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

iTunes Radio Quality

fenderbass146

fenderbass146

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
1,498
2,718
Northwest Indiana
I was wondering about the quality of the music

One issues I had with iTunes Match was that it downloaded everything in 256k/b or whatever the terminology is which is 9 MB a song, It killed my data, however on pandora I could listen to it all day over LTE and it would not use a great deal, at least compared to itunes match. Can anyone comment on the data consumption of iRadio and the quality of it?
 
I haven't seen a setting for audio quality for itunes radio so it's difficult to say what the quality is. It does sound as good as Pandroa or even a local mp3 so it's hard to say.
 
it sounds very good. I don't bat an eyelash towards the quality.

that said, it's probably killing my data as well.
 
It's definitely not great quality. And the max volume is substantially lower than other apps or the iPod. This is most notable in a car.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
If you are looking for Bose type quality, its not here. However, it does sound pretty good for being a smartphone.

Edited to add: Would be nice if I could airplay it.
Click to expand...

You can AirPlay it!

That was the first thing I did:
Played "The Beatles Station" over wifi via AirPlay to an airport express, which played out through the living room stereo speakers. It worked perfectly the first time, and sounded pretty good as well.
 
Definitely bigger

I can say its definitely downloading bigger files. I have songza as a radio service and it only used about 38mb compared to 133mb on iTunes Radio. Given I used iTunes radio more often now, its still quite shocking to see that. In a month, i dont get past 100mb for Songza. Thank God for unlimited data.
 
freedevil said:
Quality is low. Pandora is 128-192 kbps.
Click to expand...

Pandora is only 64 or 96 Kbps through iPhones. It goes to 128 or 196 when using the web via a computer (196 if you pay for pandora one). Check their site for that info. I even emailed them about why they don't bump up bitrate via iphone when on wifi (to at least 128k) and they told me they might eventually get around to it. Even if you pay for pandora one, you do not get a bump in bitrate, only no ads (when using iphone, your bitrate does not go up with pandora one).
 
Last edited:
So far I'm really enjoying iTunes Radio--I think the quality is quite good--sounds better to me than Pandora--hard to say if Apple will say exactly what the bit rate is but it seems on par with others. I use MOG but am considering just going with iTunes Radio and iTunes Match. Quite impressed so far.
 
From Apple TV into home Onkyo stereo sounds very nice, however, from IPhone 5s connected to car stereo directly (2008 Infiniti G35) sounds hollow and thin.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
If you are looking for Bose type quality, its not here. However, it does sound pretty good for being a smartphone.

Edited to add: Would be nice if I could airplay it.
Click to expand...

I just tested and can AirPlay it directly to my Pioneer receiver, there's just not an AirPlay button right there like you're used to in iOS6.

To AirPlay audio from "music" app, whether it be a local song, or through iTunes radio. Start playing a song, then bring up Control Center, then hit the AirPlay icon, and then choose your destination.

Viola!
 
Doing a song by song side by side comparison of iTunes Radio vs Rdio, the quality very poor, unacceptably poor.

There is about an 87% volume increase going from iTunes to Rdio, same song.

I don't know what quality iTunes is vs. Rdio, but its a major difference. This is doing the iTunes client and web client versions, not the mobile apps.
 
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