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TIDAL Lossless Streaming Service

Has anyone else tried lossless streaming from Tidal? I've been a Spotify user for a while now. The catalog available is pretty stunning, and 320kbps is listenable, but I'm not satisfied with lossy material for serious listening.

Tidal launched a couple of weeks ago, streaming a lossless catalog in FLAC to a web-based player. They have a large catalog and the same kinds of curated playlists that Spotify offers.

I am clinging to my Squeezebox Touch until it dies, so I was not interested in a PC-based approach to stream the service. A user community, however, has created a SBT plugin called Ickstream that allows the Touch to play nicely with Tidal. It took me about an hour to get subscribed to Tidal (first seven days free) and get Ickstream implemented on my Touch.

Sound-wise, running into a PS Audio PWD II, Tidal is clearly more three-dimensional, tonally rich and satisfying than Spotify. Compared to FLAC rips from my hard-drive, however, it is lacking just a little bit of detail retrieval and seems a bit noisier in the spaces between the notes. The difference is small but definite.

So, I'm ditching Spotify in favor of Tidal. $20/mo is worth it to me to have damn-near best-available fidelity on damn-near every album I ever want to hear. And I can download unlimited mp3's to my phone for travel. Would love to hear your experiences.
cymbop
eastein
98 posts
 
Just got an Auralic Aries which works with Tidal and sounds night and day better than the Mac Mini it replaced, not even close.

"The ARIES serves as a “bridge” between music files on network storage or high quality online streaming services and the consumers’ DAC — enabling DACs for the first time to stream high-resolution music quickly and wirelessly in virtually any sampling rate, including DSD, Double-Rate DSD and DXD."
dbarger
215 posts
 
Yes, the Aries is the type of device I am looking for. Are there any other similar devices out there? Less expensive would be great.
cymbop OP
315 posts
 
Eastein, that's great to know. I've had my eye on the Aries in case my Touch ever blows up.

Lately I've been living like this: 1) Peruse the Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds LP catalogs with a highlighter in hand. 2) Mark all the titles I would have Santa Claus bring be if Santa could bring me unlimited amounts of albums. 3) Listen in lossless on TIDAL.
eastein
98 posts
 
Cymbop, hard to beat nearly unlimited access to lossless music. Aries makes it convenient to access and sound it's best. I really like this combination.
jazzbird's avatar
jazzbird
27 posts
 
I was told by a Auralic dealer in Indiana that one must buy an iPhone or an iPad to utilize the entire system. I have thought about getting an Aries with the Tidal service. I own a P S DirectStream DAC already !
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