Spotify v. Tidal

[maclaw21]

I am giving Tidal a trial run, and boy does it sound good. I'm not talking the HiFi version, I'm talking Tidal's base version (which Tidal calls "premium").

My question is this: Is the Tidal "premium"/base version better than Spotify in terms of sound quality? I really feel like it is, but I don't know if my mind is playing tricks on me. In other words, is AAC (Tidal) better than OGG (Spotify) at 320 kbps?

Thanks.

 

[wesk702]

lol, no

 

[djtech42]

lol, no

Care to elaborate? TIDAL HiFi definitely sounds better than Spotify, but it would be interesting to compare the 320 kbps streaming. Spotify 320 should theoretically sound better since it is using Ogg Vorbis, which gives the best quality to bit rate ratio, but they apparently transcode some songs, which makes it sound worse.

 

[tiarulehe]

Right,you have done on a lot of yoiur screenshots. It's looking FANTASTIC.

 

[wesk702]

Care to elaborate? TIDAL HiFi definitely sounds better than Spotify, but it would be interesting to compare the 320 kbps streaming. Spotify 320 should theoretically sound better since it is using Ogg Vorbis, which gives the best quality to bit rate ratio, but they apparently transcode some songs, which makes it sound worse.

320 is 320, unless your listening to everything with at minimum Genelecs, then I'd say you're fine. If your under the impression that you can discern the difference between the two at a streaming bitrate, on headphones then I'd say you're the next Bob Katz or there is just some midrange boosting done in Tidal's tracks that give the impression of warmth, which I've read.

 

[campyguy]

I'd wondered the same thing as the OP posed, having so much of my ripped music in AAC with iTunes Match and ALAC formats but still carrying around my trusty old iPod Classic 80GB.

I watched this, earlier this evening while waiting for a client to show up, and decided I'll stick with my own music, iTM, and Amazon Music. http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/7/8872115/apple-music-tidal-spotify-audio-quality-test - although I noticed the persons were using a pair of pretty crappy cans for the evaluation. The feedback was pretty clear in that the results were as clear as mud...

Two of my friends came over late, both of them related that "it's the rip" and both Spotify and Tidal are overrated - that's their opinion, not mine - and it's the quality of the headphones too. I do have to keep an eye on my Schiit DAC/Amp and Grado SR325e and Beyerdynamic cans when my friends come over...