TIDAL

It's not at all a con! I would be paying for unlimited access to a huge collection of music, and what I get is the experience of being able to listen to that music. I don't "own" anything after going to a concert; doesn't mean I'm paying for nothing. Music is inherently transient. Imagine someone said to you that for £10 a month you could borrow any cds you fancied from Tower Records in Oxford Street .. (or wherever) .. it is a wonderful model. People with large cd collections might be annoyed by it of course, because it devalues their collections - a streaming subscriber can listen to any cd a rich cd collector has got for very little money.

I'm not rich or owning a large collection but at least half of my collection is not available on any one streaming service at present. Plus if you go to the trouble of sourcing the right recording (remaster or original) how do you guarantee that level of fidelity with a streaming service that knows not a lot about the number of versions of any one release. You get to hear the one they have.

I contacted Qobuz about a couple of albums they have, which I don't currently own, one had substituted the 1st track of the album for a poor quality live version(!) and the other was missing the last track completely! Strangely Amazon's mp3 is also missing the last track of the 2nd album in question if you buy the album, leading me to ask Qobuz if the one Qobuz has is actually an mp3 upsample (it also has totally wrong cover art, like the Amazon one) I'm still in the process of trying to get them to answer a straight question on that.

That's very interesting, I hope they come back to you with an explanation and look forward to learning what they say. 

I am sure you can hear straight away if a PCM track is an MP3 re-encode. The point about cover art and track running being the same on Amazon and Qobuz but different from your Cd suggests they are both using the same master as provided by the publisher. I don't think streaming companies have time to sit there ripping CDs to then steam them.. But will stream the master as provided to them by the distributor/publisher.  Qobuz shows the publisher and date in the album info .. It sounds like it's different from the CD master  you have. Listening to Tidal I often can chose many different masters for a track.. However Tidal as far as I am aware doesn't list the publisher and publish date.. Which can it a bit trial and error between versions unlike Qobuz.

Yes I will Steve. The Amazon download (which I wouldn't have bought anyway) is no longer listed now, I got a quick response and thanks for the notification. Qobuz have yet to get back to me and the release is still there when I search with their app.

Maybe if you are familiar with the music, this particular release is from the 80s and I never owned it (as it was out of print quickly) It's also Electronic. I'm currently not streaming Qobuz, and not buying an incomplete mp3 so as to be able to do said comparison and then let the 'CD quality' vendor know what they should be able to tell me without delay.

There is a difference between having access and collecting. Choice is good. People who prefer a particular method or dislike another should not be discouraged from saying so. The post I commented on earlier sought to censor and used a deliberately narrow definition of "streaming" to do so. Rather silly IMO.

Ah right. Thought so. 

Fiction and self appointed mods. Sheesh....

I really can't see what all the fuss is about, if Naim have the resource and inclination to implement any of the streaming providers they see fit how does that affect those who don't like / want streaming, just don't use it 

I have found spotify useful for playing out of print Delux editions such as the four disc version of Weller at the BBC, then used Qobuz to download the album, the circle complete?

I've now tracked an old LPT to play vinyl on, seems u can have your finger in all the pies if you wish.

I must confess that I have succumbed to the comfort of a streaming service. TIDAL is still the best in terms of SQ IMO (I tried them all). Running natively on my Linn Akurate streamer plugged into my Audio Note 2.1x DAC, it actually sounds quite decent

Now if Naim would integrate TIDAL into their streamers, I would switch from my Linn

Wirbeltier, 

Have you compared both Tidal and Deezer?

Thanks!

+1  I've been thinking about the Linn Majik but I'm holding out hope as well that Naim will integrate Tidal soon.

I agree that there is a big difference between streaming and owning music...

However, I really like my Tidal.  Qobuz has a slightly more classical orientated catalogue but it's up to you to find out.  You can cancel both subscriptions immediately, so no harm done.

But remember, the so called 'lossless' streams on Tidal are not always that lossless: quality may vary...

Hey

Yes I have and TIDAL wins hands down. But I am sure that the integration in the Linn streamer plays a role. No wireless connection necessary except for controlling it.

That would most likely be the difference then. Had Tidal but I think Deezer is a much better product. With 10 million more titles, I was finding albums and artists not in Tidal.  Also, when Tidal was taken over by Jay Z, all my recommendations suddenly became R&B and Hip Hop.

Hopefully Naim will integrate both Tidal and Deezer in their products in the near future.

I agree re. number of titles. Although Tidal has some nice curated playlists and are more on the independent side of music. Missing titles can also be due to the artist refusing to be available there (see Metallica et al). In all cases, the user interface of Tidal sucks. It would be great if Naim could integrate a couple of more services, the elimination of wireless really is a good thing. I think they owe it to quality.