[OneTallGuy]

I have had Spotify premium for over a year.  I have enjoyed almost everything about the service: audio quality, selection, suggestions for me, etc.  I tried Tidal for awhile.  I tried hard to prefer Tidal audio quality.  I thought I could sometimes hear a difference, but I never was really sure.  I tried to blind test and I failed way more than I was correct as to which service sounded the better.  I finally gave up,.  They are so close on sound quality and Spotify is so much better in all other aspects that I dropped Tidal and am happy with Spotify now.

 

[disastermouse]

  I have had Spotify premium for over a year.  I have enjoyed almost everything about the service: audio quality, selection, suggestions for me, etc.  I tried Tidal for awhile.  I tried hard to prefer Tidal audio quality.  I thought I could sometimes hear a difference, but I never was really sure.  I tried to blind test and I failed way more than I was correct as to which service sounded the better.  I finally gave up,.  They are so close on sound quality and Spotify is so much better in all other aspects that I dropped Tidal and am happy with Spotify now.

DAC? Amp? Headphones?

 

[SmokeyThePanda]

I enjoy Spotify too. The selection of music is just so huge and they even get new music early sometimes.

 

[jungli]

Simply I dont believe it.
I have custom Diy ortho 2 different pairs and for me there is huge difference Tidal hifi has great depth and soundspace spotify and gplay sounds flat. Tested on telarc aufioquest and other good labels.
Did some meets with friends and blindtests everyone clearly knew which service was on.

 

[krismusic]

Simply I dont believe it.
I have custom Diy ortho 2 different pairs and for me there is huge difference Tidal hifi has great depth and soundspace spotify and gplay sounds flat. Tested on telarc aufioquest and other good labels.
Did some meets with friends and blindtests everyone clearly knew which service was on.

Did you volume match the two services? To my ears Tidal plays louder. Which makes true evaluation a PITA.

 

[OneTallGuy]

 

  I have had Spotify premium for over a year.  I have enjoyed almost everything about the service: audio quality, selection, suggestions for me, etc.  I tried Tidal for awhile.  I tried hard to prefer Tidal audio quality.  I thought I could sometimes hear a difference, but I never was really sure.  I tried to blind test and I failed way more than I was correct as to which service sounded the better.  I finally gave up,.  They are so close on sound quality and Spotify is so much better in all other aspects that I dropped Tidal and am happy with Spotify now.

DAC? Amp? Headphones?

Audeze LCD X Audeze LCD 2 ver 2 HiFiman HE 500 Sennheiser HD 280 pro Vmoda crossfade lp   Musical Fidelity M1 Dac Modi 2   Musical Fidelity M1 HPA Magni 2

 

[OneTallGuy]

Simply I dont believe it.
I have custom Diy ortho 2 different pairs and for me there is huge difference Tidal hifi has great depth and soundspace spotify and gplay sounds flat. Tested on telarc aufioquest and other good labels.
Did some meets with friends and blindtests everyone clearly knew which service was on.

Comment like yours really piss me off.  You don’t believe it?  Everyone has to have the same ears, system, bias, history, knowledge, or lack of it, as you?  
 
I like chocolate ice cream but you like vanilla?  So you do not believe that I like chocolate because all mighty you must be right as to which is the best tasting ice cream? Or I must not be able to taste that my chocolate ice cream is even different?
 
I can not tell the difference between a photo taken by my Nikon 35 mm camera and your Canon 35 mm camera but you say you can?  Therefore, you do not believe me when I say I do not see the difference?  BS
 
Accept the fact that opinions honestly differ without actually calling someone a liar, either intentionally or unintentionally.  You do not have the moral right or the papal authority.  None of us spend the time  enjoying our hobby so we can falsely report on our own results and opinions.
 
Grow up and respect the opinion of others.  To differ and report your different opinion is great.  It helps us all learn and may show us how to see and hear things in a different manner.   Believe it.

 

[jungli]

"I dont believie it." Is it offence?
I don't think so.
Of course you are right.
As I said before, there is a difference with quality of sound between this streaming services it is clear for me. For anyone else? Depending on point of view.
My wife said that music sounds good from her telephone app Tidal or GPlay? She doesn't care which, for her it is all the same and all good.
 
Musical database - Spotify or probably GPlay.
Sound quality - Tidal.
 
They will soon support *or now?* MQA for HIRES audio... For me? cool, for other I dont care maybe they dont too...
 
Have a nice day!

 

[frodeni]

Hi. Little late here. Don't feel like reading all the posts. I have a PS4,and I use Spotify pretty much all day and I was wondering if I should upgrade to Premium or if there's any difference between the sound quality. I find the normal SQ to be OK,but just okay. It's listenable but not ideal for me

 
Tidal support ASIO on the PC. Tidal sound better, even compressed on my Note3 mobile. I hear distinct differences, increasing bit-rate in Spotify. I can hear the difference for all my gear, even the cheap in ears.
 
To be honest, most people cannot track these differences, going beyond Spotify premium at high quality. What you are able to tell of difference, only you will now. But the difference is clearly there. Unless you have the ear for this stuff, most people benefit little as in joy of listening, going beyond Spotify premium.
 
As for Tidal, ASIO must be enabled every time you start Tidal. If not, the windows interface is used instead. Also, in Tidal, you need to enable both privledged mode and disable the Tidal volume control. Disable enhachments in windows settings, and enable both privledge mode and let apps take control of audio device. If you use gear with a XMOS USB chip, like the Oppo HA-1 uses, you also need to maximize the ASIO buffer, and keep the output at 16/44.1. A bit of work, that even most nerds skip. But it is worth it, and by then, tidal lossy sounds distinctly better than Spotify. Quite a bit.

 

[theveterans]

  Tidal support ASIO on the PC. Tidal sound better, even compressed on my Note3 mobile. I hear distinct differences, increasing bit-rate in Spotify. I can hear the difference for all my gear, even the cheap in ears.
 
To be honest, most people cannot track these differences, going beyond Spotify premium at high quality. What you are able to tell of difference, only you will now. But the difference is clearly there. Unless you have the ear for this stuff, most people benefit little as in joy of listening, going beyond Spotify premium.
 
As for Tidal, ASIO must be enabled every time you start Tidal. If not, the windows interface is used instead. Also, in Tidal, you need to enable both privledged mode and disable the Tidal volume control. Disable enhachments in windows settings, and enable both privledge mode and let apps take control of audio device. If you use gear with a XMOS USB chip, like the Oppo HA-1 uses, you also need to maximize the ASIO buffer, and keep the output at 16/44.1. A bit of work, that even most nerds skip. But it is worth it, and by then, tidal lossy sounds distinctly better than Spotify. Quite a bit.

 
In my experience, Spotify Premium with WASAPI using Fidelify sounds just as good as Tidal Hi-Fi ASIO which I cancelled my subscription due to being unable to discern a difference in SQ. Plus I get way more songs and albums on Spotify than TIDAL. I do agree that Spotify app sounds very slightly inferior than either Fidelify or TIDAL. To me, 16 bit lossless FLAC is overrated but it's just me.

 

[victoranastacio]

  I have had Spotify premium for over a year.  I have enjoyed almost everything about the service: audio quality, selection, suggestions for me, etc.  I tried Tidal for awhile.  I tried hard to prefer Tidal audio quality.  I thought I could sometimes hear a difference, but I never was really sure.  I tried to blind test and I failed way more than I was correct as to which service sounded the better.  I finally gave up,.  They are so close on sound quality and Spotify is so much better in all other aspects that I dropped Tidal and am happy with Spotify now.

I've been with Spotify Premium for 3+ years and tried Tidal's HiFi premium service to compare. At first I was excited with Tidal's FLAC format and it's true, the sound is slightly better when connected to quality home equipment (i.e. Denon DA-USB 300 DAC + high-end Denon receiver + B&W speakers and Mirage Sub).  There was definitely an improvement with detail and separation over Spotify premium.  
 
The problem is that Tidal premium service did not sound better on my iPhone and I'm always connected listening to music everywhere I go. Spotify premium on an iPhone sounded much superior connected to Beyerdynamics T51i headphones or to a good bluetooth speaker such as the Definitive Technology Cube. 
 
Also, if you like Metallica, then forget Tidal, since they don't have it.

 

[fluidz]

   
In my experience, Spotify Premium with WASAPI using Fidelify sounds just as good as Tidal Hi-Fi ASIO which I cancelled my subscription due to being unable to discern a difference in SQ. Plus I get way more songs and albums on Spotify than TIDAL. I do agree that Spotify app sounds very slightly inferior than either Fidelify or TIDAL. To me, 16 bit lossless FLAC is overrated but it's just me.

 
Absolutely agree.
 
When I load Spotify using an Asio output - only option being Fidelify at the moment, it's slightly a bit clearer in the high end than using the stock Spotify app.
 
Fidelify isn't adding any magic to the mix, or performing wizardry, its simply just letting me use Asio, bypassing Windows mixer, job done. 

 

[MacedonianHero]

 
I've been with Spotify Premium for 3+ years and tried Tidal's HiFi premium service to compare. At first I was excited with Tidal's FLAC format and it's true, the sound is slightly better when connected to quality home equipment (i.e. Denon DA-USB 300 DAC + high-end Denon receiver + B&W speakers and Mirage Sub).  There was definitely an improvement with detail and separation over Spotify premium.  
 
The problem is that Tidal premium service did not sound better on my iPhone and I'm always connected listening to music everywhere I go. Spotify premium on an iPhone sounded much superior connected to Beyerdynamics T51i headphones or to a good bluetooth speaker such as the Definitive Technology Cube. 
 
Also, if you like Metallica, then forget Tidal, since they don't have it.

 
Did you reselect HiFi for Tidal on your iPhone? It defaults to compressed mp3s otherwise. I did A-B both before settling on Tidal...there is no going back to mp3s...the lossless Tidal is better in every way to my ears and exceeds my CDs played through my CDP and fed with SPDIF into my DAC.

 

[victoranastacio]

   
Did you reselect HiFi for Tidal on your iPhone? It defaults to compressed mp3s otherwise. I did A-B both before settling on Tidal...there is no going back to mp3s...the lossless Tidal is better in every way to my ears and exceeds my CDs played through my CDP and fed with SPDIF into my DAC.

 
I selected Tidal HiFi on my iPhone but it never sounded better than Spotify. I tested it with all the gear I usually connect to which includes an Onkyo HA200 DAC into Fidelio x2 headphones or to my Acura premium sound system and even to my favourite Definitive Technology Cube bluetooth speaker. I agree when playing Tidal HiFi FLAC to my home system it was definitely better than Spotify. 

 

[MacedonianHero]

   
I selected Tidal HiFi on my iPhone but it never sounded better than Spotify. I tested it with all the gear I usually connect to which includes an Onkyo HA200 DAC into Fidelio x2 headphones or to my Acura premium sound system and even to my favourite Definitive Technology Cube bluetooth speaker. I agree when playing Tidal HiFi FLAC to my home system it was definitely better than Spotify. 

 
I can detect a reasonable difference between them on my iPhone 6. But that difference does widen when I throw my Chord Mojo into the mix.