My Tidal subscription is about to expire, what next?

[Wombat]

Surely after Tidal comes Tsunami?

 

[Daverz]

OK, I an not too good with those 3 letter codes!
I do have had a new still sealed Squeezebox touch for many years which I have never got round to opening!

I think a new-old-stock Touch could fetch a good price on ebay. You could then buy an RPi4 and have money left over.

 

[restorer-john]

Surely after Tidal comes Tsunami?

Earthquake subwooferterranean events come first,

Then comes the receding tide, then the Tsunami follows.

 

[Nicolaas]

Lossless was invented ca 40 years ago with the introduction of the CD. And High Res came ca 20 years ago with the introduction of SACD. So why would one possibly want to listen to lossy formats while computer storage and Internet bandwidth are for grabs these days. It's simply a matter of principle, you don't do that!
BTW for me lossless CD quality is sufficient because High Res (24b - 96k and higher) does not bring much of an advantage to my ears.

 

[Nicolaas]

The Spotify app works really great with Linux Mint 20.1 Xfce. So as soon as Spotify offers lossless this year I will take a subscription. Until then it's a nogo.

 

[Sal1950]

Lossless was invented ca 40 years ago with the introduction of the CD. And High Res came ca 20 years ago with the introduction of SACD. So why would one possibly want to listen to lossy formats while computer storage and Internet bandwidth are for grabs these days.

Because Bob Stuart told them MQA sounds better.
But no ones ever explained to me how a file that now sounds different than what the artist and producers mixed and approved in the studio can now be considered an improvement?
It may sound different, but better than the original master?
Just another lossy codec distortion IMO.

 

[Nicolaas]

Because Bob Stuart told them MQA sounds better.
But no ones ever explained to me how a file that now sounds different than what the artist and producers mixed and approved in the studio can now be considered an improvement?
It may sound different, but better than the original master?
Just another lossy codec distortion IMO.

Who is Bob Stuart? Thank you so much for your reply! Agree for 200 %.
(Also wondering about the vinyl hype. Why would we possibly go back to the stone age besides nostalgia.)

 

[Jim Matthews]

So why would one possibly want to listen to lossy formats while computer storage and Internet bandwidth are for grabs these days.

In shared networks, smaller sample sizes "fit" the necessary buffer and reduce drop outs. It doesn't appear commonplace among ASR regulars but there *are* people streaming audio on their phones - on public networks.

I'm in agreement; that if I'm paying for it, I want the purest feed. What I don't want to pay for is "upsampling" or any manipulation of the original (digitized) data and that includes MQA.

 

[Jim Matthews]

Who is Bob Stuart? Thank you so much for your reply! Agree for 200 %.
(Also wondering about the vinyl hype. Why would we possibly go back to the stone age besides nostalgia.)

Bob Stuart is a British Audio icon. Loads of experience, and a success in his business model has made his controversial codec (MQA) puzzling.

MQA is the Cod Liver Oil of streaming audio. It supposedly does something good for users while lightening our wallets. At best, it's largely ineffective.
At worst it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

In either case, nobody (other than record label executives) asked for it.
https://www.meridian-audio.com/en/about-meridian/the-meridian-story/

 

[Nicolaas]

Bob Stuart is a British Audio icon. Loads of experience, and a success in his business model has made his controversial codec (MQA) puzzling.

MQA is the Cod Liver Oil of streaming audio. It supposedly does something good for users while lightening our wallets. At best, it's largely ineffective.
At worst it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

In either case, nobody (other than record label executives) asked for it.
https://www.meridian-audio.com/en/about-meridian/the-meridian-story/

Ah, I see. Thanks for your reply. To me MQA seems a marketing hype and should be a nogo for any serious HiFi hobbyists. Also fully agree with Sal1950 statement #86.
BTW if Spotify goes for MQA later this year it will stay a nogo for me!

 

[Jim Matthews]

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.

This is an important distinction. The truth is that your portable setup is orders of magnitude better than the ponderous, heavy and expensive kludge most of us older music lovers cut lawns to own.

The pace of development in entertainment accelerated when we no longer had to carry the files (in any format) by offloading them to a remote server.

That said, those of us with decades of investment have higher resolution systems that audibly display the limits of lower sample rate, compressed audio. For us, the additional expense is worthwhile.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

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.

The difference is small but it is there, especially in so called "problem samples". The trick is to listen for the background at elevated volume and in a quiet environment.

Once you have heard the difference, it is difficult to not hear it again. Considering that FLAC 44.1/16 is a non issue in terms of file size, I'd always opt for it when possible.

Naturally, these differences are a moot point if you are out and about, have noises or make noises next to the music, listen at low level etc. On my smartphone I use ~250 KBit mp3 (no mobile internet ). Fat chance of telling the difference in the bus. A 128GB micro SD basically holds my entire collection.

 

[restorer-john]

MQA is the Cod Liver Oil of streaming audio. It supposedly does something good for users while lightening our wallets. At best, it's largely ineffective.
At worst it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

That, my friend, is actually a very succint summary of the entire MQA fiasco. Well done.

 

[CMB]

Just to give my grain of salt.
I use Tidal and mostly with Audirvana; but I also keep a Spotify account in mp3 resolution (for phone and car).

What I dislike with Tidal is that I experienced it difficult to find some tracks when you have not the exact spelling.
Tidal is not very smart to find what you are looking for when you are not smart enough to have the right spelling.

Same research with Spotify works much better.

Also, the shared playlists on Spotify are much more fun to explore.
I keept Spotify first to import some of these playlists into Tidal (which doesn't seem to work anymore)

I keep Tidal because it works with Audirvana (and I need Audirvana to keep Dirac running).
If Audirvana integrates Amazon lossless, I might change for it.

 

[Jimbob54]

Also, the shared playlists on Spotify are much more fun to explore.
I keept Spotify first to import some of these playlists into Tidal (which doesn't seem to work anymore)

You need 3rd party services like Soundiiz to import libraries, sync playlists between services etc.

 

[CMB]

You need 3rd party services like Soundiiz to import libraries, sync playlists between services etc.

Thank you Jimbob- Last time I tried I think it was blocked by Spotify ...
But haven't tried it anymore since either.

 

[Jimbob54]

Thank you Jimbob- Last time I tried I think it was blocked by Spotify ...
But haven't tried it anymore since either.

There was a period a few months ago when Spotify expanded into Russia when they restricted connections. Been working fine for months

 

[Frank Dernie]

The difference is small but it is there, especially in so called "problem samples". The trick is to listen for the background at elevated volume and in a quiet environment.

Once you have heard the difference, it is difficult to not hear it again.

Well if one needs to get up to some particular tricks to even tell the difference, but once you do you will never be able to un-hear it, however small the effect, the best thing to do is to ignore trying any of the tricks and enjoy the music instead, surely?

 

[CMB]

There was a period a few months ago when Spotify expanded into Russia when they restricted connections. Been working fine for months

THANK YOU!!!
You are right it works again - just tried it !
I am glad to know - I wouldn't have tried it again by myself.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Well if one needs to get up to some particular tricks to even tell the difference, but once you do you will never be able to un-hear it, however small the effect, the best thing to do is to ignore trying any of the tricks and enjoy the music instead, surely?

Aye.
If it is easy to get a lossless copy: go for it. If you only get the content in compressed form, don't sweat it and enjoy the music. I listen to YouTube music all the time because often I have no idea where to get it in lossless form.

I needed a perversely high volume and multiple attempts to do it. Certainly not a scenario that would happen in normal listening.
Though do keep in mind that a trained listener, like our Senpai Amir, might not need such tricks.