Even though Tidal has better sound quality, I cancelled because of it's inconvenience (mainly volume levels) compared to Apple Music
Yep, one of a couple of absurd, gross problems that have been going on for years. Maybe if more people vote with their wallets they'll get the message. They certainly ignored the many reports I made about it. I think it was maybe just good luck that Apple's use of Dolby MAT neatly side stepped more than one serious issue with Dolby Atmos lossy encoding and the use of dialnorm. It would be fantastic if there becomes some way to implement the use of Dolby MAT afterward on some platforms such as Android TV etc.
Tying back to the thread subject, for my money, there is often an easily heard difference in fidelity between a lossy atmos encoding and lossless. I will always seek out a lossless recording over lossy in any format. But I'm an ex professional recording engineer. It's a matter of principle if nothing else.
It's a shame they settled on the atmos lossy encoding bitrate they did as per the spec it could have been double that, easily handled by any decent internet connection, something explored here in detail when the first lossy atmos music files appeared.
I believe lossless atmos streaming will eventually appear, just as in the stereo world. There is no technical reason it cannot be done, only on the server and marketing sides to decide there is an audience/demand for it. If that does happen, just like in the stereo world, initially the cost will be higher, $20/mo to the current market $10. Remember when the first lossless stereo services appeared they charged double the going rate for lossy (Tidal for example). Now that market has settled down to $10/mo from any provider, mostly driven by Apple, who became the 800 pound gorilla in the music streaming world. Remember when Steve Jobs ran Apple and took the position that .99 cents per song, was it, period end of story and that Apple would never join the world of streaming? How times change. Again though, Apple led the way in the business then as now. And this is coming from a guy who's held off buying an Apple TV device or subscription. But I think it's inevitable. For Atmos music they're just better plain and simple. Having said that there's no reason in the world they couldn't develop a client for Android TV devices like my preferred Nvidia Shield TV. For some odd reason they did do that for LG TVs. I'm running the Apple Music client on an LG TV feeding an atmos system in my office and it's great.
