Anyone use "Tidal"?
- Thread starter Dentman
- Start date
I looked up their catalog and found very few things I felt the need to hear and even fewer I cared to hear in high res.
Add to that the FACT that high resolution audio is a farce foisted on us in our pursuit of musical listening aural orgasms and I see no point.
I see no point in "hi-rez" audio, and MQA is a solution to a problem not a single human can hear.
But, without a selection of music I desire listening to on a regular basis, I would rarely use such a service even if the quality were audibly better.
No, I am saying that I have thousands of CDs I like and they sound perfect. Also, if I want more music I can buy it on CD. But, Tidal's main selling point is High Resolution music, not mere lossless. They also offer lots of MQA encoded audio. High resolution and MQA is of no value since neither is perceptively better than CD.
Amazon, however, gives me very good audio quality which on some poorly recorded music which I love is indistinguishable to CD. It also gives me 92% of everything i love plus millions of tracks i am certain i will live as much as my collection.
If my joy is the music, I need the music I love.
If you think you'll love the music selection on Tidal, and the price justifies the selection, then it is a good option. But if you only love a small portion of their limited selection, and you have much of what they offer already on CD, then it doesnt make sense at all.
It is also worth noting that Amazon Music and Apple Music use compression engines which are vastly superior to the free encoders we are all familiar with and run on our computers. An MP3 or AAC from Amazon or Aplle with a bitrate of 192kbps is going to sound as good as what we encode on our computers with free encoders at 320kbps.
I discourage dismissing all forms of lossy audio encoding. If you recall, I was violently against lossy audio encoders 15 years ago. Times have changed and the new licensed encoders are amazing.
It is also worth noting that Amazon Music and Apple Music use compression engines which are vastly superior to the free encoders we are all familiar with and run on our computers. An MP3 or AAC from Amazon or Aplle with a bitrate of 192kbps is going to sound as good as what we encode on our computers with free encoders at 320kbps.
I discourage dismissing all forms of lossy audio encoding. If you recall, I was violently against lossy audio encoders 15 years ago. Times have changed and the new licensed encoders are amazing.
Sitting with baited breath and a fresh bowl of buttered popcorn...
