Anybody loving tidal

Tried it for a month. Used Andriod, iOS, PC via google chrome, wifi and wired to my home network (70 MB/S). The service is not ready for prime time. Too many buffering delays, crashes and errors. I can't justify $20/month for a beta. I love the idea and when it would work it sounded great, but too buggy.

I had severe issues with stuttering initially. The Tidal (or Youtube, etc) streaming would stutter when redirected from the laptop to Bluetooth (to be listened to on my main gear), but would work fine if one listened on the laptop.

After some debugging I figured out that the issue was related to the Broadcom driver (on my Lenovo Thinkpad laptop) that is shared by the Wifi and Bluetooth chips. The driver process would run amok, consume resources, and eventually after ~7-8 seconds or so of play, would cause stuttering or complete freeze of playing.

I had to do two things to fix the issue: 1) 'Enable' 'Bluetooth Collaboration' in the Advanced settings of the wireless network adapter. 2) Always use wireless 'a' protocol when streaming. Notably with more common wireless 'g' protocol the Broadcom driver is not capable streaming in over wi-fi and streaming out over Bluetooth at the same time w/o severe stuttering and issues.

Still loving Tidal... :)
 
Hey Billy - When you do that then download Fidelify. It's a freeware program & will clean up the signal a little in comparison to Spotify itself

Thanks. It looks like that's a Windows based freeware program. I use Chromebook exclusively for my laptop needs (Android). I also have an Android and an iPhone. Also a WindowsPhone but heck, I don't even have confidence that that platform will be around much longer.

I'll have to see if I can load it on WindowsPhone. If not, I'll have to dust off the old XP Laptop and load it. I want to try it and see what the fuss is all about.

Thanks for the tip! :)
 
OK guys, help me love Tidal!! That statement is not meant to be as inflammatory as it sounds. I'm trying out the free month & like it so far - just a couple of things I'd like to do better.

1. - So far the catalog isn't as good as the Spotify one. I've tried one Spotify trick that helps when they don't have an album you're looking for. For example, When looking for Monty Alexander's "Rass!" album it doesn't show on the regular Spotify or Fidelify search but if I type Monty Alexander Rass! it will come up. That doesn't seem to work on Tidal which means either they don't have the album or I don't know how to plumb the depths of their search function well enough. Both are distinct possibilities.

2. - With Spotify I can use the Fidelify app to bypass the Windows mixer through ASIO (or WASAPI). That cleans up the normal Spotify sound a little. I couldn't find anywhere to do that on the Tidal interface & tried downloading Fidelizer but haven't found that option there either. I'm sure it must be a possibility, I just can't find it, which makes this more of a "help a dummy out" post.

Thanks!
 
Answer to Q#2:

So far, all I know to improve the sound quality on Tidal is to use the WDM driver in JRiver or use Roon, which has a WASAPI out for Windows (and Event Mode in beta at the moment). Fidelify does not work with Tidal, only Spotify.

I thought the Roon output was quite an improvement in sound for Tidal, enough to pony up for the one-year Roon subscription. I never liked JRiver, so while it definitely improved the sound with the WDM driver I hated the interface and never bought a legit JRiver copy. Roon has other benefits too, especially if you're a Tidal user.

https://roonlabs.com/
 
Answer to Q#2:

So far, all I know to improve the sound quality on Tidal is to use the WDM driver in JRiver or use Roon, which has a WASAPI out for Windows (and Event Mode in beta at the moment). Fidelify does not work with Tidal, only Spotify.

I thought the Roon output was quite an improvement in sound for Tidal, enough to pony up for the one-year Roon subscription. I never liked JRiver, so while it definitely improved the sound with the WDM driver I hated the interface and never bought a legit JRiver copy. Roon has other benefits too, especially if you're a Tidal user.

https://roonlabs.com/

Thanks for the advice. I've read a few reviews about Roon but they always concentrate on its organizational capabilities & don't talk much about the sound improvements. I have JRiver but have never really warmed to it, usually using Foobar instead. I may have to give the Roon download a try. Thanks again.
 
Answer to Q#2:

So far, all I know to improve the sound quality on Tidal is to use the WDM driver in JRiver or use Roon, which has a WASAPI out for Windows (and Event Mode in beta at the moment). Fidelify does not work with Tidal, only Spotify.

I thought the Roon output was quite an improvement in sound for Tidal, enough to pony up for the one-year Roon subscription. I never liked JRiver, so while it definitely improved the sound with the WDM driver I hated the interface and never bought a legit JRiver copy. Roon has other benefits too, especially if you're a Tidal user.

https://roonlabs.com/

Listening to Tidal right now I'm a fan and premium subscriber .

FWIW

Note :
Windows Driver Model (WDM) ^^^[ins. referenced above ]— also known at one point as the Win32 Driver Model — is a framework for device drivers that was introduced with Windows 98 and Windows 2000 to replace VxD, which was used on older versions of Windows such as Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, WDM drivers are layered in a complex hierarchy and communicate with each other via I/O request packets -wikipedia -

Modern Windows OS supports WHQL HDWE driver certification and WDDM for Video (WDM) drivers are obsolete in newer Windows OS in-other than a backward compatibility mode and this can be unstable .

Caution

If any given WDM drivers run on a given newer OS configuration at all ,

note :
WDM drivers will be in a backwards compatibility mode and I/O instruction set and *may * significantly depreciate overall I/O throughput and *can*cause instability crashes ,application hangs and or BSD or hose your windows install beyond repair other than a clean install and loss of all your file,installed applications and data (like any driver )

FWIW personally I would caution against any application or driver that changes HDWE driver configuration other than reputable well documented products *well* beyond beta due to the aforementioned cautions
OTOH *I don't think* J river ever *really got out of beta * :D


Take it or leave it from here as you will ...I'm Not here argue or prove a point. I Won't Respond to (other than a legitimate question *if I can answer it ) I already have an in depth understanding of what I Posted here .

Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 beta and windows 7 to a lesser extent with some tweaking and modified drivers ( note sig below ) supports properly configured WASPI drivers and thus off loading audio stack CPU wait states ,CPU audio processing and utilizing the DSP more efficiently in addition to WASPI configured USB /MIDI HDWE thus no need for third party .exe beyond a Web Browser (with Tidal or any ISP steam supported by a web browser)that :

outside of any undesirable DSP, zones on 2 ch (volume leveling i.e compression limiting adding thd+n reducing dynamic range by raising the noise floor to do this ), convolution, etc. compression for playback gain, again i.e compression and *excessive additive EQ * do little more than muddy the sound IMO and absolutely create additional running processes ,CPU cycles ,latencies ,slower I/O performance etc. this kind of stuff been has and can be all measured (see below ) :smoke:

IOW nothing has changed recently with digital discrete time signal sampling and signal reconstruction within a limited bandwidth or digital transmission and nothing is new about that in J river . OTOH try if you like it but be aware of the mentioned cautions .



I have professional sound editors and VST's thay can do all that and tons more but what we find at 16/44 in the business a *little conservative EQ *isn't bad on occasion
anything beyond that at 16/44 raises the noise floor ,reduces dynamic range and produces thd+n (audible distortion ) that's why we never mix at 16/44 or up sample at any time .
Note: you can often basic EQ within widows with many installed sound device exe. also many folks prefer a little playback gain that's a common result of third party exe software which can include driver exe.

Again if you want to try the J river Windows drivers and or media player that's certainly within your prerogatives and if prefer what they can do that's fine with me but again be aware of the mentioned cautions .

Be aware ANY driver, [ins. also application] can have compatibility issues in Windows even WHQL signed drivers on any given configuration and hose your Windows installation requiring a clean install and loss of all your data and media files on your primary drive partition . With regards to WHQL certified drivers or any drivers . Trust me nobody can test all the variables and configurations in the field ( note my sig )
 
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Googling a few threads I did come across one (from JRiver I think) that said:

1. In Tidal, select "JRiver Media Center 20" as the output device.
2. In MC, set your McIntosh as the output device. (He had a McIntosh DAC)

My problem is that when I go to Settings & then Streaming in Tidal this option does not appear. It only has the option for how high you want the streaming resolution. And Settings is the only section they have that comes anywhere near how to set up your audio.

I would think the trial version would be the latest since it came from their site, unless they've taken away that feature now.
 
Googling a few threads I did come across one (from JRiver I think) that said:

1. In Tidal, select "JRiver Media Center 20" as the output device.
2. In MC, set your McIntosh as the output device. (He had a McIntosh DAC)

My problem is that when I go to Settings & then Streaming in Tidal this option does not appear. It only has the option for how high you want the streaming resolution. And Settings is the only section they have that comes anywhere near how to set up your audio.

I would think the trial version would be the latest since it came from their site, unless they've taken away that feature now.

Never liked J river their original claim to fame was to improve sound by fooling around with some IIRC threaded prefetch caching..(Prefetching cache IIRC ) .
I remember what ever it was it was dicey and not advisable for Windows at the time as it would not be now and didn't do anything useful in fact the opposite. Any self respecting hacker could have wrote that kiddie script but why would they ,hopefully they aren't still fooling around with stuff they don't understand ? .

Thier documentation was always sketchy to nonexistent any time I wanted to know anything they never explained much to the customers but some the OS hackers like me figured it out back then ,wasn't long we all knew about it and looked at the product with disdain at the time. I never thought much of their product in general and now after seeing above they are Trying to catch a Tidal Hi Fi wave and pimping way outdated x86 hacked WDM beta drivers and making like they have invented something new (which all of their so called sound improvements are not and no self respecting recording engineer or software developer that knows music would advise them at 16/44 anyway ) that only reinforces my negative perceptions .

I think some kiddie script hack in a garage started the company I'm not sure .

Some folks like the new stuff. I tried vers. 14x on a trial awhile back for a sufficient time didn't like it at all :smoke:
 
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OK... 43 posts moved, not all of them objectionable, but all related. Now re-opened.

Any more hijacks about digital tech, quality, analog, etc., and some more punitive actions will result.

The OP asked if you like Tidal. That's the only topic permitted. If you have another permissible topic, start your own thread.

Apparently you chose to ignore this post Frank - if you have some kind of problem with Jriver, start your own thread and see how that goes.
 
Apparently you chose to ignore this post Frank - if you have some kind of problem with Jriver, start your own thread and see how that goes.

I usually don't think about J river at all ..the new one might be fine aside from the WDM x32 beta option (hopefully that isn't going to be an included option or default behavior ) :nono:

I was just perhaps mistakenly in *this thread* off topic trying to be helpful but off topic is off topic and you are boss so I'm going to try to stay on topic
now .


Regards.
 
Tidal announced some changes in advance of Apple's possible roll out of their streaming service next week:

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2015/06/tidal-makes-some-big-changes-before-apple-musics-debut

It is definitely nice to see that they are coming out with a desktop app. It was one of the reasons I didn't like the service. They also have a new discount program for people with an "edu" email address. Too bad I am not a student. Spotify has the same half price discount.
 
Tidal announced some changes in advance of Apple's possible roll out of their streaming service next week:

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2015/06/tidal-makes-some-big-changes-before-apple-musics-debut

It is definitely nice to see that they are coming out with a desktop app. It was one of the reasons I didn't like the service. They also have a new discount program for people with an "edu" email address. Too bad I am not a student. Spotify has the same half price discount.

Thanks. Just installed the beta Win Desktop app. Seems to work OK, and looks and feels exactly the same as the Chrome based Web Player. And the sound quality seems to be the same as well...

Just now spinning some vintage Supertramp :)
 
Thanks. Just installed the beta Win Desktop app. Seems to work OK, and looks and feels exactly the same as the Chrome based Web Player. And the sound quality seems to be the same as well...

Just now spinning some vintage Supertramp :)
The reason I like desktop apps is that this opens up the possibility of being able to control the app remotely using their iOS/Android app.

Rdio has had this type of control for a while and Spotify added it to their desktop a bit more recently with Spotify Connect. It makes it really convenient for those running a headless system.

With the higher resolution of Tidal, I think having it run directly from a computer makes a lot of sense. Especially, if they end up getting hi rez material added (as has been rumored).
 
Downloaded, installed and am running the desktop beta - easy as pie.

EDIT: I am having some trouble at the end of a track - the stream skips a lot, and then the stream will not automatically advance to the next track. I can manually advance it. I do not have any of these issues with the web player. I will try rebooting my computer later and see if that improves performance.
 
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Tidal announced some changes in advance of Apple's possible roll out of their streaming service next week:

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2015/06/tidal-makes-some-big-changes-before-apple-musics-debut

It is definitely nice to see that they are coming out with a desktop app. It was one of the reasons I didn't like the service. They also have a new discount program for people with an "edu" email address. Too bad I am not a student. Spotify has the same half price discount.

I actually have a few friends that went to Harvard, and they have kept their harvard.edu address because it's a signal to others that they were students AT HARVARD, and they are proud of that. They have used this for discounts like this, even thought it's been many many years since they attended.

Looking forward to Apple's announcement out of sheer curiosity.
 
I've been using Tidal with Roon for a couple of weeks now and the experience is really wonderful- so nice to have my streaming and "online" libraries sync up- and the enhanced metadata is pretty amazing. Good way to get completely lost exploring music for a few hours!
 
I actually have a few friends that went to Harvard, and they have kept their harvard.edu address because it's a signal to others that they were students AT HARVARD, and they are proud of that. They have used this for discounts like this, even thought it's been many many years since they attended.

Looking forward to Apple's announcement out of sheer curiosity.
Thanks for the info. I just checked and I can re-up with the Alumni association ($35 for a year) and get an edu email address.
 
Thanks for the info. I just checked and I can re-up with the Alumni association ($35 for a year) and get an edu email address.

Interesting - what is the Tidal discount and will that offset the Alumni fee?

EDIT: So, it looks like the cost is %50, so that is certainly worth the Alumni fee. However, The caveat listed below about being a currently enrolled student could be a fly in the ointment, for sure.
 
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Tidal announced some changes in advance of Apple's possible roll out of their streaming service next week:

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2015/06/tidal-makes-some-big-changes-before-apple-musics-debut

It is definitely nice to see that they are coming out with a desktop app. It was one of the reasons I didn't like the service. They also have a new discount program for people with an "edu" email address. Too bad I am not a student. Spotify has the same half price discount.

As does rdio.

Not sure how the others handlethis or how they treat alumni. This is rdio's deal:

*By clicking "submit", you agree that we can use the last four digits of your social security number to verify your eligibility for this offer (as an enrolled student). We will re-verify your student enrollment each Fall for up to three additional years. If any attempt to verify your student enrollment is unsuccessful, you agree that we can automatically convert you to a standard unlimited subscription tier and charge you accordingly."
 
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