Questions about Tidal sound quality and hardware to play it

[Onebean]

I’m thinking about subscribing to Tidal to play their high Rez files. My goal is to seek out new artists and try out different titles from artists I know. I have a Marantz SA8004 that has digital input so hopefully I can utilize the internal dac. Here are my questions.

Since Tidal is a streaming service, do I need a dedicated computer to run Tidal? I assume I don’t have to be able to store any media since it’s streaming.

Does Tidal require another application to be able to play it?

Can my Marantz SA8004 convert the digital signal and achieve the highest possible Sonics?

Are there commercials?

What is the title selection like, and is it all available in high rez format?

Is there old music as well as new releases?

I’d the sound quality equal to other high rez formats like HD Tracks?

Ultimately, if I find titles I like, I’d like to record them with my reel to reel for playback in an analog format.

Onebean

 

[CKDC]

You can try Tidal for free for thirty days... there are deals to go ninety days. That trial should answer the majority of your questions.

You can download music and store it on a computer. Once you stop paying the fee, the music goes away.

It is illegal/ immoral to record music from Tidal. You are taking money from the artists.

I use an iPad or iPhone through a Bluesound Node 2 or Apple TV into amplifiers. The Apple TV is not as good as the Node 2. Too many dropouts.

 

[Mamrak1]

You can try Tidal for free for thirty days... there are deals to go ninety days. That trial should answer the majority of your questions.

You can download music and store it on a computer. Once you stop paying the fee, the music goes away.

It is illegal/ immoral to record music from Tidal. You are taking money from the artists.

I use an iPad or iPhone through a Bluesound Node 2 or Apple TV into amplifiers. The Apple TV is not as good as the Node 2. Too many dropouts.

The average payout to artists per stream on Spotify is $.006 to .0084. Who is stealing from whom??

 

[CKDC]

The average payout to artists per stream on Spotify is $.006 to .0084. Who is stealing from whom??

Are you happy now?

 

[No Money]

The average payout to artists per stream on Spotify is $.006 to .0084. Who is stealing from whom??

Yeah, I mean they are getting almost nothing so lets make sure they get even less. Tidal apparently pays roughly .0110 per play. Napster, which I had forgotten about, pays the best, .0160 per play. Napster and Tidal are the best for artists. Apple comes a distant third, and spotify a way distant sixth.

Source: https://informationisbeautiful.net/...ic-streaming-services-royalty-rates-compared/

 

[+48V]

FWIW, they all pay out based upon a percentage of gross revenue. And that percentage is pretty much the same across all services.

The more active and engaged listeners a service has is directly and inversely proportional to the per stream payout of any given service. So looking solely at the per stream payouts is a very deceptive metric on which to gauge overall compensation.

IOW, the the fewer active listener count a service has at $10/mo., the greater the per stream payout. Roughly put, a rights holder that gets X number of streams on say, Tidal with 2 million active subs, will in total receive approximately the same amount from a service with 4 million active subs.

The most fair and objective way to monetarily "rank" a payday from any given on-demand streaming service is to look at the total pooled amount received from said service; not the individual per play rate.

 

[olson_jr]

Two posts to get Threadcaps, impressive.

 

[60 Cycle Hum]

Does Tidal require another application to be able to play it?

Easiest would be a smartphone with the Tidal app and a wire to your receiver or cast to a Chromecast Audio.

Can my Marantz SA8004 convert the digital signal and achieve the highest possible Sonics?

Don't know: see above. You can utilize the digital output of a Chromecast with the proper connector.

Are there commercials?

Nope

What is the title selection like, and is it all available in high rez format?

It is deep and wide. My tastes are fairly obscure and I find most titles. The hi-rez is a premium service that cost's more. All titles are available as hi-rez there. Some additionally are "Certified Masters" allegedly taken from the masters as source.

Is there old music as well as new releases?

Yep

I’d the sound quality equal to other high rez formats like HD Tracks?

Big Can 'o Worms. I like it.

Ultimately, if I find titles I like, I’d like to record them with my reel to reel for playback in an analog format.

That's on you, Buddy

That said, I have a 6 month free trial that came with a Google Home Mini and I haven't decided to re-up when it expires.

 

[Onebean]

60 Cycle, thank you for responding to my questions. After posting this I realized the error of my ways, as far as recording off Tidal. I might give it a try, but it's kind of expensive. I was looking on HDtracks, and I might just buy my high rez media there.

 

[E-Stat]

Some additionally are "Certified Masters" allegedly taken from the masters as source.

Actually, that means the masters have been processed with the MQA lossy codec.

 

[olson_jr]

60 Cycle, thank you for responding to my questions. After posting this I realized the error of my ways, as far as recording off Tidal. I might give it a try, but it's kind of expensive. I was looking on HDtracks, and I might just buy my high rez media there.

I am a little confused by this statement. (OK a little more confused than normal)

Tidal is about $20 a month for all the CD quality and MQA stuff you can listen to, or tape or whatever.

HD Tracks is like $20 per single album, on sale, or 14 for a 96/24 file.



I like listening to new 'to me' music and TIDAL has most everything I look for and I do look for some unusual stuff.

The other thing I like about Tidal is the ability to load up my phone with a couple or three new albums to have available for driving, or exercising, or yard work.

 

[olson_jr]

It also looks like you can use your phone or a computer to send music to your Marantz.

Although I believe you need to be running Google Chrom on the computer to get CD quality. I don't think the phones will do that???

 

[Onebean]

Olson_jr, I plan to give it a try, and you make a valid point about loading up my phone for trips away from wi-fi. I have a hard time getting my head wrapped around how to implement it for the highest sound quality at a reasonable price. I really don't want to spend $500 on the Bluesound Node2, and I haven't researched how to use my existing AppleTV with Tidal. I assume my only option with AppleTV is output via HDMI, so the ApplTV does the DAC conversion. It sounds like to extract the best sound quality from Tidal, I need to have a DAC that decodes MQA. The Audioquest Dragonfly MQA DAC is cheap, but I can't imagine it will sound as good as the DAC in my Marantz SA8004, but I could easily be wrong, I usually am.

How do you receive and decode Tidal?

 

[olson_jr]

Olson_jr,

How do you receive and decode Tidal?

I have been listening to Tidal on my main iMac Computer for several years. Tidal HiFi>CEntrance DACmini>Musical Fidelity X-Can V3 headphone AMP> Senn HD-650 cans.

Recently I have upgraded the DAC in my main system to a PS Audio Directstream DSD DAC which I have connected via Ethernet to a Small Green Computer. The Directstream will unfold MQA files.

Also just bought a Powernode II to play with and it will decode MQA.

If I were you I would just get Tidal running into your DAC, see what you think, and then find an MQA Capable DAC if you find enjoy Tidal. I am sure that as more manufacturers come onboard there will be many more MQA DAC's to choose from.

The MQA files are playable without any of the unfolding.

 

[Mamrak1]

Are you happy now?

If anyone is stealing from recording artists, it’s the labels themselves. The labels produce zero content but take a large chunk of the profits. It isn’t much different since the heydays of lps and cds really.

If you are truly concerned about recording artists getting paid, buy your music from someplace like Bandcamp.

 

[Wildcat]

Regarding "sound quality," have a read here before shelling out any of your hard-earned:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...problems-with-tidal-streaming-service.688988/

I'm waiting for Qobuz to come to the US, which will offer high-res streaming.

 

[olson_jr]

Regarding "sound quality," have a read here before shelling out any of your hard-earned:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...problems-with-tidal-streaming-service.688988/

I'm waiting for Qobuz to come to the US, which will offer high-res streaming.

Maybe I have misread the articles on this, but as I remember it, the issue is not with Tidal, the issue is with Universal Music watermarking the files they send to the streaming companies. How would that be different with Qobuz?

 

[Wildcat]

Maybe I have misread the articles on this, but as I remember it, the issue is not with Tidal, the issue is with Universal Music watermarking the files they send to the streaming companies. How would that be different with Qobuz?

True, it's with Universal...I should have pointed that out. But for Tidal to take a gamble on offering lossless music, only to offer compromised files from Universal, the ball was in Tidal's court to correct it and demand untampered files for their customers. I don't have other streaming services to compare, as, there really are none--the others are lossy, so it's not an even comparison.

I only posted it as a warning that Tidal has compromised files, and that to expect "CD quality" from them with these files sitting on their servers, it doesn't exactly make for a good listening experience when you are expecting to hear what you might when you play your own equivalent CD at home. If that makes any sense. (For me, Tidal would have come in handy if I were visiting someone and wanted to play something from my own collection, without having to carry a stack of CDs with me.)

That is one reason I'm anxious to hear Qobuz, and see if their files are similarly compromised, or if they were able to get untampered files. They are in the EU, so there is no telling what deals they may have made over there.

 

[olson_jr]

I still believe Tidal to be the best $20 a month I spend. Especially as I was probably buying 5-10 used CDs a month before Tidal to get my new music fix.

BTW, I have been listening for that distortion since the other thread, and I have not run across any in the wild.

Maybe I should focus on some UA releases this week?

 

[Wildcat]

BTW, I have been listening for that distortion since the other thread, and I have not run across any in the wild.

You heard the Costello/Bacharach "In The Darkest Place" track on Tidal, though, didn't you? That is the one where it jumped right out at me.