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HiFi Music: Listening, Sources, Tracks?
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keyboard_arrow_downThomasCarman
0
Jun 15, 2023
If you prefer Lossless audio, you'd better choose Tidal. Because Tidal streams music at up to 384kHz, 24-bit while Spotify's audio quality ranges from 24kbps to 320kbps. And yes, sure, you need to subscribe to Tidal HiFi Plus to enjoy the best audio quality between 2304-9126kbps. If you subscribe to Tidal HiFi, you can enjoy audio at 1411kbps. As for free tier, you can only enjoy music at 160kbps. By the way, you can use DRmare Tidal Downloader to download music from Tidal without a paid subscription.
diegoriesco
0
Feb 7, 2022
My 5p: I'm a subscriber to both Spotify and Tidal Hi-Fi. I use Spotify on my portable devices — old iPhone with a jack output, sounds pretty good with good IEMs) or with a Hidiz external DAC with Android phones. When sitting before my PC, I use Tidal, an iFI nano DAC/AMP and a pair of HD-650s. Listening to Tidal vs Spotify with the iFI and the six-fiftys makes a difference, but I think most of it is due to the fact that Tidal can stream a bit-perfect flow to the DAC, whereas when using Spotify you can't bypass Windows drivers. And I can't tell the difference between the Master and the Hi-Fi tiers in Tidal.
JdlM
2
Feb 6, 2022
Qobuz or Tidal masters(mqa) and a good pair of inear monitors or headphones,and a good dac…and a good headphone amp! Or apple music lossless
VincentLeclerc
1
Feb 1, 2021
For me, I can't really tell the difference between Tidal and Spotify. I'm more of a music discovery guy. Finding music is more important than the quality, and sometimes I'll download Spotify to MP3 and save them to my computer for my music collection.
Eastern-Drive
0
Nov 24, 2022
VincentLeclercSpotify is indeed the most popular music service, but when talking about high-quality songs, Tidal should be the best. And Tidal now has over 90 million tracks, while Spotify has 82 million. Also, you can use NoteBurner Tidal Music Downloader to download Tidal HiFi & MQA songs to computer.
sephula
99
Aug 31, 2019
First of all, Tidal has more songs than Spotify.
Second of all, Tidal offers a free 60 day trial if you sign up for Hi-Fi. While on Hi-Fi, you're able to switch your playback between all 4 different quality tiers. You can switch on the fly for A/B testing.
Going from Standard (MP3-128) to Premium (AAC-256 / MP3-320 equivalent) to Hi-Fi (FLAC 44.1/16) to Master (MQA 96/24) I can hear a major improvement with each step up in tier. To my ears, it's no small margin, either.
Is it worth the extra $10/month, though? Well, you could always get a couple of friends to join the Family Plan with you, which cost $30/mo. Split 3 ways, that's only $10/mo each, which is the same price as all the other services. If you can mange it, you can have up to 6 members in a Family Plan, and that's only $5/mo ea.
Also, you can use PayPal, and PayPal has a feature that lets you instantly send money to another PayPal account. So, you don't have to worry about collecting cash from your friends. You can even set it up to automatically send the money each month. You can also bill them. It really takes the sweat out of it.
Getting your friends involved means you'll be able to share playlists, talk about stuff, and get to enjoy a more fun and social listening experience. So, Tidal does not have to be expensive, if you're willing to share.
I recommend you start a 60 day trial, and decide for yourself. Get your friends involved, and ask their opinions. You never know, they might already have a subscription, and be willing to let you join their family. You'll be helping each other out, in the end.
(Edited)
rongon
50
Jul 12, 2019
Quick comment...
I think it depends on the kind of music you listen to. I listen to a lot of acoustic jazz and symphonic, chamber music. When I listen to rock music (I like Radiohead) I hear a lot of dynamics compression, so there's a distinct lack of dynamic range (difference between quietest and loudest sounds). Contemporary pop music is just loud, all the time. That means having this music in high-res audio formats is a waste. There will be no difference between CD quality or anything higher resolution. BUT... If you listen to high quality masterings of good acoustic recordings, with 12dB or more dynamic range, then you *might* hear a minor difference between a CD quality FLAC and a 24-96k FLAC. (Maybe.) I find that I hear only the slightest difference between 16-44.1k and 24-96k, but it's worth it for me. I can't for the life of me hear any difference between 24-96k and 24-192k. So, long story short, if all you listen to is pop recordings, even 'acoustic' pop music, save your money and go with something of standard 'CD quality' res. Just my humble opinion. FWIW.
psuKinger
110
Jul 16, 2019
rongon+1. You can put me down for this too... With just one (already discussed elsewhere in this thread) caveat:
*Sometimes* there are differences between the 24-bit "Hi-Rez" release and the CD/MP3/etc other than just the sample rate and bit depth. Not always. But sometimes HiRez gets a "better mastering" built to sound better for"audiophiles" who aren't listening as background music but REALLY focusing on a quiet space using good gear. The CD release is (sometimes) made to sound "better" in people's cars, where there's lots of ambient background noise and people don't want to be fiddling with the dial while the background noise changes as a function of how they drive...
When it's purely apples to apples and the CD is the same mastering as the HiRez, my experiences and opinions are nearly identical to yours...
Royaume
21
Jul 11, 2019
Hi Duncan,
The best advice i can give is this:
Can you hear a difference?
With G6 > MCTH > HD800 the difference between lossless and lossy audio formats is painfully obvious. Its still very clear running G6 to AKG k553.
MP3 is by far the worst. Harsh, whistling and pathetic.
AAC and MP4 just lack any kind of engaging texture, soundstage, timbre or realism.
Moving up to high res yields improvements, but only really on well recorded, mixed and mastered material.
Thats what i hear, with my equipment. Maybe to you it wont matter? Please tell us more about how you listen. It could be that there are other areas that you could make more significant improvements such as your DAC and amp?
In brief, dont ask. Try it yourself! If there is a difference, you'll hear it!
(Edited)
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- Does streaming high quality on Spotify count?
- Do I need to use a service like Tidal?
- What details should I look for besides the music being "lossless"?
- Can I truly get the most out of HiFi music with standard equipment?
There has to be more to this than I realize and I'll put it to you all to let me know. And if you have links/examples to tracks as well that would be awesome so please share. 🗣THANK-YOU