My boomer dad uses TIDAL and is convinced that it sounds much better than my YT Music. And it might have higher bits and mor channels, but we aren’t sitting in a home theater. It all sounds the same through nice stereo speakers or, in my case, my headphones.

[–] Aurix@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

More channels don't do anything significant for music. In fact, movies could bake in virtual surround for headphones on a stereo channel. You could have "surround" with 2 speakers as well, read sound bars, however the sweet spot is too tiny for practical purposes most of the time.

While 16-bits is absolutely enough for normal listening conditions with high end gear, for archival purposes 24-bit would be wiser, as this would enable you to drive a grand concert stage at maximum quality just in case. The added hi-fi khz are a total waste of space however.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I general most things on Tidal do sound better than YT or Spotify. One of the easiest ways to notice this is on a good car stereo system. Tidal needs to be set to hifi mode. Even on a good pair of over ear headphones the difference can be appreciated by some. Where it would be hard not to notice is on a larger system in a large room or hall played at high volume. The YT stream will start to get a "blaring" quality whereas the Tidal stream will sound more full and less harsh. You might even start to appreciate subtle instrumentals in a song you hadn't realized were there at higher volumes.