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Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: Mutley75 on 12 September 2019, 09:25

Title: Dynaudio/CarPlay - Apple Music v Spotify
Post by: Mutley75 on 12 September 2019, 09:25

For those who have Dynaduio and iPhones, which music service are people using and why?  I've had a free six month trial of Apple Music and I've also subscribed to a three month trial of Spotify for 99p.  In my experience, both have pros and cons, just wondered whether others have the same observations?

Apple Music

• Siri Support (ie: just ask it to play a song, playlist, genre or even find a song by speaking some of the lyrics
• Offline playback seems more efficient, 4G coverage is patchy in my area.  Offline sound quality is also superior to streaming.
• The EQ set on the iPhone doesn't filter through to Dynaudio, it's completely ignored (not that you'd want to set both in any event)
• The recommended songs algorithm is inferior to Spotify, it simply suggests songs already in my library or songs by the same artists already in my library

Spotify

• Song/playlist recommendations are far superior
• The EQ set within the app does pass through to Dynaudio, adding some flexibility - but if the car EQ is tuned to match. this, it can mean it's not optimised when listening to other sources such as DAB or Apple Music, so probably best left off or flat
• I can just get in the car and drive and find it easy to listen to something decent outside of my playlists.  With Apple Music, it just regurgitates more of the same, so I have to spend time creating a new play list before any long journey rather than relying on the app which seems a little counter productive

Music quality between the two is comparable in my opinion.  Although Apple uses a slightly lower BitRate the format is supposedly of better quality and uses less storage for offline use.  Although my ears can't tell any difference between them.

Any other thoughts or observations?  I just need to decide which of the two will earn my £9.99 subscription now...  :whistle:

Title: Re: Dynaudio/CarPlay - Apple Music v Spotify
Post by: Philip on 13 September 2019, 07:15

I’ve used Amazon music unlimited for the last three years and would certainly recommend trying it if you want another option. The app UI is consistent across all platforms and, for me at least, is a much better experience in CarPlay than Apple Music. Online/ offline is easy to select and the recommended for you play lists do reflect your music library very well.

Sound quality seems as good as any other but downloads are larger size than Apple format. Streaming is generally excellent over 4G and the bit rate can be set to reduce data use. The ability to use Siri with third party apps is apparently coming with iOS 13.