BIG difference Tidal vs Amazon Music

I tested Prime for 3 months.

It was OK.

Sound quality was a little uneven from album to album, but mostly OK.

I found Tidal to be more consistent and was as good or better than Prime most of the time.

Two larger factors included:

1. Tidal connect integrates better with my Node streamer.

2. On Prime, a number of my favorite albums simply did not play on the Node...giving me faint static crackling sound and no music what so ever.

I tried the 3 month trial from Tidal. HiFi for 6 weeks and HiFi plus for the remaining 6 weeks. At the end I subscribed the the HiFi plan...had no use for MQA. I’ve been very happy with the HiFi plan.

I use Amazon Music steaming through a Node 2i and have rarely had an issue with the sound quality. They have a mix of CD quality and hi res quality up to 24/192 in their library and am usually satisfied with most of what I listen to.

I haven't had an issue connecting to the Node 2i through the Bluesound app or directly from the Amazon Music app using an iPhone or iPad.

I have never used Tidal so cannot comment on a comparison between the two.

I’m using Tidal through my Roon Nucleus and like the setup but have noticed their music selection lacks some of the tracks I like. 

Roon / Tidal works really, really well for me, and have always been happy with the FLAC stream from Tidal. Roon / Tidal very seamless and Roon is excellent

Have heard Amazon interface / experience a little wonky, but never used it

If Spotify ever gets its act together and starts streaming FLAC, I might check it out

Am listening to Amazon Music HD with Airplay into my stereo/AV rig using the app from my iPhone or iPad. (Airplay will deliver Red Book audio and the network adapter supports mini plug and digital out.)  I’ve A-B’d several CDs vs Amazon and can’t tell the difference. I do find that when some recording are labeled “remastered” the sound can be distorted and/or compressed. May be the Master selection issues others have noted?

Keyword search in the Amazon app can be problematic sometimes.  Keying in “Jarret Shostakovich” should find his recording of the piano preludes and fugues. It doesn’t. Etc. etc.

On a side note, I’m using the same setup to stream Roon. 1200 CDs imported to ITunes using ALAC. Roon server on my Windows PC uses the iTunes repository.  Roon app on iPhone and iPad. Again, A-B a CD and can’t hear the difference. (Although I can hear the difference between AAC and ALAC encoding.)
 

Streaming has changed how I listen to music - in a good way.  I do miss liner notes, tho. I like to know who played, engineered, and mastered the recording.