TIDAL Music Streaming service

[PhilP]

Many of you will probably have heard that a new CD-quality streaming service called 'TIDAL' launched in the UK and US earlier this week. It's an extension and re-branding of the WiMP service which has been running successfully in the Scandinavian countries, Poland and Germany. I guess the name 'wimp' doesn't go down so well in english-speaking countries

Anyway, I registered an interest in TIDAL a couple of months ago and am a couple of days into a 30 day free trial. Anyone can get a 7-day free trial by registering. So far the results have been a bit mixed - when albums play the sound quality (OSX, AIR) is on a par with Qobuz i.e. very good, miles better than Spotify, but not quite as good as my CD rips. The catalogue is extensive (I read somewhere 25m albums) but there are plenty of gaps... and so far I prefer the Qobuz Desktop to the TIDAL app. Both are way behind Spotify in terms of functionality.

I've also had some problems with albums not playing when selected. I've asked TIDAL support for help. Perhaps it's an issue with my system but I can't see any reason why it should be given that it works perfectly with Qobuz and Spotify.

Has anyone else tried TIDAL?

[PhilP]

Update: I had a response from TIDAL support to say that their desktop doesn't support hi-if quality replay with OSX 10.6.8 but their developers are looking into it. I must say the promptness and accuracy of their support responses have been very good .

I have now tried their app on my iPad running iOS 8.1 and the results are very good. An attractive, slick interface and no issues so far

[thumb5]

Looking forward to trying it, but my 30-day trial seems not to have been recognised so far…hoping for a quick response from their support people.

[Stigmater]

As well im on my 30 days free trial , and i tried to compare Spotify (Premium) and TIDAL in terms of sound quality ,
i played Dire Straits - On every Street and tried very hard to notice the difference and just couldn't distinguish.


Devialet 200 | Magico S1

[thumb5]

Anyone else noticing very slight glitches when streaming from Tidal? I get them very occasionally, most often when there's a burst of unrelated network traffic. Just enough to be an irritation, without being a serious problem. I don't get anything like this with Qobuz. (This is on a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.8.)

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To answer my own question: it seems like I'm not alone according, to this thread on Computer Audiophile.

[PhilP]

Anyone else noticing very slight glitches when streaming from Tidal? I get them very occasionally, most often when there's a burst of unrelated network traffic. Just enough to be an irritation, without being a serious problem. I don't get anything like this with Qobuz. (This is on a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.8.)

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To answer my own question: it seems like I'm not alone according, to this thread on Computer Audiophile.

Strangely I can stream some albums but not others from my old iMac (10.6.8 - TIDAL say it shouldn't work at all) so I've mainly been using the iOS app which is really very good (much slicker than the Qobuz app). I've had one or two minor drop-outs but nothing serious. The extended gaps between tracks are really annoying.

I've tried iPod AirPlay > Apple TV > optical cable > Devialet and also to my Naim NDX which were both ok. I got better sound from using a USB connection between the iPod and my NDX but don't really want a cable across my study. I haven't tried iPod USB to the Devialet but presume that will sound even better? [EDIT: This doesn't work - you can't play music direct from an iDevice into a Devialet USB port]

[thumb5]

...I've mainly been using the iOS app which is really very good (much slicker than the Qobuz app).

Yes, I agree. I also like the "artist radio" feature which I haven't found on Qobuz, if it exists.

[PhilP]

...I've mainly been using the iOS app which is really very good (much slicker than the Qobuz app).

Yes, I agree. I also like the "artist radio" feature which I haven't found on Qobuz, if it exists.

Yes 'artist radio' is a nice feature but I will stay with Qobuz for now because it works really well on my iMac; I get minimal drop-outs; I like being able to buy downloads (incl 24-bit); and I also like their wide selection of European music some of which seems not to be available on TIDAL. If Qobuz go out of business then TIDAL will be a great fall-back.