How To Cope If Tidal Does Go Under?

[rn701]

4 hours ago, Daverz said:

I'll probably buy the recordings that mean to the most to me in my Tidal favorites.   Which reminds me that I should make a list. 

 

And I'll probably try Spotify.  Is it really that bad sounding?  I think 320 kbps could sound pretty good, but I've heard people say that Spotify  "must do something else" to degrade the stream.  Hmmm...

 

Spotify sounds pretty good using a Spotify Connect enabled device or chromecast. Using their PC app and playing through the Windows audio mangler sounds pretty bad. 

 

And as always, the mastering matters most. Most stuff put out by labels for streaming to kids nowadays  sounds pretty bad in any format on any system.

[rn701]

8 hours ago, beerandmusic said:

 

Almost every new receiver or network device supports tidal

 

 

Denon/Marantz have never had built-in support for Tidal like they have for Spotify Connect and now it looks like they never will. Sony and Yamaha don't either. I believe Onkyo is the only one. 

 

Looks like Denon/Marantz (heos) and Yamaha (musiccast) have it via external apps. Or you can use a chromecast device and the Tidal app with any of them. 

 

Anyway, mass market receiver makers have not embraced Tidal like they have Spotify or even Pandora. None of them support MQA, either, for whatever that's worth.

[rn701]

48 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

So i guess spotify does something right that tidal does not?  What do you suppose that is?  

 

My guess is that a) Spotify has been around longer, and b) they claim* to have 70 million subscribers, which is twice as many as any other competitor.

 

.Just to be clear, I'm not knocking Tidal (at least I wasn't before revelations of shady business practices). I liked it when I tried it for a few months. I found that I mainly used it to sample new music to purchase, and Spotify is better for that and cheaper.

 

*Their numbers are likely to be more reliable now that they have gone public and are subject to SEC regulation and scrutiny. 

 

[rn701]

Took a look at Deezer. They don't sound like a real company. Interested in checking out Quobuz. Remind me again, when are they coming to the US?

 

Maybe Google or Amazon will get into the hifi streaming business? Or maybe not. Spotify is crushing it in the streaming business, and they seem to have decided there's no market for hifi streaming.

 

So one might conclude that the hifi streaming business is DOA. CDs will soon be gone. Hifi/hirez downloads could soon follow. What's left for the mass  market?