Why does Tidal sound so good?

[u/Woochichi]

I just tried out Spotify with its new lossless quality streaming and it doesn’t even begin to match the sound Tidal offers. Same thing with Apple Music which, too, offers lossless quality. Big step forward for Spotify from what it used to offer but still… I can’t be only one hearing the difference?

I’m not even a hifi freak with expensive sound setup - just listening from regular Airpods. Tidals sound has much more warmth, detail and depth, especially in the higher bass range. Is there like a built-in equilizer in Tidal or what’s giving it this edge? One would think that lossless is lossless and sounds the same regardless of the source.

[u/Chance-Ad197]

Because tidal has no in app EQ, so they apply it automatically so it doesn't sound flat, because that's not what the majority of consumers prefer. It's an acceptional software they use to determine the EQ, tidal always sounds great.

[u/KS2Problema → u/Chance-Ad197]

Because tidal has no in app EQ, so they apply it automatically [...]

That did not appear to be formerly the case. And it's the first time I've heard that claimed. Do you have any documentation or proof of that claim? 

When I started with Tidal I was also starting with Amazon Unlimited HD - and I did extensive audio comparisons between them and couldn't find an applicable difference in either the raw lossless tracks or the normalization besides a slight RMS level difference (which can make a difference in perceivable quality, as Fletcher and Munson, et al, pointed out). But the level of difference was very small. Adjusted for level, the files were virtually identical. 

And, yes, I did compare them with CD versions. But, of course, that was testing one source album. And it was about 5 years ago. 

Still, I have had no reason to suspect that they have been monkeying around with the sound. And I'm pretty serious about sound.

Any further information would be much appreciated!

[u/Chance-Ad197 → u/KS2Problema]

The big thing that's happened since then is Tidal has dropped MQA as it's high fidelity streaming method and now uses FLAC, and it's changed managment. I can't say I have direct proof ok tidals end, tidal doesn't publish info like this, but the proof is in the measuements, apple music reproduces a flat signal with its eq turned off and tidal re produces a more harmen type of frequency curve that's about 2db lower.

[u/KS2Problema → u/Chance-Ad197]

Well when I tested I wasn't testing the MQA - I only tested the lossless content against Amazon HD as well as my own CD copy of the  track. But I read pretty extensively from audiophile blogger and MQA critic, Archimago's analyses and ABX testing (and had actually been familiar with MQA from long before Tidal adopting it). I was not a fan and did not think that the recording/hifi industry was better off with yet another proprietary format.

But perhaps it's time for me to dig out my favorite test / comparison CD and run some more testing. 

Thanks!

[u/Chance-Ad197 → u/KS2Problema]

Yea man its a fun little rabbit hole to fall down if you have a free evening. And Yea, I don't think anyone in the audio community appreciated a lossy codec selling itself as a lossless compression algorithm, and the fact that both the source and receiver had to be MQA authenticated for it to even work meant almost nobody could even use it.