Record store VG and above randoms for $5
public library cd rip to flac
Yes, at least I’ve been able to.
I agree with you, I had tidal years ago and couldn’t tell the difference from Spotify at all, but I just started a qobuz trial a few days ago and it’s massive. Not sure why, they’re both supposed to use FLAC and better, right? The detail and richness, it’s all just better than what I hear on Spotify.
1 Like
Love the interface of Spotify, however, Tidal gets my normal day to day usage. Seems to be geared towards audiophiles with the MQA support.
I have an Apple Music sub, that I’m only really using for my family, and Google Music for YouTube Premium. I’ve got Tidal Hifi till Sep through my College, but MQA doesn’t seem like anything mind blowing, nothing to blow a wad of cash on. Gonna see about canceling Apple Music, don’t know about music quality when Google switches to YouTube Music.
I have a full MQA decoding DAC.
1 Like
I discovered that Tidal only outputs at half of the potential volume, unless you put it into exclusive mode in the desktop app. Where as Qobuz is just full all the time. I wondered why I heard a difference too but once I was able to volume/dynamic range match the two they sounded just as good to me. There might be some other difference in how they deliver sound but that’s the one that I was able to notice.
2 Likes
Settings>>Streaming>>Turn off Loudness Normalization
1 Like
after tests last night, im switching to Amazon HD. I love Tidal’s UI but wow with 600’s and my THX Amp/Dac, I could easily tell the quality differences, not quite sure what its outputting through my Apple TV 4k but im sold…
Wow. I guess the UI is less of an issue than their overall functionality. Search is broken which makes music discovery on Tidal so difficult.
I would love to use tidal but the few problems I have make it an absolute no go.
Is quobuz any better? I feel like Spotify has a lot of the UX locked down.
Haven’t tried Qobuz, but after research Amazon is the only service that has the bulk in 16/44. Plus I use on iPhone, Mac desktop, iPad and Apple TV, Tidals UI/UX was a plus for me, great on the big screen. But I went through all 3 last night and compared my .wavs that I produced against streaming and I was shocked by how good Amazon is. I’m chasing sound quality above all else, I can get used to/learn a UI…
1 Like
Qobuz is actually fine, it’s like an under-developed version of Spotify’s UI with a few candies thrown in for audiophiles and classical listeners. It’s not horrible to use at all, just still not spotify. A few issues:
-
It hangs up a lot on offline tracks. Not sure why. Other users online have stopping and hung up issues randomly for no discernable reason sometimes. Not a huge deal since it only happens with some tracks that you’ve favorited and made available offline, doesn’t happen with tracks you already had on your pc or are just streaming. I think it’s a caching issue.
-
Everything is white, bright white. White, bright, bright white bright fucking everywhere. Painful to use at night, no night or dark mode.
-
There is no customization, and everything is accessed from a toolbar at the top of the screen. I love how Spotify has all my stuff at the left side of the screen, I can see all my playlists and go to specific browsing menus and find stuff much more quickly. Things are harder to organize in qobuz and you kinda have to dig for it. The favorites menu is just an endless grid of album art and the playlist menu is the same. The small organization tools that Spotify has aren’t that meaningful until they’re gone.
I’m still on my free trial of it and figuring out if I like it.
While I’m here, can somebody explain MQA and Tidal to me? I have no idea what MQA encoding is.
So I’m sitting here in my chair in front of my TV which is outputting Bluetooth SBC to the BTR five, Sennheiser 58x and I can switch instantly on Apple TV to the same song on Tidal and then on Amazon music HD and it is noticeably louder on Amazon HD and some stuff I can instantly hear the quality difference and this is Bluetooth I’m honestly sold on Amazon at this point
I utilize Qobuz for the best quality of sound listening in bit perfect playback, I use AmazonMusicHD for some of the entertainment features and growing selection, I made a video on what I like about AmazonMusicHD.
Amazon Music HD, Hi Res Music Streaming New King? https://youtu.be/XQeO8MOlwnk
Then I use Spotify when gaming, on the go, or for discovering music as they have to me what seems to be the best discover features.
2 Likes
Spotify cuz I also get Hulu with it lol
1 Like
If you haven’t checked out Tidal yet:
I think Clementine is the standard on Linux, I use a fork of it called Strawberry. There’s also one called Lollypop if you want something a bit more visual, the GUI is quite close to something like Amazon’s music player or Spotify.
1 Like
Clementine doesn’t really do ALSA (Linux ASIO/WASAPI) so no bit perfect… theyve admitted they don’t care about audiophiles
I paid $3 for 3 months of tidal to once again a/b test against Spotify premium.
The only place I hear any difference at all in quality is on master tracks. And there it’s pretty clear that there is an advantage to tidal.
It’s shocking to me that Spotify is able to deliver not only excellent sound quality, but also an amazing user experience. I discover new music every day. It keeps me interested and listening.
I don’t think I’ll continue to pay for tidal after the trial
2 Likes
Before I make a long post, is piracy a taboo topic here?