![]() ![]() Track 4: 160kbps Does Spotify or Tidal Sound Better for Rap Music Track 4: 320kbps Does Spotify or Tidal Sound Better for Rock Music Does Spotify or Tidal Sound Better for Pop Music We’ll master it for you and send you a free mastered sample to review. If you have a track that you’d like to hear mastered, send it to us here: One important thing to note is that for the pop, rock, and rap tracks, it was just about impossible to find a Master Quality version on Tidal that is still public domain, so these have been recorded in as 96kHz 24-bit files via analog equipment using a Tidal Hi-fi quality 44.1kHz 16-bit file. We'd recommend that you use headphones for this test. Be sure to use some headphones and your best playback system when doing these tests to get the best results. To make things more interesting we’ll make this a blind test so that each file isn’t identified until we’ve listened to each one of them. Here are the tracks that we'll listen to from Spotify. The files played from Spotify will be 320kbps, 160kbps, and 24kbps. ![]() The files played from Tidal will be 44.1kHz 16-bit. We’ll listen to Pop, Rock, and Rap tracks to determine which streaming service offers better quality. To understand this, we’ll need to listen to various genres using the settings we just described. Spotify's quality ranges from 24kbps to 320kbps.īut understanding these settings from a technical standpoint doesn’t help us understand which service sounds better. The quality of these AAC files ranges from a very low 24kbps to 320kbps. On the other hand, Spotify now uses an AAC lossy format (replacing the Ogg Vorbis format previously used). ![]() Tidal's streaming offers lossless file types than can support up to 384kHz, 24-bit. It should be noted that their master quality can go up to a 384kHz sampling rate, which is pretty impressive. Their hi-fi setting is a lossless 44.1, 16-bit file, whereas their Master setting is typically 96kHz, 24-bit. Tidal provides both lossy formats at lower quality settings and lossless formats at higher settings. Since Tidal was released, people have wondered if it truly sounds better than Spotify. Spotify or Tidal: Which Streaming Service Sounds the Best?Īlthough we can’t say one objectively sounds better, one service provides files with less aliasing, encoding distortion, and with a fuller frequency spectrum. If you intend to use lower quality formats to reduce data usage then Spotify may be better the better option. This mistake has now been rectified.Although which service sounds better may be subjective to some, Tidal provides higher quality masters using lossless files, whereas Spotify streams music using an AAC lossy format. Whether Spotify will dominate the 'HD listening' streaming market as it has done with regular streaming will largely depend on how much it decides to charge for the privilege – and if it can undercut the competition, its easy-to-navigate interface, excellent playlist curation, and wealth of songs could cement its place as the world's most popular streaming service for years to come.Įditor's note: this story previously stated that Spotify HiFI would offer Hi-Res Audio. It puts even more space between Apple Music and the rest of the competition, many of whom won't have this higher-quality tier to subscribe to. Spotify's popularity could well mean the difference in sound quality isn't enough to jump ship. The announcement could seriously worry the likes of Tidal and Amazon Music Unlimited, even though it doesn't quite hit the quality levels of Hi-Res, higher bit-rate audio those services offer. Up until now, Spotify audio was limited at 320kbps, unlike CDs, which max out at 1,411kbps – and the upgrade should offer far higher levels of detail and clarity for those with discerning ears. Spotify says that "high quality music streaming is consistently one of the most requested new features by our users", and it's little wonder when you consider how many other streaming services have already offered this for years. In an effort to undercut the competition, Spotify could price its HiFi streaming tier at around $12.99 / £12.99 / AU$16 per month, compared to Amazon's $14.99 / £14.99 and Tidal's $19.99 / £19.99 / AU$23.99 Hi-Res streaming tiers. Pricing is also yet to be announced, but as an optional add-on for Premium users, it probably won't be free.Īside from its free basic streaming tier that comes with adverts, Spotify Premium is the cheapest tier available, costing $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$11.99 per month. ![]()
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