kiwilistener Posted October 11, 2022 Posted October 11, 2022 I have a Spotify Premium account and a Tidal "Hifi" level account. Both cost $14.99NZD per month. So, which has the better sound reproduction? - Neither. Sound Given the audio equipment I'm using to compare the two services, the only audible conclusion I've be able to draw is that Spotify has a cleaner and slightly leaner sound while Tidal has a slightly fuller reproduction, but on several recordings that I have in the physical form, it is neither cleaner nor clearer than Spotify. In fact, the recordings sound somewhat veiled or muffled. In most instances both Spotify and my CD's, Flac files and Spotify all sounded cleaner than Tidal. Interface Here I have to give the nod to Tidal, Although the number of artists displayed in my library is only six wide and larger than on Spotify, being able to click on the artist list from the lefthand menu is superior to having to menu dive in Spotify. Visual Display Here I have to go with Spotify, more artists displayed in my listings and all of the artist images are displayed. Tidal for whatever reason doesn't have all the image data available that Spotify does, and while this may get better over time it really isn't acceptable. Home Screen Both services have a good offering, but I think that Spotify just has better organization in its presentation. Some of its play list offerings are definitely better than what I have encountered in Tidal and more accurately reflect my varied music tastes. Videos Here the clear winner is Tidal, however if I'm going to watch a wide variety of music videos, I will use YouTube or Vimeo. The variety and quality of some of the videos I've watched on Tidal aren't up to the image quality I can find for free on YouTube. Sadly, Spotify can only provide Podcasts which to me at least are entirely worthless. Connectivity and security. Both Tidal and Spotify apps work well with my main sound system as well as my Bluetooth amp in my garage and even with my wife's Kawai Piano. Both have the same or similar sharing abilities and streaming control, just as you would expect them to. Music library Tidal's advertising states they have a music library greater than 90 million tracks whilst Spotify states they have 80 million plus tracks. Unfortunately, Tidal's claim may well be unjustified. Take for example Dragon's 2006 album "Sunshine to Rain" nowhere to be seen on Tidal. In fact, Tidal only offers eight albums by Dragon while Spotify offers 24 albums. I've found other cases where there appears to be an incomplete library within Tidal. All of which makes for an annoying experience. Summary Taking all the above into account, even though I dislike the Spotify menu system I will stay with Spotify. It Feels like a far more mature application than Tidal does at the moment. I do like that Tidal's platform is better tailored for the artist with artists getting better financial returns than that of Spotify, something Spotify may have to address more closely as Tidal matures. For me regardless of whether the quality of sound is better or not with Tidal I have cancelled my subscription with Tidal. There are just too many problems with it at the moment to make it worth forking out a monthly subscription fee, even if the odd artist abandons Spotify aka Neil Young, I have the digital media to use for my listening pleasure. Spotify Home page, displayed on my 58 inch media TV Tidal Home page, displayed on my 58 inch media TV 1
TerryO Posted October 11, 2022 Posted October 11, 2022 (edited) You did mention neither and that is what I will go with. In various system I have tried many different streamers and DAC combinations at all different price points, either with Roon or without and Qobuz wins hands down in 90% of cases when it comes to SQ, but not always, occasionally you come across a song or album where Tidal sounds better, but that is rare. The strength of Tidal is it has a larger library than Qobuz, so if you don’t think Tidal’s library is big enough then this may not work for you. I have both as some artists which I enjoy listening to are not available on Qobuz. Quality over quantity. cheers, Terry Edited October 11, 2022 by TerryO 2
Braddles 63 Posted November 15, 2022 Posted November 15, 2022 On 11/10/2022 at 6:52 PM, eostre23 said: Quboz for quality definitely. It surprised me.
Batty Posted November 15, 2022 Posted November 15, 2022 I have unsubbed Spotify as I tend to use it for background music and finding new music to buy.
Kristian Kristiansen Posted November 16, 2022 Posted November 16, 2022 I diitched spotify when I learned the CEO was investing hundreds of millions of dollars - earned from underpaying artists - into US AI weapons tech designed to kill people... I went with Tidal, but I only use it in the car or to preview potential vinyl purchases.... or when i am too munted to safely operate a fully manual turntable 1 1
kiwilistener Posted November 16, 2022 Author Posted November 16, 2022 18 hours ago, Kristian Kristiansen said: I diitched spotify when I learned the CEO was investing hundreds of millions of dollars - earned from underpaying artists - into US AI weapons tech designed to kill people... I went with Tidal, but I only use it in the car or to preview potential vinyl purchases.... or when i am too munted to safely operate a fully manual turntable I hadn't seen anything about this in local media, but that's certainly enough for me to ditch Spotify. There's a plethora of other technologies he could invest in that's better for music lovers and artists and be of more humanitarian benefit. I wonder how many of the artists published on Spotify are aware of this or have the grit to pull their music off the platform.
pwstereo Posted November 16, 2022 Posted November 16, 2022 The Netflix movie, The Playlist, about how Spotify got started is also off-putting.
Kristian Kristiansen Posted November 16, 2022 Posted November 16, 2022 2 hours ago, kiwilistener said: I hadn't seen anything about this in local media, but that's certainly enough for me to ditch Spotify. There's a plethora of other technologies he could invest in that's better for music lovers and artists and be of more humanitarian benefit. I wonder how many of the artists published on Spotify are aware of this or have the grit to pull their music off the platform. it didn't get much pickup here - but yes agreed... i haven't yet pulled my music - but i doubt he'd notice the $5 hit that would bring lol https://www.nme.com/en_au/news/music/artists-criticise-spotify-ceo-daniel-eks-investment-in-ai-defence-tech-3108277#:~:text=Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek's,he was joining the board.
Recommended Posts