Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Audio Quality... Sucks (Even Compared to Beats Music)

Apple's 256kbps AAC format is fine but if I listen to the lossless version of the song I can pinpoint details that aren't as audible in Apple's format. This will only be noticeable on a high quality pair of headphones of course but unfortunately Apple Music could sound better. Sure, most may not care but I wish we weren't moving backwards from the lossless CD format.

Sound quality is perfectly good if you are not one to nitpick though. Tidal probably spoiled me a bit.
 
Last edited:
Came across something interesting: Apple does store its content library in a lossless format and could technically offer better quality without needing to receive new copies from the labels.
 
  • Like
Reactions: risk235
Hmmm... I am using MH40's and Apple Music sounds perfectly awesome to me.

Or maybe I'm headed to deafness now.
 
Beats 1 is available to people who haven't paid so obviously it's going to be lower quality. Would be nice if paying people got an upgrade though.

Might all be things they address as the service matures and they can see what bandwidth etc they're using.
 
Ashf0rd said:
Oh God, just make quality manually toggle-able via a settings menu!!! I don't care if high quality files eat through my data plan.

LtNLWOd.png
Click to expand...
I was trying to find that toggle too... lol
 
MICHAELSD said:
At least in Tidal's case, I found the difference between their 320kbps AAC and lossless practically unnoticeable. So I do believe a 320kbps AAC option would close the gap. Why buy beyerdynamic headphones if you can't listen to them as good as they're meant to sound?
Click to expand...

I have all of my music either in lossless or VBR MP3 on my hard drive, which I've backed up twice. I have a Pono music player for playing lossless tracks. I have a vinyl collection at home as well. Streaming is for when I'm in my car, listening on crappy car speakers, when I'm out and don't want to carry two devices, or when I want to try new music easily. As I said, for me streaming is about convenience. It's hardly the only way I listen to music.
 
MICHAELSD said:
The chart is misleading since format is just as important as bitrate. I really wish Apple would just offer 320kbps AAC, which would be superior to 320kbps MP3.

It is frustrating though since even Tidal's $9.99 tier, which utilizes 320kbps AAC and is virtually indistinguishable from lossless, is superior. (I found Spotify and Rdio's quality inferior to Beats Music).
Click to expand...

256K AAC is already much better than 320k MP3 but thats not saying much. MP 3 is ancient at this point. Its a rookie mistake for people to say bit rate = quality of course.
I use 320k Ogg on Spotify and can't tell the difference between that and 256k AAC.
 
Supermallet said:
I have all of my music either in lossless or VBR MP3 on my hard drive, which I've backed up twice. I have a Pono music player for playing lossless tracks. I have a vinyl collection at home as well. Streaming is for when I'm in my car, listening on crappy car speakers, when I'm out and don't want to carry two devices, or when I want to try new music easily. As I said, for me streaming is about convenience. It's hardly the only way I listen to music.
Click to expand...

Sure, I could go the trouble of downloading albums I really love in a lossless format when available and may continue to do so. Tidal is much more convenient for all-around hi-fi listening but it is really only relatively a niche market.
 
Maybe it's just some :apple: magic, but for me Apple Music sounds better than Deezer's or Spotify's premium service.
..Or then it's just about that Apple Music seems to use variable bitrate.
Blank Space.png
 
capuzino said:
Maybe it's just some :apple: magic, but for me Apple Music sounds better than Deezer's or Spotify's premium service.
..Or then it's just about that Apple Music seems to use variable bitrate.View attachment 566519
Click to expand...

The only thing I've noticed is the streaming radio stations seem to have less than stellar sounding music compared to the library itself.
 
With my equipment - Sennheiser HD700, Centrance HiFi-M8 and an iPhone 5s I am more than happy with the sound quality of Apple Music. When listening to Spotify I can hear a minimal difference where Apple sounds better. That is the paid Spotify. Cancelled my subscription.

Used to have 1411bps songs on my old iPod Classic but selling that now. The sound quality is enough now in Apples Music.

Like Apples Eco-system. Now it is almost complete. Waiting for an app for the AppleTV as well.
 
Apologies to Apple, the sound quality is more than adequate after additional testing. In fact, on many songs the quality is excellent. Their codec combined with the huge library of songs Mastered for iTunes means that there is a very minor difference between the original lossless song and the song on Apple Music. Best streaming service sound quality, not far behind Tidal. As mentioned the songs were loading at a much lower bit-rate originally (I believe the Radio loads songs at a lower bitrate).
 
capuzino said:
Maybe it's just some :apple: magic, but for me Apple Music sounds better than Deezer's or Spotify's premium service.
..Or then it's just about that Apple Music seems to use variable bitrate.View attachment 566519
Click to expand...

This is really interesting. Apple Music sounds fantastic now and I was hoping that the bit-rate would be higher than 320kbps since anything over 320kbps is indistinguishable from lossless in my opinion. Even more happy with the service now.
 
MICHAELSD said:
Apologies to Apple, the sound quality is more than adequate after additional testing. In fact, on many songs the quality is excellent. Their codec combined with the huge library of songs Mastered for iTunes means that there is a very minor difference between the original lossless song and the song on Apple Music. Best streaming service sound quality, not far behind Tidal. As mentioned the songs were loading at a much lower bit-rate originally (I believe the Radio loads songs at a lower bitrate).
Click to expand...

I think people underestimate how important the re mastering is. Glad to hear the sound is close to Tidal (not used it myself).
 
I am finding that the sound quality differences between Spotify and Apple Music on my Mac Pro are indiscernible.

However on the PC that I spend most of my time on at work Spotify is considerably superior. Enough so that I suppose I am going to have to stay on Spotify for now.
 
Further (non-scientific) comparison: Switching between even Spotify on "extreme 320kbps" quality and Apple Music's cellular quality on a decent upgraded car stereo gave Apple Music a surprisingly very big leap up from Spotify. The sound was more three-dimensional with better instrument separation, with a much more detailed treble and slightly better bass. Even a non-audiophile agreed that Apple Music sounded much better. Plus, Apple Music just sounded "clearer" even at lower volumes than Spotify.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back