I too find Tidal to be good enough and comparable to CD playback (DAC being the same in both the cases).
Spotify vs Audio CD
- Thread starter Vivek Batra
- Start date
I too find Tidal to be good enough and comparable to CD playback (DAC being the same in both the cases).
Lizard King
Well-Known Member
I have around 300 CDs, many are very old. All but a few in excellent condition. But after I discovered the convenience of Spotify connect in my 2nd system with a NR1609, I am able to listen to a lot of songs I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.
That set me thinking, should I add a Marantz NA6006 to my trustworthy CD6005, or go the whole hog and get a ND8006 that would take care of everything in one box.
That set me thinking, should I add a Marantz NA6006 to my trustworthy CD6005, or go the whole hog and get a ND8006 that would take care of everything in one box.
Always go separates. That way you are insured better against unpredictable failures.
Plus the eye candy of separates.
Lizard King
Well-Known Member
Haha...Always go separates. That way you are insured better against unpredictable failures.
Plus the eye candy of separates.
Audio porn..
More stacked... more oomph
Always go separates. That way you are insured better against unpredictable failures.
[/QUOTE]
I have the PM8006, the build quality of made in Japan 800X series is tempting me. Decisions.. decisions....
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Rajeshh
Well-Known Member
i find CDs have the best quality, that being said, for me it’s too much of a hassle to build a CD collection, considering i also have Vinyl.
I was using Tidal Hires as my primary source through Roon, a dedicated streamer (Ultrarendu with LPS) and DAC (Terminator)
I recently switched over to Qobuz High-res and find it more natural sounding than Tidal. Tidal seems treble prominent in comparison. Before i bought the Terminator i could not make out much of a difference.
I use Spotify too, but it’s for mobile playback, runs, parties and such. Spotify’s music discovery, playlists and usability are unbeatable. If only they launch a high res service..sigh.
I was using Tidal Hires as my primary source through Roon, a dedicated streamer (Ultrarendu with LPS) and DAC (Terminator)
I recently switched over to Qobuz High-res and find it more natural sounding than Tidal. Tidal seems treble prominent in comparison. Before i bought the Terminator i could not make out much of a difference.
I use Spotify too, but it’s for mobile playback, runs, parties and such. Spotify’s music discovery, playlists and usability are unbeatable. If only they launch a high res service..sigh.
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Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
That's true, Qobuz has some 192khz tracks as well. I can feel the treble not sure it's just Tidal, and that's further boosted on horn speakers.
IndianEars
Well-Known Member
My biggest complaint against Tidal is that it Lacks Dynamics ..... and Yes, I too find Sound LEAN........ which some consider 'clean'
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
How about hdtracks?. I am thinking of buying an album there.
IndianEars
Well-Known Member
Quality varies from Album to Album, obviously depending on the master.
However, I would still club them all under a similar sonic signature for HiRes PCM.
[email protected]
Member
My personal experience is, audio cd sound more life like compared to spotify, tidal and qobuz. I am using a linn streamer with digital out to cary audio dac, not sure whether the experience will change with very expensive streamers.
What’s your CD transport \CDP ?
[email protected]
Member
Cary audio cd303t
jigarpatel
Active Member
Spotify HIFI audio cd quality streaming coming
Spotify HiFi arriving later this year with lossless, CD-quality audio
Spotify HiFi arriving later this year with lossless, CD-quality audio
square_wave
Well-Known Member
I hear you.
All problems associated with PC playback applies to streaming too. High noise floor, Digital sheen riding on the sound are all typical pc playback issues if the playback chain ( pc / streamer and dac ) are not optimized well. It reminds me of the early days of PC playback. Have tried many things. The best that sounded to me was the dual pc configuration with Jplay. Later I tweaked a mac mini like crazy and tried audirvana with locally stored wav / flacs. That sounded very good. But a well made streamer like auralic beat that too. Many a times, I have seen people connecting to tidal using a laptop and just plugging a usb dac in. That may not sound so great.
I spend some time again last weekend doing some comparisons in my system as well as a friend's fully active system. I would still like to stay with my earlier observations. Tidal hifi is 90 percent there if one is using a high quality streamer or a pc optimized for high end playback on a dac designed optimally for such an application. Also, the file at Tidal's end must be good. So many variables are there.
The last ten percent improvement with cd / wav playback I noticed was all about natural ebb and flow of music, lack of digital sheen riding on the music, slightly lower noise floor etc. Surprisingly, I don't find loss in dynamics with tidal. Dynamics loss happens only when you lose data via compression and higher noise floor due to a bad pc. I use an auralic aries. If you guys can give me some examples of albums, I can check and circle back.
For some albums, the cd / wave sounds considerably better while with others, the difference is miniscule. I think it depends on the quality of the file sitting at tidal's end. A good example of a bad quality file at tidal end is "The best of Simon and Garfunkel ". The cd / wav stored locally sounds way better.
My listening is 50 / 50 casual ( music in the house while I work ) and critical ( in the sweet spot ). For casual, tidal works perfectly.
I also think tidal is not fully lossless. Someone in the industry was saying that there is some kind of compression involved. Don't know the specifics though.
Overall, the best solution is a locally stored wave or a cd spinning on a high end transport. I have also noticed that an average level cd player sounds worse than a good quality file streamed from tidal or from local storage.
IndianEars
Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing your views in a long and detailed post.
Could you name a couple of good quality files on Tidal that sound as good as your local wav rips ?
I would like to explore.
I agree with your comment:
"Overall, the best solution is a locally stored wave or a cd spinning on a high end transport."
Could you name a couple of good quality files on Tidal that sound as good as your local wav rips ?
I would like to explore.
I agree with your comment:
"Overall, the best solution is a locally stored wave or a cd spinning on a high end transport."
square_wave
Well-Known Member
Nina Simone - Finest hour. The 44khz sounds same to me as the wav. There is 192khz version on tidal. That sounds better than the cd rip.
John Lee hooker - Urban blues expanded edition. Try the track boom boom
IndianEars
Well-Known Member
Thanks. Will listen tonight
square_wave
Well-Known Member
Try "Ella and Louis" too. The 96khz version sounds thick. Try the red book version. It sounds close but the tidal one has a digital sheen riding the sound. The cd rip will sound more real. Try the song " Isn't this a lovely day ".
Looks like your wish may just come true, although whether it will be available here at the beginning remains to be seen.
I also wonder whether existing Spotify connect certified devices will work with their lossless stream.
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
