Whats a DAW?
Iāve just tried.
Apple Music - Sonos Connect - Coax - Topping D70
Tidal - Roon - Pi - USB - Topping D70
Eric Clapton unplugged which is just 44.1.
Using the same dac with the remote i can quickly switch inputs with the two sources playing at the same time.
Conclusion - I donāt think I could tell any difference, but iāll try it some more.
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Digital Audio Workstation
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OK, this is my final bit of experimentation on this topic. To get a definitive answer on this, I decided to use a track from my new album so thereās no doubt about the provenance of the master. As before, I used Audio Hijack to record the tracks directly from the Apple Music and Tidal streams. I brought both recordings into my DAW and aligned them at the sample level. I then flipped the phase on one of the tracks to see what was leftover after the null.
This time, I output a snippet from the test so you can hear it for yourself. The first half of the snippet is Apple Music, the second half is with the Tidal null turned on. Link here:
The only differences between the tracks are the faint sounds you hear during the second half of the snippet. (Note: I purposely chose a track with a lot of high frequency content to make the differences stand out more).
My conclusion is that the hi-res Apple stream is identical to my FLAC master, and the Tidal MQA stream is nearly identical, but with some small differences in the high frequencies that are most likely inaudible when listening normally.
If youād like to hear the full source track, the links are here:
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Wow, Iām going to listen to them tomorrow 
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I suppose the big question given it comes up a lot on Roons SQ, how does it match up sound quality wise playing your master via Roon?
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A good tip for a budget solution, perfect for some scenarios. However, I canāt imagine the DAC is any good at Ā£7.99. The Bluesiund DAC will be much better. It would be better to have a USB directly into the Bluesound, but if yourās is like my Node 2i it may not have a digital input. This is the big problem with Apple Music. Bloody pain in the arse to get a decent connection to decent Audio gear. You need a DAC with a USB input. Bluesound has a great dAC and AirPlay 2 so AirPlay should sound decent enough to do comparisons with Tidal. Purists will say youāre not comparing like for like, but in theory it should give Tidal an advantage as AirPlay can apparently be lossy in some scenarios. However, my bet is Apple Music will still sound better than Tidal.
To me, my master and both Qobuz and Tidal through Roon are audibly identical. In a null test, there are faint high frequency differences between all three, but not enough to make an audible difference in my opinion. Moving your head left or right a few inches from the listening position makes far more difference than switching these sources.
I like to do null tests because itās a good way to eliminate placebo, which is always a factor when doing these comparisons.
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Yeah, itās odd that I am hearing a significant improvement via AM. Thatās why I created the post. I was and still am a bit dumbfounded. I first heard the difference when using the native Tidal app on iOS devices with AirPod Pro 2 and AirPod Max headphones and comparing AM. I assumed it was Apple optimising AM and sub-optimising Tidal. But then I used the Plexamp iOS app which sounds better than AM* (or Tidal with Tidalās own content). AM sounded better than āTidal via Plexampā too. This is what sent me off comparing Tidal and AM on my home audio equipment. AM was still better. Not always, but with many tracks.
*Pleamp sounds better to me than AM when playing back a locally streamed (or downloaded to the iOS device) ripped CD, compared to a 16/44 āidenticalā track āstreamed on AMā, I.E. not an obvious remaster. Also, Plexamp sounds better than the Tidal native iOS app when streaming Tidalās own music from Plexampās Tidal integration - go figure!
Pleamp sounds better than AM when playing back a locally streamed (or downloaded to the iOS device) ripped CD compared to a 16/44 āidenticalā track on AM, I.E. not an obvious remaster. Also, Plexamp sounds better than the Tidal native iOS app when streaming music from the Plexamp Tidal integration - go figure!
Itās tough to pin down these differences when there are so many pieces involved. For example, who knows what is going on with Plexamp, it could be a subtle volume boost (very slightly louder is almost always perceived as sounding better), could be some subtle baked in DSP, itās anyoneās guess. The good news is, once we quit comparing and just listen to the music, these subtle differences pretty much fade away. 
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This is fantastic. I am going to give your Album a good listen on both AM and Tidal. See if I can hear any difference. I will report back. Iām not sure itās a style of music that will easily present a difference. Can I ask, when you supply the recording to Apple Music and Tidal are there any differences with the Master you provide? Or is that handled by someone else such as a content provider?
I can imagine your music playing in a fancy Spa somewhere exotic! I like it.
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I can imagine your music playing in a fancy Spa somewhere exotic! I like it.
Thanks so much!
Can I ask, when you supply the recording to Apple Music and Tidal are there any differences with the Master you provide? Or is that handled by someone else such as a content provider?
I provide my distributor with high res FLAC files of each of the tracks, which they send untouched to the streaming services (around 20 in total). The streaming services then do whatever file conversions are necessary for their various quality levels. The only exception are the MQA files, which are encoded by the distributor before sending to Tidal.
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Yes!! Itās impossible to pin down why something sounds better and itās what reaches our ears that matters most. I couldnāt care less if it was lossy and altered by DSP if it sounded better! Not that I have many examples of that! Plus, most of the time they all sound great on good equipment.
Itās the odd occasion when I hear a big difference with an Album or track that I start thinking ādamn, what am I missing out on that I am unaware ofā. Ultimately, consistency matters. Appleās Spacial Audio is a good example of inconsistency (as is MQA, I.M.H.O.) as some Spatial Audio tracks sound amazing, but most times itās either no better or worse than AAC or FLAC/ALAC. My experience with MQA on Tidal is similar - inconsistent. However, MQA from Radio Paradise on my Bluesound Node nearly always sounds considerably better than the FLAC stream.
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I hear you. Iām not sold on Atmos yet. The industry is pushing it very hard, but I have to wonder how many people are actually going to install a system than can play back an Atmos file as intended (very few, I think). Spatial Audio on headphones is a big nothing so far, the problem being the unique HRTF of each person, which I donāt see being solved anytime soon. Now Iām starting to sound like the grumpy old man that I amā¦ lol.
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Crikey, this Floating World Album is relaxing! Plus itās not distracting. I think Iāll stick it on next time I need to concentrate on my work, which is when Iām usually turning my music off.
It reminds me of being in Thailand a few years back which encompassed frequent Spa visits!
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A head-related transfer function, also known as anatomical transfer function, or a Head Shadow is a response that characterizes how an ear receives a sound from a point in space. As sound strikes the listener, the size and shape of the head, ears, ear canal, density of the head, size and shape of nasal and oral cavities, all transform the sound and affect how it is perceived, boosting some frequencies and attenuating others.
Wikipedia
I had to look that up!
Fascinating. Makes a lot of sense too. I will be first in line for a practical system that delivered true spacial audio, wasnāt extortionately expensive and easy to install. I bet it will never exist. Not in my lifetime anyway.
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Hereās an interesting oneā¦
Iām sitting here listening to this Floating World Album and because of what I was doing at the time your message came through, itās streaming via Apple Music on a Mac Mini which is connected to my TV via HDMI, which in turn is connected to my Sonos PlayBar via a digital optical-out cable. Goodness only knows what is happening to the stream. Some sort of CODEC tomfoolery on the Mac, before the TV gets involved prior to Sonos doing something. But the sound quality is still plenty good enough for casual listening. I almost never listen to music this way.
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@Alan_Barnard Nice work.
Just bought your discography on Bandcamp and looking forward to long listens.
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Thanks so much. Iām glad youāre enjoying the album!