Sigh... GGs I guess

Tested how? Listened to them side by side while jumping back and forth, or an actual blind ABX test?

You can see details of my methodology in the link above.

I've had about a dozen people message me so far and none of them were able consistenly tell Spotify apart from any of the other services.

Again it’s more that you’re spending money on headphones, DACs and amps. Why use lossy audio formats? You’re literally wasting money on the amps and DACs at that point

There is also this review which seems to concur overall. I don’t know much about “Sound Guys” though. Strange that they have a pretty scathing write up but then rate the sound quality at 9.6 in their table at the top. Make of that what you will. Seems inconsistent and misleading to me.

https://www.soundguys.com/anker-soundcore-space-q45-review-78320/

> The Anker Soundcore Space Q45 sound quality is probably the headset’s biggest issue. It’s not all terrible, most users will get used to the headset’s sound after a few minutes of use, but it doesn’t hold up next to other options on the market. The frequency response curve deviates noticeably from our ideal target curve across all areas of the frequency spectrum. The sub-bass is slightly exaggerated, the midrange depressed slightly, and the higher frequencies are besieged by an undulating change in response that causes high-end elements in music to sound hissy, betraying the accuracy of the playback.

Ye sure

LDAC isn’t lossless dude.

It’s just fact dude

I think we'd have to end it here... I'm just of the view 320kbps OGG Vorbis is very capable and .flac or .alac files will be "better" but not by a humongous margin that will call for people to overhaul their listening services. You're on Apple Music, kudos. Someone too is on Spotify, more power to them. Another loves their .wav offline stuff, they can carry on and be satisfied regardless.👍🏾

Dude I’ve already tested CD vs Spotify vs Apple Music.

Question is what did you record them on?

I have these and like them. Audio was very good for the price but the cups and band wore very quickly when wearing for a 45 min walk/subway commute.

They would, they ship intl now

Love the 650 as well, it was my first really good headphone and it’s still the one I’d never consider selling. It may have some downsides, but it just sounds so extremely good for a lot of music… one of the most tonally pleasant headphones ever.

I use Spotify 24/7 and also have LDAC library. Can't find much difference and Spotify is just comfortable.

Also, it is pointless to argue with you. Either it's your brain or you are just trolling.

Point was that the masters of a particular song will be the same regardless so the same file in FLAC vs say MP3 will have the same bad master. The FLAC will still sound the better of the two

Bruh, do I have just the thing for you.

I recorded a series of samples from Spotify and compared them to others taken from Apple Music, Tidal, and Qobuz.

Before you go any further, I would suggest you head over to the link below, download and listen to a few of them and see for yourself how that "marked difference" vanishes when you don't know which one you're listening to.

https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/ymk4fj/curious_to_see_if_apple_music_tidal_qubuz_really/

Comparison to others and some objective measurement and other info here: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/anker/soundcore-space-q45-wireless

Have a look at the frequency response and Neutral Sound summary:

> The Anker Soundcore Space Q45 aren't the best choice for neutral sound out of the box. They have a pretty v-shaped sound profile with extra thump, rumble, and boom, as well as bright and sparkly sibilants. However, they also have a peak in their high-mid, which makes vocals and instruments sound harsh, while the dip in the low-treble veils their details. Luckily, you can adjust their sound to suit your tastes using their companion app's graphic EQ and presets. They also support LDAC codec if you want to stream hi-res audio.

Reason why I said mixing and mastering is actually more important than fussing over if something is lossy... I'd take a genuinely good master at 256kbps over some jumbled mess of a dynamic range read at 1411 kbps

The 650's mids are quite unique, I might say.

Dude Spotify isn’t near the same as FLAC. It’s worse than AAC at a lower bitrate

And if they can’t master for lossless then they’re not going to be able to do it for sub CD quality either will they?

Ok, maybe it is just your brain that tries to pretend it (the big difference in sound quality)

I can list so many lossless albums with terrible dynamic range and shit mastering but yes generally Lossless albums should have more fidelity honestly

Ah yeah, I get that. Maybe in the future, you can buy used to try stuff out. You can sell back whatever you don't like and usually make all your money back. To be honest, you probably dodged a bullet by going with Sennheiser. They're just way more reliable than Hifiman at the end of the day.

Definitely am Interested in a 660S! Pretty dang pricey where I'm at though

If you did a blind test between oggs and a lossless file like a FLAC or ALAC people would be able to tell. Point is if you’re spending money on shit you don’t need like amps why would you not just get a better source when it’s readily available.

Where are you located?