Who has tried "TIDAL" vs other streaming applications?

cerrot - I thought any difference between Spotify Premium and Tidal HiFi two was tiny and not something I’d necessarily be able to pick out in a blind test. Now, Tidal HiFi vs the "free" non-premium Spotify? - sure that brings a definite improvement.

Re was Tidal set for HiFi? YES, it was. Paid (gave security) for a Tidal HIFI trial, confirmed things in settings and noted the HIFI indicator at the bottom right was "lighting up" when playing a track. The bit rate numbers look like they should make a big difference but in my experience, they didn’t translate to a significant improvement in SQ. Believe me, I would love something that delivered a step change improvement in sonics and was hoping Tidal could provide that. While maybe a minority here and elsewhere, I did find another comment (at HeadFi) to the effect, "Spotify Premium does not give up that much to Tidal HiFi". That would certainly be my conclusion too.

Now...I’m no computer genius but I’ve been learning by trial and error. I do use a Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 USB/Spdif converter that upsamples to 192Hz. Do you think that might "narrow the gap" between the two services? I know up sampling comes in for criticism by some. My experience does have me wondering what the excitement with Tidal is all about. Maybe the tiny improvement I thought I maybe heard is the basis for that. If you have some insight, let me know. Either way, Tidal OR Spotify, it’s great to have access to such vast libraries of music.

BTW - the MF VLink 192 is only on the big system. With headphones do use an Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2. That will upsample to 96Hz. Not a huge difference from Tidal with cans, either.

ghosthouse, I trust your ears and words, and I respect your honesty.

fwiw, i also went back to spotify after a month of tidal. like ghosthouse, at lower volume, casual listening (which is generally my office mode) i didn't hear a big difference. for more critical listening through good headphones, the difference was more significant, mostly in the sense of tidal being more spacious, with more precise instrument placement; tidal also reproduced drums and acoustic instruments a little more naturally. not a vhs-to-dvd improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.
the real dealkiller for me though, was the frequent buffering and pauses, esp. on the mobile app; spotify has been consistently more seamless. spotify also has the deeper catalog, altho tidal's is certainly respectable. i did prefer tidal's interface, which is clearer and more intuitive; i was generally indifferent to tidal's "curated playlists," which were no better or worse than spotify's.

Hello,
Still really having a great time with TIDAL vs other streaming apps I have tried, it just sounds great with so much new music to discover! However, I have found TIDAL to be a bit "buggy" and maybe someone can help? First, when TIDAL posts an update, half of the time I need to uninstall and reinstall Chrome because I would loose HiFi leaving me with just the high and low settings. Second, I checked to see if I had any critical OS updates (I keep this on manual check) and I had about a dozen updates, after the updates I now have an error when I launch Chrome that it "couldn't load plugin". I checked my Chrome settings and everything seems as it should. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know the solution? This problem only causes videos to not play, otherwise no audio problems. Thanks in advance for your help! 

Ghosthouse - I don’t think it "narrows the gap" but distorts the sound to where you are unable to discern the difference. There is a HUGE difference between 320kps and 14,400 kps. (you would walk out of a concert at 320 - not at 44.1). Its like 32 bit color and 256 colors. As for "sampling" I do upsample my 44.1 to 96k as my dac really likes that but I would not think I was getting a decent sound by upsampling a 320kps signal. There is just not enough info (320kps) there. I have sattelite radio which is an MP3 signal (your spotify is MP3) and I upsample it and it sounds like crap compared to a real 44.1 signal.

Loomisjohnson - Tidal is not "buggy". The buffering issues are due to lag with your internet connection. Tidal is a robust signal which needs the appropriate infrastructure.