'Based on listening tests, mp3s at 256 kbps were found indistinguishable from CD'
I am laughing so hard, my side hurts...
I am laughing so hard, my side hurts...
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
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
- ...
- 148 posts total
http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/when-high-resolution-audio-isnt-hd/ The link here is worth reading. A text-based, summary of some of Dr. Waldrep’s key points and a good explanation for why calling something hi res don’t always make it so. The sampling rate of the format won’t create data that isn’t present in the source material. Conversely, it won’t necessarily lose data that wasn’t captured in the source material and so lower res formats can sometimes sound as good as so-called, "hi res" formats. |
Ghosthouse, that article was basically laughed at by everyone in the audio industry. Its like saying resolution is not a telltale of the quality of a color photo. All due respect if you system cannot easilly distinguish an MP3 from a CD, you need to take a look at your rig. These are night and day differences. Even with the best recorded MP3 (hurts saying that) and a poor red book, you should still hear the difference, unless you are listening through a transistor radio. Now, we are talking about native signals, not an MP3 "upsampled" to a higher sampling rate. That is not hires and is still crap. |
- 148 posts total