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Just here to share that if you haven't tried Apple Music for its lossless and Dolby Atmos sound quality then you really, really, should. Apple Music does not h

• flats 5y ago
  Apple Music’s best feature for me is its real focus on building up your own library. On top of that, it integrates seamlessly with iTunes in the Cloud. Using the same app, I can stream anything from my iTunes library, which includes a decent amount of music not available on any DSP.
• ge96 5y ago
  > lossless and Dolby Atmos sound quality General headphone recommendation? Best I have is an MDR-7506 but I don't think it's meant for listening rather producing.
  • lelandfe 5y ago
    Depends on price range. DT 770 PRO's would be a nice step up and serve both purposes pretty well. They're over-ear like your MDR's. You can usually find them on sale for like $140-160 USD Fairly neutral response (dunno if you'd prefer something bassier for listening) and very comfortable
    • ge96 5y ago
      Yeah I don't really have any specific demands other than it is meant for music... I bought these ATH-MX-20/40X from reviews and apparently they're monitoring headphones?... so yeah. Those are definitely flat. Thanks I'll put those on a list. Definitely one of those things have to try on in person to buy but recommendations help too. Edit: not too bassy actually, neutral would be nice like works for almost anything.
  • Simon_O_Rourke 5y ago
    With some of the banal EDM that's out there now, some retro 1980s walkman headphones would do.
    • seattle_spring 5y ago
      Would do for... What, exactly?
  • mkr-hn 5y ago
    I use these for both without issue.
    • ge96 5y ago
      It is nice for being able to pick out specific sound, it's very clear. The downside I think about is the treble/how "too loud" the highs are sometimes.
  • DougMellon 5y ago
    I currently own the Sennheiser hd 650's[1] with a Schiit amp[2] and absolutely love the combo. I also have them on a harman curve. You can get the HD 6xx from Massdrop for cheaper and it's the exact same driver[3]. My partner uses the Sennheiser 58x's[4] as well as she doesn't like to use an amp and they are probably the greatest bang for your buck I've come across. [1] https://en-us.sennheiser.com/high-quality-headphones-around-ear-audio-surround-hd-650 https://en-us.sennheiser.com/high-quality-headphones-around-... [2]https://www.schiit.com/products/magni-1 https://www.schiit.com/products/magni-1 [3]https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-sennheiser-hd6xx https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-sennheiser-hd6xx [4]https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-he...
    • ge96 5y ago
      Thanks that'll probably be a next model up, it's up there in price for me. Will keep it in mind I'll compare the 58x to DT 77 although open backs limit usage for me I think (not have other people hear my music).
      • ge96 5y ago
        Looks like the 58x is better than DT 77 though without using eq This one of those things drives you insane so many choices
        • ge96 5y ago
          Yeap... I went with Sennheiser 560S and I'm not pleased lol compared to the 7506 that I've been using for over a year. The 560S everything sounds blended. Will give them a chance/listen for a bit. Just funny you get this obsession like "I gotta buy it" then disappointed.
• Chilinot 5y ago
  Apple Music is just so increadibly bad UX wise. I have a real hard time justifying paying for it and have considered many times to switch back to Spotify. Trying to find new and interesting music is pretty much impossible outside of the "here's what people listen to now" playlists. You need to know what to look for when searching for things. Spotify was great for finding indie music bands, and could really give good recommendations. Apple music is not even in the same league.
  • CharlesW 5y ago
    > Apple Music is just so increadibly bad UX wise. Is it? When I switched to Apple Music I didn't find it remarkably better or worse then anything else I've used (including Spotify). Reviews (https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-music https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-music) don't mention any UX issues either. If you know of any substantive commentary on this I'd appreciate a link.
    • TobyTheDog123 5y ago
      It is. In my personal experience: - On Mac, Apple Music will just consistently stop playing audio. Force quitting & restarting fixes it. - On iOS, the app is prone to crashing more than any iOS app I've seen. It's not horrible (I very rarely see crashing period), but it's far more than 3rd party apps or even Apple's own set. - On iOS and on a weak connection, Music will not play even if it is downloaded. I suspect it has something to do with DRM servers, but don't know for sure. - I once changed my iCloud password on my account, and it sent the Apple Music app into an infinite loop of trying to reload content, instead of just prompting for my password again. - Load times are horrendous for online content, even on fiber connections. - I don't have many complaints about discoverability, but it's certainly nowhere near Spotify's recommendation engine. Spotify's weekly-updated new music playlist is way more relevant to me than Apple Music's version (New Music Mix). But... - I think way more people can tell the difference between Spotify's audio quality and Apple Music's Lossless/Atmos. I sure could, and it was obvious.
      • crysin 5y ago
• josephh 5y ago
  Amazon Music Unlimited also has it included in their catalog. How does Apple's fare against Amazon's?
• sitzkrieg 5y ago
  random sample but i try this every couple of years - both tidal and apple music do not have 10 songs in today's release radar list available. the tidal client is nearly as bad as spotifys too
• lelandfe 5y ago
  If you can consistently tell the difference between Spotify Premium's 320kbps and Apple Music's lossless, I am very impressed. Most folks reading this won't be able to. Having used both, I'm now happily paying for Spotify to avoid using the train wreck that is the Apple Music app. It is a true shame what Apple has done to iTunes.
  • ksubedi 5y ago
    Just depends on how you are driving it. I can tell the difference on Homepods, Airpod Max, my car (wired) and few other places, but barely on airpod pros and most other bluetooth headphones. And to the crowd that has their keyboards handy to say "but the airpod max and homepods do not support lossless", you are absolutely right but the quality of the source does make a difference, even though those devices will not be playing lossless, they will still have better quality if the source is better. I am not completely sure if its the codec Apple uses that is making the difference or if it is because the source is lossless, but bass sounds punchier and instrument separation is much better with Apple Music compared to Spotify's best quality. I was really looking forward to Spotify's lossless that was announced (I think it's called Spotify HQ?), but I haven't heard about that in a long time. Edit: If you plug in your Airpod Max with a hardwire cable, the difference is even more noticeable, even with iPhone's internal DAC. Also want to clarify that the differences and not so pronounced that you will be able to tell right away, but if you listen to Apple Music for a while and try to listen to the same song on Spotify, it will not sound the same. It's one of those cases where you don't know what you don't know till you know it once.
  • criddell 5y ago
    You can definitely hear a difference when the Apple track is using Atmos or spatial audio and your system or headphones support it. Also, I’m not certain, but I think the tracks that are studio masters are often mixed differently. I’m not sure what it is, maybe greater dynamic range (cd tracks are louder). I think it sounds better. Even though Apple sounds better, I probably still use Spotify more because the client isn’t as terrible (or at least is terrible in different ways that I’m used to).
    • 5y ago
• kactus 5y ago
  I switched to Apple Music from Spotify just because I don't like podcasts mixed in with my music, and UI that constantly advertises their podcasts side. The improved sound quality on Apple Music is a major benefit, and I was able to add all my music that isn't in their library (and sync across devices). I also love that upcoming albums that drip feed new tracks aren't categorized as EPs like Spotify does it. I can view the track in the upcoming album on Apple Music, add the album to my library, and then get notifications as they add more tracks or release the album. Apple Music's macOS app UI is terrible, no way around that. They're supposedly making some parts of it native in a future macOS release though.
  • xibo9 5y ago
    Might I recommend you check out the Cider client? I've been using it for a while and its pretty decent.
    • kactus 5y ago
      Oh neat! Been looking for a better Windows client. I'll check it out.
• wwweston 5y ago
  Reminder that Apple pays artists better too (average penny per stream over Spotify's average 3-4 tenths of a penny per stream). And that Spotify is led by people who think artists who want that level of compensation are "entitled": https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2021/06/29/spotify-executive-entitled-pay-penny-per-stream/ https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2021/06/29/spotify-executiv...
  • mardifoufs 5y ago
    But its not like Spotify is making billions off the artists. They barely break even. Their margins are very very tiny in the first place. Obviously Apple can afford to pay a lot lot more. Now obviously you can say that if they can't afford it they shouldn't be in business, but you can say the exact same for the record labels/artists. They can just pull their songs from Spotify.
    • dijit 5y ago
      I think it’s unfair to say they barely break even, if they do then it’s because they’ve decided to spend so much. Looking externally at the company they’re listed as having 50,000-100,000 employees. That’s a lot of people to employ for a audio streaming service. I also happen to know their cloud commitments (I know a guy) and they are large enough that it starts to make a lot of sense to invest into physical hardware. I’m talking so much money per year that it rivals the GDP of some countries.
      • regecks 5y ago
        >Looking externally at the company they’re listed as having 50,000-100,000 employees Uhhhh. Do you mean Apple or Spotify? Spotify's 2021 Q4 press release says: >At the end of Q4, our workforce consisted of 7,690 FTEs globally.
        • dijit 5y ago
          I actually meant Spotify, I must have misread something and I’m off by an order of magnitude, LinkedIn says 10,500~ people who have Spotify as an employee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotify/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotify/
• brayhite 5y ago
  I’d prefer to use AM but they’re lacking an ability like Spotify’s to play to Google Home devices and device groups. We use that feature daily, and I highly doubt Apple will ever support broadcasting to Chromecasts.
• sorenjan 5y ago
  I have no interest in paying one of the large American tech giants for my music. They already control too much, and music is a side business for them.
• kruxigt 5y ago
• alar44 5y ago
  I'd bet my next paycheck you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in a blind test. http://abx.digitalfeed.net http://abx.digitalfeed.net
• awild 5y ago
  The android app of apple music is terrible though. I've tried using it for a month but had constant trouble with it getting stuck loading searches or artists. I've switched to tidal a few days ago, and that seems to have odd issues with buffering (despite having stable 6MB/s downloads with steam).
• travisgriggs 5y ago
  I am a pretty big Apple Stuff Fan. Have owned their stuff since my first translucent baby/aqua blue iMac. Including laptops I've purchased for kids headed to school over the years, I think I've purchased 8 laptops and 4 iMacs. I did Spotify for a year. Then I did Apple Music for a year. Family plan both times for the whole family. I switched back to Spotify after a year of Apple. Spotify let me catalog, and find music better. The rest of the family agreed. I found this BYU Divine Comedy amateur sketch to sum it all up pretty well. Particularly the Apple experience parody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvqcNBksCXE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvqcNBksCXE