What does the Panel feel about Tidal?

[Clive197]

I'm now on my third month of Tidal and have used it quite extensively but I'm probably going to cancel at the end of the three months trial period. I've found it useful to check out music I may want to buy and have bought about 4 cd's. I'm not entirely comfortable with not having the physical media. I know I listen to music from my NAS but I still have access to the booklet etc.

So I'm of 2 minds, to keep it (for the way over the top £20 a month) or drop it. What do you guys think?

[jandl100]

Copied and pasted from my AOS Gallery blog ...

As some of you may recall, I've been using Spotify Premium (320kbs) as my main source for a year or more now.
Every now and then I get a little niggle and wonder if "near CD quality" really is suitable, and start pondering afresh about the lossless sources such as Tidal.

In fact a month or so back I tried Qobuz, but was immediately disenchanted by the paucity of its classical music catalogue. It was back to Spotify with relief.

But yesterday I invested 20 squid in a month's Tidal membership, once again - I've had quite a few months of Tidal membership before, in fact I started my streaming adventure with Tidal. But then an audio chum convinced me into having a go with Spotify Premium, and I've been happy with that ever since and let the Tidal sub lapse.
.
My system has come a fair way in the last year so I just thought I'd try lossless again.

Hmm. I do hear a difference against Spot Premium, although direct A/B comparisons show it to be fairly subtle on most material I have tried so far. Sorry, it's been all classical!

Yes, it is just audibly higher rez.
But it also puts a bit of an 'edge' on the sound that becomes a bit insistent and relentless after a while.
It actually gave me a headache after a few hours.

It was great fun on Fazil Say's exuberantly eastern and superbly recorded Mesopotamia symphony, where the extra razzle dazzle came across well. Definitely just that bit more impressive and enjoyable. But for string quartets and piano and ordinary symphonic sounds I went back to Spotify with more than a bit of relief!

I'd also forgotten what a struggle the Tidal search facilities can be to use on classical music. Spotify's is much superior.
And whilst Tidal does have some classical material that Spotify lacks, Spotify easily wins overall for the breadth of its catalogue.

Anyway, back to the sq ---- Maybe my system has been fine tuned to suit the subtlely softer sound of Spotify 320kbs as it has been my main source for over a year?

I've got the month of Tidal subscription to play around, it'll be interesting to see if I decide to keep both Tidal and Spotify. I may well try playing around with cables and such like goofery to see if I can tune in a better presentation from Tidal.

Update - I have now cancelled my Tidal sub and will carry on as a very happy Spotify Premium user.

I am relieved rather than aggrieved that I don't have to **** around with physical media anymore.
I would be devastated if I couldn't use internet music streaming. It's like having CD shelves half a mile long.
Spotify Premium costs £10 a month, although that is neither here nor there, I'd happily pay £20 if I prefered Tidal.

[mikeyb]

I'm the same, I like having the flexibility and choice from streaming, but I prefer to play LPs and my own ripped CDs, I use Tidal for myself and Google Music for the family, I have had Tidal subs 2 or 3 times before and always cancelled.

This time though I can manage the whole year for under £50 on HiFi setting so I'll stick with it for my own use until that runs out.

I find it useful for finding new acts and listening at night in bed.

I think the interface on the app could be better, ie: a permanent home button as currently when I search multiple acts/albums I have to click the arrow back and back and back...........

So I know what you mean about Tidal/Spotify, they're good but for me personally it just doesn't feel right paying for something you'll never own.

[jandl100]

So I know what you mean about Tidal/Spotify, they're good but for me personally it just doesn't feel right paying for something you'll never own.

Do you go to concerts or gigs?
It's just the same with streamed music, except you can relive the experience as many times as you like!

[struth]

As long as the companies and our infrosructure exists i guess you will be ok with them. Its like amazon kindle that way. Ive got hundreds of books but no paper. Not tried tidal but using spotify, and have tried amazon music. At pricepoint i think spotify has it about right. The 320kb sounds good on headphones with most music, although not all.
I dont think i will give up my physical media just yet, but its an excellent companion for a half bottle of whisky a month.

[mikeyb]

Do you go to concerts or gigs?
It's just the same with streamed music, except you can relive the experience as many times as you like!

Very true, at the moment I stream a lot from my NAS as much of my music is only available as FLAC downloads. I think I use Tidal more for discovery and even today having read your posts I'm swithering as to whether it's worth keeping even at the cheap rate I'm paying, the Google interface is better.

I'll no doubt cancel Tidal at some point and stick with Google, I currently pay £14.99 for 6 of us to use Google so why do I have Tidal, I don't know I just fancied trying the lossless streaming again, but in all honesty as you've said there's not a significant difference from 320kbps.

But I sure have found loads more artists I now like via streaming services than I ever thought possible.

I listen to a lot of electronic and I find Bandcamp is the place I browse and buy from the most.

They let you stream in 128kbps and give access to just about their whole catalogue, once files (FLAC/ALAC/MP3 etc) or CDs are bought you get unlimited streaming of that title too.

Not sure if they do classical but you might find something of interest there too.

[RichB]

The key thing with Spotify Premium for me is the ability to easily take music I might hear whilst whilst sitting on the train into my home system.

On my mobile and headphones I get music at work, can easily share playlists and suggestions with friends, then play them across 3 separate systems at home is the killer functionality of Spotify for me.

The enormous library often prompts me to buy physical media of bands albums I have discovered. For instance if I'm going to a festival and there are bands I've never heard of, I listen to their stuff on Spotify and make a decision to see them on that basis. Spent loads on gig tickets, vinyl and CDs because of this.

I've noticed a tendency amongst our audiophile community, an ocd bunch at the best of times, to be completist or singular in their choice of format. I gave up on that years ago so pretty much anything goes for me these days, life's too short and I now embrace eclecticism across all the formats I own or access.

[mikeyb]

The key thing with Spotify Premium for me is the ability to easily take music I might hear whilst whilst sitting on the train into my home system.

On my mobile and headphones I get music at work, can easily share playlists and suggestions with friends, then play them across 3 separate systems at home is the killer functionality of Spotify for me.

The enormous library often prompts me to buy physical media of bands albums I have discovered. For instance if I'm going to a festival and there are bands I've never heard of, I listen to their stuff on Spotify and make a decision to see them on that basis. Spent loads on gig tickets, vinyl and CDs because of this.

I've noticed a tendency amongst our audiophile community, an ocd bunch at the best of times, to be completist or singular in their choice of format. I gave up on that years ago so pretty much anything goes for me these days, life's too short and I now embrace eclecticism across all the formats I own or access.

That's very similar to myself, except I have no friends ( except the ones on here of course )

[jandl100]

With internet streaming the way I listen to music has fundamentally changed.
I am an exploratory type and like investigating new recordings. Before the streaming era I used to get a lot of new CDs - dozens a month typically. Research, buy, wait a few days or a week for delivery -- play the music.
Now I can investigate new music instantly with a few actions. Words cannot express how wonderful this is!

About 90% or more of my listening now is to albums / recordings that are new to me.



... although with classical, that can be familiar music with different musicians. I'd say that at least 50% of my listening is to music entirely new to me, though.

[mikeyb]

With internet streaming the way I listen to music has fundamentally changed.
I am an exploratory type and like investigating new recordings. Before the streaming era I used to get a lot of new CDs - dozens a month typically. Research, buy, wait a few days or a week for delivery -- play the music.
Now I can investigate new music instantly with a few actions. Words cannot express how wonderful this is!

About 90% or more of my listening now is to albums / recordings that are new to me.

Perfect, that's similar to what I do too.