tidal vs spotify/other streaming services

Discussion in 'Music and Recordings' started by kirayamato, Oct 25, 2015.

?

Does Tidal sound Better than Spotify/other

  1. Better (please explain)

    22 vote(s)
    45.8%
  2. pretty much the same

    25 vote(s)
    52.1%
  3. worse

    1 vote(s)
    2.1%
  1. Gray

    Gray Friend

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    "Amarra for Tidal 2.0" was released today, along with the brand new "Amarra Remote" IOS app. I am enjoying using my iPhone connected to my Mac Mini to control volume and track selection (into my Yggdrasil and Yamaha HS-8 powered monitors). Pretty neat!

    http://www.sonicstudio.com/amarra/amarra_news#AFT2
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2016
  2. raif

    raif Man made lobster/plankton

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    Spotify user here. Because of this thread I went to check out Tidal.

    Listening to a few of my go-to tracks, I feel like I hear a difference. It is incredibly minor and on a bad day I might dismiss it as nothing but confirmation bias, but it feels like there is a bit more depth to the Tidal tracks vs Spotify. Also, the cymbals sound just the slightest more realistic.

    It is likely that I would fail even a single blind test, but I know we aren't supposed to admit that stuff here.

    Setup is:
    GO1K -> TH-X00
     
  3. Gray

    Gray Friend

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    What are other Schiit owners using to control the volume of their systems remotely (to headphones, passive speakers or powered monitors)? Any other remote iPhone or Android apps of interest?
     
  4. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    You are spot on :). I started with Tidal, discovered Spotify, ended up with Tidal. On most of the mobile devices and with certain types of music I do not think a blind test can be anything more than guessing. On my desktop setup the difference was very minor but enough to make me go with Tidal.
     
  5. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    I have Tidal, Apple Music, and Spotify. Tidal because I like it, Apple Music because my car likes it, and Spotify because work gives it to me as a benefit. In my experience, between the three, it all comes down to the master.

    Tidal has some horrible masters out there that someone should be shot over. To see what I mean, try the non-MQA version of Alice Cooper's 'Welcome to My Nightmare,' Van Halen's '5150,' or Oingo Boingo's 'Dead Man's Party.' However, I use it the most unless I find a master I don't like. As an HD streaming platform, I wish it was easier to tell what master you're listening to.

    From my experience, Apple Music has most consistently had the best masters for what I listen to.

    I can't speak much to Spotify other than loving their playlists and hating their UI.
     
  6. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    It makes sense that Apple Music would have the highest amount of better masters, as they use the mastered for iTunes versions when available, which the other services don't have access to.
     
  7. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    I couldn't really hear the difference with Tidal until I started running it through my Raspberry Pi+Hifiberry. The imaging and dimensionsality really opened up. Having said that I agree with everyone about the interface. Not sure why it has stayed so bad for as long as they've been around. Discovery is just awful. I only listen to Tidal if I have a specific album in mind. I really enjoy exploring Apple's weekly personalized "New Music Mix" that is based on my listening tendencies. I get a new mix every Friday.
     
  8. gepardcv

    gepardcv Almost "Made"

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    "Mastered for iTunes" does not guarantee quality. Max Richter's full Sleep album was marketed as such, and has weird hiss problems when some instrument tracks play. Admittedly only audible on fairly resolving gear, but still annoying. No idea about the vinyl release, but sure hope it's better.
     
  9. daves

    daves New

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    Spotify user here. I tried Tidal but did not like the UI. I use Spotify at work out of my iphone through noise cancelling phones, so I'm not too fussed about the quality - its generally background music. If I find something I want to explore more deeply I'll buy it - download in lossless or find a CD.
     
  10. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    Kendrick Lamar just released "Damn."

    That is a good reason to go to Tidal so you can download the album. Social media is now seriously going "Damn" + "that is good timing."
     
  11. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I didn't say MFiT was always better.
     
  12. MrTeaRex

    MrTeaRex His head's not fat, he's my brother!

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    Interesting comparison of streaming services by an engineer using a track where he mixed and mastered the original himself. TLDR all streaming services are bad, but TIDAL is the least offensive with YouTube and Apple Music the worst.
     
  13. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    I was using Google play music for a long time, and by the end of the work day where I had listened for 5 or more hours, I just had to take the headphones off and just stop listening. Having switched over to Tidal a month ago, I can say that there's definitely differences. Some of the masters are different, sure, but my hearing does not feel as tired at the end of the day. I thought it was placebo but maybe there is something to it.
     
  14. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    WTF is with that track, constantly pumping in and out, how anyone can hear any difference is beyond me, I am getting seasick just trying to get through the video, urgh!

    oh and wait .........we are supposed to hear these diffs thru freaking youtube, hahahahahaha

    I guess kudos for the phase diff comparo.
     
  15. MrTeaRex

    MrTeaRex His head's not fat, he's my brother!

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    Right at the start of the video (1:35) he states that it's questionable if viewers will be able to hear any differences through YouTube. The video is more interesting to see his methodology for a legitimate comparison using music he mixed and mastered himself.
     
  16. Serious

    Serious Inquisitive Frequency Response Plot

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    I wonder why the volume got adjusted. Looks like he didn't match it perfectly, hence the difference. Also it says 96kHz/24bit at the top of his windows, which makes me wonder if he accidentally did some resampling to the tracks. When I tried to record a track off of Tidal the volume level was the exact same as the same CD version and all the information was identical to the CD. No difference. This is of course assuming that the track didn't get watermarked.

    However I will say that I think the Tidal desktop app doesn't sound as good as JRiver, but there's not much you can do about that.

    I still think that Tidal sounds better than compressed streaming services or a 500bkit/s VBR Ogg file, which was the best lossy compression that I found. I was running out of space on my phone so I tried out 500kbit/s .ogg to see if I could tell the difference on my phone (it's obvious on my rig) and I could hear the difference with my RE272 and even with earpods when I tried. In the end I decided to buy a 400GB micro sd card instead.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2018
  17. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    Yes, I am aware he said that, he should have then just stuck to the phase diff segments, would have made for a lot less nausea. :sail:
     
  18. Galm

    Galm Still looking for Little Red Riding Hood

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    Btw if any of you like Tidal, Roon has been really nice. It supports Tidal streaming, has a solid EQ/DSP engine, and has those EQ presets for Audeze headphones Audeze made a while back. It's got MQA software decoding finally, supports DSD, and shows interesting info about files along with combining Tidal and local files in one app. It's also got first party support for a lot of different audio brands like Apple, Sonos, Chord, Metrum, Oppo etc...

    The main catches are it's like 100+ bucks a year (so another added cost), and it's also got a straight retarded search engine vs even Tidal... You basically have to exactly type any song you're trying to find including the artist. I like it because I EQ my Utopia, but I'm not sure if it'd be worth it otherwise.

    I tend to like using Tidal for casual listening, and Roon for more serious listening where I intend to use exclusive mode on the windows audio. I'm not sure how it stacks up to Amarra but it seems to do some of the same things.
     
  19. starence

    starence Facebook Friend

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    Those of us who live in the US will soon have another lossless streaming option, Qobuz. I heard it's launching in Oct. Oh, I think roon support is coming soon too.
     
  20. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    When I was trying to decide between Spotify and Tidal I was not comparing them directly. I picked 10 or so tracks from my CDs and compared them to Tidal lossless, and then to HQ Spotify. I had both subscriptions for one month and, recovering after hip surgery, I had a lot of time to listen and compare. Even attempted some "blind" testing but at the end on most of the tracks I could hear less difference between Tidal lossless and CD , than between HQ Spotify and CD.
    Roon is essential if you use Tidal and I completely disagree that
    .
    To find one song maybe,I do not really care about it, but on Tidal if you try to search by composer or a record company what comes back is a complete garbage and 80% is missing. So, no there no more retarded search engine in the streaming business than Tidal. .
     

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