There's one thing I cannot stand about the Apple streaming platform: the first one or two seconds of a song seem to be served at a lower bitrate, making any powerful intro hits/notes basically get a low-pass filter applied.
Or, at least this is my understanding of it – that they've prioritized serving audio FAST, rather than waiting an extra second for the higher bitrate to buffer. I find it absolutely infuriating and can't un-notice it. For some reason, it seems to behave the same if the bandwidth/latency is great or poor, or whether files are cached or not.
I don't use other services, but never experience this with any other player (including my own Navidrome setup), even if the files are the exact same.
Or, at least this is my understanding of it – that they've prioritized serving audio FAST, rather than waiting an extra second for the higher bitrate to buffer. I find it absolutely infuriating and can't un-notice it. For some reason, it seems to behave the same if the bandwidth/latency is great or poor, or whether files are cached or not.
I don't use other services, but never experience this with any other player (including my own Navidrome setup), even if the files are the exact same.
Surely I can't be the only one who's noticed?