Tidal updates

[drummerman]

Is there a way of finding out what exactly was involved in the latest update? All I can see is that instead of the streaming rate in kbps it now simply gives choices as 'normal, high, hifi'.

As Tidal is planning to use the Meridian MQA codex for its High Resolution Streaming I guess a Meridian DAC would be the obvious choice should I want to take advantage of the service. I'm not very queued up on MQA but have read into it a little. Will this be a widely used code?

 

[Vladimir]

I noticed very few changes in the interface. It runs a tad faster on my PC after the update but it's buggy and still sometimes freezes, doesn't load albums etc.

I don't care if it had MQA on steroids if the service and interface remains to be so poor.

 

[drummerman]

I noticed very few changes in the interface. It runs a tad faster on my PC after the update but it's buggy and still sometimes freezes, doesn't load albums etc.

I don't care if it had MQA on steroids if the service and interface remains to be so poor.

I hear you. I have drop-out/freezes on very few occasions now, better than when I started using the service but even those few are to many. Never have a problem with spotify (other than loading slower).

Still, the SQ and publicised high resolution streaming for 20quid/months are promising.

As to user interface, no doubt, spotify is the winner there.

 

[Electro]

I am thinking of subscribing to Tidal, I have decided to join the streamers and bought a Cambridge Audio id 100 to extract the digital output from my i pad 2 and feed it to my ECD1 dac.

I am using spotify free at the moment and it sounds surprisingly good but I am in two minds whether to upgrade to spotify premium or Tidal .

I looked at the bit rates for Tidal and it says normal is 96 kbps, high quality is 320kbps, and HiFi is 1411 kbps.

https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/201594722-How-good-is-the-sound-quality-on-TIDAL-

I am not sure about MQA but I won't be buying a Meridian dac anyway so it will not affect my choice.

Have you compared Spotify premium to Tidal HiFi ?

 

[drummerman]

Yes I'm using both.

 

[Electro]

Yes I'm using both.

And ------ *biggrin*

 

[drummerman]

Yes I'm using both.

And ------ *biggrin*

In about a month and a half I will only use one

 

[Vladimir]

You can try a whole month for free. Why ask others? Give it a try.

 

[Electro]

Yes I'm using both.

And ------ *biggrin*

In about a month and a half I will only use one

Do you have a preference for one or the other and if so do you think Tidal HiFi is worth the extra money or is it so close that you have not been able to form and opinion yet . *secret*

 

[Electro]

You can try a whole month for free. Why ask others? Give it a try.

If I want an answer I think I may have to do just that .*yes3*

 

[drummerman]

You can try a whole month for free. Why ask others? Give it a try.

If I want an answer I think I may have to do just that .*yes3*

I prefer Tidal's sound quality but it is close. I had a good deal for four months which is running out in March. I will most probably keep tidal.

 

[Electro]

You can try a whole month for free. Why ask others? Give it a try.

If I want an answer I think I may have to do just that .*yes3*

I prefer Tidal's sound quality but it is close. I had a good deal for four months which is running out in March. I will most probably keep tidal.

Thanks *biggrin*

 

[knaithrover]

Ive tried Spotty and Tidal side by side and Tidal won hands down. Sound quality is a lot better to my ears and worth the extra subscription which is only coppers to be fair.

Has anyone compared Tidal to Deezer?

 

[drummerman]

Ive tried Spotty and Tidal side by side and Tidal won hands down. Sound quality is a lot better to my ears and worth the extra subscription which is only coppers to be fair.

Has anyone compared Tidal to Deezer?

I don't know which subscription/s you mean but Spotify Premium is surprisingly good (Tidal Premium is twice the price).

 

[knaithrover]

Ive tried Spotty and Tidal side by side and Tidal won hands down. Sound quality is a lot better to my ears and worth the extra subscription which is only coppers to be fair.

Has anyone compared Tidal to Deezer?

I don't know which subscription/s you mean but Spotify Premium is surprisingly good (Tidal Premium is twice the price).

Those are the subscriptions I'm referring to. Tidal is twice the price yes but is a lot better sounding than Spotify which sounds muffled in comparison. It's only £2.50 a week more and to put that into perspective I spend at least double that a day on lunch....

 

[Andrewjvt]

Yes I'm using both.

And ------ *biggrin*

In about a month and a half I will only use one

Do you have a preference for one or the other and if so do you think Tidal HiFi is worth the extra money or is it so close that you have not been able to form and opinion yet . *secret*

 

Ive been testing tidal. And yes go for highest quality even if that means you will feel.better knowing its highest. I was listening the other day and something did not sound right. It just sounded bad. I looked and it was set to low quality.

I do feel that the sound comming from my own flac files through jriver is slightly better but im not sure yet if its in my mind or real

 

[DIB]

I'm about 2/3 of my way through my 30 day free trial with Tidal HiFi. I think the quality is excellent with next to no dropouts so far, but I do prefer the Spotify interface (as, crucuially, my family do too). I also feel there is slightly more choice with Spotify too, though I can't give you a specific example this early in the morning.

As good a SQ as Tidal is I still feel that the SQ of Spotify Premium is pretty good too.

Anyone considering Tidal should take up the 30 day trial.

.

 

[tonky]

I can't comment on Tidal. I enjoy the covenience of Spotify. I have a lot of CDs - all over the place! Boxes in the garage - back room - bedroom etc.. I might give it a good sort (Aaaaaargh!). Sound quality of spotify is good (about 330 kbs approx?) and you can tell it's not as good as lossless.

If there are any good trial deals on Tidal I may well give it a listen to check out the lossless quality.

tonky

 

[Vladimir]

Spotify streams at 320 MP3 and Tidal at 320 AAC. JA gave a look into the differences in compression formats.

If you want the maximum number of files on your iPod, therefore, you take less of a quality hit if you use AAC encoding than if you use MP3.

 

[chebby]

Spotify streams at 320 MP3 and Tidal at 320 AAC. JA gave a look into the differences in compression formats.

If you want the maximum number of files on your iPod, therefore, you take less of a quality hit if you use AAC encoding than if you use MP3.

He's too busy gazing at plots of the inaudible noise floor at the inaudible end of the spectrum...

"The noise floor is quite high above 18kHz, but—and it's a big "but"—the noise-floor components have dropped to below –110dB below 16kHz, and to below –120dB for the lower frequencies."

By 'quite high above 18khz' he means about -90dB (for the 320k AAC graph)

Ok, hands up if you can hear -90dB of noise at 18kHz.

320k AAC (VBR) is going to be indistinguishable from ALAC (or other lossless) for anyone but people with a lot of bat in their genes and/or affluent teenagers with massive ears playing the most perfectly recorded signals science is capable of on the best technically conceived system ever.

 

[steve_1979]

Spotify streams at 320 MP3 and Tidal at 320 AAC. JA gave a look into the differences in compression formats.

If you want the maximum number of files on your iPod, therefore, you take less of a quality hit if you use AAC encoding than if you use MP3.

Spotify uses 320kbps Ogg Vorbis which is better quality than MP3.

 

[Vladimir]

Why the differences in percieved sound quality then? *unknw* I doubt I can tell 320 Ogg Vorbis from 320 AAC. Isn't in some way (HF) Ogg Vorbis better than AAC?

When I used JetAudio as my main player I prefered .ogg because to me they sounded clearly better than MP3.

 

[brownz]

Spotify streams at 320 MP3 and Tidal at 320 AAC. JA gave a look into the differences in compression formats.

If you want the maximum number of files on your iPod, therefore, you take less of a quality hit if you use AAC encoding than if you use MP3.

...... <snip>

Ok, hands up if you can hear -90dB of noise at 18kHz.

My cat just raised a paw, sheepishly....

 

[tonky]

For non critical listening from a phone/mp3 type player using reasonable ear buds/headphones I am sure the vast majority (teens - young adults ) aren't too bothered about perceived quality between 320kbs and lossless. But the difference (between the two) is obvious for more critical listening on any reasonable hifi equipment.

tonky

 

[steve_1979]

Consider that can of worms opened.

Have a nice weekend everyone.