ultra_prescriptivist t1_ja8k5xq wrote on February 27, 2023 at 5:20 PM

Reply to comment by pkelly500 in Is Apple Music good? by resurgences

>Qobuz is better than both ... So, if you want the best sound quality and don't listen to a lot of obscure bands or genre, Qobuz is the pick.

You know there is no inherent difference in sound quality between lossless streaming services, right? All the apps do is download the files they have on their servers and play them.

If the files are based on the same master recordings, which they generally are (especially if the album was released in the past twenty years or so), then they will be the same regardless of which streaming service you happen to be using.

pkelly500 t1_ja8upgg wrote on February 27, 2023 at 6:26 PM

Not true. Tidal uses MQA encoding on many of its files, even if non-MQA versions are available. Qobuz does not. Apple Music does not.

MQA isn't true lossless, either. https://goldensound.audio/2021/11/29/tidal-hifi-is-not-lossless/

ultra_prescriptivist t1_ja8zhg6 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 6:56 PM

Tidal aside, it is absolutely true. Amazon, Deezer, Qobuz, and Apple will generally be using the exact same files.

But yes, Tidal is the one exception.

That said, the distortion introduced by MQA is apparently not significant enough to be audible. In a blind test, people seem unable to tell them apart. While the philosophy behind MQA may be objectionable, it doesn't seem to adversely affect the sound in a noticeable way.

pkelly500 t1_ja91or5 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 7:10 PM

Saying "Tidal aside" is like making a sweeping generalization about the pickup truck market and saying, "Toyota aside ... "

Doesn't really work, man. Tidal is not like the others. It's not pure lossless.

But yes, once you remove Tidal, the files largely are the same. Then it comes down to which UX, algorithm, additional features you prefer.

ultra_prescriptivist t1_ja94d24 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 7:27 PM

You're the one who keeps trying to make this all about Tidal, but that's not the reason why I responded to your initial comment.

You started by sayin:

>Qobuz is better than both ... So, if you want the best sound quality and don't listen to a lot of obscure bands or genre, Qobuz is the pick.

Now you're saying

>But yes, once you remove Tidal, the files largely are the same. Then it comes down to which UX, algorithm, additional features you prefer.

That's quite a shift in stance, don't you think?

pkelly500 t1_ja9cpcp wrote on February 27, 2023 at 8:20 PM

Fair enough. But you made the sweeping generalization that all lossless streaming services use the same files. They do not.

And your "Tidal excepted" retort was lame because it's not like Tidal is some puny upstart in the lossless streaming space. Just admit you were wrong, just like I'm admitting that Qobuz, Deezer, Amazon and Apple pretty much use the same files, so my initial response was wrong -- Tidal excepted, of course. :)