I got Tidal because I was sick of not having Jay Z in my streaming libraries. Then I decided to test out the $20/mo for hifi/master to see if I can appreciate the difference.
I don’t know if either my ears or my headphones are capable of picking up the difference in quality, but I’ll continue to experiment with it.
I have the Bose QCII which are bluetooth (e.g. compression) so it's unclear to me whether I'm even benefitting from less compression in the streaming, but I got mixed answers when I researched this.
Anyway....
Do you go for highest quality with your hardware/software and if so, am I thinking about things the right way?
Opened ended chat about anything related to this is welcome and appreciated.
Latest comments (47)
It's great that you're exploring different streaming services! While Tidal does offer superior audio quality, especially with its HiFi and Master options, it can be challenging to appreciate the differences with certain headphones or Bluetooth connections. If you're looking for more options or alternatives, you might want to check out the latest offerings at spotifyspremiumapk.com/spotify-mod... for a variety of music streaming experiences!
Go to a Hi-Fi store and listen to some high fidelity headphones, Bose is not one of them and you will/should notice the difference.
I got Sennheiser 6XX and I can tell you the dynamic-range on this headset is really amazing and you can hear things not noticeable on normal headphones. Also better to use wired headphones, the general run-of-the-mill bluetooth audio is of low quality.
Also don't listen to MP3 files if you want high-definition losses music, listen to FLAC audio on a good headset and you'll see what you're really missing out on.
For the longest time I was listening to music on YouTube and didn't really know or appreciate high quality FLAC audio and I'll just say I was blown-away with what the Sennheiser 6XX were capable off :-D
I started listening to Amazon music (last week) which is of higher quality (higher bit-rate) than Spotify/Tilda but unfortunately Amazon Music HD which is lossless is much better, but only available in the US not Canada.
There's a noticeable difference when using Spotify. I used 7digital back in the day to be able to get high-quality FLAC and high-quality MP3s because the Sennheiser headphones I have are really good and it's noticeable when you've increased the volume to drown out the background noise in a busy open office layout.
I think it mainly depends on the music you listen to, if it's just to get through a noisy day at the office, the medium/normal quality MP3s are good enough. If you want an adventure in psychedelic sounds, go for high quality MP3s and/or FLAC.
For me I have studio quality reference headphones that can translate frequencies from 5Hz to 20,000kHz and use the highest quality streaming or 24-bit (or at least 16-bit) WAV files to listen to.
If you have high quality audio then it's worth getting high quality headphones for detail, however if you only listen to 320kbps mp3s, then there's no point having the high quality as the detail won't be in the recording.
Also if you can't tell the difference, and a lot of people can't, then go for the cheaper option!
As someone who collects headphones and has a Spotify and Apple Music subscription (I listen to a lot of music daily) I can tell the difference in quality. It really depends on the cans and your preference in music.
My AKG k240 headphones are cheap and sound as such. I also have the Audio Technica M50s, the Audio Technica ATHMSR7BK (what the f kind of name is that?), and just recently bought the beyerdynamic DT 990s, all of which sound markedly different from one another.
I'm not an audiophile. Far from it. But I like music and like to hear different parts of a song I would have never caught without decent headphones. YMMV
There is a nice hearing test I did a while ago:
npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06...
I can always identify the low quality MP3, but finding the uncompressed WAV is just guessing for me. I listen with Sennheiser HD6XX, so it's probably not a hardware limitation.
I have some HD 6XX Sennheiser and a pair of Audio Technica M50s. I can most definitely notice a difference when playing my piano (Yamaha P125) and listening to HD streaming on Spotify. The Sennheisers are reference headphones, designed for studio monitoring. They provide more realistic sound quality. Having open-backed headphones with HD sound in a relatively quiet place makes for a very immersive listening experience, I've found. Closed-backed headphones are great for sound-isolation while lacking the same fidelity of the open-backed counterparts.
Of course, that's all subjective. ¯\(ツ)/¯
I have the Bose Soundlink Around-Ear Headphones II, and I definitely understand the feeling about sacrificing quality because of compression over BlueTooth and other factors … but I can hear the boards of the stage creak when members of the Punch Brothers are shifting their weight while they play. That doesn't happen in the car, with ear buds, or the super old Beats by Dr. Dre I had until they disintegrated (I loved those things, but they're obviously not for refined audiophiles).
In other words, I quit worrying about it so much. I stream at the highest quality available through my streaming service, and I'm happy with all the things I can notice in this headset that only came through in the audio gear I had in the Army.
Also, know you aren't alone! There was constant back and forth about the quality of signal in our bands' rigs, wireless vs wired, analog vs digital, etc. At the end of the day, the thing that really mattered is the energy coming from the stage. It's not the same argument (live music vs a closed environment around your face 🤣), but I think it's related enough.
I'm a Spotify user.
IMO the most important thing is the right hardware based on what you listen to. Nowadays many headphones have a lot of bass boost which is good, but the problem is when you don't have an option to adjust it without playing with Equalizers. At the end of the day, if you have a headphone you like its sound quality and software that suits your musical tastes, you'll enjoy it!
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