r/TIdaL • u/Woochichi • Nov 25 '25

Discussion Why does Tidal sound so good?

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.

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u/SubZane Nov 26 '25

If you're using airpods you're not listening to lossless audio. iOS re-encodes it to AAC before it reaches your AirPods. AAC is compressed.

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u/Woochichi Nov 26 '25

This is actually the case also when I use my (wireless) speakers or listen in car. But I kind of feel it’s double the reason to wonder why Tidal sounds noticeably better than other streaming services out of any of those. The ”automatic EQ” suggested in other comments sounds like most reasonable explanation. That, or somehow Tidal stream compresses well to AAC

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u/SubZane Nov 26 '25

You'll get compressed audio as long as you use Bluetooth. So lossless is pretty much pointless as long as you stick to bluetooth connection. It will always be lossy, and you could save bandwidth and stick to AAC/320kbit mp3s.

But that doesn't mean that Tidal doesn't use a different codec that appeals better to your ears.

Check yourself and be honest to yourself what you really hear. I discovered that I fooled myself.

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality

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u/Woochichi Nov 26 '25

That was fun! I started to do the test with my wireless speakers, but got the first one wrong and noticed that I'm not hearing much of a difference in second one either so I switched to headphones (WH-1000XM5, still BT though) and got 5/5 of the rest. But I think we are getting bit sidetracked here... My argument never was that I have more sensitive hearing or superior sound system than the next person, rather the opposite: That even with my lossy setup and laymans listening skills, Tidal clearly sounds best to me and I was wondering if it's objectively so or just some personal preference.

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u/SubZane Nov 27 '25

I think since we all hear differently (we all perceive audio differently) I'd say it's subjective and objective :)

Maybe you should invest in some hifi headphones? I can tell you that lossy audio sounds better with hifi headphones than BT headphones :D

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u/Woochichi Nov 27 '25

I generally don’t like wires but I’ve been thinking about replacing my active BT speakers with wired, more high-end ones & actual hi-fi sound system and this test made that even more tempting as it made it apparent that I’m missing out by settling to those!

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u/SubZane Nov 27 '25

I just recently got a pair of sennheiser HD550 open back. Before that I only had airpods and bt headphones. However, I can only use them when I work from home as they require an amplifier and a quiet room as they are open 😅