TIDAL

[Diapason]

I had a little TIDAL session at home a few days ago, and I sampled a few of the MQA titles. I thought of this thread immediately when, to my ears, the MQA version of Getz Gilberto is completely overblown and sounds like garbage. They may have also reversed the channels (I couldn't go back and check as I was running out the door). Returning to the CD quality version was a relief.

So yeah, some things sound "better" to my ears, but definitely not everything.

[markof]

I had a little TIDAL session at home a few days ago, and I sampled a few of the MQA titles. I thought of this thread immediately when, to my ears, the MQA version of Getz Gilberto is completely overblown and sounds like garbage. They may have also reversed the channels (I couldn't go back and check as I was running out the door). Returning to the CD quality version was a relief.

So yeah, some things sound "better" to my ears, but definitely not everything.

As an alternative to Tidal, Qobuz, the French streaming site and music store, offer cd and high res quality without lossy compression or additional DRM.
I've been a subscriber for the last three years and find the service to be fine. They have an excellent catalogue, especially for classical and jazz recordings, and their apps include the CD booklets for lots of albums.

I believe they have a one month trial if you're interested.

Mark

[Diapason]

Funny you should say that, markof, I spent quite a bit of time yesterday afternoon looking at Qobuz and trying to find out more about it.

I have a few disappointments with TIDAL which will probably mean I won't continue to pay for it once the trial period is over. I thought it might have a different enough catalogue to Spotify to make it essential, but for my tastes they're virtually identical. Classical is the big problem with both, as while there's a lot of stuff there, the smaller labels aren't generally well-represented. Another problem is that TIDAL is not playing nicely with my Chromecast Audio, which may seem like a silly thing, but its temperamental behaviour is annoying me.

Qobuz on the other hand genuinely does seem to be a different animal, and I will certainly sign up for a free trial in due course. If it can tick the classical box (and I've already recommended it to somebody else for exactly that reason who was very happy) then I might pull the trigger.

Sadly, the simple truth is that I'm just not buying many/any CDs any more, and I virtually never play the ones I own.

[Georgi]

Sorry to bring back this, but I did try Qobuz Studio today, and have some issues with the playback from my mini PC with Win10 to my DAC. Sound is good, sort off like it, so far, but I'm experiencing some drop offs, pop ups and skip ups during playback. Only when I use window app to play.
If I use Bluesound Node2i steaming directly to my preamp, playback is fine.
Any advice on that?
Thanks.

[markof]

Sorry to bring back this, but I did try Qobuz Studio today, and have some issues with the playback from my mini PC with Win10 to my DAC. Sound is good, sort off like it, so far, but I'm experiencing some drop offs, pop ups and skip ups during playback. Only when I use window app to play.
If I use Bluesound Node2i steaming directly to my preamp, playback is fine.
Any advice on that?
Thanks.

No problems here with Qobuz streaming to/from Auralic or iMac.

I have no windows experience but there are many experts in the computer audio forum here who may be able to help - you could try posting there.

Also, there is a Qobuz specific thread in the forum at Audiophile Style
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topi ... es-thread/

All the best, Mark

[Georgi]

I'm going to throw this here, just for more detail exponential.

https://youtu.be/pRjsu9-Vznc

[Sligolad]

Great watch Georgi...glad I never got caught up on that MQA bandwagon and Neil Young set the red flag for me to avoid it.
Hope Jack Dorsey gets to grips with Tidal and clears the decks....I wont hold my breath though!