[gimmeheadroom]

Hello everyone.
I just started my trial with TIDAL.
Did anyone encounter low quality music even labeled as "MASTER"? I had that problem with Spotify that music sounded bad and much worse to the originals regardless of the "Extreme" quality setting.
I am referring to "Static-X - Push It" song. It's from 1999 album labeled as "Master". Since I have only Xonar STX I listen to "Hi-Fi" quality although I can hear artifacts in high frequencies very similar to what a lot of 128kbps mp3 have. I tried "Master" quality but it doesn't help.
I recorded "Wave output" with Nero Wave Editor and spectrum is not cut - full like on a normal album. Although sound is much different to what I have on my retail CD ripped to my computer. What's interesting that "Normal" quality has a better spectrum than "High". Doesn't affect though very poor quality of that song.

Did anyone encounter similar problem?

Hi,

I just did a search on Tidal and there are a few hits for a Master for this song. I'm playing it right now over a DAC with full MQA support. It sounds like a good recording to me. I don't notice any artifacts but there is not much high frequency content on that cut. I'm listening to the next one, I'm with Stupid, also sounds fine. By the way, this album is green (unknown provenance) as opposed to blue (verified provenance). The weird thing is, with MQA hardware, I'm getting a 44.1/16 bitstream but when I change to let Tidal desktop do the first unfold, it switches to 44.1/24. This is surprising and I don't know if it indicates a problem or not. The way I thought it is supposed to work is that hardware MQA gets you the full unfold but software only the first unfold. So I expected that the MQA DAC with MQA passthrough enabled on Tidal would have gotten me the higher bit depth, but it was the opposite.

On a non-MQA DAC, the songs also sound fine and on a pair of HD 25s anyway, I heard no difference between MQA passthrough and letting Tidal do the first unfold.

Since you're having the same problem across services that have totally different types of encoding, I have to guess there is something wrong with your setup. And by the way, my brain hurts. You owe me a beer or two for having to spend 12 minutes listening to the headbanger music you asked about. I'm too old for this stuff

This is the link to the version I was checking https://tidal.com/browse/album/4082261

 

[gimmeheadroom]

What would be the purpose of these "watermarks"? I don't exactly understand. You can always record your computer's output if you want to copy anything (that's how I checked frequency cut-off).

I think the point is if they find something with watermarks being passed around they can prove it was stolen. I'm not sure how that helps since every copy should have the same watermark. So, it's good not to care but it's bad to have crap jammed into recordings for dumb reasons. Any reason, really.

Some songs on Tidal are marked with quality "Normal" which is fine because you know what to expect. But having a "Master" which in "Hi-Fi" quality sounds worse than your retail disc put in question using Tidal at all.

You're right, but I don't have that problem. When I listen to Van Morrison Masters they're just absolutely wonderful. And Captain Fantastic Master reminds me of the album I played hundreds if not thousands of times. It sounds analog. Fantastic is right.

 

[TubeStack]

I’m trying to change my payment method from Apple - to pay Tidal direct and save the 30% fee - but when I select Payment Method in Tidal, there’s only Apple as an option. I guess I have to let the current subscription period run out? (I cancelled it in Apple, but there’s time left before my paid period runs out.)

 

[rkw]

I’m trying to change my payment method from Apple - to pay Tidal direct and save the 30% fee - but when I select Payment Method in Tidal, there’s only Apple as an option. I guess I have to let the current subscription period run out? (I cancelled it in Apple, but there’s time left before my paid period runs out.)

After you cancel the subscription, it remains active until your next monthly renewal date (because you had prepaid up to that date). After it expires, if you are in the US I suggest you get a one-year subscription from Best Buy for much lower cost, and if you register for a (free) bestbuy.com account, there is an additional discount. This deal has been discussed earlier in the thread.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tidal-...9-99-per-year-digital/6407163.p?skuId=6407163

 

[TubeStack]

After you cancel the subscription, it remains active until your next monthly renewal date (because you had prepaid up to that date). After it expires, if you are in the US I suggest you get a one-year subscription from Best Buy for much lower cost, and if you register for a (free) bestbuy.com account, there is an additional discount. This deal has been discussed earlier in the thread.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tidal-...9-99-per-year-digital/6407163.p?skuId=6407163

Thanks, I’m in Canada.

I’m now in touch with Tidal support.

 

[Left Channel]

Did anyone encounter low quality music even labeled as "MASTER"?

What would be the purpose of these "watermarks"?

Yes, I've encountered one or two low-quality remixes that were MQA'ed even though they weren't really original masters.

Watermarks were originally inserted to identify and lower the quality of illegal recordings made from radio broadcasts. If that's what you're hearing, then it's not a master.

 

[runssical]

Last week, Tidal sent me an email offer for 4 months of Hi Fi for $4. They must be desperate. Qobuz never deep discounts.

I recently switched back to Qobuz after a year of Tidal. If you listen to classical music the true 24bit streams Qobuz offers are far superior to the limited number of pseudo Hi Res MQA library available through Tidal. There's dozens and dozens of independent classical labels that have refrained from using the proprietary MQA format and I don't blame them.

Another important differentiater between Qobuz and Tidal is the former has a download store in addition to the streaming service. The download store page has a robust search facility that allows queries to be filtered in innumerable ways. I use the download store to build my favorites list. I can sort albums by release date and drill down to specific labels and filter for only Hi Res formats. With Tidal I was driving blind. Oh and let's not forget the liner notes that Qobuz offers on their streaming service.

The only benefit I experienced with Tidal is that their server/CDN capicty is better. For instance, 16bit streams load quicker on Tidal than on Qobuz and seeking within a track is less laggy.

 

[iFi audio]

Last week, Tidal sent me an email offer for 4 months of Hi Fi for $4. They must be desperate.

...or they like you

 

[caleb66]

@gimmeheadroom, thanks for checking for yourself. Not sure how legal would be for me to post one track ripped from the CD. But that would show how badly Tidal version sounds. BTW, I checked every version of that album I found on Tidal and they all sound bad. I also played that album on my gf's Spotify and it all sound wrong.

The weird thing is, with MQA hardware, I'm getting a 44.1/16 bitstream but when I change to let Tidal desktop do the first unfold, it switches to 44.1/24. This is surprising and I don't know if it indicates a problem or not. The way I thought it is supposed to work is that hardware MQA gets you the full unfold but software only the first unfold. So I expected that the MQA DAC with MQA passthrough enabled on Tidal would have gotten me the higher bit depth, but it was the opposite.

Could that be connected to what @Left Channel is talking about? How can I possibly know if the album I am listening to is legal or illegal?

Since you're having the same problem across services that have totally different types of encoding, I have to guess there is something wrong with your setup.

What could be possibly wrong? I only use "Hi-Fi" quality as I do not have MQA DAC. I have normalization switched off and I have my volume tuned without clipping. It only sounds wrong with SOME songs from the streaming services, majority of them sound correct (or at least my ears are not sensitive enough, honestly I cannot distinguish AAC 256kbps from iTunes from the original records). It never sound bad for any of my CD rips for which I use foobar2000 to listen to. For me it looks like artists send sometimes "whatever" and that's being used on the streaming services. Sometimes you get proper quality - rip from an uncompressed audio/master record, sometimes you are getting recompressed files.
I might just give Apple Music a try to check if that album/songs sound correct on their streaming service.

And by the way, my brain hurts. You owe me a beer or two for having to spend 12 minutes listening to the headbanger music you asked about. I'm too old for this stuff

haha, you got it!!!

 

[gimmeheadroom]

@gimmeheadroom, thanks for checking for yourself. Not sure how legal would be for me to post one track ripped from the CD. But that would show how badly Tidal version sounds. BTW, I checked every version of that album I found on Tidal and they all sound bad. I also played that album on my gf's Spotify and it all sound wrong.Could that be connected to what @Left Channel is talking about? How can I possibly know if the album I am listening to is legal or illegal?What could be possibly wrong? I only use "Hi-Fi" quality as I do not have MQA DAC. I have normalization switched off and I have my volume tuned without clipping. It only sounds wrong with SOME songs from the streaming services, majority of them sound correct (or at least my ears are not sensitive enough, honestly I cannot distinguish AAC 256kbps from iTunes from the original records). It never sound bad for any of my CD rips for which I use foobar2000 to listen to. For me it looks like artists send sometimes "whatever" and that's being used on the streaming services. Sometimes you get proper quality - rip from an uncompressed audio/master record, sometimes you are getting recompressed files.
I might just give Apple Music a try to check if that album/songs sound correct on their streaming service. haha, you got it!!!

It's hard to know. Sometimes drivers didn't get installed, sometimes equipment just isn't good or isn't a good match for the headphones or speakers.

The songs on the album I listened to were absolutely fine, the quality was better than I expected. You didn't say what headphones you're listening to, did you?

 

[ljnew]

Hello everyone.
I just started my trial with TIDAL.
Did anyone encounter low quality music even labeled as "MASTER"? I had that problem with Spotify that music sounded bad and much worse to the originals regardless of the "Extreme" quality setting.
I am referring to "Static-X - Push It" song. It's from 1999 album labeled as "Master". Since I have only Xonar STX I listen to "Hi-Fi" quality although I can hear artifacts in high frequencies very similar to what a lot of 128kbps mp3 have. I tried "Master" quality but it doesn't help.
I recorded "Wave output" with Nero Wave Editor and spectrum is not cut - full like on a normal album. Although sound is much different to what I have on my retail CD ripped to my computer. What's interesting that "Normal" quality has a better spectrum than "High". Doesn't affect though very poor quality of that song.

Did anyone encounter similar problem?

Stop streaming through tidal or dowload your files

 

[rkw]

Did anyone encounter low quality music even labeled as "MASTER"?

But MQA is supposed to mean it's been "Authenticated". So it's low quality as the artist intended.

Not sure how legal would be for me to post one track ripped from the CD.

Should be okay to post a brief clip, but not an entire track.

 

[iFi audio]

So it's low quality as the artist intended.

That's funny

 

[caleb66]

I made a 35 seconds sample available until the next year. I hope I won't be kicked out from this forum for that .
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiC2-gbc2EapitBmUxKyxFaypHud1A?e=qCmVsx

Now you can finally compare it yourself. Streaming versions have a lot of ringings. Or is it just me???
My equipment is Hifiman HE-500 driven by Magni 2, Xonar STX with stock op-amps and NAD C-340 with Usher N-6361.

 

[iFi audio]

I made a 35 seconds sample available until the next year. I hope I won't be kicked out from this forum for that .
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiC2-gbc2EapitBmUxKyxFaypHud1A?e=qCmVsx

I honestly expected some audiophile minimalist jazz music under that link. Now imagine my surprise upon discovering Static X inside