Tidal sound quality

[Alrainbow]

over this weekend I installed tidal on my server and dos a trail on my Msb umt plus stack . Wow the sound is very good cd quality for sure. I read they went back to master tapes for this. So my next questions is to what format did they copy to ? Someone here must have the Dop on this .
As I have about 12 TB of music in dsd and PCM. There catalog is pretty amazing. Anyone here have alternate to try. I heard qbuz is also very good quality.

[JCOConnell]

Is tidal subscription for a fee, or is it free (advertising supported)?

[Billy Shears]

Def. Not free. In losless quality actually quite expensive. In europe about 25$ a month

[Billy Shears]

Here is the shocking thing: After I added the Audioquest Lan cables I had to admit that I prefered the sound of Albums streamed via Tidal (lossless) over the same Albums I had ripped and played back in Jriver mediacenter. Go figure that one out...

[JCOConnell]

Here is the shocking thing: After I added the Audioquest Lan cables I had to admit that I prefered the sound of Albums streamed via Tidal (lossless) over the same Albums I had ripped and played back in Jriver mediacenter. Go figure that one out...

What is the datarate? 16b/44k?

[Billy Shears]

What is the datarate? 16b/44k?

Yes. Cd Quality

[nc42acc]

I use Tidal to listen and find new material before buying. The quality is good but nowhere as good as what I am getting from the Aurender N10.

[Alrainbow]

That funny. It lights up as 16/44 cd quality and it is that and some . I tried my custom caps win 2012 with all,the goodies from some ripped cd,s and tidal,is better. Even my 14 k msb server is not as good. My guess is it maybe cd quality but it's from a better source . If you can tell 16/44 from 24/96 then tidal is there for you . It's 25 a month and that is for hifi no adds . The sheer amount of music on there is amazing . You know you ds download the music as well. And play it as long as you own a subscription . Now I wood not say it's super hirez nor is it dsd either but it is the best didgital steamer I have found so far with out me using my own music .

[cpp]

The sound quality through my Lumin via the Tidal Hi-fi subscription is very enjoyable.

[Rhapsody]

I have been using Tidal through Aurender for over a year. I NEVER listen to a cd any longer unless I have to do so for a demo, but I think I have played less than 5 cd's in the last year. It's either Tidal, vinyl or tape. ESPECIALLY on old rock albums, for me personally, Tidal sounds incredible, better than a cd of the same recording. My belief is that Tidal is streaming higher quality original recordings than the cd's that I happen to have.

I have been told that Tidal has access to Master Tapes, from a reliable source,for many recordings and copy from such to stream, although I have never heard of that being confirmed, but it sure sounds like that on actually most 60's/70's recordings.

[Billy Shears]

I have been using Tidal through Aurender for over a year. I NEVER listen to a cd any longer unless I have to do so for a demo, but I think I have played less than 5 cd's in the last year. It's either Tidal, vinyl or tape. ESPECIALLY on old rock albums, for me personally, Tidal sounds incredible, better than a cd of the same recording. My belief is that Tidal is streaming higher quality original recordings than the cd's that I happen to have.

I have been told that Tidal has access to Master Tapes, from a reliable source,for many recordings and copy from such to stream, although I have never heard of that being confirmed, but it sure sounds like that on actually most 60's/70's recordings.

So many posts here reflect my own experience with Tidal. Maybe it does have something to do with the quality of the source material they use. Especially as you would think that there are more hinderences to soundquality with streaming than playing direct off a Harddrive (Jitter, Noisy Router PSUs and even cabeling)
The only thing is I would recommend using a wired Connection with a High quality cable over Wireless - not just because of dropouts...

[Alrainbow]

Funny you say that. I have yet to hear a wifi that's near quality of a good wired. Maybe it's because I live in a big city . As much as they listings are huge I did have stuff they do not lol. One is count Basie and the Kansas City shout on poblo records on cd . It's orange black and white he is also on the cover. It's one of my reference PCM red books. I always wanted a hinrez of it.

[Rhapsody]

As an Aurender dealer, if someone is going to stream we pretty much insist on a wired connection to the Aurender from the router. You can get it to work with a wireless connection from the router to say an Airport Extreme close to the Aurender and then run a hardwire to the Aurender, but you will experience dropouts and the sonic quality will suffer as well.

[nc42acc]

Wow I must be deaf or cannot hear worth a shit. I am going to my ENT doctor next week and getting my ears cleaned out.

[nc42acc]

I love the convenience of Tidal by having that vast music collection on demand but sound wise the ripped files on the N10 sound better, no contest. I tried it last night with a very familiar release and it was very clear. Don't get me wrong I think Tidal is an amazing service or I wouldn't be paying the $20 a month for its use but it isn't my go to source for critical or enjoyment listening. I use it mostly with portable devices on the go with headphones.

[Rhapsody]

And that's what makes the world go round....we're all different, it would be boring if we all had the same perspective

I could find ten familiar titles that will sound better ripped on the N10 vs. streaming the same tracks on Tidal. That's not the issue for me. But I think that it's great for you that you like ripped files vs Tidal sq....that's cool. For me, I have to have those titles ripped, vs. just thinking of any song or album from the 50', 60's or 70's and in 5 seconds be listening to it and it sounds like magic.....again only for me on my system(s)....totally personal. I have probably done 100+ demos with Tidal and the customers are always blown away and amazed at the sound quality. And then hand them the Ipad and let them play whatever they can dream up....it's all magic for me. And if I want better sq I put on vinyl or tape, which no cd or ripped tracks come anywhere close in sq.

[nc42acc]

I am a little more laid back. Tidal works great on my iPad using Bluetooth to my Riva X sitting on the shower door. My water bill has gone up exponentially though.

[Alrainbow]

do not feel or feel you dont hear well. it could be you have great sound as is .

[Alrainbow]

It's good all around but not end game for quality of one knows there is better. An example is traffic my sacd rip is much better than there steam but there stream over fios quantum is better than my cd is for sure. For 25 a month it's a great point and click solution.