Tidal

this is the most frustrating post-croup ilx experience

Ulysses (cough guy who manages the Spotify lists on ILM cough

It's not as though he's making any money from this; you make him sound like some embedded corporate flack

I'm not sure that's how I make him sound. I actually think I make him sound like the guy on ILM who manages the Spotify playlists. He recently changed his screen name, so it's possible that not everyone knows who he is. I know that I found it confusing.

i picture you with a cigarette holder, if that helps

Kettlebell, but close. I picture you as a nice guy who likes updating Spotify playlists on ILM.

I do not work for a music streaming service. I don't even work in software. I'm just a guy that wants to find out if he bought snake oil this month.

"here's an idea: rub that snake oil into your temples. see if it makes you feel better. it's only 24 BK croissan'wiches a year."

"Do you need somebody else (Science!) to tell you what feels good?"

Here's an idea: listen to music via two different delivery methods and see which one you like better. This is really a pretty insane thread.

if enjoyment is all you want out of it, you should choose B

― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, May 11, 2016 2:24 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But you might like some other aspect of A better and wonder if some cheap trick is being applied in B that's preventing you from having what you like about both A and B using A.

― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, May 11, 2016 2:26 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or you might wonder if B is the kind of company that sells snake oil and is therefore taking $ without adding value. if company A has proven to add value, you might wonder if A could add even more value if it had B's $.

― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, May 11, 2016 2:27 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how the heck do you smoke out of a kettlebell?

very carefully!

don't know, but you listen to The Turkish Get Up Kids while you do it!

(testing out some punchlines. seeing which one feels good.)

exactly

also just because I like B more now doesn't mean B is better, maybe there are some less evident aspects that make A better that only become more noticeable after repeated listens

― silverfish, Wednesday, May 11, 2016 3:29 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I sympathize, becuz a bunch of the Amazing! Remasters! I bought in the early 2k's that i really dug now sound like crap to me since I learned to hear "squashed" sound.

Still, streaming services don't shackle themselves to you in perpetuity so...

I think it'd be really interesting to know if Tidal adds eq to their standard 320 stream! how can we find out...

this test is perhaps interesting to some, got 4/5 and most tracks I could pick out intuitively within seconds but not sure how valid the test is http://test.tidalhifi.com/

hmmm

I can quite easily pass the Tidal listening test 15/15, but I can't pass an ABX between a Tidal lossless test sample and that same file converted with dBPoweramp to mp3. So, I am able to convert from lossless to lossy with no discernible difference identified through ABX, but somehow Tidal is unable to do the same thing?

http://www.head-fi.org/t/770352/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality#post_11662420

welp i guess i'll finally try this fuckin thing tomorrow, howdy everyone!

Neil Young ‏@Neilyoung 9m9 minutes ago
EARTH mega-track "Love And Only Love"
premieres tomorrow, May13 on Tidal

oh, man

inertia keeps me w/ spotify; will it be neil who finally breaks me

i almost did for radiohead but then i bought it from their site
i got beyonce through other means and i don't really care enough about drake to bother

same, basically

I've done some cd rips, Spotify premium, Tidal and Tidal Hifi recordings and will do comparisons later today (if anyone is still interested in this matter)

I've recorded intros to two George Michael songs from desktop Spotify Premium, Tidal, Tidal Hifi with Audacity (WASAPI) and ripped from cd to mp3 and FLAC using fre:ac. So if anyone's interested should be possible to do som ABXing from this https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6Efh5anRoStZFhEWUxqbEk2YkE/view?usp=sharing

what was your take?

I'm finall on Tidal...listening to the new Neil Young...hilarious that he took this stand on hi-fi on a song that (while fucking killer) is definitely like a high quality live boot in terms of recording....so good though

awesome, niels. Thanks! I will do some spectral analysis on these when I have some time. I hope the spectrum does not form the shape of a middle finger or something.

actually kinda like how it looks and the interface

my spotify PC app crashes and freezes all the fuckin' time

yeah, I think anyone's preference between the two UIs will be heavily influenced by whether they use desktop, iOS, android, etc software. The spotify android app has been bug free for the way I use it for awhile now. That's why it was mildly annoying to get dragged over to Tidal again by artists I like in order to immediately experience bugs on the android app. People on the spotify thread certainly have spotify bugs, though. I think I'll probably just use the $10 versions of both.

been watching the second season of Bosch, and I'm just waiting for Bosch to fire up some Art Pepper on his Tidal Hi-Fi.

and oh shit I didn't realize all of this Neil is on Tidal

So is Tidal really a better deal for artists? And is it better for smaller/non-major-label artists as well? Because if it's that plus marginally better sound and access to a few things like Neil that i don't have on Spotify, and the user experience doesn't suck, I might be open to consider it

I don't know the answers, but I've decided that I'd pay $20/month for a version of spotify that has even more music. So I might as well have both. Hi-Fi Tidal may still be a bit scammy, but perhaps offering a scammy Hi-Fi version is the only way to sign curmudgeons to your music streaming service. I wish I could have all of my listening feeding into the spotify learning data crunch, though.

and oh shit I didn't realize all of this Neil is on Tidal

― Sufjan Grafton, Friday, May 13, 2016 11:55 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

huh jeez that might be enough for me...though i hate to abandon my spotify lists :/\

actually just looked though and found that there are some serious holes, like just pulling stuff out of my ass there was no Tortoise (except 1 in the fishtank w/the Ex), no Fugazi, so it looks like it's def not comparable to google music, apple, or spotify for catalog

xp So I wouldn't get the Hi-Fi version, if it wasn't clear. And I wouldn't trust any test that Tidal publishes for comparing lossy/lossless files.

xp yeah, I don't think it's possible to be happy with one service so long as Tidal keeps getting these exclusives and Spotify keeps not caring

So is Tidal really a better deal for artists? And is it better for smaller/non-major-label artists as well?

also v cool that I can watch the e.g. Beyonce's LEMONADE and Neil Young's A Letter Home videos on Tidal, but will smaller artists ever have the budget to take advantage of that sort of thing?

For me it breaks down like this:

Spotify is cheaper, and run by faceless people who think that Surströmming (or marrying Julianna Hatfield, depending on who you ask) is a good idea
Tidal Hi-Fi sounds ridiculously better. Jesus, do a 30 day trial and use your own ears. You don't A/B anything else in your life, let's be honest.
Spotify has more small artists at the moment
Tidal deals with offline listening on Android in a much less insanely annoying way
Spotify provides playlists to ILM, both via employees and via people who think that being "Spotify playlist provider for ILM" is cooler than iced tofu
Tidal doesn't give a fuck about ILM

Solution. Free Spotify to check out minor acts. Paid Hi-Fi Subscription to Tidal.

The new Neil Young thing is actually pretty great, and I say that as a not-particularly-huge fan of Neil Young.

solution: i stop reading yr posts

Fascinating article on Spotify here: http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/13/news/companies/spotify-sweden-stockholm-new-york/

Brief version in three points. They think that the New York housing market is wonderful. Spotify needs women. Spotify having trouble paying people via stock options.

Meanwhile, I seem to recall that Tidal is run by Satan or something like that...

Someone should tell all of the people that have Spotify jobs in New York that they might finally have Spotify jobs in New York!

Tidal Hi-Fi sounds ridiculously better. Jesus, do a 30 day trial and use your own ears. You don't A/B anything else in your life, let's be honest.

That is interesting. I wonder why Spotify would make such a point about that while lobbying in their home country. I mean, if most of their employees are in NY, why would it matter where Spotify is located?

Tidal deals with offline listening on Android in a much less insanely annoying way

One thing I didn't realize (and actually should have) is that Tidal offers a student plan that's about 50% off. That doesn't seem to have come up here.

I've recorded intros to two George Michael songs from desktop Spotify Premium, Tidal, Tidal Hifi with Audacity (WASAPI) and ripped from cd to mp3 and FLAC using fre:ac. So if anyone's interested should be possible to do som ABXing from this https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6Efh5anRoStZFhEWUxqbEk2YkE/view?usp=sharing

― niels, Friday, May 13, 2016 4:34 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was convinced that the bass in Fast Love sounded different, but then I listened again and was convinced that there is no difference. Either way, I am absolutely convinced that I gotta get up to get down.

I've been switching back between Tidal & Spotify on extreme quality and I feel like I hear a difference and that Tidal feels like there's more space between instruments and a less harsh grainy quality.... But it's so hard to tell with this stuff what's just suggestibility... Also Tidal doesn't work with Chromecast :/

So far I'm doing that and I couldn't hear a difference on: Led Zeppelin III (Deluxe Edition), MJQ 40 boxed set, or Beethoven Symphony No 7 (Kleiber conducting). That said, I'm using a middling pair of sony headphones and maybe I'd hear more through better ones or good speakers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7nsBoqJ6s8

LOL @ all of dlp's anti-Sweden bullshit. I'm not charged a foreign transaction fee when from Spotify!:

https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/201874952-What-is-international-transaction-fee-
http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=863025

*when charged by Spotify