Which site is Best for Downloading/Uploading Hi Rez
Hi,
I quite new to this game of streaming,uploading and High resolution music.Ive been for a good part of my life into Vinyl/CD.I would say for the last 1 or so ive been dabbling into the world of internet coupled with audio.I bought about 6 months ago a Cambridge CNX Internet Music Player(Streamer),and I must say,its quite impressive! I was excpecting it to sound artificial and "Clinical" sounding,but to my surprise it was natural in sound.Ive also gotton into DAPs or digital audio players! Im only using Spotify,and im not too sure what sampling rate this would be considered? Does there exist particular sites that I could get "High Rez" music,and that it wouldnt cost me much more than Spotify or even Tidal?
Tidal is great. Why do you want to pay for titles you need to store? Purchasing files is going away quicker than CDs at Best Buy... Sure, it’s streaming only ($20 a month - unless, like me, you have a daughter who qualifies for the college discount: half price) but their Master Quality files are plentiful and sound amazing. You could try their 30 day free trial before investing in “files.” If there’s something I really love, I get it on vinyl or XRCD/SACD. Not sure if you have a transport or TT, but with the $ you save in the long run on downloads, you could get one, along with plenty of media. Just my $.02!
So if I switch from Spotify to Tidal and after saving my music to playlist lets say, I can play them back in true 24-bit/192 khz? And what about DSD? Are there any special settings that have to adjust for this quality of music to take place?
https://www.whathifi.com/tidalmasters/review Here’s a link to What Hi-Fi’s review with all of your questions answered! No need for MQA device is a nice plus. It’s actually 60 days free. I’m only a week into my subscription, so I haven’t dug too far into the catalog (lots of A list pop and a good dose of well-known jazz and rock) but it sure beats having to download, save, store, retrieve... MQA is 24/192.
Its THAT good eh? Dont know about adopting at 60 years old though...Somehow I find the older you get,the less tolerance one has for things that normally wouldnt bother me! All I would need at this point in my life is some teenager blasting away rap music for hours on end...That would undisputably drive me %100 over the edge!! And would most likely never recuperate..I'll stick to the 20 a month deal...That just may have been a question to ask me when I was a bit younger, flynnrd..
I just read what they (What Hi-Fi) had to say regarding Tidal and streaming Hi Rez music.. Its all thumbs up except for the restriction of only being accessable on a "Desk Top" computer! Wow, Not even on my laptop?? And what about all this Special "Hardware" needed??
If you want to buy and download:- Qobuz has the greatest choice so far www.qobuz.com Qobuz allows for streaming as well, including in HD. That makes Qobuz quite unique - https://www.highresaudio.com
Just quoting from a review at "What Hi Fi" that some one shared with me kalali..
Unless I totally read into this the wrong way,its seems to be the case.Although Im not one to believe everything thats been put down in "Black and White" either! I rather do my own testing,and follow it with my own findings..
You can stream tidal right from your mobile phone if you want to, I do in the car!
What HiFi is definitely wrong on that one!
Tidal can be streamed by desktop pc ( worst interface imho!), laptop, tablet, ipad, iPhone, droid phone etc etc etc. Basically anything you can download a Tidal app to you can stream from it.
Trust me I have been doing exactly this for nigh on 2 years!
I do have a Bluesound Vault 2 that I use at home and in all honesty the Tidal interface WITHIN the Bluos app is by far superior to any other I have tried,
I just looked up the Tidal review by What Hi Fi. This is a verbatim quote from that review: “Tidal Hi Fi members wanting to take advantage of Masters are currently limited to the desktop apps, though owners of a Bluesound Node 2 streamer can connect directly to Tidal Masters via the Bluesound app, negating the need for a PC or laptop”
So it appears you got some erroneous information second hand?
I can 100% confirm Tidal Masters or MQA is available through the Bluesound vault2 via the Bluos app.
I honestly do not think there is any way for any app to differentiate between desktop pc and laptop tbh, after all a LOT of people do not even have a desktop any longer, just a laptop or even a powerful tablet.
But now I do see you were specifically referring to the masters side of Tidal.
Still some more options than WhatHiFi were indicating.
I've tried them all and I've finally settled on Tidal. I won't concenteate on the bit depth/sampling rate/MQA aspects because Tidal (at least in the US) is the only service offering MQA and (despite repeated queries to Deezer), I've never been able to confidently establish what they consider to be "HiFi" streaming. Quboz doesn't seem to be available in the US, even though the company has been promoting/promising a domestic debut for several months. Here's my perspective: 1) Pandora: This service - despite a relatively limited library - offers the ability via the "Music Genome Project" to create interesting playlists based on a sample track of music you prefer. In my case, that's generally jazz of the Davis/Coltrane/Monk etc. era. However, after ~400 tracks, it becomes repetitious and the sound quality is manifestly sub-optimal.2) Spotify: The search function is idiosyncratic (same applies to Deezer) and the ability of the service to generate a non "curated" playlist is inferior to Pandora's "Music Genome Project". The service's music library is extensive but the sound quality isn't satisfactory for most audiophiles.3) Apple: Major problem is sound quality and the emphasis (as with Spotify) is on modern popular music. Given that, the music library is extensive. In fact, it's reportedly the industry leader (and it's about equal to Spotify in revenue generated). The GUI and search functions are adequate.4) Deezer: Sound quality is better than the above listed services, but the search function is frustrating and oftentimes limited. Sometimes, entering a performer's name will yield a "hit" and sometimes not. Entering the track name sometimes works...and sometimes it doesn't. Even using both the artist's name and the exact piece of music won't yield the desired result and inputting the album name works. 5) Tidal: Despite the fact that the main page is heavily weighted to music by the service's owners (e.g., Jay-Z, etc.) and the price for "Masters" quality streaming verges on extortionate, the library is exhaustive, the search function usually yields the desired result, downloading and streaming are easy and it works with Audirvana and other audiophile software applications. Tidal has been teetering on the brink of financial ruin for some time and (per the WSJ and other audiophile indifferent sources) may not be viable...but they've been reporting similarly apocalyptic forecasts for at least the last 3 years and it's still hanging on. Maybe cost ($$$) is too high, though the company justifies this by claims that artists are "better compensated" for their work (does this mean your monthly subscription fee is an act of altruism?) I would be remiss in failing to mention You Tube. Virtually every recorded item of music has been uploaded there by someone, but the sound quality is MP3 (or worse) and the paid ("Red") service isn't worth the money. Nonetheless, it's an amazing music repository: good for exploration.
@kacomess. nice summary and pretty much says it all. Only difference I have noted is in the Deezer search function, I have found it to be near identical to Tidal. However it could be your search for jazz as I seem to recall some other member having a similar experience searching for jazz. With rock I would say Tidal and Deezer are pretty much the same in search, catalog and sq.
Going with Tidal is a no brainer. Even the fee of $20/month is extremely reasonable since I had heard you have access to over 26 million songs in any genre. I use a standard LG tablet with the Bluesound apt. Using a Bluesound Node 2 with Ayre Codex Dac. Wonderful sound.
I was a fan of Bluesound but have soured on it recently due to a lot of technical issues. They do many updates and many of them are destructive, erasing my playlists and causing my Vault and Node2 to “dissapear”. My Pulse Mini completely died after two years of use. It’s off warranty and the dealer went bust so I am SOL per Bluesound. As to why my other players dissapear occasionally from the OS, I find this totally frustrating since I use Ethernet connections and not WiFi. The Bluesound app is nothing special, either. You need playlists to make it work, and as I said earlier, twice Bluesound OS updates have erased my playlists. I had gotten into Bluesound because I had wanted to get away from using a Computer, but have found it to have many of the same issues. When it’s working, it does sound good, but so what—it’s a digital transport it should sound like any other digital transport through my DAC. It’s internal DAC is nothing special, but at it’s price point that isn’t unreasonable and I only intended to use it as a transport anyway. I’ve realized that having my CDs stored in a proprietary system like Bluesound is problematic because if you want to switch to a different player, the stored discs aren’t necessarily portable. I have gone back to spinning CDs—nothing beats the fun of hitting play and getting music without having to make that call to Tech support—but I am installing a NAS Drive today and hoping to at least archive my collection while figure out the optimal player to use
@mahler123. I feel for you but not quite sure what is happening in your case. I have had many updates to the vault2 over the air and to the Bluos app and have never had one single issue. Also not sure what you mean by having to have playlists to make it work? I think I have just one playlist i assembled over time but it has ,nothing to do with making it work. I just favourite albums from searching and play them or go with new material totally, no playlists involved.
If you want to move your CD collection you just take that back up 2tb usb hard drive you should have made already from day one and regular updated and there is your CD collection.
So It seems that there are quite a few streaming sites available(besides the more well known ones such as Spotify,Tidal,and Deezer).But it seems that the ability to retain certain files to be uploaded/downloaded/stored,on your computer/tablet/iphone/droid/desktop is still non permissable to the average consumer! From what Im seeing,its a copyright infringement.But I am looking for a viable alternative to just Youtube,Googleplay,or iTunes.I get the feeling that these are all compressed..But if I can find the ideal site that I can stream,and rhan keep certain files(move them to an SD card)for personal use,and be a bit closer to cd quality,(or 16 bit/44 khz),I would be more than happy.
The whole concept of streaming music to the masses is just that, stream it , not buy/own it. There are some options for downloading hires tracks for sure but none of the ones I have seen are what you would term cost effective but that is up to the individual of course.
I dont mind all and out "Streaming" per say.Its just that I want to go portable with a headphone amp/dac(or digital audio players), And I dont know if these devices support direct streaming! Hope so..I have no qualms of plain ol streaming through my cambridge out to my laptop than router,than through my audio gear.But is it "Plug and Play" with other digital devices..?
@zyac39 The WhatHiFi review I linked is old. First gen software take. They’ve definitely evolved since then. I think you’ll like tidal. Plus, 60 days to decide you don’t... lots of time to listen to the 2.6 million albums!
@zyac39 I agree with adopting being a bit overboard. Especially since feeding him/her and paying for college would quickly evaporate your $10 a month savings. You could try to find one with a scholarship and good taste in jazz, though.
Phones and tablets allow tidal Hi-Fi albums to be downloaded and played. Mqa albums are stored at CD quality. Of course, only while subscription is in effect.
FYI, I am a Veteran and with the Tidal discount = 11.99 per month with the proper identification. I really like Tidal, despite all the negativity of its authenticity of MQA. I do find that most of their usual music sounds as good and sometimes better than MQA. I have searched and search for downloading HiRez music and have decided cost, storage and accessibility makes Tidal more attractive. At least for now. I also use the Bluesound Node 2, which is a nice addition. iPad/iPhone, in my listening chair equals great sound with the Node 2!
I'm one of those who would like to be able to download tracks locally so that I can listen without spinning the meter on my data connection like a hamster on a wheel. I also want to listen in my car, which has an onboard console that enables me to change tracks without driving off into the woods, but does not support the Tidal app, thus the need for local storage.
So, for me, local storage would be something of interest. Is there a way to save Tidal (or other) tracks to a drive so I can use what I paid for in a way and manner that suits me?
Both Tidal and Deezer for sure allow you to download tracks and complete albums to your device providing you have storage room, in most instances a phone or tablet. These downloaded tracks you can replay without a data connection being present BUT you do need a current service subscription for them to work. So I connect my phone via Bluetooth to the car stereo and playback the downloaded tracks via my phone/Bluetooth to the car stereo and it works flawlessly.
So let us be clear you cannot download them from your device to a usb drive for instance, you do not ever OWN these tracks, you are still just renting them just as if you were using their live streaming service but yes it saves on your data usage definitely
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