Tidal launches HiFi Plus

[GeoffB]

Thanks for your thoughts and replies. I have now cancelled Spotify, continuing my trial with Tidal but have also started a 1 month trial with Qobuz. My initial impression is that I can hear little difference between the cd quality of Tidal and the hifi of Qobuz, but I can detact an improvement from Spotify with both Tidal and Qobuz. So i have a month to make my mind up. The user interface with Qobuz is crude but serviceable. It might make more sense to continue with Qobuz where hifi is obtainable through my Uniti Atom without need of an external DAC or Roon. I didnt rely on the new music recommended by Spotify, preferring to search myself, and can live without lyrics. I made the point earlier that all of these services appear to change frequently; it is all so impermanent and in 1 year it might all be very different.

1 issue is that occasionally the Chromecast stream drops out whilst listening to Qobuz through the Qobuz app, but works flawlessly through the NAIM app. I’ll explore poential reasons online; at least its not my internet which would drop on both apps.

Thanks again.

[JimDog]

@Blondy

Tidal Hi-Fi Plus offers Hi-Res up to 9216 kbps 24bit/192 Khz

I just got an email (as a former Tidal subscriber) offering me 3 months of HiFi+ tier for £2.

As it includes non-MQA hires files, I will try it again to compare Tidal and Qobuz on SQ, as my system is very different to what it was last time I had Tidal.

[Blondy]

Jim,
Thanks, I am still subscribed to Tidal’s highest res. But whenever I stream any Tidal track via my Naim NDX2 quality changes to Hifi. I will be happy to get any track name that you manager to stream form Tidal in your Naim gear at their highest resolution to try here. I guess others will be happy to get that info as well.

Waiting for your updates, Thanks

[Suedkiez]

@GeoffB

1 issue is that occasionally the Chromecast stream drops out whilst listening to Qobuz through the Qobuz app, but works flawlessly through the NAIM app.

When using the Naim app, it is not using Chromecast. And Chromecast buffers are small, leading to dropouts especially with hi-res material. (When using the Naim app, it uses the 50 MB buffer in the Atom, so is more resilient). See this post:

NDX2 Qobuz via Naim app or Qobuz app + Chromecast?

HI @LJS, When using Chromecast the stream is bit perfect and native upto 192kHz/24bit. The downside of Chromecast + Qobuz is that it’s not really designed to run at such high sample rates. The buffer sizes are far too small (hence prone to drop outs) and the Chromecast stack is very inefficient so uses nearly all the CPU time in the streamer. Not only is this bad for unit response times, but not also great for sound quality as the electric noise floor of the product increases as everythin…

[JimDog]

Ah - so are you saying that despite the table in your post above, in reality you can find no non-MQA hires files (i.e. above 16/44)?

I’m not that bothered either way, as I’ll still be interested in comparing Tidal non-MQA to my existing Qobuz SQ, just in case Tidal sounds better.

Hires is extremely overrated - I doubt that I could reliably tell the difference in a blind test on my system.

[JimDog]

So far compared Blue Doom. All versions I could see on Tidal are in 16/44, but Qobuz has it at 24/96.

The Qobuz sounds wonderful.

The Tidal sounds bloody good too, but if forced to choose I’d stay with Qobuz.

It’s hard to get my dislike of MQA and the knowledge that Tidal is lower res out of my head when the difference in SQ is so small (or non-existent).

I also compared Groovin High by Keith, both services in 16/44, and possibly the Qobuz had a tiny edge, but probably I could not tell them apart reliably in a blind test.