[435090]

How long ago did you review TIDAL?
 
I liked Spotify mostly for the library, but often times that SQ is lacking. What do you recommend? Deezer? Spotify? TIDAL?
 
I suppose improvements will always come to any of the three.

 

[fluidz]

Deleted

 

[fufula]

I've been testing Tidal again the past few days and I find it hard not to appreciate the improved SQ compared to lossy streaming services. It's not the kind of difference you hear when you go from 128kbps to 320kbps or even 192kbps, but the extra crispiness, deeper base, better instrument separation boderlining on placebo all make for a significant difference -- the kind people around head-fi usually pay good money for.
 
Problem is, I just cannot get over all the other flaws. The UI is lacking (and ugly) compared to Spotify or Deezer and the library is smaller.
 
What puts me off the most, however, is the way music discovery / radios / playlists etc. are handled by the people behind Tidal. I could be listening to some 70s funk one minute (song-based radio) and then get served a house track out of nowhere or go straight to punk from UK garage. The playlists and radios plain suck for anyone who isn't interested in listening to mainstream music that they play over and over and over again in every radio station anyway. There are no suggestions based on what you listen to, very little ways to look for new music other than sifting through the similar artists page. I've received an e-mail from Tidal this morning about a new song or something from Beyonce, despite the fact that I have never looked for or listened to any of her songs. I could feel the vortex of ****ty cookie-cutter music trying to envelop me. Not quite the experience I expected from a HiFi lossless streaming services, but there you go. And it's probably my third time forcing myself to like Tidal (just because of its SQ.) I'll probably be going back to Spotify in a few days.

 

[JesseA]

I've been testing Tidal again the past few days and I find it hard not to appreciate the improved SQ compared to lossy streaming services. It's not the kind of difference you hear when you go from 128kbps to 320kbps or even 192kbps, but the extra crispiness, deeper base, better instrument separation boderlining on placebo all make for a significant difference -- the kind people around head-fi usually pay good money for.

Problem is, I just cannot get over all the other flaws. The UI is lacking (and ugly) compared to Spotify or Deezer and the library is smaller.

What puts me off the most, however, is the way music discovery / radios / playlists etc. are handled by the people behind Tidal. I could be listening to some 70s funk one minute (song-based radio) and then get served a house track out of nowhere or go straight to punk from UK garage. The playlists and radios plain suck for anyone who isn't interested in listening to mainstream music that they play over and over and over again in every radio station anyway. There are no suggestions based on what you listen to, very little ways to look for new music other than sifting through the similar artists page. I've received an e-mail from Tidal this morning about a new song or something from Beyonce, despite the fact that I have never looked for or listened to any of her songs. I could feel the vortex of ****ty cookie-cutter music trying to envelop me. Not quite the experience I expected from a HiFi lossless streaming services, but there you go. And it's probably my third time forcing myself to like Tidal (just because of its SQ.) I'll probably be going back to Spotify in a few days.

The featured and curated playlists are also way too focused on uninspired "hip-hop"

 

[akira281]

I just signed up for the 30 day free trial of the Deezer "Premium +" since I have a Bose code for a 50% discount @ $5/month. Strange that the audio quality settings have only one setting choice: standard so there is no confirmation what bitrate this was. (Tidal displays the bitrate as the track plays - no hiding quality there)
 
Deezer's sound is a shockingly horrible low fidelity - not even close to Spotify not to mention Tidal. I had a 6 month subscription earlier this year to Tidal at their top level and it was very, very good. I mostly used a 3rd party app on a Windows Phone and was extremely satisfied with the audio quality. The app had some issues but it became stable. I would rate it's app better than Spotify or Deezer. I would rate Tidal's top tier sound the best, it second tier 2nd, Spotify's top tier 3rd and Deezer's supposedly Premium + completely unacceptable.
 
Please note I don't have any use for extra features that don't involve playing tracks that I program to play (example Flow). My main criteria is audio fidelity and app stability.

 

[bichpm]

what about now? does something changed?
At work I can't install Spotify application, so I was thinking about switching to Deezer to listen in HQ trough the browser but, is it really HQ 320kbps????

 

[bichpm]

I've got other 30 days trial premium on Deezer so I've tested it a bit today. From the network analysis in Chrome it seems that the downloaded files are at 320kbps instead of 160kbps from Spotify web player and the difference is noticeable with my Shure SE125. I ate my earphones because of the fatiguing and confused sound but at 320kbps music seems more clear and airy. I've done also a test with some High-end songs like "Train Song" of Holly Cole and yes, with Spotify web I can definitely hear aliasing and muddiness in the shaker sound that doesn't move as in the HQ version in Deezer.
So after my 6 months subscription of Spotify I will move to Deezer because of my needing of using the browser version (and I also prefer the Deezer mobile app). 

 

[cesko]

hi
 
well if deezer  or spotify stream @ 128kbps instead 320 in high quality setting it is a issue...
 
 
the problem is that same say it is deezer does not stream @320 and some report that is spotify.....
 
Soon i will use streaming from the iphone or ipad or from a mac chorme browser by google chormecast audio to my hifi
and i guess there is not difference of streaming based on the device
 
btw i think that that TIDAL is the answer with hifi profile also i think  too expensive.

 

[jessieclarke]

Deezer vs Spotify? Worth noting if you have a Sonos system, that Deezer is fully integrated, where Spotify isn't. Sonos app only plays playlists from Spotify, which means transforming every album into a playlist (easy), but they will only appear in the order they were added, and no one knows how to make this listing alphabetical. Deezer, however, lists albums alphabetically by album or artist directly in the Sonos app, making music selection a breeze, I have run both systems together for four months and have settled on Deezer because of this and it's less depressing interface, although arguably Spotify gives a slightly higher range per artist.

 

[gohminghui88]

I uses HibyMusic and Spotify.

 

[gvl2016]

I've recently tried Deezer lossless on Windows desktop, no bit-perfect playback in the app, pretty disappointing. Cancelled the trial right away.