Why Apple Music Sounds Better Than Spotify

Summary

The video script compares the audio quality of Apple Music and Spotify, highlighting Apple's higher bit rate streaming at 256 kbps versus Spotify's 160 kbps for free users, with a 320 kbps option for premium users. Apple Music's superior sound is attributed to its use of AAC encoding, lossless audio with larger file sizes, and the introduction of Spatial Audio, which simulates a 3D sound experience. Spotify's lack of true lossless audio and Spatial Audio capabilities is noted, with Apple offering these features without additional cost, enhancing the user's listening experience.

Takeaways

• 🎵 Apple Music offers higher audio quality with a streaming rate of 256 kilobits per second, compared to Spotify's 160 for free users and 320 for paid.
• 🔊 The difference in audio quality is partly due to the compression methods used, with Apple Music using AAC and later introducing ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec).
• 🗜️ Audio compression is essential for streaming services to reduce file sizes for efficient storage, faster loading, and less storage space usage on devices.
• 🆚 Spotify's Ogg Vorbis format was initially inferior to Apple's AAC in terms of sound quality, and they have not yet delivered on their promise of a Hi-Fi tier for lossless audio.
• 💾 Lossless audio, like Apple's ALAC, retains more of the original audio data, resulting in better sound quality but larger file sizes, approximately five times larger than AAC.
• 🎥 Apple Music introduced Spatial Audio, an immersive audio experience similar to surround sound, placing sounds in a 3D space around the listener.
• 🎧 Spatial Audio utilizes Dolby Atmos signals and adjusts audio based on head movement tracked by sensors in AirPods, creating a fixed point illusion in space.
• 🚫 Spotify has not yet offered a comparable technology to Apple's Spatial Audio, which gives Apple Music an edge in the streaming market.
• 🆓 Apple Music provides lossless audio and Spatial Audio without charging a premium, enhancing the value proposition for subscribers.
• 📈 The introduction of advanced audio technologies by Apple Music suggests a commitment to providing superior listening experiences, setting a high bar for the industry.
• 📚 The script highlights the technical aspects of music streaming, emphasizing the importance of bitrate, compression, and audio formats in delivering quality sound.

Q & A

Why does Apple Music offer better audio quality compared to Spotify?

Apple Music streams songs at a higher bitrate of 256 kilobits per second, compared to Spotify's 160 for free users and 320 for paid users, which contributes to better audio quality.

What is the significance of a higher bitrate in audio streaming?

A higher bitrate results in better sound quality as it allows for more data to be transmitted per second, thus preserving more of the original audio's fidelity.

How does audio compression affect the quality and file size of streaming music?

Audio compression reduces file sizes to save storage space and improve loading times, but different methods of compression can affect the quality, with some losing data and others retaining more of the original sound.

What was Apple Music's original audio compression format when it was released in 2015?

Apple Music originally used AAC (Advanced Audio Codec) for audio compression, which provided better sound quality than Spotify's Ogg Vorbis format.

What is 'lossless audio' and how does it differ from standard compressed audio?

Lossless audio refers to audio files where no data is lost between the original and the compressed file, resulting in better sound quality but also larger file sizes.

How much larger are file sizes for Apple Music's lossless audio compared to AAC?

A 4-minute AAC song on Apple Music is about 4 megabytes, whereas the same song in lossless format would be about 20 megabytes, approximately five times larger.

What is 'Spatial Audio' and how does it enhance the listening experience?

Spatial Audio is an upgraded version of surround sound that places instrumentals or vocals in a 3D space around the listener, creating an immersive audio experience similar to a movie theater.

How does Apple utilize sensors in AirPods to enhance the Spatial Audio experience?

Apple uses sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes in AirPods to track head movements and adjust the placement of audio channels, giving the illusion that the audio is coming from a fixed point in space.

What was Spotify's plan regarding lossless audio, and what is its current status?

Spotify announced plans for a Spotify Hi-Fi streaming tier in February 2021, which was intended to deliver lossless audio. However, there have been no updates or signs of its release since then.

Why might Apple Music's audio quality be considered superior to Spotify's despite the latter's paid options?

Apple Music's superior audio quality is attributed to its higher streaming bitrate, the use of lossless audio, and the addition of Spatial Audio and head tracking technology, all without charging a premium for these features.

What is the role of AAC encoding in Apple Music's audio quality?

AAC encoding plays a role in Apple Music's audio quality by providing a balance between sound quality and file size, allowing for better sound than Spotify's Ogg Vorbis format while still being efficient for streaming.

Outlines

00:00

🎧 Audio Quality Differences Between Streaming Services

This paragraph discusses the disparity in audio quality between Apple Music and Spotify, highlighting Apple Music's higher bit rate of 256 kilobits per second compared to Spotify's 160 for free users and 320 for paid users. It explains the importance of audio compression for streaming services to reduce file sizes for efficient storage, quicker loading, and less storage space usage on devices. Apple Music's use of AAC format initially provided better sound quality than Spotify's Ogg Vorbis, but in 2021, Apple introduced lossless audio with their ALAC format, which retains all original audio data, albeit with larger file sizes.

🔊 Apple's Advancements in Audio Technology

The second paragraph delves into Apple's advancements in audio technology, starting with the introduction of lossless audio in 2021, which offers better sound quality at the expense of larger file sizes. For instance, a 4-minute AAC song is about 4MB, while the same in lossless format is around 20MB. It also mentions Spotify's announced but yet-to-materialize Hi-Fi tier. Furthermore, Apple has developed spatial audio, an immersive audio experience that simulates a surround sound environment by placing audio in a 3D space around the listener, enhancing the audio experience without an additional cost.

🎥 Spatial Audio and Head Tracking for an Enhanced Experience

The final paragraph focuses on the spatial audio feature of Apple Music and how it uses Dolby Atmos signals with multiple channels to create a movie theater-like audio experience. It details the technology behind spatial audio, which involves audio filters and equalizers to simulate audio coming from all directions. Additionally, it explains how Apple's AirPods, equipped with sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes, can track head movements and adjust the audio channels accordingly, providing a fixed-point spatial audio experience that feels open and expansive, unlike traditional headphones.

Keywords

💡Apple Music

Apple Music is a subscription-based music streaming service developed by Apple Inc. It is known for offering a high-quality audio experience to its users. In the video, it is compared with Spotify and highlighted for streaming songs at a higher bit rate and offering lossless audio, which contributes to its superior sound quality.

💡Spotify

Spotify is a popular music streaming service that allows users to listen to a vast array of music. The video script discusses the differences in audio quality between Spotify and Apple Music, noting that Spotify's free users have a lower streaming bit rate and that even its premium service may not match Apple Music's audio quality due to compression techniques.

💡Audio Quality

Audio quality refers to the clarity and richness of sound produced by a music streaming service. The script emphasizes that Apple Music offers superior audio quality due to higher bit rates and the use of lossless compression, which is a significant theme in the video.

💡Bit Rate

Bit rate is the number of bits processed per unit of time in a digital transmission, which affects the quality of audio and video files. The video explains that Apple Music streams at a higher bit rate (256 kbps) compared to Spotify's free tier (160 kbps), contributing to better audio quality.

💡Audio Compression

Audio compression is the process of encoding audio data to reduce file size while maintaining quality. The script explains that streaming services use compression to save storage space and improve loading times, but different compression methods can affect the quality of the audio output.

💡AAC Format

AAC, or Advanced Audio Codec, is a popular audio compression format known for delivering good sound quality at low bit rates. The video mentions that Apple Music originally used AAC format, which provided better sound quality than Spotify's Ogg Vorbis format.

💡Lossless Audio

Lossless audio refers to audio files that retain all the original audio data without any loss in quality. The script explains that Apple Music offers lossless audio using its ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) format, which results in larger file sizes but superior sound quality.

💡Spatial Audio

Spatial audio is a technology that creates a three-dimensional audio experience, simulating surround sound. The video describes how Apple Music's spatial audio places instrumentals or vocals in a 3D space around the listener, enhancing the audio experience and setting it apart from other streaming services.

💡Head Tracking

Head tracking is the ability of a device to detect and respond to the movement of a user's head. In the context of the video, Apple uses head tracking in its AirPods to adjust the placement of audio channels, creating an immersive audio experience that changes with the listener's head movements.

💡Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology that provides a more immersive audio experience by using multiple audio channels. The video script mentions that Apple's spatial audio technology utilizes a Dolby Atmos signal to create a 3D audio environment.

💡Subscription-based Service

A subscription-based service is a business model where users pay a periodic fee to access content or services. Both Apple Music and Spotify operate on this model, as discussed in the video, with varying tiers and features offered to subscribers.

Highlights

Apple Music offers more dynamic and high fidelity audio compared to Spotify.

Apple Music streams songs at a higher bitrate, 256 kilobits per second, compared to Spotify's 160 for free users and 320 for premium.

Higher bitrate on Apple Music contributes to better audio quality.

Streaming services use audio compression to reduce file sizes for efficiency in storage, loading, and offline downloads.

Apple Music initially used AAC format for compression, delivering better sound quality than Spotify's Ogg Vorbis.

In 2021, Apple introduced lossless audio with its ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) format.

Lossless audio retains all original audio data, resulting in superior sound quality but larger file sizes.

A 4-minute AAC song on Apple Music is about 4MB, while the same in ALAC is approximately 20MB.

Spotify announced plans for a Hi-Fi streaming tier in 2021 but has not yet implemented it.

Apple Music provides lossless audio without charging a premium.

Apple also developed Spatial Audio, an enhanced surround sound experience placing audio in a 3D space around the listener.

Spatial Audio uses Dolby Atmos signals and audio processing to simulate a movie theater-like audio experience.

AirPods with sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes enable head tracking for a more immersive Spatial Audio experience.

Head tracking adjusts audio channel placement as the listener moves their head, creating the illusion of a fixed audio source.

AAC encoding, lossless audio, Spatial Audio, and head tracking make Apple Music superior to other music streaming services.

Greg from Apple Explained provides insights into the technical differences between Apple Music and Spotify.

Transcripts

if you use apple music and Spotify you

may have noticed that the audio quality

between each service is quite different

with apple music offering more Dynamic

High Fidelity audio so why is this well

it's because Apple does quite a few

things differently than Spotify first

they stream songs at a higher bit rate

256 kilobits per second compared to 160

for free Spotify users and while paid

subscribers do have a 320 kilobit per

second option on Spotify audio quality

still won't likely be as good as the 256

standard option on Apple music and the

reason why has to do with audio

compression you see streaming services

want their file sizes to be as small as

possible for several reasons that way

storing millions of songs takes up less

space on their expensive music servers

and when you select a song to play on

your device it takes less time to load

and buffer finally downloading a song

for offline listening takes up less of

your storage space so smaller file sizes

benefits everyone and the way that's

done is through audio compression which

can be achieved in a variety of ways

with different methods delivering

different levels of quality file size

and cost when Apple music was originally

released in 2015 Apple only offered

songs compressed in their AAC format

which while not retaining 100% of the

original audio data did deliver better

sound quality than spotify's Aug vorbis

format but in 2021 Apple took things

even further further by offering

lossless audio using their own

compression format called ala lossless

simply means there's no data lost

between the original song file and the

compressed file this means better sound

quality but also larger file sizes how

much larger well a 4-minute AAC song on

Apple music would be about 4 megabytes

while the same song in lless would be

about 20 so about five times larger

Spotify on the other hand doesn't offer

true lost less audio they did announce

plans for a new Spotify Hi-Fi streaming

tier back in February 2021 which would

have delivered lossless songs to users

willing to pay a higher monthly

subscription but there have been no

signs of it since and after 3 years many

are wondering if it'll ever arrive

meanwhile Apple not only delivered

lossless audio on their streaming

platform but did it without charging a

premium and they didn't stop there Apple

also created something called spatial

audio which is essentially an upgraded

version of surround sound where

instrumentals or vocals can be placed in

3D space Around The Listener creating an

audio experience similar to a movie

theater this technology is achieved by

basically taking a 5.1 or 7.1 Dolby

Atmos signal containing multiple

channels then applying various audio

filters and equalizers to make it sound

like the audio is coming from all around

you again this is technology Spotify

doesn't offer but Apple didn't stop

there because airpods have sensors like

accelerometers and gyroscopes apple can

track your head movement and adjust the

placement of these audio channels As you

move your head around this gives the

illusion that the audio is coming from a

fixed point in space as if you really

are in a wideopen movie theater rather

than wearing headphones that are stuck

to your head so all of these things AAC

encoding lossless audio spatial audio

and head trck in make apple music sound

way better than Spotify or any other

music streaming service this is Greg

with apple explained thanks for watching

till the end and I'll see you in the

next video

[Music]