Tidal Lossless Streaming

[howdy]

Is anyone experiencing issues with the new Tidal Android fw? I just downloaded the new fw 1.11 and it will start a song it will play for 1 second stop and start again, it only does when going to the next song but is fine when skipping to the next song. This is on my Onkyo DP-X1. 

 

[robm321]

Not that issue, but every time I opened it this morning, it froze. I had to uninstall/reinstall it, to get it to work. 

 

[canali]

Latest streaming comparison blind testing in media.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/05/hifi-music-streaming-services-people-cant-tell-it-when-they-hear-it.html

similar to what "the verge"found in their own blind testing last summer
http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/7/8872115/apple-music-tidal-spotify-audio-quality-test

I subscribe to Tidal HiFi btw (for now at least...)

 

[MacedonianHero]

Latest streaming comparison blind testing in media.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/05/hifi-music-streaming-services-people-cant-tell-it-when-they-hear-it.html

similar to what "the verge"found in their own blind testing last summer
http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/7/8872115/apple-music-tidal-spotify-audio-quality-test

I subscribe to Tidal HiFi btw (for now at least...)

Made no mention of the gear involved and as I hate to say it, I gotta agree with Jay-Z...with $10 headphones go with Apple. But I've tried Apple, Spotify and Tidal and well, I've stayed with Tidal for over a year now. 

 

[canali]

  Made no mention of the gear involved and as I hate to say it, I gotta agree with Jay-Z...with $10 headphones go with Apple. But I've tried Apple, Spotify and Tidal and well, I've stayed with Tidal for over a year now. 

 
 they were using Genelec speakers...so no questions there of lacking quality in the equipment...same with the verge's blind testing: they were using good sony cans.
 
We conducted our test in the high-fidelity audio "sweetening" room at CNBC headquarters. We had top-notch Genelec speakers, a wired internet connection, and professional audio experts conducting and overseeing the test
 
but one commenter (and someone on here) voiced another angle to consider:
it's also due to the often subpar recordings that are often out there nowadays  used by all streaming companies--loudness wars etc....so no master copy is being used..maybe this is why Tidal was/is considering the MQA route:  to really have that significant difference in sound.
 
i could be totally wrong in my assessment guys: many of you understand this industry and hobby far better than do I.
 
to save you the time, here is the comment i was referring to:
 
LEFTMIDDLERIGHT • 4 days ago

Okay, let's be clear on this. . . the testing mechanism stunk.
As an audiophile (or former audiophile), I can tell you with absolute certainty that a well recorded song that has not been compressed and truncated, properly engineered for full resolution playback, and played through a proper system is clearly identifiable in terms of sound quality versus the same song played through the same (high quality) system.
Here is problem #1: the recording engineering of most modern top 40 music is awful! First, it has often been engineered on the premise that it will be listened to through the awful fidelity of cell phones, computers and personal media players. This is what it is . . . and when you start with junk . . . your speakers and headphones will convey that junk.
Here is problem #2: IMO, most people that are willing to pay the price for full resolution music are also the very same people that are willing to pay the price for a much higher quality playback system. Whether that is a full resolution personal media player with proper headphone amplifiers and DACs or via a suitable home system.
The fact of the matter is . . . junk in . . . junk out.
But there is also the risk of . . . quality in . . . passing through a sub-par system . . . junk out
In audio, the degradation of the performance is based on the lowest performing part . . . you can have a great recording, you can have great headphones, you can have great DACs, but if you headphone amplifier is not sufficient for the headphones . . . the end product/performance suffers to the lowest level of reproduction.
#3: Most people will not hear the difference (not because they can't), but because they don't know how to and/or what to listen for.
That being said, the truncated, compressed music is fine for 95% of the population . . . as the old saying goes . . . a great song played on the portable AM radio is still a great song - even if it sounds like garbage (from a quality of reproduction standpoint).

 

[koven]

  Is anyone experiencing issues with the new Tidal Android fw? I just downloaded the new fw 1.11 and it will start a song it will play for 1 second stop and start again, it only does when going to the next song but is fine when skipping to the next song. This is on my Onkyo DP-X1. 

 
yes, im having same issues on my htc 10

 

[stenog]

yes, im having same issues on my htc 10

Same her but not all the time! Can't explain why it's not happening all the time. I thought it's was the SD card so I erased the card and downloaded again. That didn't help.

 

[Thenazgul]

Latest streaming comparison blind testing in media.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/05/hifi-music-streaming-services-people-cant-tell-it-when-they-hear-it.html

similar to what "the verge"found in their own blind testing last summer
http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/7/8872115/apple-music-tidal-spotify-audio-quality-test

I subscribe to Tidal HiFi btw (for now at least...)

Well I could hear the difference really good on my system. But it depends on the source-music as well. A lot of artists nowadays record music in crap studio's with a low quality output. They don't even bother to check their own songs on pops/crackles/clipping etc. 

 

[krismusic]

Well I could hear the difference really good on my system. But it depends on the source-music as well. A lot of artists nowadays record music in crap studio's with a low quality output. They don't even bother to check their own songs on pops/crackles/clipping etc. 

I think that Tidal plays louder than Spotify if you play both st the same volume setting on the source. Did you volume match both services?

 

[Thenazgul]

I think that Tidal plays louder than Spotify if you play both st the same volume setting on the source. Did you volume match both services?

I control the volume with my amplifier only. Source-volume is always 100%. But my amplifier has to much power that on 40% volume it is really loud already .
But I notice the difference mostly in the soundstage. The instruments are better defined, vocals have more realism. Especially on classic-music genre I hear it. 

 

[discape]

Many of these blind listening tests like the one at mp3ornot.com are simply not reliable, because there is a situation where it is clear what the difference is when you KNOW which is which, but when you DONT know which is which (ie thewhole point of the test) you make mistakes. Making a mistake with your answer when you don't know which is which does NOT mean you cannot tell the difference! It just means you are failing the test, sometimes. The test is not easy to do, unless you are trained in ear at picking out certain sounds. Does that mean you are not perceiving the differences? No! It just means you are failing the test! It's very easy to make mistakes in these tests for many reasons.
 
But if you take someone carefully through 128 files, and 320, and FLAC, they will notice quite clearly the differences.
 
Also, modern music used in the tests are often so heavily compressed it makes audio quality almost irrelevent half the time. That's one of the things that makes me laugh about Tidal, as all the music they promote on there is compressed to hell anyway,. So yeah, source material is very important. Also if you're listening through your laptops audio you are likely to have poor sound.

 

[canali]

  Many of these blind listening tests like the one at mp3ornot.com are simply not reliable, because there is a situation where it is clear what the difference is when you KNOW which is which, but when you DONT know which is which (ie thewhole point of the test) you make mistakes. Making a mistake with your answer when you don't know which is which does NOT mean you cannot tell the difference! It just means you are failing the test, sometimes. The test is not easy to do, unless you are trained in ear at picking out certain sounds. Does that mean you are not perceiving the differences? No! It just means you are failing the test! It's very easy to make mistakes in these tests for many reasons.
 
But if you take someone carefully through 128 files, and 320, and FLAC, they will notice quite clearly the differences.
 
Also, modern music used in the tests are often so heavily compressed it makes audio quality almost irrelevent half the time. That's one of the things that makes me laugh about Tidal, as all the music they promote on there is compressed to hell anyway,. So yeah, source material is very important. Also if you're listening through your laptops audio you are likely to have poor sound.

 
agree....sent those 2 articles to 'trusted reviews'...they replied back noting a comparison has been on their radar for some time, and these just provided more fodder for going ahead.

 

[9bphillips]

Many of these blind listening tests like the one at mp3ornot.com are simply not reliable, because there is a situation where it is clear what the difference is when you KNOW which is which, but when you DONT know which is which (ie thewhole point of the test) you make mistakes. Making a mistake with your answer when you don't know which is which does NOT mean you cannot tell the difference! It just means you are failing the test, sometimes. The test is not easy to do, unless you are trained in ear at picking out certain sounds. Does that mean you are not perceiving the differences? No! It just means you are failing the test! It's very easy to make mistakes in these tests for many reasons.

But if you take someone carefully through 128 files, and 320, and FLAC, they will notice quite clearly the differences.

Also, modern music used in the tests are often so heavily compressed it makes audio quality almost irrelevent half the time. That's one of the things that makes me laugh about Tidal, as all the music they promote on there is compressed to hell anyway,. So yeah, source material is very important. Also if you're listening through your laptops audio you are likely to have poor sound.

i notice the difference on certain parts of certain songs. When you listen to a song all the way through it is harder to tell the difference. I compared 10 or 15 second portions of several different songs in all types of genres and could tell the difference .it seems like once i noticed a difference i could hear it listening to a song all the way through. I can completely see ppl's point when they say they cant tell a difference. Until i broke the music down it was difficult to me. Some songs are much harder to tell difference.i thought at 1st i heard a difference because tidal plays at a higher volume than spotify but once i evened them out i could still tell the difference. To some ppl lossless files are pointless and thats completely understandable but to some ppl lossless files can really make a difference. Whatever sounds good and makes you enjoy the music is what you should go for.discape i couldnt agree with you more about blind test. Just because some ppl cant hear it doesnt mean its not there. Once i broke the music down and heard it i could hear the difference everytime.it unlocked it for me and now i cant not hear the difference. To me lossless has more of an impact.just something a lil more there.

 

[sheldaze]

Some songs are available in HiFi, while others only stream at 320 kilobits? I am unclear what the lower bit rate is.
 
Is there an album that is known to be in HiFi? I'm trying a few different means of streaming (Android via UAPP, iOS via native app, MacOS via web browser, Windows via native app, and via physical boxes such as Oppo and Squeezebox), and would like to test with something that is known to have HiFi capacity. It would be helpful if it were something of fairly good recording quality. I'm not too genre concerned.
 
Thanks!

 

[sonitus mirus]

  Some songs are available in HiFi, while others only stream at 320 kilobits? I am unclear what the lower bit rate is.
 
Is there an album that is known to be in HiFi? I'm trying a few different means of streaming (Android via UAPP, iOS via native app, MacOS via web browser, Windows via native app, and via physical boxes such as Oppo and Squeezebox), and would like to test with something that is known to have HiFi capacity. It would be helpful if it were something of fairly good recording quality. I'm not too genre concerned.
 
Thanks!

 
It is AAC.
 
https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/202401122-What-Is-The-Difference-Between-Normal-High-And-HiFI-