I would call their customer service abysmal—that is, if it actually existed. It doesn’t. Beyond bad.
2 Likes
I first got Tidal around the time they added MQA. I had a number of problems with it not going from 16/44 to MQA or the other way. I worked with tech services supplying logs and route tracing. At one point they sent me a separate update. I finally asked them for a free month for all the logs and communications. I had started with a 3 month free trial, and they gave me 3 months for helping them.
They got all the bugs out that mattered to me. A few weeks ago they completely replaced the player. It loads faster, although you can no longer separate albums by artist in saved favorites. I think it sounds very good. If I compare it to a CD played through my PWT, then I still think the CD is better, but only in direct comparison.
If it sounds worse then before, check your settings. I use a Windows 10 laptop dedicated to music. Every time Microsoft does a major update, it resets defaults. The last time it even changed the Tidal settings. It removed my DAC as the exclusive player, and removed the forced volume settings. If it recently started sounding bad, check all of your settings. I actually think the new player may sound better, no simple way to compare.
2 Likes
Tidal HiFi works well for me. Quboz is supposed to launch this fall in the USA, am interested to see what they offer. I imagine it will be more expensive than Tidal…
I’ll be dropping Tidal in favor of Qobuz, due to a pitifully small jazz catalog.
Qobuz has more of the music I like, and using it in the US is trivial.
1 Like
I’ve always found that it’s never been about the bit depth/sample rate. If the audio was well recorded and well mastered it’s going to sound good no matter the medium you’re buying/streaming. But just adding extra samples and bits doesn’t mean you’re going to get more out of a recording if there’s not much more to give past CD quality. But I think some recordings most definitely do benefit from the higher-resolution formats, but only because they were well mastered and recorded.
4 Likes
Deleted
More bad news for Tidal:
I’m a big fan of MQA on Tidal. I use the Tidal app to stream from my MBP via USB to the Audiophilleo interface on my Naim DAC-V1. It’s important to get a good USB interface for streaming off your computer.
MQA on Tidal sounds way better than ripped CDs off iTunes. The only thing that beats it is 192k material via BitPerfect.
Also, the new family plan for highest quality on Tidal is an incredible deal!
Agree Tidal MQA often sounds ok but local stored or Qobuz native HiRes -preferably without a computer- always sounds better.
1 Like
Not for musicians.
Well it is. Because if I like their music that I spot on Spotify I’ll go and buy their CD.
You, as an audiophile may do that. Most don’t. So thousands of plays on spotify don’t make me enough (literally) to buy a cup of coffee.
Precisely.
More and more, many artists I’m finding on Spotify that get my attention only use the streaming/download medium, they don’t produce a CD. As much as I’d like to buy their CD, I can’t.
1 Like
@Brodric Do you have a dedicated room for CD’s? I stopped buying for that reason and that does not mean that I haven’t bought any more but less like one a year or so. I like to have files - a lot more compact and harder to destroy if you have backups. 
From what I understand neither’s too good for musicians.
Since I have been subscribed to Spotify Premium I’ve no doubt been buying a lot more CD than I used to. Auditioning music on Spotify is the perfect way to decide on my CD purchases. All my content (music and movies) is stored on a 16TB Kaleidescape Premiere server for distribution within the home. Once imported into the system the physical disc + cover is put away into storage.
The music industry would be much healthier if everyone did the same.
I might point out, if I was ever in so unfortunate situation to find my house in the process of burning down, the one thing I would grab on making a rapid exit would be the HDD in that server. Everything else is insured and replaceable.
1 Like