tidals app is fairly flawed specifically when albums end and if you want to listen to the last song or something… its somewhat glitchy… when i get my hip/zen dac i will see otherwise but still
I’ve converted away from Googleplay to Spotify. Frankly, because Last Podcast on the Left is Spotify exclusive now. Getting more into it, I started using the Discover Weekly feature and have enjoyed it a lot. I’ve tried several different programs that will randomly choose music for you it “thinks” you’ll like by what you listen to in the past. But none have done as well as this. I’ve listened to several new songs from this that I’ve loved and have never heard of, and have not heard of the band making the music. At best I’d get a hit or two from older programs in the past. And there would be a ton of skipping songs as well. Not so much with Spotify.
New spotify user here, never tried it before because I didn’t see value in paying the same for something without some sort of “hifi” options.
Big mistake, on checkout, Spotify Premium is actually 5euro here. Can’t complain for this price.
Both Tidal and Deezer have constant technical issues, Tidal was fast to fix them, Deezer not so much.
What I love about Spotify and seems to run flawless: the synced playback between Phone and PC, no more fucking around with bluetooh to play the main system and control from the phone.
The UI actually works, songs are fast to play, fast seeking, no weird gaps or noises. Me gusta.
Yep. Spotify’s UI and user experience are easily the best. If they also had the option of lossless quality, they’d probably put the rest of them out of business.
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I’m still using the free version, and am seriously considering stepping up and becoming a paying customer too. No serious complaints, just minor issues about certain settings. Like what’s the difference between “liking” a song and “starring” one? And having to search all through the app to find the star function, where liking was obvious and straight forward.
I used Tidal for over a year. DAC is a Meridian Explorer 2 that was able to do MQA. When Qobuz dropped their price I went through the free trial. Everyone has different expectations on what they want from each of these services. For me it came down to I liked the Qobuz app better, thought the sound quality was the same though. Their music selection suited my tastes just fine. I think that either Qobuz or Tidal is a great value for what you are receiving selection and sound quality wise.
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maybe part of my issue is not having a good enough DAC that can decode MQA or great enough headphones or since i used bluetooth headphones with a very lossy apt-X/AAC filter that only can do like 328 kbps for mobile use or just dunno the differences at all… i just cant really hear the difference between youtube, spotify, and tidal. its all the same music… high quality is not going to make a bad album sound great (MP3 and AAC don’t really ruin the tonality and texture)
i also really note that though i am used to the UI of tidal there is a lot of connection issues on my VPN (though it could be family streaming at the same time) and a lot more pauses and offlines (though thats bad on spotify but doesn’t stop the music like tidal does)
There’s no way that that’s legal though… You can basically download the entire library and then quit your Tidal subscription.
Amazon added external DAC support, with Exclusive Mode via update
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I am new to the technical side of audiophile equipment and files, but should i use the passthrough MQA option of Tidal with my D10 or just leave it to the app’s software to decode?
I use Qobuz for more critical listening as well as downloading high res music. Pandora Premium for background music. I have tried Tidal a few times… I just couldn’t get a feel for the app and Qobuz has a selection more suited to my music preferences.
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Does anyone know at what quality the Tidal app streams on AppleTV?
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That’s a great question. I have a Tidal Masters subscription and at times will use the Tidal App on the Apple TV. I know Apple TV outputs at 48khz (that’s what the dac registers). When I used the Bluesound Node 2i streamer the songs playback at different qualities (dependent on track, again verified by the dac).
So 48khz, but I don’t know what file codecs.
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I opted for Tidal…not the HiFi level, at least not for now. I’m really quite pleased. I used to rely on straight up YouTube to stream music in addition to stuff I’ve ripped, and the improvement in sound quality with Tidal is noticeable and significant. My only beef with Tidal is that searching for classical music is hard. There’s a ton of it, but their search engine isn’t compliant with the genre, and there’s a huge quantity of cheesy compilations one has to push past. There’s another service dedicated to classical that’s better int hat regard, but I also want other genres from time to time. Also, I give so much of my money to Amazon and the Google people that I’m pleased to pay someone else for once.
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It’s not a cheap solution, but the way Roon handles the Classical catalogs on Tidal and Qobuz is exceptional. I’ve always been daunted trying to build a classical collection, but Roon lets you explore by composer, conductor, orchestra, etc. You can also view all versions of a composition, ranked by popularity. Then, when you add a Classical album to your collection, you can modify the metadata to make it match your cataloging style. Amazing stuff.
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Interesting. I thought Roon was another streaming service but it I see it’s more of an interface and hosting thing. Tempting. Still, if I were to spend more money than I already am, I’d mainly be tempted to upgrade my Tidal to the hifi level.
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you mention being really into classical… i think if you ever want to spend more… and if its available in your country, joining qobuz might bee a good idea, aparently they have a bigger classical lineup and its cheaper than tidal hifi by 5 bucks
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do any of you use linux… if so what would be the best music player for it (a la foobar or Jriver so i can take full advantage of a DAC) and what service do you use to stream
I’ve been emailing with Qobuz. they don’t support linux but have an android app on phones and chromebook. I will try that, but given all the other things avail to mac/windows etc may just buy a “real” computer. lol
I recently canceled my Tidal in favor of a Qobuz sub. To my ears there was way more depth to the higher sample rate material vs MQA… In the end the last nail in the coffin was that certain files were playing back at “high“ resolution despite being the MQA versions on my Cobalt.
I was really happy about saving 5 clams a month too, until I started lusting for Roon… 
Also, for my casual listening I find Apple Music to be just fine. I much prefer their file organization system by far over Spotify and Amazon. Plus I get all my ripped CDs (in aac) from 2006 and later in the cloud, for whatever I can’t find in their store/library.