Wow - not only bad for tidal but MQA as well - I would think.
I’d say so, since they seem to be one of the few companies that offer MQA content.
That explains their financial woes. MQA royalties are killing them! I thought that the allegations of bogus user streaming numbers for Beyoncé and Kanye were interesting. If they are paying them fees for bogus numbers, they have a fraud problem.
Tidal’s problems are many, but the main one is trying to be a mass market high quality service. There aren’t enough users to pay. Qobuz tried it and failed, then created a business model based on relatively few users, but they spend a lot more, at least 5 times as much per user as Tidal. Qobuz also work really hard on developing local relationships with magazines, the audio industry etc. Qobuz are launching in the USA soon and should suck up many of Tidal’s customers. The loss of MQA would be no loss at all and Qobuz have no interest in MQA or Roon.
Yeah, definitely possible.
I’m in the camp that believes MQA needs a major or at least well publicized streaming service to survive.
I just signed up for Tidal free trial, and whilst it does work, the GUI is rubbish. I have no idea what’s going on. Spotify in comparison is slick and intuitive.
It works pretty well in Roon, but the straight Tidal app/desktop interface is lacking.
Would like to see Roon partner with Deezer…
I’m always bemused that many in our hobby are lovers or haters. I’m OK with the interface and I like the playists that Tidal creates. It is what it is. Tidal’s demise may be exaggerated.
Spotify needs to add flac streaming, Radio Paradise style, and put an end to whatever lesser or smaller catalogs out there have. There can also be mergers of course. Never know.
Their financial situation is not a whole lot better if at all and that is before the current pile of lawsuits are settled.
I’m not finding the sound quality of Tidal compelling compared to Spotify Premium. Choosing one or the other comes down to other factors, like the ease of use, the catalog of music, and I guess, also price. Tidal is not clearly winning on any of those measures.
Brodric
To my ears the sound quality of Tidal has slowly gone down in the last year for whatever reason. I suspect it is due to an over stressed infrastructure based on what I was told by reps at two of the major streamer manufacturers. I used Spotify as a “walking around” source of streaming along with Radio Paradise and a couple of other stations. I like to do the “Artist Radio Stations” on Spotify. Qobuz is my go to first choice and Tidal only if what I am looking for is not on Qobuz.
At this early stage I’m not seeing value in Tidal. I’m inclined to not take up a paid subscription at the end of the free trial, and I have already cancelled my Spotify Premium subscription (because their customer Support is rubbish). I will have to look into Qobuz, I’m not sure if it’s available in this market.
You may have to use the work around to sign up like we do in the US.
Also on the free trial what quality of stream are you getting?
Master audio quality.
I was Tidal user for more than one year. Now I have a subscription to qobuz sublime. Sound quality is definitely better. Classic music lovers, as myself, will find a richer catalogue and, really, the metadata are much much better than tidal. With sublime you have real high resolution audio, not mqa. I am in Italy. My children do not like it, because the pop catalog is limited, if compared to spotify. For me, it definitely a must. I only listen to qobuz now.
Qobuz also has a far larger jazz catalog than Roon. If Audirvana ever gets less buggy, I’ll drop Roon.
I’ve gravitated back to Spotify. The whole experience is so much better than Tidal.
Roon doesn’t have any content per se, did you mean Tidal?