TIDAL in the US TODAY!!!

[Skeptic]

Well I have quite mixed feelings about this after using it for a couple of days now.

 

It's great to see lossless CD quality streaming here at last. Like Chris, I did a little testing and quality seems to be as good as my CDs for the albums I compared.

 

The selection seems reasonably good from what I've tried searching for, though some people are saying that many albums are not available for streaming when you try to play them so perhaps it's not what I thought.

The selection is a bit odd at times though, where some artists have a lot of rarer singles/EPs and remix albums available, but are missing some of their main studio albums.

 

 

But what I'm finding is that even after just a day or two, I'm developing bad habits.

Normally when listening to my library I listen to complete albums and my attention is on the music rather than just having it play on random in the background while doing something else.

 

Here, I find that I'm starting to play an album then continuing to browse around as though I'm in a music store "previewing" one album after another instead of playing an album and just sitting back to enjoy it.

 

Maybe that's something which will wear off with time, but I don't feel that a 7 day trial is enough to find that out.

With Spotify, I used the service more for discovery than listening, since you can do that with a free account, and I don't feel that the "premium" quality is worth paying for. If they start streaming lossless too, then I might consider it.

Here, the quality is good but it feels really strange to be "browsing" rather than having any sense of ownership over what's in "your" music library.

 

And I haven't found Tidal to be very good for discovery at all. It's good for playing music that you know you already like, but if I know that, I own the albums already.

The "related artists" suggestions have not been great, and I don't see anything like Spotify's "Radio" feature where you pick a track or artist that you like and have it build a playlist from that, where you can say whether you like or dislike a track to improve these recommendations.

 

And there's no offline cache, which wasn't great when my internet went out for a couple of hours last night. That happens once or twice a month, and it makes me really hesitant to sign up for any of these services.

 

 

And I don't know, I just feel weird about handing over my name, address, and credit card details so that a company can catalog my listening habits. I know that isn't an issue for most people who already give everything up by signing up for sites like Facebook though.

 

I downloaded the Tidal app on my Mac Mini and when it is playing it makes the mini's fan run high. Anyone know how to fix that? Thanks.

Probably happens because it's an Adobe AIR app.

[findog3103]

Well I have quite mixed feelings about this after using it for a couple of days now.

 

It's great to see lossless CD quality streaming here at last. Like Chris, I did a little testing and quality seems to be as good as my CDs for the albums I compared.

 

The selection seems reasonably good from what I've tried searching for, though some people are saying that many albums are not available for streaming when you try to play them so perhaps it's not what I thought.

The selection is a bit odd at times though, where some artists have a lot of rarer singles/EPs and remix albums available, but are missing some of their main studio albums.

 

 

But what I'm finding is that even after just a day or two, I'm developing bad habits.

Normally when listening to my library I listen to complete albums and my attention is on the music rather than just having it play on random in the background while doing something else.

 

Here, I find that I'm starting to play an album then continuing to browse around as though I'm in a music store "previewing" one album after another instead of playing an album and just sitting back to enjoy it.

 

Maybe that's something which will wear off with time, but I don't feel that a 7 day trial is enough to find that out.

With Spotify, I used the service more for discovery than listening, since you can do that with a free account, and I don't feel that the "premium" quality is worth paying for. If they start streaming lossless too, then I might consider it.

Here, the quality is good but it feels really strange to be "browsing" rather than having any sense of ownership over what's in "your" music library.

 

And I haven't found Tidal to be very good for discovery at all. It's good for playing music that you know you already like, but if I know that, I own the albums already.

The "related artists" suggestions have not been great, and I don't see anything like Spotify's "Radio" feature where you pick a track or artist that you like and have it build a playlist from that, where you can say whether you like or dislike a track to improve these recommendations.

 

And there's no offline cache, which wasn't great when my internet went out for a couple of hours last night. That happens once or twice a month, and it makes me really hesitant to sign up for any of these services.

 

 

And I don't know, I just feel weird about handing over my name, address, and credit card details so that a company can catalog my listening habits. I know that isn't an issue for most people who already give everything up by signing up for sites like Facebook though.

 

Probably happens because it's an Adobe AIR app.

 

Do you know how to fix it?

[speavler]

Here, the quality is good but it feels really strange to be "browsing" rather than having any sense of ownership over what's in "your" music library.

 

And I haven't found Tidal to be very good for discovery at all. It's good for playing music that you know you already like, but if I know that, I own the albums already.

This is sort of how I feel as well. I think the implementation is very important. I'm using splashtop to control the desktop app with my ipad and i can tell that this is not going to work out for me. The key is to seamlessly integrate the cloud library with your own, so that's what I'm researching. Going the Auralic Aries with the lightning DS app route is one way? Okay, another box, another power supply, another explanation to the wife as to why we need it. Is there a software/app only solution?

[MarkS]

If you are thinking about using this service with a computer as the source (which I am just trying now and will play around with this weekend) do not even think of using the web player. You MUST use the actual software to really hear this. After 30 minutes of using it, I am impressed, and think it seems worthwhile.

 

No what happens when one adds an upsampler into the equation?

[Jimmypowder]

If you are thinking about using this service with a computer as the source (which I am just trying now and will play around with this weekend) do not even think of using the web player. You MUST use the actual software to really hear this. After 30 minutes of using it, I am impressed, and think it seems worthwhile.

 

No what happens when one adds an upsampler into the equation?

 

Completely agree . The web player doesn't sound too good . The desktop app is excellent .

[zeko]

This is small thing, but.... I listen to classical and jazz and find the "top tracks" showing up above the fold of my ipad screen, rather than albums, a bit of a pain.

[maelob]

The Desktop version is having issues with my older Mac snow leopard. the hifi option is not available. however i found out i can upgrade to Lion so will see what happens.

 

i agree with prior poster i am on a sensory overload lol, but for me i am revisiting music that i dont own but kind of wanted to enjoy

again. from placido domingo, ratt, enrique iglesias to Bonaparte lol

 

i just installed lion and it works!!!

[maelob]

it works with Lion

[Maynard]

I really don't like albums listed, but then when you try to listen: "album unavailable for streaming". My first three albums I looked for, that were listed, said this.

 

Led Zeppelin, for instance. They have all the albums available for downloading, but only one song that can be streamed.

[Kelly]

Anyone using this with a Bluesound or NAD M50 system? With WiMP and my Squeezebox Touch, I can mix WiMP tracks and my own seamlessly in playlists. Does this work with the bluOS ecosystem?

[cjf]

Has anyone done a serious SQ comparison of albums they ripped from CD to their personal library compared to streamed songs from the Tidal service yet?

 

I am most interested in hearing from someone who did this while using some flavor of the Tidal fat client instead of the Tidal Web Player. I've seen a few posts here from those using the web player and comparing that to their hard copies which they felt the hard copies were much better but I wonder if their opinion is different using a real client installed locally?

 

Excluding the differences between the various Tidal Players I would like to think the music itself (The 1's & 0's) should sound the same as it would if the same album was being streamed from a NAS on your local network. The only thing that may change this would be the process Tidal uses to Rip the album in the first place. Hopefully they aren't adding any extra flavoring to the stream or Ripping process.

 

$20 a month doesn't seem like too painful a price to pay for such a service IMO. Lord knows I spend allot more then that a month on music anyway. If we can get confirmation that they use the KISS approach to ripping, storing and streaming of the music files I may get on board but if flavoring is being added anywhere along the way I'll have to pass.

[kennyb123]

The web player doesn't sound too good . The desktop app is excellent .

 

See if setting the volume to max in the web player changes your impression.

 

Also might be best to set volume to max on desktop player too if possible.

[Jimmypowder]

See if setting the volume to max in the web player changes your impression.

 

Also might be best to set volume to max on desktop player too if possible.

 

It didn't on the web player. I always move player sliders to max volume.

[kennyb123]

I was unable to get sound through my Mytek via their desktop player. The web player worked though and sounded pretty darn good.

 

Later I will try again to get the desktop player to work.

 

Absolutely love TIDAL on my iPhone through my BlueBuds.

[Jimmypowder]

Just had to shut Tidal off using the desktop player. Way to many cutouts and I have very

strong internet speeds 120/20 . And that's not even surfing the web.

 

Oh well . I now thay had issues earlier but I cannot see subscribing .

[speavler]

Weird. i clicked on Artist Radio and nearly every other song will play on the computers internal speakers instead of my dac.

[Kelly]

Just had to shut Tidal off using the desktop player. Way to many cutouts and I have very

strong internet speeds 120/20 . And that's not even surfing the web.

 

Oh well . I now thay had issues earlier but I cannot see subscribing .

 

That's weird. I have been subscribing to WiMP for months using a VPN service and got decent performance in the US from what are undoubtedly European servers. Chalk it up to growing pains. What has it been, a week?

[Tnewell]

Just had to shut Tidal off using the desktop player. Way to many cutouts and I have very

strong internet speeds 120/20 . And that's not even surfing the web.

 

Oh well . I now thay had issues earlier but I cannot see subscribing .

 

I am having problems with the Windows desktop player too. Dropouts and hiccups and I have Internet speeds of 25mbps.

 

I get the pop up advising they are having problems with playback due to bandwith.

 

I really want to like this service but will probably unsubscribe due to these issues.

[kumakuma]

I am having problems with the Windows desktop player too. Dropouts and hiccups and I have Internet speeds of 25mbps.

 

I get the pop up advising they are having problems with playback due to bandwith.

 

I really want to like this service but will probably unsubscribe due to these issues.

 

My guess is that the bandwidth issues are on their end and are related to their rollout in the US/UK. You might want to wait a bit and see if things settle down.

[Skeptic]

Has anyone done a serious SQ comparison of albums they ripped from CD to their personal library compared to streamed songs from the Tidal service yet?

 

I am most interested in hearing from someone who did this while using some flavor of the Tidal fat client instead of the Tidal Web Player. I've seen a few posts here from those using the web player and comparing that to their hard copies which they felt the hard copies were much better but I wonder if their opinion is different using a real client installed locally?

 

Excluding the differences between the various Tidal Players I would like to think the music itself (The 1's & 0's) should sound the same as it would if the same album was being streamed from a NAS on your local network. The only thing that may change this would be the process Tidal uses to Rip the album in the first place. Hopefully they aren't adding any extra flavoring to the stream or Ripping process.

They aren't ripping the discs, they get shipped a bunch of hard drives from the labels with the media on them.

The albums that I compared seemed to be exactly the same quality as my CDs.

It's possible that they will have different masters for some of the albums in my library though, which may be better or worse. (probably worse if they are different, as I tend to seek out the best version before I buy)

 

$20 a month doesn't seem like too painful a price to pay for such a service IMO. Lord knows I spend allot more then that a month on music anyway. If we can get confirmation that they use the KISS approach to ripping, storing and streaming of the music files I may get on board but if flavoring is being added anywhere along the way I'll have to pass.

I saw a report saying that the UK price is $32, which seems excessive.

 

Logically, at $20/month if I listen to and enjoy two new albums on the service then I am getting my money's worth.

But after continuing to use it for the past few days, I still feel weird about paying that much and not getting anything to keep in return.

I feel a lot better buying a couple of CDs than I do about streaming them.

 

I do think that if the app combined my local music with music on the service, it would probably help make things feel a bit more like I'm building a personal collection rather than like I'm browsing a store, but I think streaming just isn't for me - at least not at these prices.

 

If it were something like $5/month that's a price I can justify paying without even having to think about whether I'm getting value for money.

 

 

My guess is that the bandwidth issues are on their end and are related to their rollout in the US/UK. You might want to wait a bit and see if things settle down.

Yes, it will probably be much better after a week or two once most trials have expired.

However issues like this, and the fact that my internet connection usually stops working at least once a month make me hesitant to move away from a local music library to online services.

 

It would be good if any album or artist that you marked as a favorite stored a local copy on your hard drive. That would protect against service outages (Tidal or the ISP) and probably save them a lot of bandwidth. Just have it require a connection at least once a week to verify that the songs are still licensed, and the subscription is still active.

 

Whenever there are service outages, they always tend to happen at the worst possible times.

[dabears999]

Has anyone done a serious SQ comparison of albums they ripped from CD to their personal library compared to streamed songs from the Tidal service yet?

 

I am most interested in hearing from someone who did this while using some flavor of the Tidal fat client instead of the Tidal Web Player. I've seen a few posts here from those using the web player and comparing that to their hard copies which they felt the hard copies were much better but I wonder if their opinion is different using a real client installed locally?

 

Excluding the differences between the various Tidal Players I would like to think the music itself (The 1's & 0's) should sound the same as it would if the same album was being streamed from a NAS on your local network. The only thing that may change this would be the process Tidal uses to Rip the album in the first place. Hopefully they aren't adding any extra flavoring to the stream or Ripping process.

 

$20 a month doesn't seem like too painful a price to pay for such a service IMO. Lord knows I spend allot more then that a month on music anyway. If we can get confirmation that they use the KISS approach to ripping, storing and streaming of the music files I may get on board but if flavoring is being added anywhere along the way I'll have to pass.

 

Cancelled my trial subscription this morning after several hours of comparing ripped cd's from HD using Amarra v3.0.3 and Audirvana v2.0.2 in both playlist mode and using iTunes integration. IMHO, the SQ of TIDAL is good, but; not as resolving, detailed and coherent as tracks being played back through HD using either playback software. Perhaps when, if, they reach a point where true hirez file streaming is available will I revisit TIDAL as a playback option.

[Jimmypowder]

Cancelled my trial subscription this morning after several hours of comparing ripped cd's from HD using Amarra v3.0.3 and Audirvana v2.0.2 in both playlist mode and using iTunes integration. IMHO, the SQ of TIDAL is good, but; not as resolving, detailed and coherent as tracks being played back through HD using either playback software. Perhaps when, if, they reach a point where true hirez file streaming is available will I revisit TIDAL as a playback option.

 

I agree with this. Playing Alac files using Audirvana 2.0 has significantly better audio quality

than Tidal's web or desktop player ,in my opinion

[MarkS]

I agree with the above that Tidal SQ is noticeably inferior in my Mac mini setup than running local files using Audirvana, but I intend to stick with it and listen to it from time to time. It sounds decent, and I would like to support this. Plus, it may improve, and it has tons of stuff. For example, I own NO classical, and now I might listen to some occasionally.

 

My main gripe with the SQ is the bass. It is thin and not as deep compared to local rips of the same tracks. The top end also lacks the same sparkle and air as local files. It definitely sounds different to me. Not so bad, but not great. I think it is definitely ok for casual listening.

 

Could someone please check something for me. On Chandelier by Sia I hear some weird staticky noise on top. Does anyone else notice this? Is it a bad file?

 

The fact that I can pop on Chandelier, which is not my cup of tea, but I might like to hear from time to time, is what makes this service cool. And it's great in the iPhone.

 

I am likely to get an upsampler in January and wonder how that will impact the sound on these files.

[blaven]

LIKES:

--Lots of new music at fingertips (just listened to 2 full Vangelis albums I will be buying to rip) in better quality than other streaming stuff

--good sound vs Spotify and Pandora

--my 5year-old's One Direction songs were almost tolerable in lossless compared to how they sound on Spotify and my usual iTunes 128kbs downloads

 

DISLIKES:

--does not seem to do gapless -- I get a 1s pause between tracks, annoying with atmospheric stuff like Vangelis

--no remote app that I can find to control desktop App on my MBP

--sound quality, while very nice, is not as good as ripped AIFF through A+/iTunes integrated mode (so now I am buying the 2 aforementioned Vangelis CDs to RIP them -- kinda kills the point (note-- Diana Krall Temptation still sounded awesome, although that would sound good on anything)

-- agree with others that SQ issues are most noticeable in bass, and cymbals. Bass line on Stevie's Superstition is really weak. It was much better on Lorde album.

 

I will continue the 1 month trial, but not so sure will continue.

 

Some stuff sounds great, other stuff, clearly not as good as AIFF CD Rip through A+

[MarkS]

Can someone please play Tiny Dancer by Elton John from Madman Across the Water. Why is my dac reporting 24.192 (which is impossible).