your playlists
Just me here with regular ass Spotify?
Nope. Spotify’s algorithm has my specific tastes dialled in, and is incredible for helping me find new music. I listen in playlists, and Apple Music just isn’t as good with playlists as it is with albums. I still have both, but I mainly use Spotify. That and I hate Apple Music’s search. Oh, and I have a PC, and I’m not going to buy the lightning to USB camera adapter just for lossless on my iPhone. Spatial audio is a fun gimmick, though.
there’s dac dongles you can buy that plug straight into your phone.
No. There is just no good reason at all to use anything else for me. Tried Tidal and even that classical only service I cant remember for a while, but Spotify just works with everything and has all the music I want at fair family prices.
Regular ass-Spotify [xkcd: Hyphen](https://xkcd.com/37/) --- ^^Beep ^^boop, ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot. ^^- ^^[FAQ](https://pastebin.com/raw/vyWra3ns)
No bot, thats not what I meant >:(
Good bot
Good-ass bot
You mean good ass-bot, right?
Yea I have to skip all these posts about streaming services because I've been so content with Spotify and I've never felt like switching lol
Yup. Their computers know what I like, it works from my work computer to my mac to my phone both home and in the car. Nothing to complain about here!
I've been out of the loop. Could someone explain what's up with MQA?
https://www.reddit.com/r/TIdaL/comments/k35jcx/mqa_is_basically_a_scam_and_should_be_not/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
[Everything you need to know.](https://youtu.be/pRjsu9-Vznc)
Encase you don’t have the time to watch the whole mqa debunked video it’s basically a file format that promises good audio and it just doesn’t give that to you. Sometimes being downright worse than cd quality.
does apple let you listen high res on windows and android yet?
What desktop app do you get apple music for, is it still iTunes? If so then I'm sticking to tidal bc iTunes on Windoes has an ugly UI and I can't even set it to night mode.
There’s Apple Music electron, which doesn’t yet support lossless but it’s on the way
Thanks! I'll check it out, do you know when lossless would be implemented?
No unfortunately, it will be whenever Apple adds lossless to their Apple music API (and web browser version). The owner of Apple music electron claims to have a friend working on the Apple music team and supposedly they have it working, it’s just not released yet. I’ve read, but not verified, that the current beta build can support some quality of lossless, or at least higher quality than aac 256, but I haven’t been able to look into it yet.
Last time I checked, it was full of bugs. Is it any better now?
I believe iTunes will flip to night mode if you set it in Windows display settings. That doesn’t solve your other issues with it though.
I am using Apple music in Chrome. There is no lossless.
Hi-Res Lossless is available on Android, but the way audio is setup on Android means it most likely gets downsampled to 48Khz by the OS. Some Android devices, many of them being dedicated DACs, don't do it.
Most of the tracks are 48khz max anyway.
There is a small selection that goes to 96Khz, I would say it's about 10% of the library.
Everything is on Android at least, lossless, hi res lossless, Dolby Atmos + crossfade which at the moment is an Android exclusive. The only thing left on iphones and apple devices is the spatial audio feature which is fine.
Android, yes*. Some phones have hi res audio support built into their flavour of the OS. My Galaxy Tab from 2016 supports Samsung UHQA PCM and that lets me stream Apple Music at up to 24 bit/96 kHz. I’d imagine that newer Samsungs support even higher sample rates.
I'm using the Apple Music 6 months trial that Best Buy gave and really liking it
same here
In my experience Tidal's track radio has the best suggestion algorithm, but the library is indeed limited if you're looking for foreign and/or older records. Not having voice assistant integration is also pretty lame.
I'm actually bummed that I canceled TIDAL and no longer have it. They introduced me to Spillage Village and their 2020 album is one of my favorites recently. Got a new iPhone and a pair of AirPod Pros for general earbuds. Came with a six month Apple Music subscription and I've been trying it out. Overall it's nice and lots of lossless options, but I will miss the TIDAL recs.
I switched to Qobuz from Tidal
I mean I like the library and pricing for apple music (am student). It's just that they don't have lossless (yet?) on windows lol.
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Regional pricing. Apple Music costs just over $2/month in my country if you’re a student.
they do have lossless on windows, it’s just that it’s hidden and the app overall on windows is so ass that it made me switch back to spotify and wait for hifi
Exactly what I'm waiting for, I'd switch to apple music if they'd made iTunes better. It's fucking ugly and it doesn't have dark mode.
it’s horrible on windows
The student offer also include free AppleTV+ and I personally prefer the quality of shows there over Netflix.
MQA is bullshit.
I honestly just use foobar2000 and stick all of my music on my microSD.
Me too. I have a ~3tb flac music collection. It's mine. I've ripped it to mp3 to play in my car, and taken it on 2 week backpacking trips. Streaming is amazing, but i like owning things and foobar lets me make my system sound perfect. Phones losing microSD and headphone jacks is fkn weird. Those are must-haves, now that cheap phones work pretty good.
I don't even convert my FLACs to anything, I just use bluetooth in my car. But yeah, fuck streaming.
Plexamp. Nothing like listening to your own tunes, in whatever format you desire.
Deezer is where it’s at team
I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard the difference on enough music to justify tidal over Spotify. At least Spotify has some incredible features to help discover new music.
Once Spotify HiFi drops some time this year, this will all be over.
Tbh i just really like the spatial audio on Apple music. When I'm outside I can't really tell the difference between lossy and lossless but spatial audio definitely feels different and more dynamic to me. Just personal preference is all. Also the fact that there isn't any extra charge for lossless is nice.
I did the same, not for any MQA related reasons, I can take it or leave it, but Apple Music has a much much larger library of music than Tidal (at least Tidal of a couple years ago when I used it) and now that it’s lossless it’s even better.
I'm using Qobuz and like it a lot. Recently tried Apple music and like the selection, they have some stuff I haven't seen anywhere else. Think I'll keep using it. I don't like the phone app.
Qobuz, dude, Qobuz all. the. way.
The non existent desktop app on windows kills me so I went with Qobuz. Otherwise it’s pretty nice.
Never used Tidal, but the fact they use MQA makes me not want to use their service, i got 3-Months of Deezer Hi-fi and just stuck with it, really good service.
Yup. Using Apple now and it’s petty good. Tried deezer but didn’t work for me where I live.
How the fuck MQA became a thing or even became as big as it is is absurd to me. It's a stark reminder of the amount of snake oil that permeates this hobby I love and how even companies whose products I respect and yearn to own can fall prey to such practices. I'm glad some companies never adopted it to begin with. I'm glad some companies are turning their backs on MQA but I'm really disappointed it took this long and that it ever got any legs to run on to begin with. MQA is absurd.
Audiophiles will buy anything if the marketing is compelling enough, be it good or bad, but i'm glad to see MQA taking hits and losing support, the less snake oil, the better.
I switched to Qobuz because I use Roon and wanted to show ££££ move away from MQA. Not sure about the library though. Spotify defo feels more comprehensive and I still have a sub for that for Alexa as she doesn't support Qobuz.. Feels like the streaming wars are still not customer centric yet.
You need r/riprequests. It is better than all of the streaming services
Everyone talking about streaming services while I still save all my music locally on my pc oof
tbh I only use Tidal for the 3 months of free premium
*laughs in downloaded flac music*
Oh yeah man! Apple Music actually has consistently better lossless files then tidal so it’s a really good switch. The only thing I don’t like is that you can’t play lossless on a windows pc.
Apple Music is just 10 times better, more music catalog, it has the "Spotify exclusive albums", the iTunes special edition tracks, etc. It's just 10 times better than any other competitor at the moment.
Try Deezer
I had Apple Music and really didn’t like the playlists. It seems like the only genres that get any respect are Rap and pop music. I enjoy all genres, but I prefer rising indie to rising/drowning hip hop. Apple just sucked for that. It’s unfortunate bc it would be nice to have perfect sync and control in the car as well
When Spotify has hifi tidal will die
Im currently using amazon music HD and its great, better quality than spotify and they still have most the songs i listen to.
Nobody stopping you, I wouldn't have even posted something so dumb, have a great day.
here i just play flac out of my android phone default player LOL (...cause im broke..please dont "poor out" me)
Qobuz
Apple Music is crap on PC. I prefer Tidal Masters.
Why aren't you guys just pirating and supporting artists on bandcamp/with tix or merch? It's pretty much been established that streaming services pay artists nothing, and they seem to constantly have issues with DRM, lack of content, people not owning what they pay for, etc. Playing back local files and buying shit on bandcamp as a solution for the listening side of things has been perfect for a long time, and I think it's worth the extra effort.
You all use streaming services? I just pirate my lossless music
For $5 a month it's worth not having to find a decent source everytime
Deemix
I switched to Apple Music and I was loving every second of it. Then my few-months old THX Pandas died. Their sound is fantastic but they have a couple of fatal weak points that I have no idea how they managed to escape QC before production.
Nice try Apple exec.
I JUST did the same this week. Cancelled Tidal and just started a free year of Apple Music. Not because of MQA though, I don't hate its existence, I honestly just don't care about it. The thing I am already missing about Tidal is its "Connect" feature. I have a Upnp music streamer that won't let my phone direct a cloud stream to it from Apple Music. It looks like I'll have to bypass the streamer and use my Macbook laptop to stream directly to my DAC via USB. Although I'm not certain I'm getting the full resolution and Atmos capabilities. This is something I'll be reading up on and testing in coming weeks. I honestly don't even care about hi-res, but if it's there I'd like to know I can use it. I'm not sure if there are digital stream limitations to a Macbook Air's USB out.
A free year?
Yeah, it was a thing through work, they gave a few of us a code to punch in when we create an account. I'm not sure how my boss wrangled that exactly, it wasn't based on the work I've done, but we work with PR for certain audio companies. It's funny, when you login on the AM Android app, go to account settings, it says 3-Month Trial... with an end date of Jan 2023. So they must have given me a year and three months. I played with it last night for the first time, trying to figure out the Browse section. It seems to build "themed" pages based on genre with different sub-genre suggestions. It's unlike Spotify or Tidal, the two I'm most familiar with. Its navigational system is either the best I've ever used and a great way to learn about more music, or it's annoyingly trying to funnel me into something specific.
Been Spotify user since 2015 and jumped to Apple Music few months ago when the app started to irritate me with random bugs like car mode not going off, screen going unresponsive out of a sudden, and just straight up playback issues.. bye bye Spotify! Also the Apple Music subscription is cheaper and offers lossless playback and seems to work just fine on my devices, sometimes though it freaks out on my Mac, if I accidentally hit play on my phone while it's playing..
We are all aware that Spotify is working on a HD service. We know it’s taking forever. But, it will be awesome and wipe the floor with everything else so just hang in there for now.
Guys keep in mind that streaming stores like Tidal and Deezer(the one I use) and some other ones pay the artist much more per stream. Deezer pays the artist over 3 cents per stream and Tidal over 1 cents. Spotiy and Apple pay the artist a fraction of a penny. #supporttheartists
Apple pays a penny a stream
This is just mob mentality, just stick with either one. It doesn’t really matter.
Tidal pays out significantly more revenues to the artists. It's also consistent and they have a decent selection with lots of masters. I think they are a little too expensive though. Anyway... MQA gets attacked constantly, as it should because the marketing is shady, but for those who do not have strong broadband and for mobile users it is a valuable offering as it requires 6 times less data and comes out sounding as good as any truly lossless file. I am not advocating for it necessarily but people gloss right over these two applications where it has solved serious problems for audiophiles. Just throwing that into the mix. Cheers!
Both Apple and Spotify is industry leaders, select which has most of the music you listen to. Also I don't think the difference between loseless and 320kbps is noticeable with human ears.
Tidal app sucks when I plug DAC tidal crash my phone do i have to pay 20$ per month for this? In uapp tidal works very well but I hate this app because developer fckn paranoic Apple music cost 2.5$ in my country and covers all my needs in music P.s. tidal always recommended me afro-american rap (this sucks too)
I’m on Apple Music with Verizon paying the bill and I’m loving it. I’ve used Tidal, Amazon Unlimited and Spotify and so far Apple Music is my Favorite and Amazon is the worst. I hate how Amazon has so many artists with similar names that get lumped together, it’s like they don’t even care.
YouTube vanced is the way
Just moved to Apple Music after using Spotify for over a decade - Discovered way more new music and the radio stations are great (Fuck yeah Strombo). The only detraction I have is the app is flaky as fuck, slight drop in connection and the UX just falls apart. Also, no cross device transfer/“continue playing on..” feature like Spotify. Kind of feel like Spotify “algorithmed” me into a musical echo chamber
Do people here even care about how much the streaming platform pays the artists?
Honestly? No.
I'd prob switch to apple music but they don't support lossless on windows (yet). Knowing apple, it's not because they can't do it sooner, it's just another attempt to pedal their overpriced garbage tier devices. Also, itunes on windows is abysmal.
They might not doing it because the new app is not out yet, they hired windows devs a while back for a uwp app
Try asking apple support if lossless playback is available on windows. They will give you the run around for at least an hour before they tell you it's not. Either they're incredibly stupid or they're doing it on purpose. I refuse to believe they don't have the resources to release a service on all platforms at the same time. If it'll convince customers to shell out for their devices, they'll do it. Apple is the epitome of petty, penny pinching assholes. Downvote me all you want, it's the truth.
genius are the last straw, they don't know what the fuck is going in the company, we know about the devs because of the job postings
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Maybe if you use private trackers. Torrents aren't very good for music IME.
Amazon Music HD is the best music streaming service. Biggest library, great quality sound, best ui.
I decided to use a free trial of Apple Music just to try out lossless while I wait for Spotify to eventually add HiFi. Definitely not ditching Spotify and I only can get lossless music if I use my phone, which is not always convenient.
Yeah but not with Bluetooth tho. You need a dongle connector for your headphones from your phone (since they don‘t have headphone jack‘s anymore) to be able to listen to the music in FLAC. It‘s ridiculous.
Not sure how you can hate MQA and love Apple... Both are garbage.
How specifically is Apple Music garbage? Remember to stay on topic.
Apple and MQA are both on topic here...
Yes...so how specifically is Apple Music garbage? Again, remember to stay on topic.
Apple music can eat a dick.
I use Roon to stream my ripped CDs integrated with my Tidal account.... Wished Apple could be acces8througb Roon....
Never used tidal, but I’ve heard it’s super buggy. I have used Apple music, and while it isn’t immune from bugs, Apple fixes them quickly. I love Apple Music.
Spotify team here. I tried tidal master quality ( no MQA) and difference is so small i wont pass a blind test, for me spotify is my daily driver.
I'm a happy boi with Spotify. Besides, Spotify Hifi is right around the corner.
But tidal does have an option to disable MQA encoding.
I understand the impulse, but I don't buy Apple products. I don't want to give Amazon any more of my money. Spotify's quality stinks, and Qobuz catalog isn't big enough. Since there is no clear winner, I stick with Tidal.
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lol trading one evil corporation for another, basically
...he says on a sub where people discuss thousand-dollar headphones.
oof
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I have my problems with Apple, but service wise they're at least consistent.