Any Cambridge users on Tidal? Differences in Tidal levels?


I've got a Cambridge CXN (V2) now driving a Benchmark DAC 3 b as part of a vintage but high resolution system.  Sony XA 5400 ES is also part of the system driving the DAC.  It's really amazing to me how good well recorded stuff sounds and how screechy awful some 20 year old rock CDs sound.  Equally amazing is how good some streaming channels are and how awful others can be.  I guess it's time for me to subscribe to Tidal as Cambridge supports that service.  Can anyone give me some feedback on Tidal quality at different subscription levels and ease of use with the Cambridge app?  Thanks in advance.
midareff1

Showing 2 responses by joern

I got a CXN V2 and subscribed to Tidal HiFi. I am a Mac guy and got an iPhone SE (1. Gen), iPad (6th Gen) as well as a MacBook  (late 2011). I got experience with the Stream Magic App (iOS) as well as Tidal App (iOS and Mac).

Tidal App via Chromecast (iOS / desktop):
+ Tidal displays suggestions
+ better search
+ easier configuration of playlists
- does not play gapless
- sound quality is satisfactory

Stream Magic App
+ plays gapless
+ seems to buffer some min of music
+ sound quality seems to be 'sharper'
- search function is 'clumsy'
- interface is not as straightforward as the Tidal iOs App

Soundquality: the audible difference between Spotify Premium and Tidal HiFi is obvious, and there are more subtile differences between Tidal Premium and HiFi - especially in classical music. We opted for HiFi and usually stream HiFi-quality (16bit / 44.1kHz) as the CXN does not support MQA.

As Always: it depends on your setup, your amp and (least but not last)  your speakers. I would give Tidal HiFi a try, to hear if it sounds better.   

By the way: most of the time I use Tidal via Roon, as we have a huge amount of obscure classes music; I personally think that improves the quality further.
Cable, you definitely want to use a Ethernet cable if available. 
We are living in a flat in the city centre (120 years old): there are 590 WiFi’s around us interfering with each other. There just has to come a friend with an old iPhone, join your wifi and the transmission rates drop down; and a zoom conference in the attic and a Tidal don’t mix well on one WiFi network. It’s not so much about bandwidth but stability (and peaks). My husband and I hard wired the whole place ...