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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
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,502 posts
 
I am no expert on computer audio. Neal at Sound Science helped me and I would call him. Yes Roon works wireless or wired. Roon combines your ripped music files with Tidal so you see both! Call Neal as he is the man!
topdown
3 posts
 
Have been listening to Tidal for two months now, and here’s is what I’ve observed; Tidal is like another key component in the audio chain. On the best recordings it is nearly indistinguishable from the best vinyl. On the worst recordings it is just as unlistenable as the worst of any sources. The key seems to be the quality of the original recording from which Tidal digital recordings were converted. Additionally, the best sound I’ve observed with Tidal thus far is AirPlaying the Tidal app from iPad to Apple TV, then to my Jolida Glass FX Tube DAC via Toslink. Again, with this setup, the best Tidal recordings are stunning. Very much worth the $20 monthly subscription.

amaglioc's avatar
amaglioc
30 posts
 
I'd let them shut off the water before I'd give up Tidal. 

My skeptiscim about streaming overall reached its zenith with the Apple Music debacle and I don't remember how I waltzed into the free month of Tidal, but less than a year later it is solidly 50% of my total source consumption and growing. I send from iPad or iPhone to AE then Toslink to Rega DAC-R.
jldouglas
14 posts
 
I guess I'm in the minority here, I don't really hear much difference between Apple Music and Tidal when it comes to sound quality. There's maybe a song here or there, where I think Tidal might have a slight edge, but it's so slight I wouldn't trust it unless I actually did a blind test to confirm it. On the other hand, several times I've not been able to find songs on Tidal that I had on Apple Music, which is a very real tangible reason that's prevented me from making a total switch to Tidal.

I'm also curious why people are surprised Tidal would sound as good as CD... they're both redbook quality and lossless. In many cases, the studios are going to send Tidal the exact same digital files that they use to master their CD's. Unless Tidal does some special processing before creating the digital assets, why would it be worse than CD?
cycles2
207 posts
 
IMO, TIDAL is the best value we audiophiles have as a source for music for our music listening rooms, cars and when travelling. With access to over 35 million songs, $20/month for the HiFi (Lossless) option is a steal. I didn't know about the student offer at $10/month. I haven't purchased a CD since I've been a TIDAL subscriber.

I have an Aurender N100H music server/streamer. The integration with TIDAL is perfect and the sound quality of the Aurender replaced my Mac Mini based music server.  

I can't explain it but several times I've compared TIDAL to Redbook CDs I own and TIDAL consistently is as good and in some cases sounds better. When TIDAL offers MQA, game, set & match to TIDAL.
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