After RDIO, where to next for you?

[Condorsat]

Man... All the Tidal is doomed stuff out there is speculation from a few critics and regurgitated over and over elsewhere on the web. Tidal isn't floundering in my opinion. They just released an update about the implementing of MQA moving forward in early 2016. More companies are getting on board now, like Pioneer and Mytek in addition to Meridian. I think it could be game changing — seriously.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/tidal-to-launch-hi-res-audio-streaming-in-2016

- Woody

Just finished watching an hour YouTube video from RFAF 15 about that. Video covers information about the current status of Tidal & details about MQA.

 

[+48V]

[sigh] As one of the most staunch Rdio evangelists here, I’m relegated to fallback to what I’ve had in my quiver but never used as daily drivers.

Thanks to some industry relationships, I’ve had Comp accounts for Spotify Premium and Google Play Music for +/- 2 years. Yet I always paid for Rdio because, well…it was just that much better than any of the other choices…including the ones I receive gratis.

I imported most of my collection to Spotify simply as a means of preservation. So that is breathing room to save some obscure gems and setlists until something better comes along.

Spoiler

In a twist of fate, I received an email from an affiliate on Nov. 17 (6 days prior to the rdio BK notice) offering an eternal Comp account to dealers (me) for Tidal. FWIW, Tidal has partnered with Audioengine and is offering a 90 free trial of Tidal on select products to consumers. So tell Santa if you're in the market.

So there’s that. heh….I’m a pig in gratis hamburger both fat and lean still moaning about the loss of rdio steak.

Looking forward to Pandora’s 2016 on-demand effort.

 

[uofmtiger]

Man... All the Tidal is doomed stuff out there is speculation from a few critics and regurgitated over and over elsewhere on the web. Tidal isn't floundering in my opinion. They just released an update about the implementing of MQA moving forward in early 2016. More companies are getting on board now, like Pioneer and Mytek in addition to Meridian. I think it could be game changing — seriously.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/tidal-to-launch-hi-res-audio-streaming-in-2016

- Woody

There is also a common sense aspect to it which is more than just trusting some critics. They, according to the article, are on their third CEO in eight months and they are in a market where nearly all of the players are losing money. Tidal has one of the smaller subscriber bases, so it isn't a stretch to think they might be in trouble.

The MQA feature has been in the works for a long time, so I never thought it would be cancelled while Tidal had their doors open. I am sure that some of these companies think it is another avenue for audiophile money, but that doesn't mean it will keep Tidal above water in the long run. Tidal says that they would like to keep the price where it is, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them charge even more for this tier.

Personally, I wouldn't let the possibility of future shut down persuade me from subscribing if I wanted lossless audio. I would just ride it out and hope for the best. The only downside is that you might lose playlists or favorites that you put together and lose the data they collected to make suggestions (if Tidal does that now).

 

[+48V]

I am sure that some of these companies think it is another avenue for audiophile money, but that doesn't mean it will keep Tidal above water in the long run

QFT.

Hi-Fi and MQA are noble pursuits and a great "value add" in today's music geek market. But the end all is garnering masses of "could give a shit" eyeballs (ears) without parenthesis on the bottom line of your ledger. The Audiophilia niche as we know it will not save the day today. But it's continued pursuit to become a standard in spite of itself and expense is righteous.

I wouldn't let the possibility of future shut down persuade me from subscribing if I wanted lossless audio.

QFT2. Party like it's 1999.

 

[Bob Clobber]

Thanks for the reply. It says a lot that you posted to say that you're giving it a shot. I've been a subscriber since the first day it was availible stateside.

I see you have a GF Tubedac-11. Tube rolled it yet? PM me if you haven't, I have some great 6DJ8/6922/7308 tubes in my stash. I've owned 2 DAC-09's and 1 DAC-11.

- Woody

Yeah, Tidal getting a shot, largely due to the Squeezebox support. However... I got a new phone yesterday and it came with a six month free trial of Google Play Music. Ultimately, it will come down to whose library will suit my musical tastes better. A recent discovery of mine is Bill Frisell, and both have about 40 of his albums. That's a lot of listening to do!
MQA looks interesting, but not something that appeals to the masses, IMHO.

 

[ictwoody]

MQA looks interesting, but not something that appeals to the masses, IMHO.

We're not the masses. It appeals to me.

Since MQA piggy backs on the streams there really is no reason not to implement it if you're a streaming service. Obviously Tidal is the partner for its launch, but there is no reason to think it will stay exclusive. That would be like Spotify saying they don't need to offer premium with 320kbps streams cause Mog/Beats/Apple did it first, or cable companies not offering HD service cause someone else already did.

Hopefully MQA might be the beginning of raising the lowest common denominator. 320kpbs as a minimum...

- Woody

 

[Condorsat]

I found Bob Stewart's discussion of MQA to be really fascinating. Had to watch the YouTube video twice (Stewart's presentation) in order to grasp it.

Hope this won't end up being (as Chris Connaker) puts it .. "A solution, looking for a problem".

It will have to be accepted by the masses in order to succeed ... that was mentioned on the panel. Houston we have a problem.

The fact that a really good web site like RDIO can fail ... takes the wind out of your sails and makes you wonder.

 

[Bob Clobber]

Playing around with Google, I downloaded Music Manager. I am in the process of uploading 20,000 tracks from my hard drive. Google says they will match songs on their server with mine to avoid uploading duplicates. Should be interesting, as many of my tracks are vinyl rips. Many are not available on any streaming service. If I can access my entire collection over the interwebs, this is a BIG WIN.

 

[chicks]

Now that Apple Music on Sonos integration date has been announced, I've restarted the AM sub. AM does a really good job of putting together playlists and suggestions based on your previous plays. We'll see how good the integration is, expect it will be minimal at first, with gradual enhancements over time.

One thing I don't like about AM is the lack of which means you can never get rid of an album/artist that you played by accident, and absolutely hate. Maybe I'm missing something, but all I see is the heart icon...

 

[jhoyt]

Now using Tidal, 320K AAC+. On free trial, $10/month after that. So far so good. Sound is at least as good as Rdio, app features seem to be OK.

I guess I'll ride the Tidal train for as long as it goes! (Or until something better comes along...)

 

[Condorsat]

Now using Tidal, 320K AAC+. On free trial, $10/month after that. So far so good. Sound is at least as good as Rdio, app features seem to be OK.

I guess I'll ride the Tidal train for as long as it goes! (Or until something better comes along...)

Questions ... I can see from the web player (preview) that Neil Young is on Tidal ... are his albums available on the 320k AAC $10 per month tier?

During the trial period ... are you able to sample both the AAC & CD quality tier? Or are you only aloud to access the AAC tier.

 

[Anchorless]

I'm pretty blown away by Tidal, to be honest. I was leery of streaming until T-Mobile introduced their "no-data" streaming plan, so I decided to give Tidal a go. The quality is top notch, and the catalog is impressive. I kind of wish it had a better interface with grouping, genre search, etc., but if you know what you're looking for, it works okay enough.

I'll ride it out. I can always go back to my rips.

 

[WillVT]

I just signed up for the Tidal free trial. A word of warning, I first signed up for the 320kb service, then noticed that the lossless trial was also 30 day. So, I hit upgrade, which cut my trial to two weeks. I asked customer support, and they said if you upgrade mid trial, it cuts it in half. They did add back the two week though, which was nice.

I am liking the service so far. The lossless sounds great, even just through my phone. Considering the Chrome Audio thingy, as a better way to stream to my main system.

I also just noticed that I had to go into Settings on both my phone and my browser, to actually put it in lossless mode. Both were in 320 by default. Seems strange. Maybe because of my upgrade?

 

[CKDC]

Never mind. Please ignore.

 

[Condorsat]

Okay ... time for me to try something new ... signed up for Tidal (320k AAC) today ... nice music catalog (some albums that are not on Spotify) & sounds great on my PC rig. Leaving Spotify for now ... maybe I will go back some day , maybe not.

Like the UI ... especially the way the front album art work expands to fill up 40% of the PC LCD screen.

 

[chicks]

Apple Music is now in beta inside the Sonos app. Pretty slick integration. I do like their curated playlists better than the automated ones other providers use. Their "For You" is excellent, too, pretty much reads my mind, no clunkers so far. They've even added a Songza-like "Activities" section, with several jazz playlists. Cool.

But, Google now offers a two-fer, Google Play Music and YT Music. There's a LOT of stuff on YouToob that isn't in available anywhere else, live concerts and such. However... It bugs me no end that YT Music, even set to Audio Only mode, won't cast to the ChromeCast Audio, even with a paid subscription! That's just dumb, Google! And while the Google Music app is integrated into Sonos, and can even cast to Sonos natively, YT Music isn't/won't.

Subscribed to both for now. If YT Music gets integrated into Sonos, the decision would be a lot easier...

 

[Vintagear]

Man... All the Tidal is doomed stuff out there is speculation from a few critics and regurgitated over and over elsewhere on the web. Tidal isn't floundering in my opinion. They just released an update about the implementing of MQA moving forward in early 2016. More companies are getting on board now, like Pioneer and Mytek in addition to Meridian. I think it could be game changing — seriously.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/tidal-to-launch-hi-res-audio-streaming-in-2016

- Woody

I agree 100%. I'm a big proponent and have been trying to spread the word for a while. I've been with Tidal since day one too and love it. It just gets better and better.

Now they're even offering downloads:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....ownloads-are-now-available-from-tidal.693190/

 

[+48V]

Apple Music is now in beta inside the Sonos app.

How bout some screen shots chicks. Curious to see how it declutters the AM UI.

 

[chicks]

Native AM UI is one of the least cluttered already, IMO, so not much to improve.

A few shots off my little cheapie LG phone; very usable even on a 4" screen.

 

[chicks]

From the iPad