Just Dropped Spotify Premium for Tidal Hifi...

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Number one reason, even with Spotify Premium, their so called "high quality" streaming is still a very low bitrate mp3, one of the worst online in fact. I got to talking to the guys over at Audio Adviser the other day and they recommended Tidal if I wanted true high definition streaming, so, I looked into it and WOW, Tidal has true hi-res, MASTER AUDIO, lossless streaming at 96kHz/24bit, and not only that, the monthly rate for the Hifi subscription, which you need to have to get the Hifi and/or the Master Audio streaming, it's $20 a month BUT, they have a MILITARY DISCOUNT of HALF. That $20 a month is now only $10 a month, which is what I was paying for Spotify without true hi-res streaming.

I am VERY glad I switched. The difference in sound on the theater is a huge improvement, so... TIDAL... if you want the best high resolution streaming music on the internet, and if you're military or a veteran, get the discount.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Another VERY cool thing I found out about Tidal is that I can open it and play it on multiple devices, at the same time. Spotify shuts down everything but one device at a time. Not Tidal. I uploaded the app to the new S9 and decided to try playing it on my older Sony boom box which has an audio in plug, plugged in the phone and started playing music and then realized Tidal was also still open on my laptop. Spotify would not have allowed that. Just another reason I'm happy I switched. The music sounds better on EVERYTHING, my bluetooth JBL Extreme, the old Sony boom box, the stereo in the man cave... couldn't be happier. Wish I'd have known about Tidal long ago.

If you've got crap for local radio, (like me), or even if you have local radio but don't like any of the music they play, you owe it to yourself to check out Tidal...

http://tidal.com/us

[High_Plains_Drifter]

OK... I've had a couple weeks to use Tidal and have found things I do like more about Spotify, and that is it's feature rich compared to Tidal. Tidal is very stark. It's only features under settings is basically music quality and that's it, nothing else, just, nothing. Spotify has a ton of options, music fade, when and how to sign in, and Spotify does have much better music discovery options. So I'll tell ya, if and when Spotify ever decides to increase their sample/bit rate streaming, I'll go back to Spotify.

Oh, and I think Spotify probably has more music too... I searched Metallica on Tidal and only got a list of songs, and "Unforgiven" was not in the list. Search Metallica on Spotify and you get every damn one of their albums... so... yes the music quality is better on Tidal, and you can play it on more than one device at the same time, but overall Spotify has Tidal beat, just not in music quality. But for me, it's all about the quality of the sound. I hope Spotify decides to go hi-res sometimes soon. I would switch back.

[jimnyc]

Yikes, $20 a month. Where do you play this music? On your phone connected to your car? At home?

I ask because I'm interested too, but that's a lotta $$ just for the music, when I already have a stereo and USB MP3's allowed. But sometimes I prefer a station to be built just around my music, and music I don't already have. I sometimes use Iheartradio for that. But it's the freebie version. Not so bad, you can pick a band, and then have all music similar to that play. But I rarely do so, honestly.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Just out of curiosity I started researching artists on Tidal, and in the first three I searched Tidal was missing everywhere from one album to many compared to Spotify, very disappointing... disappointing indeed. And one thing I truly, TRULY enjoy about Spotify is their "weekly picks" just for you, tailored to what you listen to. I look forward to that every Monday. They've turned me on to SOOO much great new music I'd otherwise never have heard. They even have a daily mix. Tidal has nothing like that.

So I have cancelled my Tidal subscription and renewed my Spotify. I've liked Spotify since the first time I discovered it. It's feature rich and got practically every song ever recorded in their library, and that's worth a lot to me.

Thankfully my big Denon AVR-4810 has what's called a "restorer" built in, that will sample compressed files and "restore" them to either 64 bit, 96 bit or even HQ, and it does an outstanding job of it so, I'll use it and be satisfied. Spotify does have a better interface, is feature rich and has a lot more music than Tidal. No military discount though, but then it's only $9.95 a month anyway so that's certainly no deal breaker.