TIDAL Music Streamng Service Launched Today

[User211]

TIDAL

Has the support of 16 manufacturers (whatever that really means), a DB of 25 Million tracks and I am checking it out now. Lossless streaming. It seems much better "stocked" than Qobuz, which I will cancel today. Has Android and iOS apps too.

Thank the Swedes for this, though why they want to charge Americans less than us in the UK I do NOT know:devil:

I got 30 day free trial because I signed up beforehand. By default if you Google it you will get 7 days free trial. That link is for 30 days free in the US. Try it.

 

[topofroc]

Thanks for the tip.

I signed up for the free trial, and so far I like what I'm hearing. The problem is that I can't seem to get the lossless FLAC streams to play (the "HiFi" quality setting).
Every time I switch the sound quality preference to "HiFi", the check box says "no device available" and I get no sound. The Tidal desktop app also seems to hang.

I emailed their support group. Let's see if they respond.
(I'm on Mac, if that makes any difference.)

 

[User211]

I'm really liking it. The s/w seems very good (so far, too early to be absolutely sure). And the Android app is very nice too. Better than Spotify or Qobuz's software, but Qobuz was fairly poor, I thought.

The sound output combo box appears when you select hi-fi on my setup. What are you trying to output to and have you installed a driver for it?

 

[topofroc]

I was trying to use the Tidal app on my desktop setup. It's just an iMac with the headphone out jack going into an integrated amp (no external DAC).
The weird thing is that with my Mac Mini (using an external NuForce DAC), Hifi mode worked as soon as I install Tidal. When I looked at the Tidal Settings menu on the Mac Mini, it shows the sound quality as "Hifi" and has the Nuforce DAC seleceted under "Available Devices".

I guess that means its a DAC thing? Seems like FLAC should still work with the DAC chip built into the iMac though.

User211 - Are you using an external DAC?

 

[MiTT]

Thanks for the heads up Justin. I had signed up to be notified a few weeks ago right after RMAF, but didn't know it had been launched until I saw your post. Listening to full "HiFi" streaming off my iPhone into my portable headphone rig right now. Have it on the iPad as well and will get it loaded on the Mac Mini tomorrow. Sounds great thus far!

 

[User211]

I was trying to use the Tidal app on my desktop setup. It's just an iMac with the headphone out jack going into an integrated amp (no external DAC).
The weird thing is that with my Mac Mini (using an external NuForce DAC), Hifi mode worked as soon as I install Tidal. When I looked at the Tidal Settings menu on the Mac Mini, it shows the sound quality as "Hifi" and has the Nuforce DAC seleceted under "Available Devices".

I guess that means its a DAC thing? Seems like FLAC should still work with the DAC chip built into the iMac though.

User211 - Are you using an external DAC?

I am not a Mac user so wait and see what Tidal say.

At the mo I am using the Android app to A2DP to a Griffin BlueTrip in my car - with better than expected results. Voyage 34 by Porcupine Tree was great in a queue on the way back from work tonight.

For PC I am outputting to an Asus Xonar Essence ST soundcard in my 2nd system. But tomorrow I will set it up for my main system using an external DAC.

These streaming services are so easy to chop and change that the sub-standard ones will die quickly, I would think.

People who aren't using Tidal yet - are you screaming mad? Sign up immediately:ROFL:

 

[MiTT]

People who aren't using Tidal yet - are you screaming mad? Sign up immediately:ROFL:

Agreed Justin, I stayed up until the wee hours last night exploring pretty much every title that came to mind. Listened to Racmaninov this morning while I walked the dog too with no dropouts (which was pretty common with Amazon Prime).

 

[amey01]

People who aren't using Tidal yet - are you screaming mad? Sign up immediately:ROFL:

I'm in Australia. I can't unless I go through convoluted VPN BS. One day.

 

[User211]

Agreed Justin, I stayed up until the wee hours last night exploring pretty much every title that came to mind. Listened to Racmaninov this morning while I walked the dog too with no dropouts (which was pretty common with Amazon Prime).

The database seems excellent - truly loads of stuff - way beyond Qobuz.

This does have the effect of making you think buying anything is almost pointless.

Adam - you need a proxy of some sort. Just something that IP spoofs. I've tried a few web based proxys but they haven't been good. There must be a better way.

However it might also fall over on your payment source. Might be worth a Google to see if anyone else has pulled it off for an equiv service?

 

[topofroc]

Just an update - Tidal Support wasn't much help. They told me "my integrated amplifier must not be supported.". Sigh...

My guess is that it's a problem with the OS. Snow Leopard is pretty long in the tooth, and my Mini running Mavericks played with HiFi sound quality on the first try.
Either way - I am enjoying Tidal. I haven't decided if I'm going to subscribe though...

 

[User211]

Well I reckon you must have hit the dumb section!

It might well be the old OS. Surprised it doesn't warn you of that, though. You could use the web interface instead if you haven't tried it yet.

The iPhone app wants iOS 7 and the Android one 4.4.4. That's pretty recent stuff.

Loving the Android app - very well done I think. I found A2DP volume too low with this and the Qobuz app. You need to download a Bluetooth volume control app to get decent output.

This is my fave streaming service so far.

 

[RealityBroker]

"Has the support of 16 manufacturers (whatever that really means)..." Some of those listed claim their inclusion was premature.

I'm definitely looking to sign up for TIDAL, but have to modify my current system (ickStream/Logitech Media Server/computer=?) OR buy a new higher-end integrated amp/dac/streamer/w/iPhone app. Any recommendations for the later?

My current setup has been so successful audio-quality wise, that I need some assurance that I'm not moving backwards before dumping a bunch of $$. I'm interested in hearing from any who've successfully designed streaming systems using ML Purity. Thanks.

 

[RealityBroker]

I signed up for TIDAL and the fidelity is superb! I'm using both iPeng/ickStream (play) and TIDAL apps (search, save). You can simultaneously have multiple access windows to your TIDAL account. Choose the UI that best meets your needs, is more robust, or intuitive for you.

 

[User211]

SQ truly is as good as my CD rips. If you are a JRiver fan if you download v20 you can direct TIDAL's output to the JRiver WDM driver and use all the JRiver sound manipulation facilities.

Very cool apart from the fact that it doesn't seem that stable on the two machines I have tried it on. Sound breaks up from time to time.

 

[RealityBroker]

Very cool apart from the fact that it doesn't seem that stable on the two machines I have tried it on. Sound breaks up from time to time.

I live rural and am connected with CenturyLink at 20Mbps. I experienced that only with a single album tract. I hit skip and it went away. So I'm unsure whether that was a recording, TIDAL server, or Internet issue. I would assume TIDAL is using high-end, high-volume servers with some global network redundancy like CloudFlare.

 

[MiTT]

I've had no issues streaming Tidal off my Mac Mini, or listening on my iPhone 5S around our neighborhood. Occasionally it does break up a bit when I go for a walk at lunch near my office, but my cellular service is crap around there too. Must not be a cell tower nearby.

 

[User211]

I was talking about the JRiver WDM driver stuttering - not the streaming service itself which is fine.

It does track gap though which is annoying for classical lovers. They need to address that like Spotify which has a gapless playback option.