Tidal vs Apple Music Hearing frequency differences

Nakean

Nakean

Junior Audioholic
Hello Everyone,

I'm trying to figure out what differences I'm hearing in the two streaming services. Both are being Airplayed to my Denon receiver. I hear a noticeable bump in the bass and mid-bass from tidal compared to its apple music counterpart. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure it warrants the extra cost but I much prefer the sound of Tidal, especially on my Klipsch Heresy and Klipsch Forte given how forward the midrange already is on these speakers. I get the grunt I've been searching for especially in some of the 90's grundge and rock I love so much. It feels more full in Music like Gregory Porter and even in something like Paul Simon and Dave Matthews Band. Thoughts?
 
V

VMPS-TIII

Audioholic General
I like the sound and layout for Tidal HD best. I have Tidal HD and signed up for Amazon HD to compare. Tidal playback always seems cleaner. In addition, on the MacBook Pro I see all sorts of software glitches with Amazon HD where it launches iTunes when not asked to. The only thing I like about Amazon HD is sometimes it may have a song that I can't find on Tidal.

I will probably cancel Amazon HD after the trial period is over.
 
Nakean

Nakean

Junior Audioholic
Did you level match to compare, or ?
Level matched. Using REW. I did find out that the Music EQ in apple IOS functions during airplay. I was not aware of this. I thought only through bluetooth and using it directly connected. I had it on Vocal boost which is why I was getting such a huge boost in the midrage and was also tricking my brain into thinking there was more way more bass com,ing from tidal when the bass was pretty close. Still a tiny more for tidal but not the discrepancy I thought. Turned off the sub to run these tests and look at the difference in bass response between streaming from my phone vs from the computer.

Computer output consists of a Focusrite Scarlette 6i6 out digital coax. Everything on the receiver is set to zero. No tone control.
 

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S

sterling shoote

Audioholic Field Marshall
I have ZERO experience with Tidal. Right now I have iTunes running on my laptop, which is output to my OPPO-205 usb B input. The OPPO up samples 256k to 24/192 music files in my iTunes Library to 24/192, and the analog output is sent to Sony amplification to enjoy from JBL L100t3 speakers. The tone, as well as my perception of detail from music I have placed in iTunes is equivalent to original music sources; and, Apple Music residing in my iTunes Library typically sounds on par with SACDs of same stereo music. I also enjoy 50's and 60's DOO WOP Apple Music downloads via the OPPO-205 DAC; and, this music is so detailed I can almost swear I can identify where tape splice editing occurred on those tunes. At any rate, I run iTunes in Windows Audio Session, with equalizer set flat and off and in this mode my digital music is sounding better than I've earlier heard it by other means from PC to Pre-Pro. In fact, only media that sounds better than digital stereo from iTunes via OPPO DAC is 5.1 SACD and 5.1 FLAC downloads residing in Foobar 2000 Library via OPPO DAC.
 
V

VMPS-TIII

Audioholic General
I'm trying to figure out what differences I'm hearing in the two streaming services. Both are being Airplayed to my Denon receiver. I hear a noticeable bump in the bass and mid-bass from tidal compared to its apple music counterpart. Has anyone else experienced this? Thoughts?
I signed up for Amazon Prime HD, Tidal HiFi and Apple Music. I A-B songs on these three and found Tidal has the edge with my setup and for ease of use. If I had to rate them it would be #1 = Tidal HiFi.#2 Amazon HD and last Apple Music.

Apple Music is not very intuitive. I'm a 20 year Mac user and I think this was designed by idiots. I can't even find a genre button for displaying a certain type of music besides during initial setup. It leaves me with a basic "search" box and many of my favorites on Tidal are not available on Apple Music. If I do find a song on Apple Music it lacks the same Hi Fi sound as my $20 a month Tidal HiFi service. If you're looking for the BEST quality and interface, Apple isn't there yet.

Amazon HD is a much closer competitor to Tidal. It has some songs that Tidal doesn't have. Of the three services it almost always had a song I was looking for. The problem with Amazon was there was an update almost each week and the fixes tend to break things, like launching my iTunes every time I selected a song. IMHO Amazon Music HD is a beta test site with tons of music. The Amazon service interface is not as nice and clean as Tidal and I still preferred the Tidal sound on my system over Amazon. At $12.99 as a Prime member it's a deal. But if I have to pick only one service it's Tidal for now.

The next service I want to try is Qobuz. I hear it's worth a look.
 

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