I have a question about Tidal's Exclusive mode. But first of all, my (office) setup is as follows. I use Tidal desktop on a laptop (Windows 10). The laptop is connected by USB to a Musical Fidelity V-Dac (circa 2010), and then the analog output from the V-Dac goes to a receiver and then to speakers. The setup is modest and was put together without much thought (using whatever I could get that fitted the space), but sounds surprisingly very pleasant.
Now, I recently read an article about Tidal's Exclusive mode. My understanding of it is that the mode allows Tidal to determine the specific bitrate and sampling rate that it will send to the dac. So I experimented with it. I found that when the Exclusive mode was on, the sound on many songs became louder (which was OK). However, I also noticed that midbass became slightly louder as well. The songs sounded slighly muddy and more compressed. I tested it back and forth several times to make sure that I was not just hearing things. I should also say that I am very sensitive to muddy sound, and I believe that what I heard was real. Please note that it did not matter whether the test was done with Force Volume engaged or not.
Now, my question is that I don't understand how bitrates and sampling rates can change the tonal quality of songs (to this extent). Did I miss anything or do anything wrong? Any explanation would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Edit: P.S. I did an internet search and found someone making a similar observation on another forum. But there was no explanation. Perhaps it was not taken seriously.
Now, I recently read an article about Tidal's Exclusive mode. My understanding of it is that the mode allows Tidal to determine the specific bitrate and sampling rate that it will send to the dac. So I experimented with it. I found that when the Exclusive mode was on, the sound on many songs became louder (which was OK). However, I also noticed that midbass became slightly louder as well. The songs sounded slighly muddy and more compressed. I tested it back and forth several times to make sure that I was not just hearing things. I should also say that I am very sensitive to muddy sound, and I believe that what I heard was real. Please note that it did not matter whether the test was done with Force Volume engaged or not.
Now, my question is that I don't understand how bitrates and sampling rates can change the tonal quality of songs (to this extent). Did I miss anything or do anything wrong? Any explanation would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Edit: P.S. I did an internet search and found someone making a similar observation on another forum. But there was no explanation. Perhaps it was not taken seriously.
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