Spotify or Pandora

Glad I found this thread today. I was a Pandora early adopter, and been on their first level upgrade ($3.99/mo for ad free) for awhile. Because of radio style restrictions (even more since they introduced premium) I was looking at possible upgrade.

So, long story not as long, set-up trial accounts with Tidal and Spotify today. I've been listening  at work using very basic Sony headphones. IMHO Tidal clearly superior SQ compared to either Spotify or Pandora. Actually I can't tell much difference between those two.

Looking forward to running Tidal into DAC at home and listening through much higher quality cans. Just my 2 cents.

Happy Listening! 

Perhaps it's been mentioned that Spotify and Tidal offer one month free trials. 

I finally made the leap to Tidal after researching that it's the only true PCM, and now my Verizon plan with unlimited data is cheaper than my previous plan with xxgb cap (YES you must look into it...they're not exactly going to tell you the plans changed!)

Maybe because I'm in Chicagoland with insane data coming off cell towers but I'm driving around with Tidal app on iPhone into USB on rear of my car's Pioneer head unit and I cannot tell the difference. The SQ truly is the best I've heard and I've tried them all. 1 drink at a bar seems to cost 10 bucks, so that's nothing considering you have anything at your fingertips. 

The companies making head units, however, are WAY behind the curve and no firmware upgrade will add Tidal to the stereo's in-dash abilities, but luckily the Pioneer picks up the signal as Pandora and will still play. But you need to use phone Tidal app to change anything so...hands free? LOL better keep eyes on the road!

The Mac Tidal app also offers outstanding SQ on my system so the home-based thing is great too

there's no question that under optimal listening conditions, through good equipment, tidal sounds  better than spotify. however, in the less than optimal conditions i do the majority of my listening (gym/car/noisy office), the difference isn't as significant, and for me the superior library and interface (+lower cost) of spotify is the deciding factor. pandora is the most user-friendly but has a far too skinny library and sounds bad to me.