My Tidal subscription is about to expire, what next?

[dmac6419]

I also use Audirvana, on my primary laptop. If I just used that one laptop, and nothing else, I'd be happy with Audirvana for straight playback. Audirvana has "Tidal Rising" which I enjoy exploring, although it doesn't have the same auto play (with suggested/related content), pre-arranged playlists, and other features that Tidal apps offer in abundance...and that is something that causes me to use Tidal app more often than Audirvana since there are many times that I wish to re-discover music, and I'm like "wow, I haven't heard this song in ages!"

Audirvana also has a fussy licensing that is not convenient for those who use multiple computers, tablets, etc., and need to switch playback frequently between them. I tried once (some years ago) and Audirvana didn't allow me to switch without going through a lengthy process of de-authorizing one computer and re-authorizing the other each time. No thanks. And they had no straightforward multi-computer license. Also, Audirvana has no tablet or smart phone app, it is only for traditional computer audio.

Audirvana could offer a "family-type" license...but I just checked and it seems they still do not. They could also get into tablet/smart phone apps, and it would go a long long way to help connect them with a potentially huge customer base, but they seem to have restricted themselves to a single style of platform.

Audirvana was too rudimentary for me,you're better off with WMP or MusicBee

 

[dmac6419]

I tried Qobuz but got fed up with their PC app - Tidal and Spotify are lightyears ahead in usability. I think all of the music sounds the same.

same here,not saying it's bad

 

[dmac6419]

Perhaps I'm bucking the trend here, but the simplicity of searching Tidal and the quality streaming across the interwebs is appealing, considering my first experience was streaming off Napster.

$20 a month is a little steep, however.

(If you let the subscription lapse, will the service contact you with a lower priced retention offer?)

go hifi it's cheaper

 

[Chrispy]

They stream 16/44.1 lossless in addition to MQA for most of their titles

That doesn't make mqa lossless....it's just nonsense that isn't needed.

 

[sal]

That doesn't make mqa lossless....it's just nonsense that isn't needed.

That’s not the point. Tidal offers “lossless” streaming if you really think MQA is the worst format ever known to man. Which I think is where you’re going with this

 

[Nicolaas]

Isn't Spotify going lossless this year?

 

[Racheski]

Isn't Spotify going lossless this year?

Si senor
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-02-22/five-things-to-know-about-spotify-hifi/

 

[Chromatischism]

I tried Qobuz but got fed up with their PC app - Tidal and Spotify are lightyears ahead in usability. I think all of the music sounds the same.

I agree the differences are going to be miniscule. I would not pay for the jump from 320 kbps mp3 to lossless until I had every last square inch of my room, speakers, EQ, everything perfected.

I would buy more on interface/features/selection. My 2 cents worth.

 

[Nicolaas]

Si senor
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-02-22/five-things-to-know-about-spotify-hifi/

Gracias senor!
I will wait for Spotify then. Besides FM radio I hardly listened lossy music after the invention of the CD ca 40 years ago...Uh not quite true, I sometimes also listen to my FLAC files on my TWS earphones while walking.

 

[Chrispy]

That’s not the point. Tidal offers “lossless” streaming if you really think MQA is the worst format ever known to man. Which I thinks is where you’re going with this

MQA is simply unnecessary let alone being nonsense. Take it where you will. Maybe Twiddle will be changing things up?

 

[sal]

I don't have a problem with the sound of MQA but I chose not to support a company that is pushing to what is in my mind an underhanded money grabbing scheme with a potentially long term anti-consumer outcome.

This is a faulty argument. Regardless of the encoding, MP3, MQA, WAV, FLAC...all of these files are proprietary. You can't legally give one of your Spotify files to someone who doesn't have a Spotify subscription can you? All of the companies are trying to make a profit aren't they? Spotify has a proprietary connection format they offer to hardware manufacturers, don't they? So does Apple, Amazon...the list goes on. I fail to see how providing consumers with more options ruins anything.

To the OP. You can stick with your Tidal subscription if you like. If you don't use or care for their proprietary MQA format, you still have their lossless streaming for $10 a month. I would start there and compare their library, UI etc to other players in the market. You can't go wrong with Spotify. They're adding lossless and they have a good UI. Spotify is very good for parties (shared play lists etc.). The beauty of the subscription is that you can change it later and go with a different provider. You're not locked in.

{edit} I wonder of Spotify would be offering lossless streaming if the weren't pushed to do so by their competitors (Tidal and the evil MQA empire)

 

[Jet Black]

Honestly I know I have a crude setup with just a smartphone with an ibasso dc03 dac and either a blon bl-01 or kzzs10 pro, but honestly there is a very small difference to none on a 320 kbps spotify and master/hifi tidal when I have the opportunity to try both.

 

[dmac6419]

Honestly I know I have a crude setup with just a smartphone with an ibasso dc03 dac and either a blon bl-01 or kzzs10 pro, but honestly there is a very small difference to none on a 320 kbps spotify and master/hifi tidal when I have the opportunity to try both.

There is a big difference on almost all my 320 files vs 16/44 and higher resolution files,all you have do is listen or get better gear.

 

[Chrispy]

This is a faulty argument. Regardless of the encoding, MP3, MQA, WAV, FLAC...all of these files are proprietary. You can't legally give one of your Spotify files to someone who doesn't have a Spotify subscription can you? All of the companies are trying to make a profit aren't they? Spotify has a proprietary connection format they offer to hardware manufacturers, don't they? So does Apple, Amazon...the list goes on. I fail to see how providing consumers with more options ruins anything.

To the OP. You can stick with your Tidal subscription if you like. If you don't use or care for their proprietary MQA format, you still have their lossless streaming for $10 a month. I would start there and compare their library, UI etc to other players in the market. You can't go wrong with Spotify. They're adding lossless and they have a good UI. Spotify is very good for parties (shared play lists etc.). The beauty of the subscription is that you can change it later and go with a different provider. You're not locked in.

{edit} I wonder of Spotify would be offering lossless streaming if the weren't pushed to do so by their competitors (Tidal and the evil MQA empire)

Spotify figured out long ago there's not much real difference with even lossless but if everyone's doing it and you can squeeze a few more bucks in exchange for bandwidth that's getting cheaper by the minute, why not? I doubt spotify even considers tidal much of a competitor as Twiddle has such a small market share.

 

[dmac6419]

This is a faulty argument. Regardless of the encoding, MP3, MQA, WAV, FLAC...all of these files are proprietary. You can't legally give one of your Spotify files to someone who doesn't have a Spotify subscription can you? All of the companies are trying to make a profit aren't they? Spotify has a proprietary connection format they offer to hardware manufacturers, don't they? So does Apple, Amazon...the list goes on. I fail to see how providing consumers with more options ruins anything.

To the OP. You can stick with your Tidal subscription if you like. If you don't use or care for their proprietary MQA format, you still have their lossless streaming for $10 a month. I would start there and compare their library, UI etc to other players in the market. You can't go wrong with Spotify. They're adding lossless and they have a good UI. Spotify is very good for parties (shared play lists etc.). The beauty of the subscription is that you can change it later and go with a different provider. You're not locked in.

{edit} I wonder of Spotify would be offering lossless streaming if the weren't pushed to do so by their competitors (Tidal and the evil MQA empire)

Amazon, Apple and now Tidal has real money behind it,Spotify and the others have to find a way to make a profit

 

[Chrispy]

There is a big difference on almost all my 320 files vs 16/44 and higher resolution files,all you have do is listen or get better gear.

Same argument the cable charlatans use. Or those believing in magic dacs. Etc.

 

[Chromatischism]

There is a big difference on almost all my 320 files vs 16/44 and higher resolution files,all you have do is listen or get better gear.

Double blind trials can't reliably guess which format is being used, so how did you?

 

[dmac6419]

Same argument the cable charlatans use. Or those believing in magic dacs. Etc.

I own my music bought and paid for,I don't own schitt that I stream,not from Comcast, Hulu, Amazon, Tidal, Sirius XM,Netflix, etc,l don't care what format they use,you all over these forums since at least 2017 bitching about MQA,now Linn (the cd killer) has a $37,000 dac and I haven't seen not one article from Meridian or any other manufacturer telling you why it's just plain stupid to spend that kind of money,when it has the same parts as a $400 dollar Dac

 

[dmac6419]

Double blind trials can't reliably guess which format is being used, so how did you?

I don't play the blind test games,I can hear the difference in good recording.oh and you don't need magical ears either, you should be able to hear that especially with in ears monitors unless they're complete crap

 

[levimax]

This is a faulty argument. Regardless of the encoding, MP3, MQA, WAV, FLAC...all of these files are proprietary. You can't legally give one of your Spotify files to someone who doesn't have a Spotify subscription can you? All of the companies are trying to make a profit aren't they? Spotify has a proprietary connection format they offer to hardware manufacturers, don't they? So does Apple, Amazon...the list goes on. I fail to see how providing consumers with more options ruins anything.

I am not sure why my argument is "faulty". MQA is not the same thing as MP3, WAV, and Flac (which is open source by the way). If I actually had a "choice" with Tidal I would have stayed but pretty much the entire Warner catalog is now MQA and they dropped all the previous versions. I can understand why many people would not care but I personally chose not to support what I think is an underhanded money grabbing scheme posing as a higher quality audio alternative.