mikehmb
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- First Name
- Mike
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2022
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- SF Bay Area
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- My name is Mike, and I have a (car) problem
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- #1
(Note: I’m not such an audio nerd as to do proper sampling and frequency analysis, nor do I have the vocabulary to explain how things sound in a way as elegant as the WhatHiFi peeps can do. Also, there are others on this forum with WAY more technical music knowledge than me)
FYI - late ‘22 build, R1T, Meridian system. Updated software this afternoon.
My son (a drummer) and I are actively trying to figure out which music streaming service we plan to keep, now that Apple Music is available in the interface. We have only really embraced Tidal fairly recently.
Spoiler alert - Apple Music is already buggy (forgets last played song when switching back and forth between apps). But I’ll leave that to another thread.
Our focus was primarily on audio quality and perceptions based on our respective preferences.
Naturally, because Drummer, we chose Dream Theater and Tool as the primary test subjects. According to the Control - my iPhone streaming WiFi to a home setup (Cambridge CX81 + Oberon 5s and Klipsch horns + a streamer, but using the Cambridge DAC) - Tidal was generally better in the house, likely due to the bit rate on Tidal and the nature of the setup. Pneuma (of course) and Pull Me Under, FWIW.
In the car, the result was mixed - my ears actually preferred Apple (For Dream Theater) and Tidal (for Tool), and he preferred Tidal for both. General alignment on Tidal - it was generally warmer and richer, and still maintained detail. No weird post-processing issues as far as our ears could tell.
Then I mixed it up, put on Bohemian Rhapsody (I had tried to switch to Coltrane but he objected). This is where things go completely batshit sideways.
On Tidal, it sounded … fine? A little empty, lacking warmth, but generally ok - about what I would have expected pre-update and not out of line with other recordings at modest->high bit rates.
On Apple, it was a completely different story. This song is encoded with Atmos, and the beginning sounded hilariously over-processed, but fun and punchy. Until the big reveal 2/3 into the song, at which point the Atmos separation got aggressive, and we were hearing very distinct things from very different parts of the car, all of which came together to sound unnatural.
Honestly, the first time I was so taken aback with how invasive it was that I thought I had experienced something magical. Then we gave it a second / third listen, and decided we hated it. It was a very confusing experience.
Anyhoo - looking forward to hearing others’ impressions while we continue to explore. Have a road trip tomorrow, so we’ll be playing around looking for stuff to compare. Maybe Bohemian Rhapsody was an anomaly.
FYI - late ‘22 build, R1T, Meridian system. Updated software this afternoon.
My son (a drummer) and I are actively trying to figure out which music streaming service we plan to keep, now that Apple Music is available in the interface. We have only really embraced Tidal fairly recently.
Spoiler alert - Apple Music is already buggy (forgets last played song when switching back and forth between apps). But I’ll leave that to another thread.
Our focus was primarily on audio quality and perceptions based on our respective preferences.
Naturally, because Drummer, we chose Dream Theater and Tool as the primary test subjects. According to the Control - my iPhone streaming WiFi to a home setup (Cambridge CX81 + Oberon 5s and Klipsch horns + a streamer, but using the Cambridge DAC) - Tidal was generally better in the house, likely due to the bit rate on Tidal and the nature of the setup. Pneuma (of course) and Pull Me Under, FWIW.
In the car, the result was mixed - my ears actually preferred Apple (For Dream Theater) and Tidal (for Tool), and he preferred Tidal for both. General alignment on Tidal - it was generally warmer and richer, and still maintained detail. No weird post-processing issues as far as our ears could tell.
Then I mixed it up, put on Bohemian Rhapsody (I had tried to switch to Coltrane but he objected). This is where things go completely batshit sideways.
On Tidal, it sounded … fine? A little empty, lacking warmth, but generally ok - about what I would have expected pre-update and not out of line with other recordings at modest->high bit rates.
On Apple, it was a completely different story. This song is encoded with Atmos, and the beginning sounded hilariously over-processed, but fun and punchy. Until the big reveal 2/3 into the song, at which point the Atmos separation got aggressive, and we were hearing very distinct things from very different parts of the car, all of which came together to sound unnatural.
Honestly, the first time I was so taken aback with how invasive it was that I thought I had experienced something magical. Then we gave it a second / third listen, and decided we hated it. It was a very confusing experience.
Anyhoo - looking forward to hearing others’ impressions while we continue to explore. Have a road trip tomorrow, so we’ll be playing around looking for stuff to compare. Maybe Bohemian Rhapsody was an anomaly.
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