Tidal Lossless Streaming

[sweetcriminal]

  I have the opposite problem. I was not able to get the HiFi setting to work on my MacMini (2012 model) while using the web version, (Chrome browser). But then I downloaded the desktop version and I get the HiFi setting to play, no problem. On top of that, I went to my old 2007 iMac and tried the the web version there with Chrome and the Hifi setting works fine. 
 
I can't figure out what's going on between the 2 different computers. If anything, I would have thought the older Mac would have issues playing the Hifi setting on it and not the newer Mac Mini. Go figure. 

 

For those with issues this was my reply from TIDAL on what chrome actually uses to run the flac codec.
 

  Hi Nick,

Thank you for your interest in TIDAL and sorry for the late response. This uses a Chrome Portable Native Client (https://developer.chrome.com/native-client ) extension for the Flac playback, so that might be blocked. I suggest you ask whoever is responsible for the network if this extension is allowed.

Thank you for supporting TIDAL.

Best Regards,

Joe

 

[wood1030]

Thanks for info, sweetcriminal. I'll check it out and report back.

 

[wood1030]

Yep, that was the problem. Thought I had the latest version of Chrome already installed but apparently not. 

 
Good lookin' out Sweetcriminal 

 
Cheers

 

[THeFastCat]

Here's what I find currently lacking with tidal compared to Spotify:
 
- Missing albums (of course Tidal has offerings Spotify does not and vice versa but when what I want appears on Spotify and not tidal that's aggravating when Tidal costs 2x as much) (Eg the latest album from Jessie Ware that came out last month)
- Spotify has more playlists, and from my perspective they are better curated with deeper cuts. Tidal playlists so far seem pretty naive in regards to genre. (eg look at the 'Reggae' play list -- meager offerings with junky selection imo, good luck finding sub-genres playlists like dub or dancehall, riddim)
- No windows phone integration
- No ability to play locale music files (eg those you own but don't exist in the Tidal library)
 
Lacking in General
- Useless Native client application - what is the purpose of this .exe? All it does is mirror the browser application. No added functionality and no ability to play local audio tracks.
 
I asked about Windows Phone integration:
 
Quote:

Hi, Thank you for your inquiry. Currently TIDAL does not support the Windows Phone. We have had many requests for Windows phone integration. We have forwarded these requests to our product development department, and there should be a statement coming soon from TIDAL.

Regards,
Tidal Support 

 
All of it together is a deal breaker for me. I'll ride out the remainder of my 30 day trial but I will be staying with Spotify. I like Tidal's clean UI presentation and audio quality but can't justify the cost for absence of features that I require. So I will be sticking to Spotify until it changes.

 

[deadie]

All of it together is a deal breaker for me. I'll ride out the remainder of my 30 day trial but I will be staying with Spotify. I like Tidal's clean UI presentation and audio quality but can't justify the cost for absence of features that I require. So I will be sticking to Spotify until it changes.

 
Great post, agreed with pretty much everything cited.  Tidal's sound quality is fantastic but the playlist curation and genre diversity are inferior to Spotify.  
 
That said, again, to me the sound quality delta is not insignificant.  That alone will likely keep me hooked past the trial period.

 

[Baroninkjet]

I emailed them, and they said they had no plans for iOS equalizer controls. 

 

[Baroninkjet]

My least favorite thing is actually more iOS than Tidal -- the nature of the beast is that you must leave iphone on, with app on while downloading. So like A-L-L N-I-G-H-T L-O-N-G  to get any reasonable amount of music. 

 

[gefski]

Yay! I'm so excited that TIDAL is now available in the U.S. I installed their desktop app on my computer/music server. There is an option to select output device, but I'm disappointed there's no support for ASIO devices (the only devices showing up are the ones in Windows Sound settings). For example, I can't select JPlay. As a service that's for audiophiles, I expected at least ASIO support. I'll just have to use the JRiver WDM drivers.

Looking at the JPLAY forum, Marcin seems to confirm what you mentioned. He's using Qobuz (which we can't get in the US yet). For me, I'll just wait a while. I barely have time to listen to all the 16-44 and better music I'm already getting. Anyway here's what he says:

"I've been using Qobuz lossless streaming service for few months. It works perfect with JPLAY (you just need to select JPLAY Driver in Qobuz properties) and that's it. The sound is a bit worse than with jplaymini, but once you try it and see how convenient it is there is no way back. I use it a lot and jplaymini for critical listening and with stuff that's unavailable in Qobuz. With Tidal I think you will have to use AsioBridge which is not optimal."

 

[lmf22]

Looking at the JPLAY forum, Marcin seems to confirm what you mentioned. He's using Qobuz (which we can't get in the US yet). For me, I'll just wait a while. I barely have time to listen to all the 16-44 and better music I'm already getting. Anyway here's what he says:

"I've been using Qobuz lossless streaming service for few months. It works perfect with JPLAY (you just need to select JPLAY Driver in Qobuz properties) and that's it. The sound is a bit worse than with jplaymini, but once you try it and see how convenient it is there is no way back. I use it a lot and jplaymini for critical listening and with stuff that's unavailable in Qobuz. With Tidal I think you will have to use AsioBridge which is not optimal."

 
Thanks for sharing that. I hope ASIO will be here soon, because I was not able to get JPlay to work using the JRiver WDM drivers. I get skips and garbled sound. 
EDIT: I was able to get JPlay to work if I set it to Beach or River engines. Someone on the Computer Audiophile forum mentioned that the Xtreme mode does not support streaming.

 

[revolutionz]

I'm listening to this right now via optical out > DACMini > Oppo PM-2 loaner cans.  Impressed by the library (which I would expect would only get better & larger with time), and the sound quality.  The verdict is still out on whether its worth $20/mo to me, but definitely my #1 choice for streaming music currently.  Haven't tried mobile yet, but I installed the client on my computer and it seems to be running smooth & bug free.

 

[aksh]

Does anyone have a similar experience?
I have created a playlist by transferring my Spotify playlist in the MacOS app. I then set the playlist on my iPhone for offline playback. Not all songs seem to be Hifi (grey font rather than white font while the song plays) when played in the iPhone App, even though my settings are for HiFi streaming and download.    

 

[SunTanScanMan]

I've used Spotify premium (320 kbps - £4.99 p/m with student discount), Qobuz Hifi and Basic (16/44.1 FLAC - £19.99 p/m) (320 kbps - £4.99 p/m). I started with Spotify, then its premium service which I was very happy with. I moved to qobuz hifi out of curiosity and stayed for a couple of months. Relatively recently I switched to qobuz basic in order to save money and invest in CDs. I don't notice much difference between the FLAC and 320kbps streaming quality. I've certainly been happy with the sound quality of both formats.
 
Being a student, I have until recently been reluctant to buy CDs due to the hassle moving. So I've been an avid user of music streaming services. Also I usually work from home on the PC, so I listen to music at least 5 hours each day using, most of it streaming.
 
I've been using TIDAL desktop for a couple of days. (I don't have much interest in portable music/gear) - My take so far (nothing surprising)
 
Positives

- No complaints on the SQ
- Love the clean and understated layout of both the desktop and browser players
- Intuitive controls
- The track names in classical box are very helpful - they include the movement, composer, as well as the orchestra/soloist/conductor (Thank you!! this is very helpful). Qobuz usually has name of the movement, and neglect the info about the composer +plus other details.
 
Negatives

- Slight delay in playback
- Current size of music content
- The price for the FLAC streaming - same price as qobuz Hifi which has a larger library (this is an EU perspective as I understand that qobuz is at this moment unavailable outside the EU).
- Playlist view - like Spotify it is only viewable as a 'track list format'. qobuz also offers 'album list' and 'album grid' views in addition. This makes it very convenient to find and play the album you want from your artist playlist instead of having to scroll down.
 
I think most of the negative points are slightly harsh given that the service has only just launched, and therefore are subject to change in the coming period - most notably the size of the library. Ultimately I think I will be returning to Qobuz basic once TIDAL's trial ends. My playlists are already set up there, and I am happy with the 320 streaming quality.
 
Quick note on spotify. I believe it has the largest library of music, and the I found the SQ of its premium service great. But what turned me off its service was its user interface - notably the inability to sort playlists in alphabetical order. This along with the above mentioned the playlist view becomes much more lacking once you experience alternative which have those features.
 
----
 
Still it is definitely a positive that there is more competition in the music streaming market - hopefully in the long run it will benefit the consumer in price and content. I think the streaming services mentioned here all have their own strengths and weaknesses which makes the market very interesting indeed. I'll keep my options open.
 
Edit: added positive about track names

 

[Blueshound24]

Well I just discovered Tidal and I'm impressed with the SQ and it has worked flawlessly for me after I downloaded Chrome to my PC. For streaming I have been using Spotify Premium and absolutely loved the format and UI. Tidal is similar, however SQ takes a big leap up IMO. I just installed the app to my SGS4 but haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I wish there was a way to transfer your playlists from Spotify to Tidal. I'm irrationally hoping there will be a drop in price as well, $20/month is a bit steep after the free week trial
 
I forgot who said he wished you could arrange playlists alphabetically with Spotify, it's tedious but you can click and drag them. Wish there was just an icon to click on and it would do it automatically like Tidal does.
 
Anyway, I have high hopes for Tidal to improve and get all the bugs out.

 

[philo50]

only 2 days and I am already a big fan of Tidal.....

 

[vrapan]

Well I just discovered Tidal and I'm impressed with the SQ and it has worked flawlessly for me after I downloaded Chrome to my PC. For streaming I have been using Spotify Premium and absolutely loved the format and UI. Tidal is similar, however SQ takes a big leap up IMO. I just installed the app to my SGS4 but haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I wish there was a way to transfer your playlists from Spotify to Tidal. I'm irrationally hoping there will be a drop in price as well, $20/month is a bit steep after the free week trial

I forgot who said he wished you could arrange playlists alphabetically with Spotify, it's tedious but you can click and drag them. Wish there was just an icon to click on and it would do it automatically like Tidal does.

Anyway, I have high hopes for Tidal to improve and get all the bugs out.

There is a way to transfer money paulists : https://tidalsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201724441-How-do-I-import-playlists-from-Spotify-in-the-Web-Player-

It is not full proof though, from 254 songs in one of my playlists it transferr d 221 and some are different versions of the apology song but at least the bulk of the work is done.