Will Tidal Survive

I would suggest Amarra for Tidal. Very good SQ! Still working out some bugs, but way better than Tidal by itself. Also, when did $20 a month become expensive?? To each his own!
 
I still use Tidal and like Jim, I use it to search out new music. I pretty much have all the music by those artist I enjoy on other mediums be it CD, LP or download from other sites so for me its like using iTunes to "investigate" a new artist. The $20 bucks, man I spend more than that on tips for dinner so the fee is not a big deal but kids these days look at this a little different. Those young ones (24-35) that hang out with my kids, they would rather pay to download movies to watch with friends than download music. For music they just use their ipods or smart phones and plug them into docking stations with those amplified speakers and play music as "background" music or use the ear buds if hanging out at the beach. I just don't think they care about the quality of the music like "audiophile types" rather its the sound of their favorite artist being played and they can get that music from itunes and amazon.
 
G-PROG said:
Also, when did $20 a month become expensive?
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G.......I don't think anyone has said $20 a month is expensive. My point is the cost isn't worth the value to me. There's a difference. In the month I subscribed to Tidal I didn't listen to it more two hours total. The same was true for the two months I subscribed to Deezer, the other CD quality streaming service. It was the same when I subscribed to MOG, Pandora, and others. I found that I just didn't listen to any of them. It finally dawned on me that I am not really interested in streaming music from the Internet. To me the subscription cost is money wasted on something that doesn't hold my interest. I don't even need streaming music services to preview music I might be interested in purchasing since Amazon, HDTracks, and others all provide 30 second samples of nearly all the music they sell. There are so many streaming radio stations from all over the world that are fantastic sources for exposure to new music.. This alone provides an exceptional resource at no cost. I am not a big spender when it comes to new music but I usually purchase five to ten new CD's or SACD's a month and the occasional LP. $20 a month for a streaming service just doesn't serve any purpose for me. It has nothing to do with expense and everything to do with lack of interest.
 
I was an early adopter of Tidal. One of the early beta testers if you will. Integration of Tidal into proper dedicated music players was the turning point for me. Ever since Lumin and Aurender integrated Tidal into their apps, adding songs from Tidal to a playlist has increased it's $20/month value to me exponentially. Having the ability to build a play list from my DSD collection, my PCM collection and Tidal is a great benefit. I also use Tidal to preview the latest and greatest albums each week and occasionally find a real gem.
 
Mike said:
I was an early adopter of Tidal. One of the early beta testers if you will. Integration of Tidal into proper dedicated music players was the turning point for me. Ever since Lumin and Aurender integrated Tidal into their apps, adding songs from Tidal to a playlist has increased it's $20/month value to me exponentially. Having the ability to build a play list from my DSD collection, my PCM collection and Tidal is a great benefit. I also use Tidal to preview the latest and greatest albums each week and occasionally find a real gem.
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I agree, I'm listening to Joy Williams new album on Tidal as I type this. I will most likely buy it now. It really helps me discover new albums before I spend any money on them.
 
I think that this is really interesting. A lot of people here using Tidal have fantastic sound systems, and they all like how Tidal sounds. I'm hopeful that quality sound production, ease of use, and the vastness of its library are valued enough by a broad base of users to help Tidal grow. I see an analogy in Apple products. Many people pay more for Macs and iPhones than their competitors because they provide a high quality experience. People also develop (emotional?) connections, as it were, with the equipment. I certainly find the combination of quality of experience and the depth of connection that I feel with music when using Tidal is better than I get with Spotify or iTunes or Amazon.
 
I find this development, utterly fascinating.

TIDAL was sooo niche; it was for us 1% of 1% of 1%ers. The last thing, you would think a mainstream, hip-hop mogul like Jay-Z would seek out.

But when I heard he was buying it, I thought a) well...it's not like he can just build a streaming service; so I guess you buy...what's available to be bought; and b) his celebrity and money, should be nothing but a good thing for the budding service.

Then he tried to make it...about "artists' rights", and whatnot; and honestly...it's a cutthroat business as it is. NO ONE is reported to be making any money; and everyone must surely know...as soon as it gets any kind of traction. The BIG BOYS (MS, Apple, Google, Amazon)...are just going to find a way, to step in and own the market anyway. And that's the strategy he wants to take? We millionaires and billionaires, are getting screwed?? :rolleyes:

But the niche product...could have survived. You know...dumb audiophiles, with more dollars than sense; they would have paid $20/month, for better SQ...and could have just gone under the radar. Now Jay-Z has taken that, and f-ed it all up I'm afraid.
 
I hope tidal sticks around. I had no interest in streaming until it was available at the level of quality which tidal provides. Tidal has re shaped my idea of ownership of music much like Netflix did with video a decade ago. I no longer need to own DVDs. I no longer need to buy CDs. I don't need to maintain a personal music library - in physical media or digital (Itunes looks like a really strange concept all of a sudden to me with tidal) with high quality streaming services. The flaw in that plan is, of course, my library leaves when the service goes belly up!

Vinyl remains the exception to the above. But to be honest my LPs get less play since tidal came home. I still collect 78s but I honestly have less passion for that since streaming has made me reassess whether I need to "own" music. I really don't think I do.

Now that I think about it, this process has been underway for some time. I used to buy a lot of books. When my I moved in with my future wife (who is quite a bit thriftier than I) during my student years, she put a quick stop to that as space and funds were at a premium. She cured me of my need to collect and arrange my books - we all like curating our personal collections of stuff right? We like stuff. That's why we're here. - by introducing me to streaming 1.0. Analog streaming. The public library.


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^^ Kev, I'm somewhere in between your position...and some of those at the other end of the spectrum. I use streaming, a LOT. Depending on the phase I'm going through, and what I'm listening to; it's "half" of my material.

I know some guys say "I use it to audition new titles, and then if I like them...I buy it"? Really?? Kev's right; why must you own certain music. I mean...I have what I have, and that's plenty; trust me. In fact...like Kev; if you take a philosophical approach to this issue...I wonder how many of us, have more music...than we could listen to, in our remaining lifetimes?

I get it; even though it's files now, and not CDs or LPs (well, for many it still is). It's still about a "collection", and having that just-certain title...whenever you want to pull it out and listen to it. But that's the beauty of streaming; they own more sh*t, than you EVER will ;)

I've been streaming for a decade or so; and I've been waiting for the SQ to come around. First they said, there wasn't enough bandwidth; now we know that's changed. Then/now the argument is...does anybody really care? Well...'philes do. I mean seriously; I defy you, to tell the difference...with some poorly mastered, new album...between TIDAL and the CD or rip. Save your money, for the material that does matter; where you can hear the difference.

But maybe that's what distinguishes me from some 'philes: I don't just listen, to the best-sounding stuff. That's the tail wagging the dog. I play what I like, and sometimes...it doesn't sound that great. That's where TIDAL is a god-send!
 
I signed up last weekend. The quality of the sound is pretty good through the Lumin. I still prefer the sound of my personal collection via the L-1 or USB drive. However, the access to so much content with a reasonably good quality of sound for $20 / mo. is fantastic!
 
Ha, I signed back up y'day! 3 months for the price of 1. I'm a sucker for a sale:P
 
Looking forward to Tidal emplementing Meridians MQA technology. This will be a major advancement to their streaming service.
 
I compared Tidal and Spotify through my Elyse DAC. I now use Spotify, and save $10 a month. Jay-Z better start making more albums again.
 
"I compared Tidal and Spotify through my Elyse DAC. I now use Spotify, and save $10 a month. Jay-Z better start making more albums again"


I don't use Tidal by itself.. I use Amarra for Tidal which is a big improvement over Tidal!
 
I have tried to listen to some newer track compared to Tidal streams, I don't think I could pass a blind test. The Rips are done with DBpoweramp

I use a Aurender N100H to a Devialet--my speakers are very revealing...

I am sure I have bought my last CD--unless that it is not available on Tidal.

I am also impressed on how the Tidal works on the Aurender, with the hyperlinks and everthing.

I also enjoy it when I am at the office, I stream HIFI to my iPhone or Laptop (with a desktop DAC), when I listen to local rips they are compressed otherwise I run into problems with storage on the iPhone.

I for sure hope that they will be here for many years.

Kind regards Morten
 
Morten said:
I have tried to listen to some newer track compared to Tidal streams, I don't think I could pass a blind test. The Rips are done with DBpoweramp

I use a Aurender N100H to a Devialet--my speakers are very revealing...

I am sure I have bought my last CD--unless that it is not available on Tidal.

I am also impressed on how the Tidal works on the Aurender, with the hyperlinks and everthing.

I also enjoy it when I am at the office, I stream HIFI to my iPhone or Laptop (with a desktop DAC), when I listen to local rips they are compressed otherwise I run into problems with storage on the iPhone.

I for sure hope that they will be here for many years.

Kind regards Morten
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Mine is a similar experience. My aging Naim CD player isn't state of the art, but it is musical and enjoyable. However, Tidal via Sonos through my PS Audio Directstream is much better sounding. The CD player is temporarily off of my hifi rack while I reconfigure space for all of my components, but I may not return it unless I want to have a way for a guest to play a CD.

I've done a casual comparison between the CD files on my NAS (lossless files streaming via Sonos) and Tidal, and I'm hard pressed to tell the difference. Unless an individual has a lot of hires music, and I don't, there doesn't seem to be an argument to own music files. Besides, Tidal does a much better job of searching and making music available to me than I could on my NAS.
 
MarinJim said:
I compared Tidal and Spotify through my Elyse DAC. I now use Spotify, and save $10 a month. Jay-Z better start making more albums again.
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I hear a big difference between the sound quality of Tidal and Spotify. Tidal is much better sounding in my system. The only reason I keep Spotify is that I'm concerned that streaming Tidal over my iPhone would eat up my Verizon data plan much faster than Spotify.
 
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