Tidal vs. Spotify

Guys - tidal is ready, your system is not. Its throughput guys. If you don't build the proper infrasturcture, don't knock it. It has nothing to do with tidal.

Ummm, the point is that the audible difference is clear, but a lot still has to happen for ease of use. If I sit down at my rig once a week, but I listen to music every time I walk, drive, cook, or fly, the lossless part of the equation only comes into play ~5% of the time.

My "reference" rig is ready for the throughput. The rest of my life isn't ready for the inconvenience. But thanks for the critique.

i just succumbed and subscribed to tidal in order to compare it to spotify. results are mixed. tidal's sound quality is unarguably better (it's not a vhs-to-dvd improvement, but significant  nonetheless) and i actually prefer its interface, which is simpler and more intuitive than spotify's, although as others have opined its search functions aren't as intelligent. tidal's library is, for my tastes, perfectly fine, about 85/% as good as spotify. however: (a) tidal's mobile platform is buggy and unreliable--lots of delays, buffers, etc.; (b) volume is significantly lower; probably a function of the flac format--i really need to crank up my phone; and (c) streaming tidal through my oppo bdp (one of its main attractions) requires use of an app on my mobile phone, which is cumbersome.
as a related aside, numerous pundits are predicting tidal's imminent demise, all citing the $20/mo. price as the weighing factor. this surprises the hell out of me--consumers don't seem to have a problem paying more than that for cable channels or sports packages + you can actually get the service for less if you prepay. there also appears to be artist backlash over the service being too "corporate," even though the same artists are getting higher royalties from tidal. others claim samsung is acquiring tidal, which sounds interesting.

Hands down Tidal. The difference is quality of the tracks is not subtle - it's downright obvious. On my main system (220SE with CM9S2) or on my macbook speakers. There is no contest, no ambiguity - Tidal sound better. And I'm a paying member of Spotiy Premium and Tidal Premium (not even Tidal HiFi). 

This month's Stereophile has 56 Records to Die For, some of which are on the obscure side.

Forty of them are on TIDAL.  I'm gonna roll up my sleeves and get to listenin'.

The key to the search function is to know that you have to spell words right, and that the field in which you input your query (artist or album, for example) denotes the _output_ of your search.  So if I want to find the album Armed Forces by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, I'll enter just two distinctive words -- Elvis Armed -- in the Album search box and it will pop right up.  Less intuitive, yes, but if you know how to work it, it works....