Music Streaming sound quality

[Reamesy]

After reading about the ethics of Spotifys CEO I decided to leave them and gave Apple Music a shot.

It was £16.99 for a three month period then 16.99/month there after. This is for a family account of which five of us use it.

To save space I have historically used AAC 256 but gave Apple Lossless a go.

Result is outstanding. I currently use the Apple Car Mr12volt which is wireless. It’s night and day.

It does require a lot more storage space 10GB/1000 songs but it’s worth it IMHO.

 

[B21]

After reading about the ethics of Spotifys CEO I decided to leave them and gave Apple Music a shot.

It was £16.99 for a three month period then 16.99/month there after. This is for a family account of which five of us use it.

To save space I have historically used AAC 256 but gave Apple Lossless a go.

Result is outstanding. I currently use the Apple Car Mr12volt which is wireless. It’s night and day.

It does require a lot more storage space 10GB/1000 songs but it’s worth it IMHO.

That’s interesting to note…

Sadly my ears are shot from old age / too many motorcycles at too high at speed for too long..

I’ll give it a try but have to say that I struggled to hear on my test bench the difference between full analogue vs full digital through to Apple extended Bluetooth…

 

[Reamesy]

Clear and punchy would be my description. Mids are very well represented. Spotify was good on its highest quality but this is a noticeable difference. And its £1/month cheaper

Im going to sort my music collection out and try the highest lossless setting too. I have way too much. I will keep my favourites downloaded and stream the rest.

 

[B21]

Clear and punchy would be my description. Mids are very well represented. Spotify was good on its highest quality but this is a noticeable difference. And its £1/month cheaper

Im going to sort my music collection out and try the highest lossless setting too. I have way too much. I will keep my favourites downloaded and stream the rest.

I’ve put my existing CDs on Apple’s highest lossy setting…

I’m a YouTube music fan but their stuff is all compressed..

When you’re listening to this I assume it’s roof up?

Remind me what audio set up you have ?

 

[matsmith749]

I used to download everything as FLACs - but about 4 years ago switched over to TIDAL on a family plan for everything & abandoned the download music collection. I think I've actually deleted it from my phone / wife's phone at this stage.

Even the home HiFi (something fancy) just streams the lot nowadays at high bit rate settings.

In the car sounds indistinguishable from CDs to my ear, even at home on the mega spendy system I can't tell the difference.

The convenience factor is huge too - family can have anything they want without pestering me to go get it

 

[Reamesy]

I’ve put my existing CDs on Apple’s highest lossy setting…

I’m a YouTube music fan but their stuff is all compressed..

When you’re listening to this I assume it’s roof up?

Remind me what audio set up you have ?

I have the standard six speaker set up. However I have Match Up speakers front and rear mids which are coaxial speakers. Much much better than standard.

I am using Mr12volt Apple Car Play wireless. I believe it’s the 2nd Generation.

 

[B21]

I have the standard six speaker set up. However I have Match Up speakers front and rear mids which are coaxial speakers. Much much better than standard.

I am using Mr12volt Apple Car Play wireless. I believe it’s the 2nd Generation.

In theory the wireless car play loses quite a bit of data as it’s not lossless…

Did you set the head unit to hi-fi or leave it as it was?

 

[Reamesy]

I left it as was. Does it make a difference? I can plug my phone in and use the USB cable but that doesn’t go through CarPlay. Do be honest the result of changing to lossless is profound and excellent.

I’m intrigued as to whether coding hi-fi will will make it any better!

 

[B21]

I left it as was. Does it make a difference? I can plug my phone in and use the USB cable but that doesn’t go through CarPlay. Do be honest the result of changing to lossless is profound and excellent.

I’m intrigued as to whether coding hi-fi will will make it any better!

The headunit uses some pretty brutal processing to address the crap quality of the original speakers..so your new speakers will have entirely different responses..so intellectually it’s somewhat amusing….

 

[Reamesy]

View attachment 288134

The headunit uses some pretty brutal processing to address the crap quality of the original speakers..so your new speakers will have entirely different responses..so intellectually it’s somewhat amusing….

I will give it a go. I’ll make a back up first and report my findings unless someone tells me not to go ahead for any negative reasons.

 

[Reamesy]

A question for those that have coded the head unit. Do I need to remove the Mr12volt to code the car? It’s a Gen 2

 

[B21]

A question for those that have coded the head unit. Do I need to remove the Mr12volt to code the car? It’s a Gen 2

I wouldn't have thought so..it upsets the CIC computer but..pass

 

[Reamesy]

I remember when I coded my other car to CD multi changer it had to be done before installing the unit.

 

[AnubisZed]

Interesting conversation

If you have the box that plugs into the rear of the headunit (pale blue plastic or grey) then you need to disconnect it to code the headunit . BUT.... I tried the HiFi coding when I had 6 speakers and it didn't sound good at all. This is probably because on the HiFi System the footwell woofers are on a different channel, so the headunit sends out the sound in a different way, thus (IMHO) CRAP! But each to their own.

 

[Reamesy]

Interesting conversation

If you have the box that plugs into the rear of the headunit (pale blue plastic or grey) then you need to disconnect it to code the headunit . BUT.... I tried the HiFi coding when I had 6 speakers and it didn't sound good at all. This is probably because on the HiFi System the footwell woofers are on a different channel, so the headunit sends out the sound in a different way, thus (IMHO) CRAP! But each to their own.

That’s good enough for me as I’m more than happy with its current output. It’s not the the chew on to then have to revert back

 

[B21]

As was said each to their own and budgets etc..

For the benefit of the tape…

This is why almost every new car uses a DSP as part of it audio system…it may be a cheaper one that only the factory can access / set up but…

The theory (simple version) goes

Measure distance from drivers head to each speaker..

Program that time delay for the sound to reach the head relative to the closest speaker in the DSP

In DSP decide on roll off / band pass frequency for each speaker in turn program that based on its quality, capability , location and what other type and number of other speakers are in the car and their locations.

Run pink noise through each speaker in turn with expensive recording mic in drivers head position

For each speaker see how the real time response varies with frequency compared to the ‘house curve’..the house curve in a car being not flat like a home hi fi but tipped up at the bass end and reduced at the treble end..

Now using DSP provide a correcting boost or cut over the frequency range for that speaker so that the net result is a response that tracks the house curve for its range..

Now program that in.

Now, largely by human ear balance the rear speakers so they provide a lower level of rear fill sound to give the effect of a much bigger space..this is always much lower volume..program that in.

Now in reality an audiophile will revisit all this and hand tweak the DSP to address phasing and other anomalies.

So..with all reverence to all present…

What is happening is that various second order attempts are being made to address the sound quality issue without addressing the primary issues..

However..if it’s sounds nice to you that’s all that matters…I just find that discussions about lossless audio in that environment are ‘amusing’

 

[Reamesy]

As was said each to their own and budgets etc..

For the benefit of the tape…

This is why almost every new car uses a DSP as part of it audio system…it may be a cheaper one that only the factory can access / set up but…

The theory (simple version) goes

Measure distance from drivers head to each speaker..

Program that time delay for the sound to reach the head relative to the closest speaker in the DSP

In DSP decide on roll off / band pass frequency for each speaker in turn program that based on its quality, capability , location and what other type and number of other speakers are in the car and their locations.

Run pink noise through each speaker in turn with expensive recording mic in drivers head position

For each speaker see how the real time response varies with frequency compared to the ‘house curve’..the house curve in a car being not flat like a home hi fi but tipped up at the bass end and reduced at the treble end..

Now using DSP provide a correcting boost or cut over the frequency range for that speaker so that the net result is a response that tracks the house curve for its range..

Now program that in.

Now, largely by human ear balance the rear speakers so they provide a lower level of rear fill sound to give the effect of a much bigger space..this is always much lower volume..program that in.

Now in reality an audiophile will revisit all this and hand tweak the DSP to address phasing and other anomalies.

So..with all reverence to all present…

What is happening is that various second order attempts are being made to address the sound quality issue without addressing the primary issues..

However..if it’s sounds nice to you that’s all that matters…I just find that discussions about lossless audio in that environment are ‘amusing’

Im not sure the term 'Lossless' is being applied in my quest other than to say. Its a fast improvement over the Spotify equivalent.

In an open top car or any car, we are not going to get perfection! But a good sound is obtainable on a budget. 4 x Match Up speakers £200

 

[Cavey1638]

This is such an interest of mine. I currently have an Audison set up which uses the hi Res bluetooth. I too use Tidal for streaming. Although if I stream from my phone the quality is good. But ... I also use a Fiio and again the difference is night and day. Even to the point my installer who is really on his game was impressed. If parked engine off then the Spdif input using the Fiio is outstanding for clarity and drive. Like B21 one looks at the diminishing returns with this topic... it gets expensive.
It does make a lot of improvement to the sound stage if timing is set up properly.

Cavey

 

[B21]

What phone are you streaming from?

Time correction as you say probably the single biggest item for a coherent sound stage..no dsp..no chance..

 

[Cavey1638]

I use an iPhone which I know the Bluetooth format is not the best. Android uses Ldac which is better. I mainly use a Fiio via Spdif hard wired which is outstanding.