[LingLing1337]

The tidal playlists are just awful. They do generally have new albums but like iamoneagain said I have to look on meta critic to find out what to listen to. If there were a feature that learned my taste in music like pandora it would be helpful.

 

[iamoneagain]

The tidal playlists are just awful. They do generally have new albums but like iamoneagain said I have to look on meta critic to find out what to listen to. If there were a feature that learned my taste in music like pandora it would be helpful.

Well that is my issue with Tidal.  They have great sound quality and selection, but the whole interface needs a lot of work.  You can't do a close match in the search.  Can't do both artist and song.  Very limited amount of playlists.  In genres, only shows the past few weeks of new releases.  Once you put the work into it and create you own playlists and favorite your albums and artists, it works.
 
But it really should have better music discover.  Ability to create auto playlists based of the song you're listening to. I see a little bit of this.  Some artists have Artist Radio, and they do show about 3 similar artists to the one your a listening too.  But it just seems very week to what I see Spotify does.  So service is really only good if you already know what you want to listen to and don't misspell it in the search.
 
I'm really hope Apple comes out with lossless next month before I have to start paying for Tidal.  The interface would have to be better than Tidal.  I did a test run of Beats for a week awhile back and thought it was better.  But there was no way I was going to pay for lossless music.  Before Tidal, I was just using Pandora in the car.  Even in the car, I can tell how much better the sound is on Tidal.
 
Edit: So looks like the search function is better than I thought but still doesn't do close match. I can find match if using both artist and song. I'm using the discontinued Mac app, since it plays nice with Amarra SQ, and it's search is terrible.  But I just went to the Chrome browser, and it works.  Also in Chrome, you'd think there service is nothing more than the groups Jay-Z and Beyonce like.  I'd be completely turned off to the service if didn't know better.

 

[mogulmaster]

Hi all! In LOVE with Tidal. 
 
I was wondering, I noticed that full volume of Tidal is louder than iTunes, Spotify, etc... And I was wondering if turning it down to the top volume level of iTunes would impact sound quality? 
 
Does having the volume higher, and perhaps higher than bit-perfect digital (i'm guessing) reduce sound quality as a sort of digital gain? 
 
Any thoughts on this subject? Thanks

 

[Cornan]

  Hi all! In LOVE with Tidal. 
 
I was wondering, I noticed that full volume of Tidal is louder than iTunes, Spotify, etc... And I was wondering if turning it down to the top volume level of iTunes would impact sound quality? 
 
Does having the volume higher, and perhaps higher than bit-perfect digital (i'm guessing) reduce sound quality as a sort of digital gain? 
 
Any thoughts on this subject? Thanks

I would assume that the volume difference you hear between Tidal and iTunes is actually due to the higher sample rate in Tidal...and not due to applied gain. This answers is however not written in stone.
 
In general...reducing volume on the player is a no go. I personally always have the player on full volume and manage the volume on the amp and/or dac. Sounds better to my own ears. However, as many other things concerning audio there is no straight forward answer. Thewelltemperedcomputer.com have a detailed and objective investigation regarding this subject that can be found on this link: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/VolumeControl.htm. Read it and make your own conclusions! 

 
 
/Micael

 

[StefanJK]

Any way to give Tidal (on Win 7) 'exclusive control' to a playback device?  I'm used to that from Foobar2000.   

 

[Cornan]

  Any way to give Tidal (on Win 7) 'exclusive control' to a playback device?  I'm used to that from Foobar2000.   

Since Tidal is not bit perfect by design you will have to use other software to get this option. I personally use Asio Bridge http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/  for this purpose. If you descide to use Asio Bridge make sure to tick "Allow programs to take full control over this device" and "Prioritize programs that demands exclusive mode" (my own translation from swedish) under Sound Devices/Properties/Advanced (I personally do this on all listed devices). Also make sure that the sampling rate is 16 bit/44100 Hz (CD quality)...ie. the same as Tidal. Add Hifi Cable (VB Audio) as sound device in Tidal, your asio driver as your device in Asio Bridge and Hifi Cable (VB Audio) as computers sound device. If all the settings is right you will have bit perfect mode with "exclusive control" over the sound device.
 
Hope that helps!

 

[StefanJK]

Originally Posted by Cornan /img/forum/go_quote.gif
....
Hope that helps!

Thanks!  I'll give it a try.

 

[Cornan]

Thanks!  I'll give it a try.

If you are serious about your audio I suggest you have a look at Fidelizer Pro and JPlay6 as well. With both implemented you will surpriced that you are playing on the same computer. In fact you will think you are using a CD Transport. Also, if you prefer to use the iPad as your player (ie.much better user experiance) have a look at AirServer as well. The lossless receiver let you stream the music and relief your computer to less audio related tasks (ie. less latency and buffer). Google for it..and if you cannot find it...I will be happy to provide you the links.

 

[iamoneagain]

I just want to say most of my complaints about the interface were based off an outdated Mac app.  Playing around with Tidal thru the web browser is a much better experience.  It seems most artists do have an Artist Radio and do have a pretty good selection of similar artist.  The other thing I just noticed was the video tab.  This is pretty cool.  So not only do I have my 120 minutes playlists, I can now play some of the videos I haven't seen in 30 yrs as well.  Sadly they don't hold as well as I remember them but still fun.  Not sure if these are all available on YouTube or not but this is easy to view them.
 
If I stick with Tidal, I will most like be getting the Amerra + Tidal app, so I'd think they would include all the latest enhancements the web app has.  I'd also think it would improve sound quality even more since it will be directly integrated.

 

[mark2410]

 
The whole Jay-Z thing is a total turn off.  Also the way it is currently being marketed is as well.  But I read good things about it on other sites and they have a free 30 day trial, so why not give it a shot.  
 

 
yep.  i got the impression Tidal was a high end audio product and jay z has come in with his pals and filled it with their crape.  the people whe listen their cr*p which is terrible acoustical, dynamicaly compressed and badly mastered, were not the people who used Tidal. 
 
like buying Rolls Royce and forcing them to put giant cupholders in it.

 

[Krutsch]

The tidal playlists are just awful. They do generally have new albums but like iamoneagain said I have to look on meta critic to find out what to listen to. If there were a feature that learned my taste in music like pandora it would be helpful.

 
Know why that is? Because TIDAL playlists are curated by "music critics / in-house editors", instead of Spotify's model of crowd-sourcing and ranking by huge non-paying subscriber base.
 
The End.

 

[iamoneagain]

The Artist Radio is the closest feature to Pandora. Search artist first and then just click the artist radio play button. This will create an instant playlist of similar based artists. I haven't played around with too much but assume it's random each time for same artist.

I also saw something like my recommend playlist based of what I listened too somewhere.

 

[Cornan]

I also saw something like my recommend playlist based of what I listened too somewhere.

If you create a Lastfm account you can link it to Tidal and get good recommended artists based on your music. Lastfm have been around for ages, is completely free and the music is based on a hudge number of users. You will access Lastfm recommendations by clicking on the My Music tab in Tidal.

 

[iamoneagain]

If you create a Lastfm account you can link it to Tidal and get good recommended artists based on your music. Lastfm have been around for ages, is completely free and the music is based on a hudge number of users. You will access Lastfm recommendations by clicking on the My Music tab in Tidal.

So I already had a Last.fm account and I just linked it on Tidal but where do I see the effects of this link?  In the Chrome browser, I'm not seeing anything different.  And on the Mac app, I just see one little section Recommended from Last.FM and only shows 4 albums.  Shouldn't it have all my past history?

 

[Cornan]

So I already had a Last.fm account and I just linked it on Tidal but where do I see the effects of this link?  In the Chrome browser, I'm not seeing anything different.  And on the Mac app, I just see one little section Recommended from Last.FM and only shows 4 albums.  Shouldn't it have all my past history?

I forgot to meansion that I was refering to the Windows player. The Mac player should look the same...but I have'nt used it myself. I have enabled Lastfm since I started to use Tidal and have it enabled it on all my devices and players. The recommendations in My Music tab is more like 15 personal, 43 albums and 17 artist recommendations in my case. I think you will need to have it anabled for a while to get a bigger selection. It seems that the Chrome player and iOS app does'nt have the Lastfm recommendations...just the scrobbling feature. Sadly, this is one of the draw backs with Tidal. All players do not have the same features...that I really think they should have. But, you can always check on your Lastfm account to see the complete list. The new Lastfm beta page is a lot better. You should check it out (needed to be anabled on the web page).