I Must Say...Tidal’s Blowin’ My Mind!

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Khorn, May 24, 2020.

  1. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    Till now I haven’t had much time to sit and listen through my new DAC/Streamer. I’ve now spent some time assembling my Tidal library and can’t believe the choice of multiple mastering of individual albums. You may have two, three or more different pressings and the differences are astounding. This is where a decent DAC/Streamer makes a heck of a lot of difference to my ears anyway.
    I’ve come to the conclusion that good streaming is fantabulous!! I’m a happy listener.
     
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  2. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    Right now I'm listening to PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love with Tidal. DAC is nothing really special: my Parasound Halo 2.1 Integrated. Sounds great.
     
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  3. Popper

    Popper Well-Known Member

    I just posted elsewhere about my positive Tidal experience. If I understood correctly, the other poster had tried Amazon HD and could not tell the difference between hi res files and the other usual streaming services.

    To me there was a very obvious difference, and I find myself listening to so much more music as a result.
     
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  4. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    It’s the fact that I’m able to easily discern differences between pressings shows how good the resolution is. Also, they have a vast majority of music I already listen to.
     
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  5. zakyfarms

    zakyfarms White cane lying in a gutter in the lane.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    How is their artist compesation, compared to the rapacious other streaming outfits?
     
  6. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    Interesting question. If anyone has the answer I hope it’s a good one as far as Tidal’s treatment of artists go.
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  7. Brenald79

    Brenald79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I’m new to Tidal as well. I love it. Sounds so much better than Spotify/Apple Music.
     
  8. DryWhiteToast

    DryWhiteToast Where's my Ativan

    Tidal is the Wave of the Future Dudes.
    Ride it.
     
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  9. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Ride it like cable/satellite tv, phone and internet. Pay pay pay mofos, is your future.
     
  10. Just Walking

    Just Walking Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Agree about Tidal quality. Was going through Neil Young's back catalog on Tidal yesterday and for some of them there were four versions of the same album - and that is typical.
     
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  11. Lowgroove

    Lowgroove Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    I just started the 4months for $5.

    Sounds good so far. I have already listened to quite a few albums I was thinking of buying on vinyl and it is allowing me to prioritise these a lot better than just using YouTube.

    My streamer allows me to log into tidal and shows Tidal as a different folder to my hard drive. Doesn’t do a full MQA unfold - I just get 44.1 or 48 with 24 bit. I am sure it would be better with Roon.

    Enjoying so far -another 3 months before I need to decide if it is worth full price.
     
    Khorn likes this.
  12. Fruff76

    Fruff76 L100 Classic - Fan Club President

    I believe it’s artist owned, so I’d guess it’s better than the others. I agree with this thread. I’ve completely abandoned my collection that’s on a hard drive and solely listen to tidal. Only on a rare occasion does tidal not have something that I own. As for the sound quality, it’s really really good!
     
    Encore and Khorn like this.
  13. mavisgold

    mavisgold Senior Member

    Location:
    bellingham wa
    Tidal (stylized in all caps) is a subscription-based music, podcast and video streaming service that combines lossless audio and high-definition music videos with exclusive content and special features on music. Tidal was launched in 2014 by Norwegian public company Aspiro, currently owned by Jay-Z.

    With distribution agreements with all three major labels and many indies,[3] Tidal claims to offer access to more than 60 million tracks and 240,000 music videos.[4] It offers two levels of service: Tidal Premium (lossy quality) and Tidal HiFi (lossless CD quality – FLAC-based 16-Bit/44.1 kHz – and MQA – typically 24-bit/96 kHz). Tidal claims to pay the highest percentage of royalties to music artists and songwriters within the music streaming market.[5]

    Tidal (service) - Wikipedia
     
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  14. mikedifr0923

    mikedifr0923 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Last I had read a year or two ago it was the highest among all the streaming services, one of the reasons they have struggled financially. But I don’t remember what the rate was and if it would be considered good or just the lesser of all evils.

    Will see if I can find what I read
     
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  15. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    Jumped from Tidal to Qobuz last year and have NEVER looked back. Better sound (no MQA) and I am no longer blasted with stuff I have zero interest in on the front page. I have actually discovered more new stuff that is actually interesting to me via the Qobuz front page that I ever found with Tidal. Add that no matter how many times I tried to dislike it, I was bombarded with the flavor of the month from Jay-Z, Beyonce and other mainstream pop. I also hated having to be careful not to open it at a family function and have my preteen goddaughters confronted with fifty and profanity. (of course they get that all day at school, I am sure), but I don't wish to be part of it. Yes that makes me a grumpy old man, but so be it.

    I will say that Tidal did build excellent playlists, so they can have really good curation, if they did not insist on force feeding a handful of artists to you. Of course Apple is nearly as bad. Been so long since I tried Spotify I can't speak to them.
     
  16. Fruff76

    Fruff76 L100 Classic - Fan Club President

    I tried the QBoz free trial for a few days and found the hi rez no different than the tidal offerings. I also didn’t care for the interface as much so I just canceled immediately. They’re both good depending on what your personal preferences are though. I will say it’s very difficult to go back to vinyl after getting tidal and using it through my Cambridge.
     
    fish likes this.
  17. mikedifr0923

    mikedifr0923 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    What do you mean careful by opening it? Did it just automatically play stuff? I have never had that issue. The recommended playlists and songs on the home page are also consistent with what I have been listening to recently.

    Not here to defend tidal, just never heard of those issues.

    How does the catalog of Qobuz compare in the US? Isn’t it limited? I haven’t tried that service yet.
     
  18. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    I pick and choose almost all I listen to. I’m building my back library but am also at liberty to explore new Artists/titles. I like the direction Tidal is taking and only look forward to improvements.

    As far as Qobuz goes it may be great but it’s a non-factor for me. It doesn’t exist where I live.
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  19. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    Generally I found the front page to be often be offensive. Yes that's likely a prudish attitude, but so be it. Add that it generally included JayZ and Beyonce in nearly any recommendation.

    I was an early subscriber to Tidal and stayed for years, so none of this was necessarily a deal breaker, it just made it easy to switch when something better came along. I find the SQ of Qobuz to be a bit better and I find their recommendations more interesting. I don't see much difference in the catalogs. The same new releases are there but generally the new releases page is much more varied with titles from all over the world and much more varied. pretty m much all of it there on Tidal as well, but you would have to find it.

    If you are picking everything yourself, then you will likely be happy with either of them. If you love contemporary pop music, then Tidal is likely the ticket.

    The screenshots pretty much sum it up.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  20. Bob_in_OKC

    Bob_in_OKC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas
    Tidal, iPhone, and Chromecast Audio makes a nice system.
     
  21. RandyHat

    RandyHat Senior Member

    Location:
    Denton, Texas
    I currently have both Tidal and Qobuz. Yes, it is redundant and I keep putting off my decision to pick just one. I do run across albums all the time that exist on one service but not the other. I also have both of these services presented to me via Roon which standardizes the interface. Both services sound great. Tidal offers the MQA version of hi-rez and Qobuz offering "true" hi-rez. I would highly recommend either or both services. I've discovered so much new music. For those of us with large CD and/or LP collections and decades of collecting and listening to physical media, the streaming experience is somewhat different in that there is a tendency to browse or explore. Depending upon your attention span and mood, streaming can be a little like channel surfing while watching TV.
     
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  22. Donivey

    Donivey Forum Resident

    Location:
    NC
    I like Qobuz over Tidal, but both are much better with Roon. Roon's Radio feature will choose music similaer to something you have just played and liked, and continue doing so indefinitely, allowing you to hear new artists you didn't even know about. Great!
     
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  23. Aardvark23

    Aardvark23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I trialed Amazon HD, Qobuz, and Tidal. I couldn’t really tell a difference in audio quality between any of them using a blunode 2si on my main system and a dragonfly red on my Iphone. The Tidal interface was constantly pushing me music I had no interest in, Amazon is almost as bad. The Qobuz interface exposed me to some new music I enjoyed, always a good thing. In the end I chose Amazon only because it’s cheap for Prime members in particular when you pay for an annual subscription with an Amazon credit card to save the extra 5%. When its time to renew, I will likely go with Qobuz due to the strength of the interface and quit being so cheap. Spotify has the best recommendations but the worst sound - I CAN tell a difference even with my old worn out ears. Wish they offered a hi-rez solution.
     
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  24. jonwoody

    jonwoody Tragically Unhip

    Location:
    Washington DC
    I jumped from Spotify to Tidal maybe 5 years ago and recently started streaming Qobuz. I slightly prefer Qobuz in terms of artist mix and I think the sound is slightly better sometimes. I still also use Tidal and like having both options I don't use either app I access them through the Auralic LDS app so the interfaces are the same.
     
    Khorn likes this.
  25. rodentdog

    rodentdog Senior Member

    How could Tidal HIFI NOT be worth it at full price?
     
    Tim 2 likes this.

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