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Is Tidal HiFi Worth It and What Sort Of DAC Should You Use?

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Urushi

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I am trying to figure out what DAC I need and if I should continue to use Tidal HiFi. Tidal Premium sounds great to me.

I know Tidal HiFi has two additional higher sound quality options over Premium. There is MQA which requires a specific decoder, but then there is HiFi. Does HiFi require a DAC with DSD512 or would a DAC like a Schitt Modi 3 be able to play the lossless HiFi stream?

Do most people notice a difference between Tidal "High", "HiFi" and "MQA"? If there is a difference are there certain tracks that are better at showcasing these differences?

My setup at the moment is Tidal HiFi via iMac -> Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital -> Rupert Neve RNHP -> HD 650.

The Pro-Ject Pre Box is expensive and I wonder if it makes more sense to move to a DSD512 DAC like the SMSL M8A or simply to a Schitt Modi 3.
 
You only need a MQA capable DAC if you want sample rates higher than 96khz as the Tidal software can do the first "unfolding". The hi-fi stream is in flac format so no DSD needed.
As for hearing a difference you are stirring up a hornet's nest. You should worry more about how well the recording was mastered rather than the format or sample rate.

Edit: As a former Tidal Hi-Fi subscriber, my opinion is that Hi-Fi is worth it, and any DAC with SINAD over 100db would do nicely.
 
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Subjectively, I enjoyed the Tidal Master recordings for the duration of the 3 month trial I had. However, after running ABX testing with the setup I had at the time (Fiio K3 DAC, JDS Atom & AKG K712Pro) I decided that I could not reliably tell the difference between 320 CBR MP3 (Spotify Premium quality) and lossless FLAC/MQA offered by Tidal Hi-fi/Masters. I certainly couldn't justify the additional cost of Tidal over Spotify.
 
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In what scenario do you need DSD? If you are playing a SA-CD?
 
I had Tidal Hi-Fi for about two years. I blind tested myself, and I'm pretty sure I cannot can hear the difference between lossless flac and MP3 320 kpbs CBR (mp3 in lower quality is noticeably worse). But the knowledge that I get the lossless version of the music has more to do with psychology, and for me it improved the experience. And the cost is pretty negligible overall (where I live it comes to about 137$ per year).

As for MQA ("master" quality as they call it on Tidal), I'm completely convinced from a sonic and a technical perspective, that it's entirely unnecessary. Not to be conspiratorial, but everything I've heard so far about MQA makes it sound like a DRM scheme designed solely to make more money. There is no technical advantage to this format whatsoever.

The normal Hi-Fi is 44.1khz 16 bit flac, so you don't need any DSD or even 24 bit DAC to play it.

The reason I left Tidal in favor of Deezer HiFi is that the desktop Tidal app I was using just has the worst interface ever, and it interrupts the music playing several times per day for updates. Deezer cost the same and has a much snappier and smoother interface, and the same size music collection, or even bigger.
 
Fluffy said:
As for MQA ("master" quality as they call it on Tidal), I'm completely convinced from a sonic and a technical perspective, that it's entirely unnecessary. Not to be conspiratorial, but everything I've heard so far about MQA makes it sound like a DRM scheme designed solely to make more money. There is no technical advantage to this format whatsoever.
Click to expand...

^ This ^
 
I have tidal seems to depend on which song some are a lot better than others
Norah jones
Not to late mqa sounds much better than most tracks on my system
 
I can hear the difference between FLAC and MP3 in many properly mastered tracks that I know well. Not in all. MQA I really don't care about. I share a Tidal Hi-Fi family plan and the difference in cost, for me, is negligible. I also hate Spotify with a vengeance since I lived through the period when the Android app was going through a "rough patch" and I was getting all my downloads to SD card deleted randomly, and this happened when I was travelling a lot for work. The three times it happened were right at the beginning of long flights, which I had to endure without music. I will never pay Spotify a cent again, even if it was the last streaming service left on the planet.

Tidal also has some pretty good exclusive video content that is not available anywhere else, which is a big plus.
 
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I will try out some Norah Jones tracks. $20 per month is a lot per month, so it should be a noticeable improvement. Tidal is my favorite service because they have music videos which Spotify doesn't. I do pay for Spotify too because they have an app on my Garmin running watch.
 
Urushi said:
I am trying to figure out what DAC I need and if I should continue to use Tidal HiFi. Tidal Premium sounds great to me.

I know Tidal HiFi has two additional higher sound quality options over Premium. There is MQA which requires a specific decoder, but then there is HiFi. Does HiFi require a DAC with DSD512 or would a DAC like a Schitt Modi 3 be able to play the lossless HiFi stream?

Do most people notice a difference between Tidal "High", "HiFi" and "MQA"? If there is a difference are there certain tracks that are better at showcasing these differences?

My setup at the moment is Tidal HiFi via iMac -> Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital -> Rupert Neve RNHP -> HD 650.

The Pro-Ject Pre Box is expensive and I wonder if it makes more sense to move to a DSD512 DAC like the SMSL M8A or simply to a Schitt Modi 3.
Click to expand...


Any interest in Qobuz? The highest tier is a little more than Tidal ($25/mo. vs $20) but there is no MQA decoding / hardware issues nonsense to worry about.

I started with Tidal but dropped it back in the spring to go with Qobuz (... i listen to a lot of classical, and Qobuz's classical library is better than Tidal's, though Tidal's is not bad).

I've been fiddling with Amazon Unlimited HD the past few days... I'm liking what I'm seeing (in terms of UX and library) and hearing with it. I opted for a year-long Qobuz subscription, but to be honest, I may let that lapse after the year is out as what I'm seeing from Amazon seems very competitive at about half the price.
 
Does Qobuz and Amazon have free trials?

Is there a difference in 320kbps tracks between Tidal, Spotify, and Amazon etc? I have read that Tidal's "High" tracks sound better than Spotify's equivalent but no clue if that is true.
 
Urushi said:
Is there a difference in 320kbps tracks between Tidal, Spotify, and Amazon etc? I have read that Tidal's "High" tracks sound better than Spotify's equivalent but no clue if that is true.
Click to expand...
It generally depends on the codec used. There is AAC, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, ALAC, Opus… But as far as I can tell, at 320kbps the difference between codecs are negligible. The difference is more pronounced in how they handle lossy compression at lower bitrates like 192kbps. But as long as you stick to 320, all of them should be fine.
 
Jaysz said:
I have tidal seems to depend on which song some are a lot better than others
Norah jones
Not to late mqa sounds much better than most tracks on my system
Click to expand...
Here is something fascinating....the Norah Jones MQA go super loud. Why is the volume level so different...wtf? Do other people experience this? Diana Krall too...If I play any modern pop it is super low. Is it a lack of dynamic range?
 
I HEART TIDAL. I use very high-end equipment, and it is marvelous. I will never go back, unless the apocalypse comes. In which case, I've got an old iPod with a big hard disk which is crammed full of lossless files.
 
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