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bits is bits

Being a retired IT tech, Iʻm a "bits is bits" guy. I keep seeing people rank different  streaming services against each other and I have to say, Iʻm mystified. Modern recordings are all digital masters and remastered. If two different hi-res streaming services, say Qobuz and Tidal, have the same track available, why would one sound different from the other, let alone better?

 

The stream is being fed over TCP/IP from the source, and I see no reason that it you were to do a cksum on the same file/track being delivered by either streaming service, that they would exactly match.  So why do people claim better sound from one streaming source over the other.  Iʻm assuming they are both full resolution sources, not mp3.

russbutton
dr-boop
109 posts
 

There's a lot to "unpack" with digital audio. In a nutshell

#1 you can't assume Tidal and Qobuz received the same file in the first place

#2 assume the same TCP/IP packets all arrive to your streamer bit perfect, now look at what happens next from the renderer, DAC, and eventual output.

Same bits, different results

sns
4,218 posts
 

Nope, we can't assume TCP/IP packets all arrive at your streamer bit perfect, they arrive at your modem bit perfect. One's network does affect the encoding of these bits.

mswale
382 posts
 

We all assume a lot. We assume that all streaming services receive the same source file. That might not be the case. We also forget that until that "music" passes the DAC, it is in fact not music, but a digital file. Any software before the DAC can, and will affect the sound. Like Spotify for instance, has a bass boost over all other services, like a "loudness" that you can't turn off. In the car it's fine, but on my home stereo, it's too much. 

We also assume that all streaming services, use the same software/storage/server/OS etc. They are all different ways to deliver the bits to your DAC. Think all things contribute to slightly different sonic profiles. 

devinplombier
1,676 posts
 

Nope, we can’t assume TCP/IP packets all arrive at your streamer bit perfect, they arrive at your modem bit perfect. One’s network does affect the encoding of these bits.

@sns 

TCP packets remain bit-perfect until they are processed. Since no processing takes place in your home network upstream of your streamer, it follows that TCP packets do arrive at your streamer bit-perfect.

You have to admit, it would be extraordinary that a FLAC file could journey bit-perfect from Romania, or wherever Qobuz’s servers are, to the modem chez SNS only to be irremediably mangled in the two meters of CAT6 cabling that separate SNS’s modem from his streamer. Unless I missed something, which is always a possibility.

yoyoyaya's avatar
yoyoyaya
1,068 posts
 

Going back to the original question, I switched from Tidal to Qobuz because at the time Tidal was using MQA for a lot of its high rez files and I don't like the sound of MQA processing. I've never done an A/B between two non-MQA files from each service, but if they sound different then I'm going to assume that the actual recordings are different i.e. its the source and not the transmission system that is causing the difference - Occam's Razor etc.

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