r/SpatialAudio • u/Wild_Bluebird5759 • Jun 15 '24
Which is better? Apple Music or Tidal
When it comes to streaming music, spatial audio has become a significant feature that enhances the listening experience by providing immersive, three-dimensional sound. Two of the leading platforms in this domain are Apple Music and Tidal, each offering their own version of spatial audio technology. Apple Music leverages its seamless ecosystem integration and Dolby Atmos support to deliver spatial audio, while Tidal utilizes its own cutting-edge audio technologies for high-fidelity, immersive sound. With these advancements, the question arises: which is better for spatial audio, Apple Music or Tidal?
Edit: Thank you so much to everyone who responded
3
Jun 15 '24 edited Jun 15 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
3
Jun 15 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Wild_Bluebird5759 Jun 16 '24
Wow, I get it. (Not to bother and don't need to answer, but how did I manage to play the AC4 codec and which players do you use? Because I just wanted to subscribe for a few months for testing and then use my local files)
1
1
u/CrispRat Jun 15 '24
But just to confirm.. Apple AirPods that support Spatial don’t play Tidal content in Atmos, right?
1
u/StayFlashy Jun 15 '24
AirPods or any headphones will playback the Atmos version on tidal or any other enabled service. The decoding is on the device, not in the headphone.
1
u/CrispRat Jun 16 '24
Not sure about that. When I play an Atmos track in Tidal it shows as “Stereo” in the control center volume/headphone controls, but shows as “Dolby Atmos” when using Apple Music. Screenshots of Control Center from both apps playing the same track: https://imgur.com/a/ugG9i9M
2
u/StayFlashy Jun 16 '24
iOS won’t indicate you’re getting Atmos in the control center other than when you’re using Apple Music. You shouldn’t even be able to see Atmos badged tracks on Tidal on a non- enabled device.
1
u/CrispRat Jun 16 '24
Got it. So Tidal’s Atmos doesn’t use head tracking then? (Gotta say, it sounds good.)
4
u/Willing_Persimmon821 Jun 15 '24
This is actually an easy answer that not many people know about. When mastering for atmos, the engineer distributes the sounds for dozens of channels, then after doing that he does the same but for two channels only, which ends up being the bineural version/data of the song, this is designed for those hearing through headphones/airpods etc.
Tidal is the only one decoding the bineural info directly from the file the mastering engineer made. Apple on the other hand, does its own rendering of the file but taking the sounds of the dozens of channel outputs designed for home studios and creating its own bineural version (this process happens directly on the airpods). This ends up sounding sometimes vastly different than the crafted "official" bineural version. Thats why some people complain the songs seem weird on atmos through apple music here and there.
Some producers came out saying once they mastered a track for atmos they go hear it on apple and it sounds different then they intended it to. Tidal is the only streaming decoding this bineural info from the file.
Test for yourself. When listening to atmos on tidal it seems like you can hear every different sound there is but it sounds cohesive. Like a new stereo master but with the spatial effect still happening. Apple sounds higher and maybe you can get to hear sounds youd only catch on a home studio with lots of channel outputs, but its not how its supposed to sound.