Tidal sound quality

Posted by: Graham Clarke on 18 October 2015

Firstly, I'd like to applaud Naim for what a great job they have done seamlessly integrating Tidal into the Naim app and the fact that for most the upgrade has been pain free.  Also, having so much music at your fingertips is eye opening (or maybe that should be ear opening).  Pretty much Naim had to move in this direction or they faced being left behind by competitors.

 

But there is a "however"...

 

I'm underwhelmed by the sound quality.  Even though the played rips show up as FLAC 44.1 I think it a real stretch to label it "CD quality".  I listened to around 10 tracks and all of them had lost their sparkle. A couple sounded truly awful. The soundstage has also collapsed back into the speakers.  Rather than a sound that fills the entire room, Tidal sounds like two flat point sources where the speakers are located.

 

I'll continue to play with it for the 90 trial, but I doubt I will continue after that.  £20/month seems a lot when by comparison Netflix with 4K is only £9/month or £7.50 for standard HD which I suspect is what most choose.

 

Maybe my system is a harsh test for Tidal (and likely any other streaming service) and arguably the SQ is a factor of how Tidal have stored the music rather than it being a Naim issue.  I'd just hoped the gap would be smaller.

 

What are other people observing, SQ wise?

 

Graham

 

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by GraemeH
Originally Posted by supmario:

Any idea why certain albums disapeared from the Tidal? ASIA Phoenix or Adrenaline Mob for example?

Burned out?

 

G

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by Disposable hero

Every reply about the TIDAL pricing on any of the related threads is quoting the £20 per month price.  Has anyone just gone for the 6 month package which works out a bit cheaper, especially if you have reckoned on using TIDAL for the long haul?

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by Harty601
Originally Posted by Disposable hero:

Every reply about the TIDAL pricing on any of the related threads is quoting the £20 per month price.  Has anyone just gone for the 6 month package which works out a bit cheaper, especially if you have reckoned on using TIDAL for the long haul?

Not as yet, but will be tempted to when the trial is over (if that option is still available then).

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by Disposable hero
Originally Posted by Harty601:
Originally Posted by Disposable hero:

 

Not as yet, but will be tempted to when the trial is over (if that option is still available then).

The encouraging thing for me would be when people say that they have never bought another CD since starting to use TIDAL, this is a big benefit.  Also if there is going to be general consensus that you can get enough satisfaction from their sound quality, bearing in mind that Naim owners are a tough crowd, it just might be worth a punt on the 6 month deal.  For me this would be in a computer to DAC system, no streamer or network player just yet.  Hopefully in 2016 there may be a new range of streamers and if there were a compact one that would be great. Gosh its all so exciting!

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by supmario

Can Tidal be searched by title not only by the artist?

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by Pev
Originally Posted by Disposable hero:

The encouraging thing for me would be when people say that they have never bought another CD since starting to use TIDAL, this is a big benefit.  Also if there is going to be general consensus that you can get enough satisfaction from their sound quality,

 

Be encouraged - I haven't bought a CD since February last year when I started with Qobuz, now with Tidal.

 

The SQ on most stuff is identical to a ripped CD but some albums are streamed at lower quality. Overall I'm happy - I tried Spotify but the sound was rather poor - lossless is fine to my ears. The access to such a huge library of music far outweighs the occasional niggle.

You'll never get consensus on sound quality, try it and see for yourself.

 

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by Steve J
Originally Posted by Graham Clarke:
Originally Posted by Tony2011:
You know Graham is serious when he refuses to pay £20 for Tidal when he has just ordered 3x300DRs. Good for you!

Well, what's the point of having a really good system and then feeding it with a sub-standard source?

 

Clearly it's not about the £20/month, it's about optimising the system's capabilities

But you use an NDS.   

 

Only kidding.

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by ChrisH
Originally Posted by supmario:

Can Tidal be searched by title not only by the artist?

Yes, it's an open type search which as you type shows you the matches split down into Artists, Tracks, Videos and Albums.

Give it a try and see, if not via the Naim App try it via the Tidal App itself.

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by Minky
Originally Posted by Graham Clarke:

Firstly, I'd like to applaud Naim for what a great job they have done seamlessly integrating Tidal into the Naim app and the fact that for most the upgrade has been pain free.  Also, having so much music at your fingertips is eye opening (or maybe that should be ear opening).  Pretty much Naim had to move in this direction or they faced being left behind by competitors.

 

But there is a "however"...

 

I'm underwhelmed by the sound quality.  Even though the played rips show up as FLAC 44.1 I think it a real stretch to label it "CD quality".  I listened to around 10 tracks and all of them had lost their sparkle. A couple sounded truly awful. The soundstage has also collapsed back into the speakers.  Rather than a sound that fills the entire room, Tidal sounds like two flat point sources where the speakers are located.

 

I'll continue to play with it for the 90 trial, but I doubt I will continue after that.  £20/month seems a lot when by comparison Netflix with 4K is only £9/month or £7.50 for standard HD which I suspect is what most choose.

 

Maybe my system is a harsh test for Tidal (and likely any other streaming service) and arguably the SQ is a factor of how Tidal have stored the music rather than it being a Naim issue.  I'd just hoped the gap would be smaller.

 

What are other people observing, SQ wise?

 

Graham

 

After listening again last night to a wide variety of music, I'm hearing exactly what Graham describes. The sound stage that is normally very deep and wide has gone and the air and lightness of touch (the "sparkle") that I'm accustomed to has been stripped away. A fantastic service for sampling music but so is Spotify, which I get for free.

 

Definitely looking forward to the day I can switch off my NAS, but we aren't there yet.

Posted on: 20 October 2015 by Nigel 66

For once I'm happy that I have a 'bottom end' system as Tidal is sounding very good as I listen to the "New Crossroads: Blues, Soul and Rock" playlist.

 

SQ here is very acceptable to my ears, and whilst I appreciate that my 112x/150x may not be as impressive as most systems here, and therefore will not highlight the flaws that others are hearing, I now have access to a much larger music library than my 1,500 CDs and 1,000 LPs, and for the next 3 months it's all free. 

 

So for the moment, I'm not obsessing about the streaming rates/SQ too much and just enjoying the music.

 

Yours happily

 

Nigel

Posted on: 21 October 2015 by Steve Jones

My main issue with Tidal is not the SQ but with all the pauses/disconnections you get around 8pm, I am listening quite happily for hours then we get to this point and it can't get through a single track without pausing. So I just give up and return to the NAS

For £20 per month why bother just buy the CDs

 

Note: I have no problem with netflix at this time and broadband checker at this time said I had 30MB

 

Steve

Posted on: 21 October 2015 by nigelb

Ummm...

 

Not had this problem yet but I own a pub and am normally busy at 8.00 pm so I may sneak a listen at this time to see if I get the same problem.

Posted on: 21 October 2015 by BigH47

I had the track stop and the spinning waiting icon earlier , didn't see what the time was. It didn't self resolve so went to the next track and music started again.

Posted on: 23 October 2015 by nigelb
Originally Posted by Steve Jones:

My main issue with Tidal is not the SQ but with all the pauses/disconnections you get around 8pm, I am listening quite happily for hours then we get to this point and it can't get through a single track without pausing. So I just give up and return to the NAS

For £20 per month why bother just buy the CDs

 

Note: I have no problem with netflix at this time and broadband checker at this time said I had 30MB

 

Steve

I have just experienced the same problem you have with Tidal, but at 4.00pm. Tidal has been unlistenable today. I am seriously thinking again if I will subscribe after the free trial. I will have to see how often this problem rears its ugly head. Come on Tidal you need to get this sorted!

Posted on: 23 October 2015 by Klyde

We've been with Tidal since before the official launch, and have been very impressed by them. I've had occasional problems with buffering, but nothing major.

 

Today however, has been our worst day ever, with Tidal.

 

I'm no computer geek, or streaming expert, but could this have anything to do with the current DDOS attacks?

Posted on: 23 October 2015 by nigelb

It does seem that several of us have had particular problems today with Tidal. I did check Spotify today and it streamed fine. So if it is a cyber attack related problem or t'internet problem why has it only affected the Tidal servers?

 

I am sure those with more IT expertise may have a more informed opinion.

Posted on: 23 October 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

I doubt it, as any Web service provider there are always attempted infiltration actions and Tidal is no different, nothing special, it's just part of the landscape of being on the web. In fact you will probably see your home access being scanned from time to time if you knew how to look. Tidal for me has been better for me today than other recent days. 

The time to worry on Tidal when they are having major issues is when you get the login error on the Naim app.. That could well mean the authentication server has overloaded or temporarily locked out. We saw this a couple of times during beta.

Posted on: 23 October 2015 by Hmack

Klyde,

 

As Simon has said, there will probably be many dozens of DDOS attacks on various websites daily. It just so happens that there has been a particularly well publicised attack on a particular service provider over the last couple of days.

 

Of course it is possible that the Tidal servers we access have been impacted by a specific attack today, but we will only know if Tidal report this to be the case.

 

Like you I have had horrendous problems on Tidal today (from both the Naim and Linn Tidal services). I have no idea why this should be the case, and strange that Simon seems not to have experienced the same problem.  

 

Like Nigel, I too have never experienced any similar problems with Spotify Premium. 

Posted on: 23 October 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Hmack, I just experienced a 5 sec glitch......

Posted on: 24 October 2015 by ChrisByrd

I find the sound quality OK in Tidal and the selection of classical music really isn't that bad - they have a lot of the music recommended on BBC Radio 3's Record Review for example.  A big but though is the lack of gapless playback.  Roon managed to get around this, so hopefully Naim will be able to in due course.

Posted on: 06 November 2015 by JohnW

I just posted a complaint on Roon/Tidal forum concerning disrupted streaming of HIFI quality from Tidal. It is like a random machine-gun of music versus silences. It has only started in the past week or so. It does not appear to affect the compressed AAC streams, only FLAC files.  

 

It it is unlistenable. I have been paying the high monthly rate for HIFI quality and was pleased with the sound thru my ND5XS until now. 

 

This was the ongoing problem experienced with the higher level Spotify service which is why I quit it as soon a Tidal showed promise. 

 

Looks like these services are only suited to MP3 level output. Sigh......

 

Posted on: 07 November 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Try Tidal HiFi on a Sonos, on my modest  3.8/0.4 ADSL link in the last two weeks I have not had one glitch or interruption. (I also use upstream CoS prioritisation on my router) I feed the Sonos SPDIF to a Naim streamer  for reclocking. Also this way Sonos local disk replay and Tidal sound effectively equivalent... Very impressive..

BTW I don't think you can get MP3 from Tidal, i have only ever seen FLAC and AAC.

Simon