Tidal Music Review: Still the Best Music Service for Audiophiles?

Part 1. Tidal Music Service: Our Verdict

Tidal, launched in 2014, was founded by the Norwegian company Aspiro and later acquired by the artist Jay-Z's firm, Project Panther Bidco. With a wide range of music library of more than 110 million songs and 650000 exclusive music videos, Tidal is popular in over 60 countries.

See also: How to Use Tidal in India

This audiophilic service is compatible with Android, iOS, Mac, and PC, and is also accessible via its web player. After joining its membership, you can enjoy immersive spatial audio with ultra high-quality on supported devices.

Part 2. Tidal Subscription Plans: What's New

First, the most important change to learn about Tidal is the change to its subscription plans. Previously, Tidal provided a standard HiFi plan for CD-quality audio and a much expensive HiFi Plus plan for Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) and Dolby Atmos. Now, all is gone.

As of April 10, 2024, there is one subscription on Tidal for individual. The standard price is $10.99 per month. With a subscription, you can get access to the entire Tidal music library in the highest quality.

By the way, Tidal provides a 50% discount for students, which costs $5.49/month. Moreover, the family plan is ideal for a family of six members, covering a total of six members and costs $16.99 a month.

No matter which plan you'd like to choose, don't forget to get Tidal for free via its free trial version in advance. And don't forget to cancel Tidal subscription before it ends if you don't want to continue using it.

Note: There is no Tidal Free plan and Tidal Military Discount anymore.

Part 3. Tidal Audio Quality: Is It Good?

Apart from subscription costs, streaming quality also plays a significant role in reviewing a music service. Now, let's take a deep dive into Tidal sound quality.

HiRes FLAC

Unlike other music streaming services use 'lossy' compression like MP3 or AAC to reduce file sizes, Tidal now uses FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). This means all the original audio data from the studio master is kept even though the file is compressed. That is to say, when you play a HiRes FLAC track on Tidal, you can hear a bit-for-bit exact copy of the original recording. The difference will be striking if you listen with quality headphones or speakers.

Spatial Audio: Dolby Atmos

Tidal also shines as a platform for spatial audio, creating a 3D sound experience that makes music feel like it's surrounding you rather than just coming from two speakers. Now, there is only one immersive Tidal music format:

Dolby Atmos Music: The more widely used format, offering a large and growing catalog from major artists. It delivers a cinematic and immersive listening experience.

View Also: Tidal Dolby Atmos

Note: There is no Sony 360 Reality Audio in Tidal anymore. It is designed for realism, this format makes it feel as though you're right there with the performers. The library is smaller but can sound incredibly lifelike on supported tracks.

View also: Tidal Sony 360 Reality Audio

While Apple Music is Tidal's main rival that also offers Spatial Audio, Tidal's strong catalog and excellent sound quality make it a top choice for spatial audio enthusiasts.

View Also: Tidal HiFi vs Tidal Master

Part 4. Tidal User Experience and App Interface

Tidal has the same amount of functional sections on mobiles and computers, but these sections are located in different areas on the Tidal mobile and desktop apps.

Tidal Desktop vs Mobile App

The Tidal mobile app includes the Home, Explore, Search, and My Collection sections at the bottom navigation bar. Among these, you can browse Mixes & Radios, playlists, albums, tracks, and videos in My Collection. Similar to the desktop version, on the full screen of playing music, you can choose to turn on or off shuffle mode and choose to like your favorite songs or playlists. However, the mobile version has a unique offline mode, which is not included in the app on the computer.

On the Tidal desktop app, most functional sections are presented on the left-hand panel, in which you can choose to pin other features you want. If you want to put the currently playing music into full-screen mode, you can tap on the bottom-right icon. You will find there is a suggested tracks feature. Also, similar to the Tidal app on phones, the computer app provides its users with real-time lyrics while playing music.

Tidal Web Player

For users who use work computers, Chromebooks, or don't want to install the Tidal app on their devices, Tidal offers a Tidal web player for you to enjoy music via the web browser.

The Tidal web player mirrors the desktop app with the same sleek dark design and easy navigation. You can browse playlists, discover new music, and manage your library just as you would in the installed version. However, there are some key limitations, mainly with audio quality. The web player supports standard lossless CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC) but usually can't handle HiRes FLAC streams (up to 24-bit/192kHz) due to browser restrictions. What's more, you can't download music from Tidal web player for offline playback and there is no Spatial Audio in the web player version.

To ensure you're getting the very best sound quality, the desktop and mobile apps are the way to go.

Part 5. Tidal Music Discovery

Tidal's discovery features hold their own and offer some unique advantages compared to other music services like Spotify.

My Mix: Similar to Spotify's 'Daily Mix', Tidal creates personalized playlists based on your listening history. These are usually well-tuned and great for exploring related artists.

TIDAL Rising: A highlight of the Tidal platform, this editorial program showcases up-and-coming artists from around the world, perfect for discovering fresh talent beyond the mainstream.

Curated Playlists: Tidal's human-curated playlists stand out for their depth and variety, often built around moods, genres, or cultural themes in a way that pure algorithms can't match.

Part 6. Tidal Ecosystem

Tidal is widely supported on a variety of devices and players, such as smart TVs, wearables, mobiles & desktops, smart speakers, etc. This website is feasible for you to check whether your device is compatible with Tidal. You can check and filter devices by various types of devices and also Tidal main features.

And like Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect empowers you to stream Tidal tracks on all supported devices over directly Tidal servers or Wi-Fi networks. With it, you can listen to Tidal music on those devices without a phone. Moreover, it has a wider availability than Apple AirPlay 2 since it can be used on not only Apple products but also many non-Apple devices.

Part 7. Tidal Music Library

Tidal provides its listeners with a large size of the music library, including over 110 million tracks, and curated playlists as well as over 650, 000 music videos tailored for particularly Tidal subscribers.

As for the music content, Tidal owns various music genres and categories like 'Activities', 'Decades', etc. with tailored and rich content. Furthermore, this platform also features artists interviews, behind-the-scenes, live sessions, and 150,000 specific podcast episodes. Most importantly, now, Tidal provides synchronized lyrics for subscribers.

Part 8. Tidal Artist Compensation

While famously associated with artist-owner Jay-Z, Tidal's artist-centric approach is now a core part of its brand identity. The platform's compensation model is widely regarded as one of the most favorable for musicians. While exact per-stream payouts fluctuate, reports consistently show Tidal paying significantly more than competitors. For instance, its rate is often cited as being three to four times higher than Spotify's. To put this in perspective, an artist might need around 80,000 streams on Tidal to earn $1,000, whereas on Spotify, that same revenue could require over 300,000 streams.

Furthermore, Tidal goes a step beyond simple royalties with its Direct Artist Payouts program. With this model, up to 10% of a listener's monthly subscription fee is paid directly to their most-streamed artist of that month, creating a more direct link between fans and the artists they support.

Part 9. Tidal Support and Customer Service

Tidal provides a catalog of common problems for people who need help. Here is all about the Tidal support and customer service.

1. Primary Support Channel: You can submit a request detailing your issue to Tidal Support and wait for its email. Then you can solve your problem according to the instructions in the received email.

2. Help Center / Knowledge Base: Tidal offers a detailed help center with articles covering common topics like billing, technical support, and account management.

3. No Live Chat: Different from Spotify, it is difficult to contact Tidal via an intuitive chat window, which is not as convenient as Spotify.

Part 10. Compare Tidal to the Competition

Now, let's compare Tidal to its competitors, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited.

Part 11. Tidal Limitation: Can You Keep Tidal Music Offline?

Similar to other music streaming services, the downloads you get from Tidal are temporary cache files that will disappear once you cancel Tidal subscriptions. And these files can't be played offline without the Tidal app.

Fortunately, a professional tool AudFree Tidal Music Converter can be used to download Tidal music as permanent local files. Additionally, you can convert the music into FLAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, M4A, and M4B without losing quality or ID3 tags. Plus, you can play Tidal music offline on any media device, such as MP3 players, smartphones, gaming consoles, smart TVs, smart speakers, etc.

Part 12. FAQs about Tidal Music Streaming Service

Does Tidal Offer Classical Music?

Yes, Tidal has a large classical music library featuring works from major composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi. Its high-fidelity audio makes it especially great for capturing the depth and dynamics of classical performances.

Who Is the New Tidal Plan Best For?

The new plan is ideal for audiophiles with high-quality gear and for listeners who want a greater share of their subscription fee to go directly to the artists.

Is All of Tidal's Music HiRes FLAC Now?

A large and expanding part of Tidal's catalog is offered in HiRes FLAC, while the rest is available in CD-quality lossless FLAC.

Can You Buy Music from Tidal?

Nope. It is a pity that the Tidal download store had closed down, which means there are no native channels to purchase Tidal tracks. However, if you want to keep FLAC Tidal music locally forever, please give AudFree Tidal Music Converter a shot.

Part 13. Final Verdict: Is Tidal Music Worth It?

After Tidal's bold pricing overhaul, it has become a stronger competitor than ever. It's shed its image as a pricey, niche platform and stepped confidently into the mainstream, with one clear edge: superior sound quality.

So, you should choose Tidal if you have quality wired headphones or a good home audio setup and can appreciate true high-fidelity sound, support the artists you listen to, and prefer a clean, elegant interface without the distractions of podcasts and audiobooks.