Why does Spotify Premium sound better than iTunes lossless?

[macman]

Hello all, first post so be gentle with me...

 

Right, I currently stream audio from my iBook > Airport Express > MF V-DAC (via optical) > Exposure 2010 & Totem Dreamcatchers.

 

My original plan was to stream lossless via iTunes, however I have recently discovered the wonder that is Spotify and I'm hooked!

 

After comparing Spotify premium vs Itunes (playing the same tracks in Apple Lossless and AIFF), it is evident that Spotify's SQ is far superior. Does anyone know why this is? Spotify premium is 'only' 320kbps so the other formats should sound better.

 

For the record, I have volume normalization and sound enhancer/EQ turned OFF on both.

 

I look forward to hearing your opinions!

 

[idiot_savant]

has a built in sample-rate converter - go to control panel, quicktime, and somewhere in there will be a sample rate setting. Set this to match the audio ( 44100Hz I'm guessing ), and restart iTunes to bypass it.

 

May or may not do some good, but it's worth checking,

 

your friendly neighbourhood idiot

 

[souptin]

Doesn't Airtunes stream at 44.1 regardless of the Audio Midi sample rate setting? I've never been entirely sure. If it was doing some kind of double conversion from a 44.1 file up to 96, then back to 44.1 to stream it... probably not a good thing.

 

I also have Spotify premium, and really like it both for sound quality and choice, but haven't been able to do a like for like comparison with streaming - suspect some kind of firewall issue with Leopard and Airfoil.

 

I agree with your comment that lossless and aiff should sound better than 320kbs. Although, depending on your music, your system and your ears, 320 won't sound at all bad. Are you absolutely sure you're comparing the exact same track? Some of the recent cd remasters are very good, while others are, to my ears, worse than earlier cd releases of the same material.

 

If you're sure it's the same material, then logically it would seem that there's something not quite right with how your itunes is performing. Have you tried an alternative player?