#Amazon music hd vs tidal trial#

Again, Amazon delivers tighter bass, and more impact of the highs. But the voice did not sound exactly as I know it from the CD version.īillie Eilish, Bad Guy. Bass seemed tighter and better defined, although maybe not as extended. Amazon: more lively and open highs and cymbal notes. I also thought that the (?studio space) echo of the snare drum rim hits was better and more organic. Tidal: Vocals seemed warmer, more pleasant, and more natural. Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Loving: this is starting the list of tracks I know really well, so good for testing. I kind of ignored how annoying this was until I listend to the Amazon version without it, and it’s a relief not to be assaulted by that, and enjoy smooth continuity on an opera recording like this. BUT, outside the sound itself, another big difference: Tidal does this weird thing where every time it switches to the next track there is a loud “pop”, and brief change in the volume. Sounded largely the same, except it seemed a bit louder on Tidal. Pieces of Act 2 of Gotterdammerung, the Georg Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker recording: honestly this is probably too complex to easily identify subtle differences. I started with what I was listening to at the moment, a Ring Cycle I am going through while following along the script in a bilingual edition (fun), and then switched to songs I know well. This is presented only as listening impressions, what I heard, without delving into potential digital signal correlates – which would be very interesting to do, and if anyone reading can connect some dots (or bits) there, great. Where available, I listened to the Ultra HD version on Amazon and MQA on Tidal, I specify where that was not the case. As this gets loud, the volume was somewhere below 9 o’clock, just above where it would start getting imbalanced – gives plenty of detail without hurting my ears). The Zen Dac had both the “Power Match” and the “Truebass” buttons on. The headphones are new and not fully broken in yet. System: both apps out of an iPhone 11pro, with the camera adapter to send signal to USB, into a iFi Zen Dac powered with its dedicated power adapter, listening with Hifiman Sundara with stock cable. This is done not blinded, simply switching back and forth on the same song between the two applications, but I had pretty good equipoise starting out. Here is my brief head-to-head set of impressions, with some questions about others’ impressions and thoughts.

#Amazon music hd vs tidal trial#

I have just started my trial with Amazon HD after about a year of using Tidal.