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danneman

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 10, 2009
35
16
Did anyone do a thorough test of the sound quality between AM, Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz on the AirPods Max. Which service would I go for to max out on sound quality?
 

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,859
5,445
Atlanta
AirPod Max's are limited to AAC 256kbps. Apple Music is the BEST choice since you can chose Lossless (nothing for the Max), AAC and many tracks are now in Atmos/Spatial Audio. Also many tracks are remastered to Apple standards.

Screen Shot 2021-06-12 at 10.33.18 AM.png
 

bigshot

macrumors 6502
May 7, 2021
285
149
I use Amazon Unlimited and Apple Music. Amazon Unlimited has more music to choose from and works with Alexa if you use that. Apple Music is integrated into iTunes and your playlists get propagated to all of your devices using iCloud. They both sound identical to my ears. Differences in sound quality are most likely due to different mastering, not the compression by the streaming service.

Spatial audio is more of a useful feature if you have a 5.1 speaker system and AppleTV's set top box. It isn't terribly impressive on AirPods yet. It sounds good because of the better mastering, but not spatial.

Beyond the way it works with the audio equipment you have, choosing between the services is more a question of whether the music libraries there are good for you. If you have mainstream tastes, any of them will work for you. If you listen to classical music, you might want to go with Primephonic or Idagio which specialize in classical music. If you like vintage music, like classic country or early jazz, Amazon Unlimited has the biggest selection.
 
Last edited:

haralds

macrumors 68030
Jan 3, 2014
2,990
1,252
Silicon Valley, CA
Most reports indicated that Apple Music had better AAC quality due to remastering, which is what APMs use. I have all of these, but use Apple Music. I find the quality just a hair better.
For me Spatial Audio gives the sound just a bit more breath. It is not really surround for me, but still welcome.
 
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