John Darko
In the wake of yesterday’s post about choosing Tidal’s CD-quality-capped Hifi tier over the hi-res-smattered Hifi Plus tier came three emailers wanting to know 1) why I subscribe to Apple Music when I have Tidal and 2) why not Qobuz.
Let’s tackle the second question first, for which the answer is two-fold.
Outside of third-party solutions like Apple AirPlay (not always lossless), Chromecast (not gapless), Roon (costly) and Android touchscreen streamers (also costly) there is no way to stream Qobuz content over the network to a suitably equipped streaming endpoint — there is no ‘Qobuz Connect’.
And with Tidal now prioritising native FLAC for its hi-res streams, it now seems to be the logical choice for anyone wanting a service that integrates into Roon but also offers a Connect service for those who don’t use Roon: Tidal Connect allows us to hand off the stream to a network endpoint directly from within the Tidal app.
The second reason is more contentious: Qobuz’s library size; or rather, that which is missing. It’s not only the music that I listen to in the day-to-day but some of the music featured in our videos doesn’t show up. Darko.Audio Patrons will tell you that I create playlists of all the music seen and heard in each video that we make. I start with a Spotify playlist and use Soundiiz to copy/paste to Apple Music, Tidal and Qobuz. Those same Patrons will then tell you that the Qobuz playlist consistently comes up short to the tune of one, two or three songs. Why? Because those songs are ‘not available’ on Qobuz.
This might not be true for all genres of music. I lean heavier than most hi-fi commentators on modern electronic/techno, new wave and indie rock and I suspect Qobuz is better suited to those seeking out more traditional fare, especially classical.
The ‘missing songs’ issue might also be unique to Germany. ๐คท๐ป
Now to Apple Music and why I keep a subscription going when I already pay Tidal for CD-quality streams.
The first reason for keeping Apple Music around is that I don’t have to think about hi-res audio beyond turning on ‘Hi-res Lossless’ in the music settings. Set and forget to have Apple Music stream the highest resolution available. That could be 16bit/44.1kHz (aka CD quality) or it could be the 6 – 8% of the library available in 24bit/48kHz, 24bit/96kHz or 24bit/192kHz.
The point? I never have to think about which song version I want and, unlike Tidal Hifi Plus, I don’t have to fork over any extra for the privilege. Apple Music doesn’t subdivide into tiers. It’s โฌ10.99/month for everything in all resolutions.
The second reason for keeping Apple Music in play is the Dolby Atmos content, which Apple has dubbed Spatial Audio. Like hi-res audio, there isn’t much of it, and even less that I like. But hearing a handful of Eno albums, Peter Gabriel’s i/o and the Talking Heads catalogue in Spatial makes me forget that Spatial Audio streams are heavily lossy compressed (to fit down the Bluetooth pipe) and that despite that compression, the audible jump from stereo to Spatial is far more pronounced than any inching from CD-quality to hi-res. Apple’s Eddy Cue was right.
Let’s not get too carried away though. My Spatial listening takes place behind headphones (click here for why) where the listening experience is not a cocoon of sound that stretches as far backward as it does to the sides and the front. I think it is more reliable to refer to Apple’s Spatial Audio, heard behind a pair of AirPods Max, as ‘Super Stereo’ where separation and resolution enjoy significant uplift.
Thirdly, Tidal’s tvOS app is nothing like its smartphone and desktop cousins, replacing music with music videos. That’s not true of Apple Music’s tvOS app which maintains the music focus; remote control of the big screen menu comes via the Apple TV’s Bluetooth remote. I sit down, I look up, I browse, I play/pause and I turn up/down the volume. Occasionally, I hit the RHCP button โญ๏ธ.
We should remain cognisant that the Apple TV resamples all audio to 48kHz before it exits the HDMI port on the back. And if it didn’t, most TV operating systems would. That strikes hi-res streams from the menu. However, we should not let bit-perfect idealism cloud our judgement: any hit to sound quality wrought by the resampling of 44.1kHz CD-quality audio to 48kHz will be dwarfed by changes to room acoustics, loudspeakers, loudspeaker position and amplifier. That’s the Pareto Principle in action.
But wait. There’s one more reason to keep ahold of Apple Music and it’s music related.
In the past three years, Apple Music begun adding DJ mixes from various sources: Mixmag, Boiler Room, Dekmantel and Beats in Space. Many of these mixes are unavailable elsewhere, not even SoundCloud (with whom I am also a paid subscriber).
If it’s not obvious from today’s and yesterday’s posts, there is no single perfect streaming service: Spotify has the most well-crafted user interface and a decent tvOS app but it isn’t (yet) lossless; Apple Music’s UI is also very tidy – especially on tvOS – but there’s no Roon integration or Apple Connect service; Qobuz integrates with Roon but its library isn’t as comprehensive as rivals and it lacks a Connect service; Tidal’s Connect service and Roon integration bring it closest to hi-fi perfection but it’s let down by its rather clunky UI and the lack of a music-focussed tvOS app.
And the lack of any single perfect streaming service is why I maintain subscriptions with Tidal, Spotify, SoundCloud and Apple Music.
Further information: Apple Music
