Poor sound quality

Question

Level 1

6 points

Poor sound quality

I have been using Apple Music on Android since last year and I have been also testing all the major streaming services in search of the best one for me. Here is my feedback.

Positive:

1. the interface is quite good
2. gapless playback of gapless albums works fine for me, many competitors have problems with that, and it was important for me
3. Integration of own files works fine on my Xperia Z5, I had problems with that on Z1 Compact

Negative:

Sound quality. It is bad or even terrible, depending on the kind of music. I don’t think it is a question of encoding. I believe Apple Music streams in 256 kbps AAC (is it correct?), competitor G. in 320 kbps MP3 and competitor S. in 320 kbps OGG, I believe. So, the difference in practical terms should be negligible, I think. But there is a huge difference in the listening experience.

I use a Sony Z5 and MDR-1ABT headphones, which is quite a decent setup, and I really enjoy the sound of G. or S. The listening experience is fantastic, bass is great and treble very nice, the dynamic range is excellent. If I activate Sony’s DSEE HX on the phone it gets even better, it makes you go “wow”. Just fantastic.

The listening experience on Apple Music is quite the opposite. It sounds kind of like 1990s FM radio, the sound is extremely flat compared to G. or S., the bass is very weak, no treble, just flat. The app doesn’t respect the Android sound settings, therefore there’s no equalizer and no DSEE HX. I cannot listen to Apple Music for longer than 15-20 minutes, when you know G’s or S’s sound quality, it is just not enjoyable.

Competitor T has the same issue or “feature” – Android’s sound settings are not respected by the app.

So, my question is, are there plans to fix it in the next version or in 1.0, or should I rather build my playlists elsewhere? Will it respect Android’s sound settings, such as equalizer / Clear Audio / DSEE HX? I like Apple’s interface and feel better, and would prefer to continue my subscription of Apple Music, but I just cannot stand the flat sound…

Cheers

Tom

Apple Music-OTHER, Other OS, Android

Posted on May 27, 2016 4:09 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 13, 2017 6:36 PM in response to new-horizons

"Hi-Fi territory" — you made me laugh!)

Oh Jee, the quality of sound in Apple Music is so poor that i can't even listen to this. I didn't listen to competitors, but i like Apple Music, it's convenient. The problem is, as always, in majority, that have no taste nor understanding. Apple Music is 256 kbps, and it's a poor quality, but i just hear very definitely that it's not even 256. It's rather 128. This is very sad...

Competitors offer "high-fidelity" quality — 1411 kbps (FLAC format), but for three times higher price. For what?? It's just dishonest. People who enjoy MP3 quality get the same level of satisfaction just as people who enjoy FLAC quality and don't enjoy MP3. They don't give you something more than to others. They give you the same product — the same level of satisfaction. Why charge more? I'm not going to pay $30 a month for 1411. I'm already paying $10 a month for 256 and get less than others for the same price. Not fair. Must cost the same.

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Answer 2

Jan 14, 2017 11:25 AM in response to Victor15264728

Most people don't have an understanding what do they listen, they don't notice that music doesn't sound like it sounded before. Because ones forgot, and others are new generation which is not aware that sounds can make you feel so high.

I just hear it, not only in my expensive headphones, in apple earplugs i hear exactly the same poorness of quality. I just don't hear the instruments, the voices. Everything is so flat, no soul, no sounding... But not because equalizer is flat, i want it flat. Because of quality!

I understand that producers of music themselves charge more for HD format, and this is just ridiculous... They don't do any additional work to enhance the quality. The original quality is already excellent. What do they do is just converting originals to different formats — MP3, FLAC and so on. By one click. And before, when there was no MP3 format yet, there were CDs with quality 1411, and guess what, they costed the same as MP3 cost now. I'm not even talking that before CDs there were tapes and vinyls. So what happened is they started to charge more for the same CD-quality that was before MP3. But now they don't even need to spend on CDs manufacture and prints, they just need to upload it on website. Why should i pay for another format more?? It's just very sad.

Such giants like Apple CAN make owners of music provide all formats (different quality) for the same price. Because they give a lot of listeners/buyers them. Apple can provide us a choice what quality to listen to. For the same price. This will be fair.

But now, these people are killing the soul of music, i'm not enjoying listening Apple Music/iTunes music, like Instagram with its little poor-quality squares is killing soul of photography and videography. Why bother record music with high quality if everyone will listen it in 256 or 320 kbps? Even worse than that. The sounding is everything!

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Answer 3

Jan 14, 2017 11:47 AM in response to Victor15264728

And they don't provide you anything extra to charge more. They initially should provide and provided before a good quality, but now they decided that you deserve less. It's just very sad.

It's exactly the same as if all bakeries suddenly would replace fresh bread by rusks, providing that rusks are made from fresh bread (like poor-quality music from excellent quality music), and from now on in order to buy a fresh bread you need to pay 3 times more than before. And most people just eat rusks, they don't care if it's worse than fresh bread, they forgot how it tasted. But a part of people still wants to eat fresh bread.

The sounding is everything!

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Answer 4

May 28, 2016 12:37 PM in response to new-horizons

It seems to very per device, Apple Music on my HTC one M7 sounds worse than my friends Samsung Galaxy which sounds like my iPhone.

saying that Spotify did the same but google music sounds amazing...

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Answer 5

new-horizons Author

Level 1

6 points

May 28, 2016 7:21 PM in response to reecehaigh

On Spotify there are different quality settings that can be applied by the user. At the highest quality setting on my Sony Z5 and very good headphones I cannot tell the difference between Spotify and Google, both sound absolutely fantastic. Deep bass, treble, great dynamic range... So cool.

If Apple Music sounds good on iPhone but not on Android, that would confirm that the source files are ok, but the sound engine used by Apple in the Android version is bad. Apple should not invent anything, just use the native sound engine in Android phones, respect the equalizer and all other sound settings just like G. or Spotify. And then it will be a great music streaming service, for my purposes probably the best one. As of now, I cannot bear the flatness of the Apple sound, and I might suspend my suscription until this is rectified.

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Answer 6

BBoiss

Level 4

1,433 points

Jun 2, 2016 10:37 AM in response to new-horizons

In iOS, there is a toggle for allowing High Quality on Cellular under Settings for the app. Could this be related to your experience on your android? I do not own an android to look for and test this.

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Answer 7

new-horizons Author

Level 1

6 points

Jun 17, 2016 7:36 PM in response to BBoiss

The "quality" setting is only the bit rate of the encoding. I can only select "High Quality on Cellular". But the bit rate is not the issue.

I think the encoding quality is OK, the issue is with how the sound is produced.

I noticed an interesting thing: I can use my Sony MDR-1ABT headphones in a wired mode and wirelessly with Bluetooth. For convenience I usually prefer wireless mode. I recently tried Apple Music in wired mode and there is a big improvement as compared to Bluetooth. It still doesn't sound so nice as G or S, but at least it is in hi-fi teritorry. Of course G and S also sound better when the headphones are connected with a cable, but the difference is not so huge as in the case of Apple.

In wired mode Apple Music is only a 100 miles behind G and S, in Bluetooth mode it is 1000 light years behind.

My theory is that since Apple Music doesn't respect the phone's global sound settings, perhaps it is not compatible with aptX or LDAC, so when Bluetooth headphones are used, only a standard Bluetooth codec is used for data transmission. AptX or LDAC make a huge difference, but if Apple Music cannot use the system equalizer or DSEE HX for some reason, maybe for the same reason the sound cannot be encoded by the phone for aptX or LDAC transmission.

On mid-range in-ear headphones the difference in quality between Apple and G or S is not so big, but because G and S can make use of the equalizer they can offer more options and in many cases a better experience.

High-end Bluetooth headphones such as the 1ABT are ruthless for Apple Music. The flat sound hurts my ears.

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Answer 8

new-horizons Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 7, 2016 3:45 PM in response to new-horizons

I updated to 1.0 and what a surprise, it respects the global EQ settings and there is a shortcut in the app to the phone's sound settings. DSEE HX works now on my Xperia Z5! Fantastic.

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