Tidal streaming issue

[amabrok]

Hi Devialet Streamers

I had the chance to try both Qobuz and Tidal. SQ on the side for now (which I believe is slightly in favor of Qobuz), I also noticed that streaming is not that smooth with Tidal, with occasional interruptions and sometimes long buffeting time, which again is not the case with Qobuz. Considering that of course I'm trying both of them in the same setup and environment I'm inclined to believe that it has to do with Tidal servers.

Tidal desktop app is better than its Web Player though but still behind Qobuz

Do any of you have the same problem/experience with tidal?

Thanks

[PhilP]

Hi Devialet Streamers

I had the chance to try both Qobuz and Tidal. SQ on the side for now (which I believe is slightly in favor of Qobuz), I also noticed that streaming is not that smooth with Tidal, with occasional interruptions and sometimes long buffeting time, which again is not the case with Qobuz. Considering that of course I'm trying both of them in the same setup and environment I'm inclined to believe that it has to do with Tidal servers.

Tidal desktop app is better than its Web Player though but still behind Qobuz

Do any of you have the same problem/experience with tidal?

Thanks

By coincidence I e-mailed TIDAL today about the issue of drop-outs and they replied "We also work on figuring out what is causing the dropouts for some users, we are very sorry about this". So they're aware of the issue and are trying to address it.

On a positive note, I find their support team very helpful and responsive.

A couple of other interesting comments they made: 1) they are working on gapless playback; and 2) about 85% of their catalogue is available in lossless format.

I will remain with Qobuz for now but think the TIDAL service looks very promising and will revisit it next year. If the current issues have been resolved then I may switch.

[amabrok]

By coincidence I e-mailed TIDAL today about the issue of drop-outs and they replied "We also work on figuring out what is causing the dropouts for some users, we are very sorry about this". So they're aware of the issue and are trying to address it.

On a positive note, I find their support team very helpful and responsive.

A couple of other interesting comments they made: 1) they are working on gapless playback; and 2) about 85% of their catalogue is available in lossless format.

I will remain with Qobuz for now but think the TIDAL service looks very promising and will revisit it next year. If the current issues have been resolved then I may switch.

Thanks PhilP!

in a way it is reassuring to know i am not alone in this.

If i really wanna git rid of my Macbook or any other computer for that matter then i will be technically stuck with Tidal. Recently i have invested in the excellently designed and executed Aurender X100L and they have plans to integrate Tidal but none for Qobuz.

i think i will keep Qobuz for download/purchase and Tidal will be the main streaming service for me!

But Hey Phil, apart from the drop out issue, did you notice any SQ differences?

thanks

[adhesiv]

Just to throw my experience in the mix I've not yet had an issue with Tidal and dropouts.

Can't say the same for my AIR over WiFi.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[amabrok]

Just to throw my experience in the mix I've not yet had an issue with Tidal and dropouts.

Can't say the same for my AIR over WiFi.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thanks for sharing

if i may ask, which country are you in? maybe that plays a role in streaming from Tidal server

[adhesiv]

US...California specifically.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[amabrok]

US...California specifically.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I guess that may explains it if tidal hosts its serves in the US

[islandman]

I am new here and thought I would add a few comments and Qobuz vs Tidal.

I have been a subscriber to Qobuz for about 5 months, and just started a free trial with Tidal about 2 weeks ago. There are several things about Qobuz that are important to me that I do not think that Tidal has. Remember, I have only had a few days with Tidal so do not take what I am about to say as absolute fact!

1) Qobuz has gapless playback control whereas Tidal does not seem to. On Qobuz I set the gap at 2 seconds between songs. You can set the gap at 0 seconds and have no gap between songs if you want. Cool!

2) Qobuz works a lot like YouTube in that you automatically build a history of where you have been. I do not see this on Tidal. For me, this is a really nice feature because as I explore new music , and want to go back to some of what I had listened to, I do not have to worry about writing down those groups that most interested me because the historical file of my listening sessions is there until I decide what to do with it (save, delete, add to favorites, etc.)

3) On both Qobuz, and Tidal you see the album art as a small part of the overall page, but on Qobuz when you click the “expand icon” (the one with the 4 arrows) your entire screen becomes the album you are listening to. My laptop dedicated to hi-fi has an HDMI out that I run to my TV. When the entire 60” screen looks like Elton’s “Yellow Brick Road” it’s a really neat alternative to just having the album art, song list, similar artist, etc. Looks like a giant album art picture hanging on your wall.

4) With Qobuz, the very last song/artist that you listened to stays in “queue” no matter how long you go before returning to the site. If the last artist is someone that you want to spend some more time listening you don’t need to try to remember who they were, or write them down because to the next time you go to the site they will be there. Tidal seems to start all over again with a “blank slate” each time. So I don’t think Tidal has this feature.

5) Sound quality seems the same between the two, but Qobuz’s homepage is more alive, and colorful to me.

6) Tidal does boasts HD Music Videos, but I don’t find that necessarily enticing as YouTube, Mullet, Qello, Vevo, etc., all have good HD music videos.

7) I don’t know if Tidal has 24/96, 24/192 downloads like Qobuz. Qobuz recently had a sale of over 300 HD albums for 50% off which when I checked was less expensive than any other site; HDTracks, Hi-REZ, Acoustic Sounds. This sale may have been just for the existing Qobuz subscribers which is a nice bonus to your subscription.

8) At this point in time Tidal is less responsive than Qobuz. With Qobuz I will get a response usually the same day about a concern or question. Right now I have been waiting two days for Tidal to respond to whether they support 32bit Windows OS as I get a “tidalmedia.exe” error when trying to download their app to that computer. My 64bit Windows OS went without a hitch.

For now I am going to keep comparing between the two to see who says and who goes! But so far, I am leaning towards keeping Qobuz.

[amabrok]

I am new here and thought I would add a few comments and Qobuz vs Tidal.

I have been a subscriber to Qobuz for about 5 months, and just started a free trial with Tidal about 2 weeks ago. There are several things about Qobuz that are important to me that I do not think that Tidal has. Remember, I have only had a few days with Tidal so do not take what I am about to say as absolute fact!

1) Qobuz has gapless playback control whereas Tidal does not seem to. On Qobuz I set the gap at 2 seconds between songs. You can set the gap at 0 seconds and have no gap between songs if you want. Cool!

2) Qobuz works a lot like YouTube in that you automatically build a history of where you have been. I do not see this on Tidal. For me, this is a really nice feature because as I explore new music , and want to go back to some of what I had listened to, I do not have to worry about writing down those groups that most interested me because the historical file of my listening sessions is there until I decide what to do with it (save, delete, add to favorites, etc.)

3) On both Qobuz, and Tidal you see the album art as a small part of the overall page, but on Qobuz when you click the “expand icon” (the one with the 4 arrows) your entire screen becomes the album you are listening to. My laptop dedicated to hi-fi has an HDMI out that I run to my TV. When the entire 60” screen looks like Elton’s “Yellow Brick Road” it’s a really neat alternative to just having the album art, song list, similar artist, etc. Looks like a giant album art picture hanging on your wall.

4) With Qobuz, the very last song/artist that you listened to stays in “queue” no matter how long you go before returning to the site. If the last artist is someone that you want to spend some more time listening you don’t need to try to remember who they were, or write them down because to the next time you go to the site they will be there. Tidal seems to start all over again with a “blank slate” each time. So I don’t think Tidal has this feature.

5) Sound quality seems the same between the two, but Qobuz’s homepage is more alive, and colorful to me.

6) Tidal does boasts HD Music Videos, but I don’t find that necessarily enticing as YouTube, Mullet, Qello, Vevo, etc., all have good HD music videos.

7) I don’t know if Tidal has 24/96, 24/192 downloads like Qobuz. Qobuz recently had a sale of over 300 HD albums for 50% off which when I checked was less expensive than any other site; HDTracks, Hi-REZ, Acoustic Sounds. This sale may have been just for the existing Qobuz subscribers which is a nice bonus to your subscription.

8) At this point in time Tidal is less responsive than Qobuz. With Qobuz I will get a response usually the same day about a concern or question. Right now I have been waiting two days for Tidal to respond to whether they support 32bit Windows OS as I get a “tidalmedia.exe” error when trying to download their app to that computer. My 64bit Windows OS went without a hitch.

For now I am going to keep comparing between the two to see who says and who goes! But so far, I am leaning towards keeping Qobuz.

welcome islandman and thanks for the input

i agree with almost all your points however i tend to believe that qobuz sounds even better.

and to your question, tidal does not offer music purchase/download like qobuz

by the way, do you only use the web players or have you tried the desktop applications from both?

[Charlemagne]

@islandman: Thank you for the review and wellcome on the Devailetchat.

I would like to ad the feature of Qobuz where you have the possibility of a temporary download for offline use. Also possible with flac's. I don't know if Tidal provides the same feature. I use that possibility a lot when I do go on a holliday in a spot where there's a slow internet connection or even none at all.