Tidal - anyone else subscribed?

uglymusic

I just took the plunge and joined Tidal for the freebie period.

For me, the test (as well as the quality and reliability of the streams) is the availability of left-field music. My first discovery was an album by Most Other People Do The Killing that I hadn't heard. 

Generally the bias is away from Diana Krall, but the jazz section is a bit thin.

Anyone else have any experience with Tidal?

uglymusic

I've been doing some digging, and I'm excited. There's loads of free jazz and stuff I want to explore which isn't listed under jazz. 

I may be some time...

uglymusic

Freakin' Ugly Music overload!

Brumjam

If it's full of ugly music I will be avoiding it like the plague . On a serious note, is there a way to see their music library without having to register?

I'll be interested to see how stable the stream is Dave. Anecdotal evidence from other forums suggests it's not as stable as Spotify.

uglymusic

No you need to register, but you can cancel before it costs you anything.

On my office Mac the streaming is more stable in its own window in Chrome than using the Tidal app. I have tons of stuff running on the iMac, so it may be different on the Mac mini downstairs. 

uglymusic

An update for you, James (@Brumjam). The streaming isn't as stable as Spotify, but then it's shoving out a lot more data than Spotify.

However, we stream movies regularly from various sources - Netflix, Amazon On Demand, Curzon etc - and have far fewer problems than with Tidal, so I think some of the blame lies at Tidal's door.

The jury is currently out over whether small glitches are a deal breaker. I'm going to try an evening playing just from Tidal on the main system and see how it goes.

The music content is phenomenal, though.

Brumjam

Thanks Dave. I can get hold of Tidal via an app called ickStream in Squeezelite, so when I get a quiet evening I'll install this app and have a look at Tidal via a trial account.

We also stream via Amazon Prime and other services without a glitch, so I'd hope Tidal will be as stable, although I suppose it's not as mature when compared to the other streaming services.

uglymusic

What are you running on your Beaglebone Black James?

Brumjam

Currently running Squeezelite Dave. I don't know if it's the software or the hardware, but the BBB/Squeezelite
combo is far more responsive than my previous Pi/Volumio combo. Spotify works very well through Squeezelite.

uglymusic

I'll have a look. I don't know Squeezelite.

Brumjam

I got an email this morning announcing the launch of Deezer Elite....35 million tracks available in FLAC format at 1,400kbps. It can only be a matter of time before Spotify goes uncompressed [-O<

uglymusic

That's interesting. Suddenly the industry is focusing on quality. What a turnaround!

Or is it just that they feel they can't be seen not to offer uncompressed?

uglymusic

Final thought for the moment on Tidal. 

There were too many glitches for my liking so I cancelled while they sort it out. Maybe some Jay-Z cash will do the trick?

Yomanze

I'd love to see Tidal working as well as Spotify, and by this I mean reliability *and* with at least a good range as Spotify... I'd like to see Spotify doing lossless even more though.  

uglymusic

For my, admittedly odd at times, tastes I think Tidal is better.

I found loads of African, Scandinavian and Free Jazz material that I haven't found on Spotify. 

uglymusic

An update on Tidal.

I took a three-month MP3 subscription for the price of one offered by Tidal after I cancelled, and found enough stuff I like to make it worth trying the hi-fi subscription again.

It looks as if Tidal have got their shit together recently; the streaming is much more stable. Sounds pretty damned good, too!

Docfoster

I am seriously thinking of giving the trial a go.
Dave I would massively grateful ^:)^ if you could see what results come up on Tidal for the following:
Cymande
Scientist
Burning Spear
The Orb
Fat Freddy's Drop
The Stone Roses

8->

(The lure of "Scandinavian and Free Jazz material" is somewhat limited (to say the least for me.) )

uglymusic

Cymande - five albums

Scientist - 11 albums

Burning Spear - 43(!) albums

The Orb - 19 albums

Fat Freddy's Drop - six albums

The Stone Roses - nine albums

Counts include 'best ofs' and remasters.

Docfoster

OK. Well that's encouraging.
Thanks Dave!  \m/
I may try to get on it today or tomorrow!

uglymusic

Sounds great through the main system.

I set up a TOSLINK cable between the Apple Airport Express in the living room and the Young DAC and use AirPlay streaming from my iPad. I could have streamed via the Mac mini's browser (has to be Chrome), but this seems more straightforward, on balance.

Docfoster

I'll have it on the TFS.
Does it simply come through a browser or does Tidal have some sort of streaming app...?

uglymusic

There is a streaming app for OS X, but the browser was better.

I assume there's one available for Windoze, too.

Docfoster

Righto.
I suppose I'm thinking about the audio protocol with the soundcard. Ideally, I'd like to use ASIO (bi-passing Windows altogether) as I do with JRiver, or failing that WASAPI. I'll have to see what options, if any, are available...

uglymusic

I haven't got a clue. Sorry.

Give it a go and see.

Brumjam

I've been using Tidal for a couple of weeks now. There's stacks of music that is new to me which is great, but it's not as stable through Squeezelite compared to Spotify. Not sure if this is a problem with Squeezelite or Tidal. The quality is very good indeed.

sovereign

James, in terms of sound quality only, how would you say the two compare?

Cheers

uglymusic

@Brumjam James, how fast is your broadband, and are you streaming over wi-fi?

sovereign

Streaming, and I pay for the cheapest service, so I guess it's average, but wouldn't know off the top of my bald spot

Brumjam

Tidal sounds better to me James.

uglymusic

@sovereign For me, the sound quality is much better than Spotify, other James :-)

sovereign

Ill have to go for the 30 day trial, cheers chaps

uglymusic

@sovereign Tidal is more demanding of BB and wifi than Spotify. If you have a dual-band router, use the 5MHz band for streaming.

sovereign

Errrr..... I'll look at what ive got

uglymusic

Sorry about the geekspeak, but I did some wi-fi tweakery a while back, and it was all to the good ;-)

Docfoster

Like the fucktard I am, I still haven't sorted this.
But I will do...!