Is the quality really worth another $10/month over Spotify?

How much more mobile data does it consume?

I'll check it out, but I'm a little skeptical.

4/5/2015 11:08:32 PM

I'd be surprised if you noticed any difference between Tidal and Spotify's premium service on a phone. You could likely tell on a decent home stereo/speaker setup but it's not going to be huge.

Disclaimer: I haven't used Tidal and it's been years since I've used Spotify.

4/6/2015 1:00:12 AM

i guess this thread is not about this tidal

[Edited on April 6, 2015 at 11:52 AM. Reason : .]

4/6/2015 11:51:50 AM

http://tidal.com/

4/6/2015 12:32:32 PM

Signed up for their premium. As you would expect, not as quick as Spotify to start songs and jump around songs. Some holes in the catelog are aparent, but I guess that will probably improve. I can't really tell a difference thus far, except Tidal is simply louder...but I wasn't really expecting to hear a difference on my work equipment. I'll have to try at home...

For comparison:
Spotify Premium: 320 kbs Ogg Vorbis
Tidal Premium: 1411 kbps


http://www.quora.com/Can-you-hear-a-difference-in-quality-between-Spotifys-320-Kbps-stream-and-Tidals-lossless-audio-stream
http://betanews.com/2015/04/02/what-is-tidal-lossless-hifi-music-worth-first-impressions-review/

4/6/2015 1:13:02 PM

I don't think I would personally get the benefit of the CD quality to justify the almost double monthly fee.

80% of my listening is via small desktop speakers at my office or earbuds while i'm on the bike.

the other 20% is through my truck or home stereo. but even then i'm not sure i'd want to pay that much.

4/7/2015 11:33:16 AM

I'm thinking the only way they gain serious traction over Spotify is if artists/labels continue to pull their stuff off Spotify and put it on Tidal.

4/7/2015 11:46:02 AM

yeah that will really suck. Premiering your new album on one versus another is one thing. But to gain control over an artist's entire body of work will really be a downfall for the entire streaming culture. I surely wouldn't want to pay two subscriptions and have to access two different apps and catalogs.

I think the figure I saw is that of Spotify's 60 million users over 15 million are premium members. The next closest is Rhapsody at 2.5

4/7/2015 12:57:31 PM

Quote :

"Premiering your new album on one versus another is one thing. "

Good point. Hopefully that's all it ends up being.

4/7/2015 2:06:37 PM

I listen to flac / lossless files on my phone all day and there's a huge difference between those files and spotify. At least I can tell over my ear buds. They're really sensitive though so maybe a little easier to tell then some over ear headphones that might require an external amp to tell.

4/7/2015 2:46:42 PM

Huge difference between lossless and premium Spotify, or huge difference between lossless and free or reduced bandwidth Spotify?

4/7/2015 10:20:50 PM

compression is getting good. Algorithms are getting good. Remember there are a lot of ways for things to get better sound or worse sound than bandwidth.

over sampling and higher bit rate doesn't necessairly lead to better quality...
Frankly the fact that Tidal seems louder a to b might imply that they are using loudness to alter a listeners perception of quality, which totally works.

4/8/2015 1:51:26 AM

Quote :

"Huge difference between lossless and premium Spotify, or huge difference between lossless and free or reduced bandwidth Spotify?"

Between 320kbps Spotify (premium) and most of my lossless/flac files (which are probably around what Tidal are). My point being if I can notice the difference between Spotify premium and my lossless files then I could probably notice the difference between Spotify Premium and Tidal.

4/10/2015 3:45:26 PM

http://gawker.com/tidal-atry-my-tortuous-trial-with-jay-zs-overpriced-sp-1697023467

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121421/jay-zs-new-music-streaming-service-tidal-has-many-flaws

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/12/mumford-sons-diss-jay-z-s-tidal.html

[Edited on April 12, 2015 at 8:40 PM. Reason : ]

4/12/2015 8:19:38 PM

not even gonna bother signing up for it


if they were gonna rip off a UI they couldve done worlds better than spotify's

4/13/2015 6:52:55 PM

http://jezebel.com/tidal-might-lose-all-of-its-beyonce-songs-but-who-even-1707715961

5/30/2015 11:48:29 AM

I gave Tidal premium a try, but I can't even stream the lossless tracks at work where we have effectively infinitely fast internet.

5/30/2015 2:00:48 PM