[gimmeheadroom]

The 384 KHz does sound great though

 

[Alpha1Ric]

AStell kern Alpha unfolding 8x or 16x?

 

[boxster233]

AStell kern Alpha unfolding 8x or 16x?

8x according to Moon Audio.

 

[PortableMusic]

i'd like to see what the good folks here think about the possible future of Tidal when Spotify Hifi goes live?

i am a Tidal-only guy. i started with Tidal Hifi and it's the ONLY streaming source i use, so i'm all-in. i want Tidal to do VERY well.

when Spotify Hifi starts later this year, what if Tidal continues to bleed more in terms of having insufficient revenue to keep it afloat? might Qobuz and Primephonic, inter alia, be merged into Tidal and thus, form a uber hifi single source, while Spotify Hifi serves the broad based general users? so Tidal (now merged, hypothetically, with Qobuz/Primephonic) will be the high end boutique of streaming, and Spotify Hifi will be the Gap/Banana Republic of streaming? just thinking out loud...

i'm concerned that anything negative will happen with Tidal Hifi as i'm all-in, as i mentioned earlier.

thanks in advance.

 

[boxster233]

i'd like to see what the good folks here think about the possible future of Tidal when Spotify Hifi goes live?

i am a Tidal-only guy. i started with Tidal Hifi and it's the ONLY streaming source i use, so i'm all-in. i want Tidal to do VERY well.

when Spotify Hifi starts later this year, what if Tidal continues to bleed more in terms of having insufficient revenue to keep it afloat? might Qobuz and Primephonic, inter alia, be merged into Tidal and thus, form a uber hifi single source, while Spotify Hifi serves the broad based general users? so Tidal (now merged, hypothetically, with Qobuz/Primephonic) will be the high end boutique of streaming, and Spotify Hifi will be the Gap/Banana Republic of streaming? just thinking out loud...

i'm concerned that anything negative will happen with Tidal Hifi as i'm all-in, as i mentioned earlier.

thanks in advance.

Things have been negative for tidal and streaming companies in general for a decade but they keep surviving. I doubt there will be a merger of sorts because they all carry substantial debt. Spotify hifi doesn’t seem to be really hifi since it’s only cd quality so doubt it will pull many audiophiles and tidal fans away.

 

[PortableMusic]

Things have been negative for tidal and streaming companies in general for a decade but they keep surviving. I doubt there will be a merger of sorts because they all carry substantial debt. Spotify hifi doesn’t seem to be really hifi since it’s only cd quality so doubt it will pull many audiophiles and tidal fans away.

@boxter233: but my fear is that there aren't enough of us audiophiles to sustain Tidal! that's my point and that's why Tidal et al all have been having financial woes for so long.

 

[boxster233]

@boxter233: but my fear is that there aren't enough of us audiophiles to sustain Tidal! that's my point and that's why Tidal et al all have been having financial woes for so long.

It’s a rational fear but don’t think anyone has answers at all.

 

[rkw]

i am a Tidal-only guy. i started with Tidal Hifi and it's the ONLY streaming source i use, so i'm all-in. i want Tidal to do VERY well.

What does being "all-in" mean to you? For Tidal, the only thing I could think of is buying into MQA. Otherwise, for most people there isn't much to tie them into a particular streaming service and pretty easy to switch between services.

 

[PortableMusic]

What does being "all-in" mean to you? For Tidal, the only thing I could think of is buying into MQA. Otherwise, for most people there isn't much to tie them into a particular streaming service and pretty easy to switch between services.

by all-in, i meant that i've only recently started to stream via a pay service. previously, i've only tried free Pandora, which sounds awful and can only be used as low volume background music for me.

since i've started Tidal Hifi, i also veered away from speakers and went with a pair of Empyreans and an A&K Kann Alpha. so i've only tried streaming hi-res via Tidal Hifi. so i casually used the term "all-in", meaning i don't have an interest in changing. hopefully, i won't be forced to, because i like Tidal thus far, though their classical offerings can be better categorized, sorted, and their search for classical leaves much to be desired, but i don't listen to classical all the time, so while it's an annoyance, the breadth of music of Tidal is important to me as well.

 

[rkw]

i've only tried streaming hi-res via Tidal Hifi. so i casually used the term "all-in", meaning i don't have an interest in changing. hopefully, i won't be forced to, because i like Tidal thus far

I would say, don't worry about it. Tidal received a large investment from Sprint (now merged with T-Mobile) that should keep them going for at least a few more years. Then they will either find more funding or a buyer, or shut down. If Tidal shuts down, there are other services that can serve your needs and switching will be relatively easy.

 

[Left Channel]

Things have been negative for tidal and streaming companies in general for a decade but they keep surviving. I doubt there will be a merger of sorts because they all carry substantial debt. Spotify hifi doesn’t seem to be really hifi since it’s only cd quality so doubt it will pull many audiophiles and tidal fans away.

Yup, they're all losing money nonstop while trying to outlast each other. Just to clear up one thing though, as defined by industry marketing, "Hi Fi" is CD quality and "Hi Res" is anything above that. CD quality means 16/44.1, which is most of the tracks on Tidal, while Hi Res means Tidal MQA or on other services 24/48 and above. But you're right, even with Spotify offering CD quality Tidal still has an edge (as does Qobuz, and also Amazon HD if it worked right).

 

[BobSmith8901]

i'd like to see what the good folks here think about the possible future of Tidal when Spotify Hifi goes live?

i am a Tidal-only guy. i started with Tidal Hifi and it's the ONLY streaming source i use, so i'm all-in. i want Tidal to do VERY well.

when Spotify Hifi starts later this year, what if Tidal continues to bleed more in terms of having insufficient revenue to keep it afloat? might Qobuz and Primephonic, inter alia, be merged into Tidal and thus, form a uber hifi single source, while Spotify Hifi serves the broad based general users? so Tidal (now merged, hypothetically, with Qobuz/Primephonic) will be the high end boutique of streaming, and Spotify Hifi will be the Gap/Banana Republic of streaming? just thinking out loud...

i'm concerned that anything negative will happen with Tidal Hifi as i'm all-in, as i mentioned earlier.

thanks in advance.

I've been a Tidal Hi-Fi user now for around three years and I too hope they'll be around for the future. I can't help but think that Spotify Hifi is going to have some impact on Tidal in terms of some users dropping Tidal for Spotify. We don't know at this point if Spotify is going to also have Hi-Res offerings above 16/44.1 or not. That will make things interesting if they do.

I think it's also possible that if things get bad enough for them (Tidal) that they may change their subscription model a bit, and maybe offer something a bit more expensive, toward the more audiophile users, maybe have a streaming platform that offers more customization to what the user wants to see when they log-in, and allow users to integrate their own music into a desktop or mobile platform, etc.

Going forward I would imagine that they want to increase their subscription prices, especially for Hi-Fi, but are afraid of a mass exodus, especially with Spotify's new move. But, yeah, I really hope they survive. The integration of UAPP and Tidal MQA for me just works, even on my aging equipment, and, for the money, it can't be beat. Note: I can't get Qobuz where I live so that's not an option.

 

[Dannemand]

Yup, they're all losing money nonstop while trying to outlast each other. Just to clear up one thing though, as defined by industry marketing, "Hi Fi" is CD quality and "Hi Res" is anything above that. CD quality means 16/44.1, which is most of the tracks on Tidal, while Hi Res means Tidal MQA or on other services 24/48 and above. But you're right, even with Spotify offering CD quality Tidal still has an edge (as does Qobuz, and also Amazon HD if it worked right).

^ Spot on!

Strictly speaking, we could argue that 24/44 is HiRes(olution), since bit depth is the resolution part. But I would say HiRes starts for real at 24/88.2 or 24/96.

Of note, after last year's Warner dump, I think the majority of MQA releases on Tidal are now the 16/44 variant (such as Jacqueline du Pre's Dvorak) which contain no origami, so no additional samples - nor any spare bits to store them. Those cannot possibly qualify as HiRes.

These 16/44 MQAs may still be better than their original CDs if they were re-encoded with the MQA Encoder, which (allegedly) uses knowledge about the original ADC to update each sample so it aligns better on the waveform. But HiRes they are not. They do NOT earn the MQA 'Studio' dot probably for that reason.

There are also a number of 24/44 and 24/48 MQAs on Tidal, which (strangely) do NOT contain origami (i.e. no additional samples). Examples are Billie Eilish's haunting No Time to Die (24/44.1) and the Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin 2016 Bruckner cycle (24/48). For some reason the latter earns the MQA 'Studio' dot, while the former does not. Maybe MQA also goes by the logic that HiRes starts at 24/48.

Speaking of MQA and the future of Tidal: The two are intertwined, Tidal being the dominant source of MQA content. So I would imagine that Meridian/MQA will do their part to keep Tidal alive.

 

[liuj2001]

I know I can download original FLACs from Tidal, and move them from device to device, so I don't need to download them separately on different devices using the Tidal app. Does anyone know if I can do the same on Qobuz or Amazon HD?

 

[Dannemand]

I know I can download original FLACs from Tidal, and move them from device to device, so I don't need to download them separately on different devices using the Tidal app. Does anyone know if I can do the same on Qobuz or Amazon HD?

I don't think you can do that legally. Speaking of keeping Tidal afloat

Edit: Please don't get me wrong: As a Tidal subscriber you are of course doing your part, as long as you don't keep them FLACs after ending your subscription. I still don't think it is legal, though. Personally I do NOT want to risk getting Tidal lawyers on my back.