# Tidal vs. Spotify



## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

Has anyone tried the Tidal music streaming service? Of course, they tout their pop selections on their web site, but I was wondering how their classical music compares to the number of tracks available on other services like Spotify or the Naxos Music Library. NML has the best classical streaming, as far as I'm concerned, but they don't have much of anything popular.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Tidal's catalogue is not as extensive as Spotify's, for the sort of music I listen to at least. 

Tidal's sound quality is much better than spotify's. 

Tidal's tagging is not as good as Spotify's. Sometimes the tracks in albums are in the wrong order. This happened often enough for it to be a deal breaker for me. I left them about eight months ago and joined Qobuz, which is better than Tidal. 

The search facilities are satisfactory in both, as is the user interface on an iPad. I could stream both to my squeezebox. The response times were similar and neither servers were frequently down. 

Tidal is more expensive than Spotify.

I haven't any experience of NML because I don't see a way to get it into my hifi.


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

I like Tide. It makes my clothes smell really fresh and keeps my colors staying bright


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Anyone tried primephonic? it's purely classical, high res, and cheaper than the others. But, at first sight, the collection doesn't seem that great. Can't find "obvious" stuff that Spotify has. Sound is very good in FLAC mode. Easy to register for 30 day trial, no credit card needed. Web interface not even as good as spotify. Like spotify, can't do a search of "specific conductor" for "specific composer", which you would think would be a must for a classical music streaming service. So I'm not sure if specific albums are there or not. Wobbles, maybe FLAC putting a strain on my wifi. I think I'll stick with CDs.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

I haven't tried Tidal but *I have tried qobuz* and their library is quite extensive to the main commercial recordings. The sound is notably more natural than Spotify but it has three issues for me: a search bar and options even more deficient than Spotify, no desktop app and no gapless playing.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

It is not true that qobuz does not play gaplessly, I know because it plays gaplessly for me. However it may be that some piece of equipment you're using is putting a gap between tracks -- Chromecast audio does this, for example. 

I have a desktop app for it on my ipad, on Windows I use the web interface with no problem,


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Nate Miller said:


> I like Tide. It makes my clothes smell really fresh and keeps my colors staying bright


Sounds even better on a tidePod.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I haven't tried and never will be using both.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

I tried Chromecast audio about a year ago and just found it flaky, returned it within a week. Does quboz produce as good a sound as your CD payer? If so, in what configuration.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Mal said:


> I tried Chromecast audio about a year ago and just found it flaky, returned it within a week. Does quboz produce as good a sound as your CD payer? If so, in what configuration.


Yes, with the 16-Bit 44.1 kHz FLAC streaming option.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Mal said:


> Anyone tried primephonic? it's purely classical, high res, and cheaper than the others. But, at first sight, the collection doesn't seem that great. Can't find "obvious" stuff that Spotify has. Sound is very good in FLAC mode. Easy to register for 30 day trial, no credit card needed. Web interface not even as good as spotify. Like spotify, can't do a search of "specific conductor" for "specific composer", which you would think would be a must for a classical music streaming service. So I'm not sure if specific albums are there or not. Wobbles, maybe FLAC putting a strain on my wifi. I think I'll stick with CDs.


The dealbreaker with Primephonic is it's very limited catalog. Tidal is poorly organized for Classical, to the point where it isn't useable, imo. Quobuz isn't available in the States but supposedly will be in a few months and that is what I am waiting for.

Of the compressed streaming services, I have used both Apple and Spotify. Both have great selections. Spotify sounds a smidge better but both are noticeably below CD quality. I use them both for pop music and to audition Classical CDs. Amazon, Google, and NML have wide Libraries in decidedly inferior sound


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

As regards Quboz, start by brushing up on your French. The UK registration page is a mix of English and French! I don't think I'll bother, back to the nice simple world of CDs for me...


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

^^
The Spanish site was well translated for me. The big issue is that sometimes you need to search works by the French title/translation (Aïda, Boris Godounov)


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

If they can't put the UK registration page in one language, preferably English, they how can we be confident they are streaming correctly? Can't even search in English/Spanish? It's very unprofessional.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Yes that's very poor, I agree. But the streaming service is good enough for me at the moment.


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