Apple Music sounds way better than Spotify ?

[sstifter]

I’m far from being an audiophile, but I do enjoy good music. I always thought the Bose system in my 2022 Taycan Cross Turismo 4S was… fine. Nothing spectacular, but perfectly acceptable.

That was my opinion until yesterday.

I had to download Apple Music to fix an age-rating issue for podcasts, so I signed up for the one-month trial and connected it to the PCM. The difference was immediate. It honestly sounded like someone had upgraded the sound system overnight.

Then I enabled Lossless Audio.

Wow.

For reference, I’ve been a Spotify Premium user for years and always had streaming quality set to the highest available. I also listen to SiriusXM quite a bit. But Apple Music with Lossless sounds noticeably cleaner, with better instrument separation, tighter bass, and a much more open soundstage. Vocals are clearer, and the whole system just seems to come alive.

I wasn’t expecting such a dramatic difference from simply changing streaming services, but for me it’s not subtle at all.

Has anyone else experienced the same thing with the Bose system in the Taycan? Or am I just late to the Apple Music party?

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[chun]

Spotify also has lossless; and high bit rate settings.

so maybe enable those?

Without a cable, neither is actually lossless.

If you’re comparing the native apps of the car, then they could indeed differ in quality. But I am avoiding those.

 

[Shteef]

It's well worth giving the native apps in the PCM a try. The built Apple Music app sounds an order of magnitude better than streaming from the phone in my experience.

 

[F1Ruaraidh]

Spotify also has lossless; and high bit rate settings.

so maybe enable those?

Without a cable, neither is actually lossless.

If you’re comparing the native apps of the car, then they could indeed differ in quality. But I am avoiding those.

Why? They're actually good apps.

 

[chun]

Why? They're actually good apps.

I don't like waiting a week for music to start / application to load.

With carplay, it's instant.

 

[Shteef]

I don't like waiting a week for music to start / application to load.

With carplay, it's instant.

Interesting. My music apps in the PCM load music very quickly, no noticeable difference between them and on the iPhone. My car is 2025 with the newer PCM firmware. The only thing that I find mildly irritating is the audio drops out for half a second between tracks. You only notice it if one track is supposed to blend into the next track.

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