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Who has tried "TIDAL" vs other streaming applications?

Hello, I'm new to Audiogon, this is my first posting into Forums.

I enjoy streaming audio from my PC and have been using Spotify for a number of years now (college student discount to premium $5 a month). I just recently stumbled upon a App called TIDAL, that streams Lossless 16/44.1FLAC with their "HI-FI" subscription (Student $10 a month). Since I can queue up Spotify and Tidal at the same time, I was able to do an A/B and used Dire Straits Brothers in Arms. I noticed that TIDAL indeed sounds better to me but am convinced none of my family members could tell a difference. I then did an A/B with TIDAL and the actual Brothers in Arms CD, to my surprise TIDAL sounded scary close, if not just as good as the CD! This is hard for me to believe, I think I'm just trying to justify the extra cost of TIDAL on a crazy tight student budget, maybe its a placebo effect? I need to drop one of the services, but which one? I would appreciate your thoughts please... Thank you!
My system:
PC = Gaming Rig I built myself, using dedicated high quality audio card.
Krell KAV 400xi integrated
Sonus Faber Electa's with Sunfire HRS Sub
Cambridge AZUR 840C CDP/DAC
Luxman T117 Tuner
Sony SCD - C2000ES SACD Player
Kimber Silver Streak throughout  


grm
tmare
44 posts
 
ghosthouse, I trust your ears and words, and I respect your honesty.
loomisjohnson
1,526 posts
 
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.
grm OP
72 posts
 
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! 
cerrot's avatar
cerrot
1,606 posts
 
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.
jond's avatar
jond
3,400 posts
 
I would have to agree with cerrot on all counts above 320kbps just does not cut it. The Lightning DS app I use displays the sample rate of what’s playing though it varies it’s usually in the 1000kbps range with Tidal as well as my own recordings that are flac. I have some recordings in my collection that are mp3, mostly live recordings people have sent me, and the first time I put one on through my Aries I was like hmmm that doesn’t sound great and I glance over and sure enough 320kbps. Just not good enough.

Ghosthouse you might want to retry your experiment and leave the V-link out and see what the results are just for fun. And regarding Tidal being buggy I also agree its about your internet connection. One thing that really helped me was moving it to the 5ghz band, the 2.4ghz band is just too crowded in my urban environment.
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