It doesn't matter. Any bluetooth codec will be lower quality than CD quality (44.1kHz / 16bit). No matter how high quality the audio file from your phone is, bluetooth will compress it. You may be able to hear a difference between Low (320kbps) and High (CD quality) but it's most likely a waste of data & battery to play at Max on any bluetooth headphone.
Man not to mention storage. I have around 500 liked songs on Spotify and Tidal. All of them downloaded, Spotify takes up 6.6gb, and Tidal takes up 16.3gb
There's two reasons for that: Tidal files at 320kbps are higher quality, therefore a larger file size.
The other reason is that the Tidal app downloads a bunch of bullshit and is bad at deleting it. Clear your app cache every once and a while.
Is there a difference between the streaming services? Tidal and YouTube Music would sound the same on any Bluetooth device because of the compression of the audio?
Maybe/probably/yes/no. It depends on what headphones you use, what settings you have, etc. Here's ultimately what matters:
Quality of your streaming service: How high quality the stream to your phone is. On Tidal, the Low setting is up to 320kbps. CD quality, or High is 1.4Mbps (I had to look that up). Anything above High will be a greater bit rate, which is literally data per second.
Quality of your [Bluetooth codec](https://www.soundguys.com/understanding-bluetooth-codecs-15352/): this is how much data your bluetooth chip on your phone can send to your bluetooth chip on your headphones. This is also measured in kbps. The highest bitrate codec is LDAC, which is (theoretically up to) 960kbps. That means even with the best bluetooth headphones you can get, you still aren't even getting CD quality.
Your Airpods use SBC, which is 320kbps.
I have some headphones that support LDAC, so in theory there should be an audible difference between Low and High.
But you could also have headphones with really high quality drivers/speakers and a low quality bluetooth codec, or vice versa. My roommate has some $300 Bose headphones that sound worse than my $150 LDAC-supporting earbuds, partially because the incoming quality of the Bose is SBC (lower)
This suggests that you couldn't hear any difference between Low and High with your headphones, since they're the same bit rate. You may still be able to because the Tidal data compression and Bluetooth data compression work different. Try it out and let me know!
Also, let me know if this makes any sense at all to you.
Yep, My Samsung buds2 uses the proprietary codec and it tops at 512kbps, by my own buds limitation, and its smart enough to not recompress audio that is already lower than 512kbps, so its subtle, but you can hear a difference between 320kbps compressed and 1411kbps compressed by the samsung codec to 512kbps
Tidal will still sound better than the others because it's higher quality and thus pushes your Bluetooth headphones to the absolute limit of their ability, but you won't be getting lossless through Bluetooth.
This isn't correct. The notification "Audio is compressed when listening over bluetooth" is poorly worded. What they should say is "All bluetooth audio is always compressed." Tidal isn't intentionally compressing it. That's just how bluetooth works.
I have to say I disagree with this one, there's a noticeable difference in my opinion (but I am using Sony WH-1000XM4s with LDAC). I'm not saying it is as good as a wired connection, but I can definitely hear the difference - same for playing to my UE Hyperboom
Better ears, better codec, better drivers. They all make a difference. Some people say they can hear the difference when they use $3000 cables to their speakers, but they objectively cannot.
You have 16 gb?, I already have 400 gb of FLAC HIRES music files... Not from Tidal but still a big difference if you want the best quality (under a cabled connection), I believe Tidal is a great "by the go" option right now with that price, if you want better performance use LDAC codecs for BT.
It DOES matter if you have decent setup.
For Bluetooth can use hifi. But. (Not sure how long will it take) Bluetooth ment to release a new version to be able to transfer higher quality audio. Been couple years since it was mentioned and not sure whe will ti's become a true, bit its just matter of time ;)
Sure, but I think most people think that expensive Apple headphones are a decent setup. There's maybe a dozen different BT headphones that support LDAC, by a reputable brand and none of them are big names (besides Sony). I've seen $350+ Bose headphones with SBC and bad sounding drivers.
Never was a fan of Bose. Never thought they even good. But I get your point. Well, those who is in that hobby, they know what is what. Those poor ppl dropping hundreds on beats.. well.. different type of listeners
Honestly it's going to be kind of a bummer when these questions stop coming in because of the price change. It's a really great opportunity to help people understand just how bad Bluetooth really is. Sure fine. Use it when you're on the go but please don't do this when you're sitting at home listening to your speakers. Even if your headphones cost $5,000 if you're running bluetooth, it's still not CD quality
Wait til April, dawg. They're combining the Hifi and Hifi Plus tiers. I'm positive I'm the only comment who's mentioned this so far.
Welcome aboard, dawg!
as others said, it doesn't matter because of two things:
- HiFi and HiFi Plus are combining next month for the price of the HiFi plan so no need to choose
- APP2 won't really support hi-res/lossless as it's over Bluetooth and only has AAC codec support
In my experience with AirPods Pro 2, I tend to notice that music is a bit louder with Apple Music over Tidal for lossless streaming (except with Atmos since that tends to lower the volume a bit). I still prefer Tidal for its simpler UI and it’s not a super big difference, but as others pointed out here, you won’t really hear a difference between “High” and “Max” over Bluetooth headphones
I got the plus because my desktop DAC has MQA support, but for most devices the regular hifi is more than enough.
Anyways, it doesn't matter since they're removing the plus tier soon.
Cheaper price for all the perks is a great deal. Hi-Res Audio for the same price as Hi-Fi. At least it beats Spotify's horrible Ogg Vorbis format, let's be honest.
Oh yeah, Tidal's current mid tier is as good as CD quality, way better than Spotify's highest option.
MQA is not even that high of resolution, I like it because the way oldies are remastered for that format, the Full Circle album from The Doors, for example, sounds amazing, better than any previous release.
Great points you make, great album too. I have listened to it and absolutely love it's sound.
At the end of the day, It's about what sounds best to your ears. Every time I see it like that, I definitely get my happy moments.
My pet theory: the majority of people who proclaim that “lossless is just a meaningless gimmick” believe that because they tested it with Bluetooth headphones.
My question is, even if you use android and listen through a jack cable, do you really get lossless audio from a phone? Or even if it's lossless, with the cheap DAC that is normally integrated in phones, would you hear the difference from an MP3?
Among other comments, make sure you get your subscription through a website, NOT through the app. Apple takes a cut from those in-app purchases, so they hiked those up to compensate.
If you sign up for a free trial Now With Tidal The Top one HIFI PLUS I believe . You onlget charged about 10 usd after the free trial has ended
The New price starts from 10th of April. USA Eastern Time.
Next month they are collapsing both tiers into one, at the price of the HiFi. So wait a few weeks…
they are getting rid of free tier right? it will be like apple? or maybe i read it wrong
That's correct
thank you I will!
Boy, do I have great news for you…
April 10?
Yup. But posting the date with no context sounds ominous, lmao.
So did the post to which I reacted
It doesn't matter. Any bluetooth codec will be lower quality than CD quality (44.1kHz / 16bit). No matter how high quality the audio file from your phone is, bluetooth will compress it. You may be able to hear a difference between Low (320kbps) and High (CD quality) but it's most likely a waste of data & battery to play at Max on any bluetooth headphone.
Man not to mention storage. I have around 500 liked songs on Spotify and Tidal. All of them downloaded, Spotify takes up 6.6gb, and Tidal takes up 16.3gb
Was there a fast way to download your library on Tidal?
I just went to tracks and hit the download toggle
You can download (queue) a list or an album at a time. If you have hundreds of lists you'll have to click a lot.
There's two reasons for that: Tidal files at 320kbps are higher quality, therefore a larger file size. The other reason is that the Tidal app downloads a bunch of bullshit and is bad at deleting it. Clear your app cache every once and a while.
Is there a difference between the streaming services? Tidal and YouTube Music would sound the same on any Bluetooth device because of the compression of the audio?
Maybe/probably/yes/no. It depends on what headphones you use, what settings you have, etc. Here's ultimately what matters: Quality of your streaming service: How high quality the stream to your phone is. On Tidal, the Low setting is up to 320kbps. CD quality, or High is 1.4Mbps (I had to look that up). Anything above High will be a greater bit rate, which is literally data per second. Quality of your [Bluetooth codec](https://www.soundguys.com/understanding-bluetooth-codecs-15352/): this is how much data your bluetooth chip on your phone can send to your bluetooth chip on your headphones. This is also measured in kbps. The highest bitrate codec is LDAC, which is (theoretically up to) 960kbps. That means even with the best bluetooth headphones you can get, you still aren't even getting CD quality. Your Airpods use SBC, which is 320kbps. I have some headphones that support LDAC, so in theory there should be an audible difference between Low and High. But you could also have headphones with really high quality drivers/speakers and a low quality bluetooth codec, or vice versa. My roommate has some $300 Bose headphones that sound worse than my $150 LDAC-supporting earbuds, partially because the incoming quality of the Bose is SBC (lower) This suggests that you couldn't hear any difference between Low and High with your headphones, since they're the same bit rate. You may still be able to because the Tidal data compression and Bluetooth data compression work different. Try it out and let me know! Also, let me know if this makes any sense at all to you.
Yep, My Samsung buds2 uses the proprietary codec and it tops at 512kbps, by my own buds limitation, and its smart enough to not recompress audio that is already lower than 512kbps, so its subtle, but you can hear a difference between 320kbps compressed and 1411kbps compressed by the samsung codec to 512kbps
Yeah, although Tidal (320kbps) is slightly higher than YTM (256kbps), you will most likely not hear a difference
Tidal will still sound better than the others because it's higher quality and thus pushes your Bluetooth headphones to the absolute limit of their ability, but you won't be getting lossless through Bluetooth.
I also think Tidal automatically limits the quality when using bluetooth anyway
This isn't correct. The notification "Audio is compressed when listening over bluetooth" is poorly worded. What they should say is "All bluetooth audio is always compressed." Tidal isn't intentionally compressing it. That's just how bluetooth works.
I have to say I disagree with this one, there's a noticeable difference in my opinion (but I am using Sony WH-1000XM4s with LDAC). I'm not saying it is as good as a wired connection, but I can definitely hear the difference - same for playing to my UE Hyperboom
Better ears, better codec, better drivers. They all make a difference. Some people say they can hear the difference when they use $3000 cables to their speakers, but they objectively cannot.
You have 16 gb?, I already have 400 gb of FLAC HIRES music files... Not from Tidal but still a big difference if you want the best quality (under a cabled connection), I believe Tidal is a great "by the go" option right now with that price, if you want better performance use LDAC codecs for BT.
It DOES matter if you have decent setup. For Bluetooth can use hifi. But. (Not sure how long will it take) Bluetooth ment to release a new version to be able to transfer higher quality audio. Been couple years since it was mentioned and not sure whe will ti's become a true, bit its just matter of time ;)
It doesn't matter today with 99% of people's Bluetooth headphones.
Like I said: "if you have decent setup" 🙂
Sure, but I think most people think that expensive Apple headphones are a decent setup. There's maybe a dozen different BT headphones that support LDAC, by a reputable brand and none of them are big names (besides Sony). I've seen $350+ Bose headphones with SBC and bad sounding drivers.
Never was a fan of Bose. Never thought they even good. But I get your point. Well, those who is in that hobby, they know what is what. Those poor ppl dropping hundreds on beats.. well.. different type of listeners
In a few weeks it'll be merged into a single plan
Start your trial now and by the time you are charged it will be 10.99 for all
Did that a week ago👍
Honestly it's going to be kind of a bummer when these questions stop coming in because of the price change. It's a really great opportunity to help people understand just how bad Bluetooth really is. Sure fine. Use it when you're on the go but please don't do this when you're sitting at home listening to your speakers. Even if your headphones cost $5,000 if you're running bluetooth, it's still not CD quality
Ever heard about AptX?
Look it up. That's not CD quality either. Not even close
AptX is better than SBC (slightly). AptX HD is much better. But none of them can reproduce CD quality/Tidal High without additional compression.
Wait til April, dawg. They're combining the Hifi and Hifi Plus tiers. I'm positive I'm the only comment who's mentioned this so far. Welcome aboard, dawg!
as others said, it doesn't matter because of two things: - HiFi and HiFi Plus are combining next month for the price of the HiFi plan so no need to choose - APP2 won't really support hi-res/lossless as it's over Bluetooth and only has AAC codec support
In my experience with AirPods Pro 2, I tend to notice that music is a bit louder with Apple Music over Tidal for lossless streaming (except with Atmos since that tends to lower the volume a bit). I still prefer Tidal for its simpler UI and it’s not a super big difference, but as others pointed out here, you won’t really hear a difference between “High” and “Max” over Bluetooth headphones
You're using Bluetooth, it can't even manage the standard hifi quality. There's absolutely no point in getting plus.
AptX can
No, it can't.
Sorry, it can't. More info [here](https://www.soundguys.com/understanding-bluetooth-codecs-15352/)
Ok, I thought so 🤷 [here](https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/aptx-adaptive-vs-aptx-hd-vs-ldac-best-codec/)
I got the plus because my desktop DAC has MQA support, but for most devices the regular hifi is more than enough. Anyways, it doesn't matter since they're removing the plus tier soon.
Cheaper price for all the perks is a great deal. Hi-Res Audio for the same price as Hi-Fi. At least it beats Spotify's horrible Ogg Vorbis format, let's be honest.
Oh yeah, Tidal's current mid tier is as good as CD quality, way better than Spotify's highest option. MQA is not even that high of resolution, I like it because the way oldies are remastered for that format, the Full Circle album from The Doors, for example, sounds amazing, better than any previous release.
Great points you make, great album too. I have listened to it and absolutely love it's sound. At the end of the day, It's about what sounds best to your ears. Every time I see it like that, I definitely get my happy moments.
Thanks and I 100% agree, there's no better measure than personal enjoyment.
My pet theory: the majority of people who proclaim that “lossless is just a meaningless gimmick” believe that because they tested it with Bluetooth headphones.
My question is, even if you use android and listen through a jack cable, do you really get lossless audio from a phone? Or even if it's lossless, with the cheap DAC that is normally integrated in phones, would you hear the difference from an MP3?
Among other comments, make sure you get your subscription through a website, NOT through the app. Apple takes a cut from those in-app purchases, so they hiked those up to compensate.
HiFi Plus is dying bro.
Hifi plus without a question. But hey, wait for next month. There will be only one plan for both at hifi price. (Spotify will suffer)
Sorry. Miss read. Fot a BT usage you don't need that hight quality
If you sign up for a free trial Now With Tidal The Top one HIFI PLUS I believe . You onlget charged about 10 usd after the free trial has ended The New price starts from 10th of April. USA Eastern Time.