This was posted 2 years 7 months 13 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Free 90 Days Trial of Tidal Hifi Plus (New Accounts Only, Payment Method Required) @ Tidal

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Free 90 Days Trial of Tidal Hifi Plus (New Accounts Only, Payment Method Required) @ Tidal
Go to Deal
Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 05:06 offer.tidal.com (1882 clicks)
Last edited 26/09/2021 - 16:38

Cancel the reoccurring payments following the sign-up to prevent future subscription payments after the trial ends, or perhaps a single-use/temporary card like what Zip offers? Alternatively, pay 23.99/M for Standard Hi-Fi or 35.99/M Family Hi-Fi.

EDIT: The VPN trick works with Tidal. Sign up with an Argentina location for 2.03/M Standard Hi-Fi or 3.14/M Family Hi-Fi.

—

I'm unsure of how the family account works, so I'm going to signup using a new account, then investigate inviting my previous Tidal account into that family to share the benefits.

—

If I'm unable to get these benefits on my preferred Tidal account, I highly recommend using the service soundiiz.
It allows for easy migration of tracks and playlists from one streaming service to another. The paid version of soundiiz is not necessary, it just makes the process a bit quicker and more convenient when trying to move or sync playlists.
The free version to my memory doesn't like to copy entire playlists, although you can get around that by selecting all the songs within the playlist and then migrating that into a new playlist on another platform, or activating the sync process(one active sync for free version), so delete the active sync after it does a copy.
This service doesn't let you have two different Tidal accounts logged in simultaneously, so you'll have to sign in with your original Tidal within your soundiiz account, transfer the playlists and liked songs to something like Spotify or Deezer, then sign out of Tidal on soundiiz and in again on the new 90-day one to be able to send/receive your Tidal catalogue to the new one.

—

For users looking to use the service permanently, it appears from the below commenters that the VPN trick works, I haven't personally verified the lowest prices myself yet.
User reports:
Approximately $3 with Argentina VPN
Approximately $4 with Turkish VPN

—

A couple of users have reported that Tidal doesn't always respect a cancellation of reoccurring payments, I have never had an issue with payments over a few trials and a legitimate use with an account, however, due to the mention of this problem by more than one user, I recommend that users prioritize cancelling their Tidal authorization from the PayPal side of things to be safe. It'll be in the area where all of your other subscriptions are located. (I forget the navigation queues off the top of my head)

—

I hope this additional information helped, I'll update the second, fourth and fifth paragraphs once I've had time to investigate on a PC later today.

Entertainment Music Streaming TIDAL

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closed Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2021 - 06:09
    +17

    Do not use a card for tidal unless you want to have to cancel it in the future. I signed up for a free trial with them, cancelled it, and they still charged me on the billing date. I submitted a support request to get my money back, which they proceeded to ignore and mark as solved without responding, so I submitted a dispute on paypal (as I used paypal to sign up for it) which they also proceeded to ignore, which caused paypal to find in my favour and refund me.

    The tidal subreddit has an alarmingly high number of posts from people who have cancelled their subscriptions and still been charged.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/TIdaL/comments/pkx9c7/tidal_reactiv…

    that guy had pretty much the same issue as me within the last few days.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/TIdaL/search?q=cancel&restrict_sr=o…

    not all of those posts are to do with my topic, but there are quite a few who have also had the same issue.

    • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 06:28
      +3

      I think the issue there was that, even though you cancelled the re-occurring payment through Tidal, there was still an open authorization between Tidal and PayPal which allows Tidal to charge you without permission.

      You have to find your authorized payees in PayPal and remove them. Even if you don't unsubscribe your service, but remove that authorization from PayPal, they still can't take anything from you. For some services, this can lead to an additional dodgy week, month or just a few hours.

      • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2021 - 06:31

        Yeah I went through that whole process when I found out they had charged me, but people are still having the same problem with other payment methods like debit cards, credit cards etc. The problem is tidal continues to charge for some reason.

        • Wardaddy on 12/09/2021 - 07:19
          +5

          For some reason? I think we know the reason.

          • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2021 - 07:41

            @Wardaddy: true

        • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 08:14
          +1

          Not sure how people have these issues, never had a problem. There's a button in the subscriptions area to cancel, it does it straight away.. simple as that.
          Not that hard to order a new credit card if you can't sort it out with your card company.

          Anyway if you have a VPN I'd recommend signing Up
          Via Argentina, and choose the hi-fi (and family option if desired, which is usually free during the trial anyway). Imo very cheap to keep after the trial at $3/month (prices went up recently). Sound quality leaves Spotify and YouTube music for dead.

          • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2021 - 08:43
            +7

            @G-rig: many people have unsubscribed successfully (from their end), it's just that tidal seems incapable or unwilling to stop charging them.

            you shouldn't have to order a new card because services like tidal refuse to stop charging you, it's probably against the law to do what they're doing in the first place.

            i only commented to warn people of what could happen if they sign up for this trial, people have signed up before, cancelled and not realised that they have continued to receive charges for months, sometimes over a year after they cancelled. it's only 20 or so dollars a month so most people probably wouldn't realise what's happening if they believed that they had successfully cancelled the service.

            good for you not having problems, but that doesn't change the fact that they are common with tidal.

            • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 08:56
              +2

              @[Deactivated]: Yeah fair enough, Sounds like a pain, just have to monitor it a month after cancelling and chase it up if need be. Not that hard calling your bank to block it, agree you shouldn't have to though).

              You hear people talking about this issue but surely it's the minority (hopefully)

              • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2021 - 09:09

                @G-rig: i think it is a minority,but not too uncommon. it does make me wary of subscribing to stuff in the future, i always make sure to use paypal if possible these days.

                • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 09:18

                  @[Deactivated]: Yes good tip
                  I'm not sure you can use PayPal for a lot of things, but covered under your credit card, just a hassle right.

              • NoApostrophePlurals on 12/09/2021 - 21:13
                -1

                @G-rig: Give me your credit card details, let me order a few things. You won't need to pay for them, just call up and cancel your credit cards after I get my stuff. Not that hard calling up the bank and cancelling.

            • Jimbuscus on 12/09/2021 - 18:11

              @[Deactivated]: New York Times does this too, they don't have a subscription cancellation system so you have to ask them to do it by contacting them.

              I have told them to stop charging me twice and they still attempt charges, sometimes 4 days after successfully charging me, despite being a 4 week fee.

              It's only $2, but I have to decide between trying to avoid having money on my card or changing my number, they end up catching me and stealing it eventually.

          • cute as duck on 12/09/2021 - 08:54
            +1

            @G-rig:

            Not that hard to order a new credit card if you can't sort it out with your card company.

            Easy yes. But extremely inconvenient. You shouldn't have to resort to this

          • Raj09 on 12/09/2021 - 11:08

            @G-rig: Which VPN do you use?

          • Mark365 on 12/09/2021 - 17:54

            @G-rig: Hi,

            Do you have to turn your vpn everytime you use Tidal if subscribe to Argentina?

            Tnx

            • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 18:22

              @Mark365: No, just for sign up process

              • Mark365 on 12/09/2021 - 19:28

                @G-rig: Thanks G rig!
                Will sub definitely

  • peuwayaqdq on 12/09/2021 - 06:46

    What are benefits of Tidal as compared to Spotify? If I already have Spotify, would I want to try Tidal?

    I mean, do they have bigger collection? Better sound quality?

    • mulder82 on 12/09/2021 - 07:12
      +6

      Tidal has a lot better sound quality, it’s lossless so to speak.

      • ThymeTraveller on 12/09/2021 - 09:45
        +1

        MQA? No thanks.

        • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 10:10
          -2

          I'll talk cd quality over whatever Spotify and YouTube music offer, which would be MP3 256 VBR at best I assume. MQA is a nice bonus when the purple light comes on on the DAC.

    • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 07:37
      +5

      They have similar but different collections.
      Tidal can have additional releases of your favourite songs that sound different.

      The sound quality is significantly better if you have respectable gear.
      If you've never listened to audio files above 320kbps previously, you likely won't notice any difference on your first day, possibly a hint of something if you were to play your favourite song.

      Spotify Premium runs at 320 Kbps for its highest quality.
      Tidal HiFi Plus has the Master copy of some songs and plays audio with a bitrate(Kbps) of 2304-9216.
      It also has additional features like Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio for some songs.

      I personally love HQ music, and consider myself an audiophile, the only problem is now that my ears are attuned to audio of a greater depth, it's affected my experience with anything less.

      • peuwayaqdq on 12/09/2021 - 08:12

        Thanks for your info. I might not be able to tell the difference for the lack of respectable gear :/

    • DingoBilly on 12/09/2021 - 09:21

      The main difference is meant to be sound quality, but for 90%+ of people they would never notice it.

      Even for people with high end gear, there's a lot of reports that the difference is very minimal.

    • afoveht on 12/09/2021 - 10:15
      +3

      IMO tidal has a better UI - to me it's just more intuitive and I can find anything I want quickly. When my tidal trial expired I tried Spotify which felt like tidal for kids.

      After trying a few services I was going to subscribe to tidal but the only negative for me is the kids like Spotify, they don't care for tidal (not the popular one they can share playlists with other friends, etc.) so a family plan was out. But with G-rig's comment above about the $3 Argentinian deal I might just forget about the kids and go for it.

      • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 10:52
        +3

        Yeah mate for that price you could afford both, out kids can use the free Spotify (personally have never used it so unsure of the differences). I have YouTube premium, but never bother with YouTube music, never liked it.

        Tidal UI is certainly different, takes a bit of getting used to but good when used to it. There's a desktop app too I use when at PC

  • Mechz on 12/09/2021 - 09:30
    +2

    I got 12 months free Tidal with my letsbemates nbn & phone sim bundle. The Tidal app logs me out every few days on Android. Really not worth it unless you want the 360 sound etc.

    • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 09:44
      +1

      Must be the phone that's forcing that when doing updates? Doesn't happen on mine (pixel 5), but have noticed it on another app.

    • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 10:30
      +2

      Mate, that's likely something you're doing unintentionally. I imagine one of your apps is clearing the user data, possibly alongside the application cache.

      I'd start with any app that's related to optimisation. If it's your browser that's signing you out, it'll be your security settings or an extension that you have active.

      I've comfortably used Tidal on several different Samsung Galaxy models, Pixel 4XL, Fiio X7, Chrome Browser(W10) and the Windows App.

      I've never had a sign out that I didn't cause myself.

      • Mechz on 12/09/2021 - 11:17
        +1

        I never clear caches and it doesn't happen on any other apps.

        It's also pretty clear they have no decent awareness algorithms because when I click search/explore it gives me genres I'd never listen to. I have to scroll sideways to find my preferred genre that all my saved artists are a part of.

        It's easier to just install a cracked version of spotify and get decent recommendations.

    • Ronan2001 on 12/09/2021 - 10:36

      I also have the 12 months free Tidal sub with Lets Be Mates. However, the Tidal sub is the standard sub with 320Kbps max streaming not HIFI/Lossless.

    • Zackeroo on 12/09/2021 - 13:01

      This seems like an issue with your phone. I use Tidal daily on Android and I've never had that issue. The Tidal app is even quicker than Spotify and opens within a split second on my phone (Major benefit imo)

    • lilchonk on 12/09/2021 - 15:21

      That was happening to me on my Android device as well.

  • Yafuturefavorite on 12/09/2021 - 09:47
    +4

    I will NEVER recommend tidal

    They continued charging me even when I cancelled & it was a terrible process getting them to acknowledge that they were in the wrong

    • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 10:35

      When it comes to cancelling or getting your money back, all you need to do is send one email for the records, wait a week or two, then talk to PayPal/Bank.

      Banks are great, whenever I get screwed by another company, I usually end up telling my Bank that the first X charges were valid, else they try to refund every single charge from that company.

  • OfTheOverflow on 12/09/2021 - 10:01

    I like the idea of Tidal, but similar to the posters above, didn't appreciate that they charged me after I unsubscribed.

  • liquornoodlescabbage on 12/09/2021 - 10:02

    I pay $4 a month I think for Tidal through a Turkish VPN, high quality music for that price is pretty solid. Much easier than the hacks needed to get other cheap music services too.

    • NoApostrophePlurals on 12/09/2021 - 23:03

      I just signed up to a family plan through Argentina with HiFi and Master for my Wife and I. I have some extra slots. If you wanna throw me $10 a year and save some money, I can adopt you.

      • helloitse on 15/09/2021 - 16:29

        Any room left in the family for one more?

        • NoApostrophePlurals on 15/09/2021 - 17:14

          Hi mate, my family is full, even SmP46 missed our, but I showed him how to set up a new family and he has spots available! PM him!

        • G-rig on 15/09/2021 - 17:33

          I got some spots if anyone is keen $10 / year
          haven't bothered till now, only one other mate is on my family plan.

        • liquornoodlescabbage on 15/09/2021 - 17:38

          Hey helloitse if you want to enable private messages I'm sure either me or G-rig below would be happy to send a message with the details.

      • liquornoodlescabbage on 15/09/2021 - 17:39

        I've jumped on board to. If anyone is interested still in a spot shoot me a PM I have 5 spare.

  • bigpoppa on 12/09/2021 - 10:19

    If you already use apple music is there any point in tidal? Especially when you have access to high res content with no extra charge!

    • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 10:40

      Can't speak for Apple-related usage/products myself.

    • Mechz on 12/09/2021 - 11:22
      -2

      If you don't count the apple tax, sure.

  • blergmonkeys on 12/09/2021 - 10:26

    I've tried this. Listening via HD6XXs through a topping EX5.

    MQA and hi-fi tracks sound great but the fact that MQA requires exclusive control of my DAC (turning off all other system sounds) is a dealbreaker for me.

    On the other hand, I also find myself wanting to listen to exclusively high bitrate music now as my ears have become attuned to it and low quality tracks really grind my listening experience… sigh (the pitfalls of first world problems)

    • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 10:39

      I can relate to the sound Pitfall.

      That sounds like a DAC-related issue, which you could avoid possibly by
      1. DAC with different MQA decoder.
      2. Try Audio USB Player Pro
      3. Use Deezer or personal downloads instead of Tidal (They won't be MQAs)

      • blergmonkeys on 12/09/2021 - 11:48

        Yeah, I looked into it. Apparently it is not DAC-related as tidal requires exclusive use of the DAC to unfold MQA. It's a known issue with tidal. Lots on forums re it.

        • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 20:06

          Interesting information/report… Experiences I've never been aware of. So you're saying that when Tidal is being played from a DAC that all other sounds that are going through or originally being produced the DAC are silence?

          • squiddles88 on 12/09/2021 - 20:25

            @Beyond: MQA requires the sound card to run in exclusive mode, this means only a single application can send audio. It allows audio to be processed at a higher sample rate than supported by Windows.

    • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2021 - 10:55
      +3

      MQA is not truly lossless and MQA the business act like snake oil salesmen when presented with evidence of this, check out GoldenSounds videos on the topic. I had no idea what MQA was until today and after researching it a bit, i wouldn't want it.

      • blergmonkeys on 12/09/2021 - 11:47

        Yeah I have looked into it.

        Objective measurements aside, my subjective hearing notices a big difference in MQA/Hi-Fi tidal tracks vs spotify (premium) high bitrate tracks

        So, for me at least, I enjoy it. I just don't like that tidal requires exclusive use of my DAC to unfold MQA.

        • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2021 - 11:50
          +1

          fair enough. supposedly qobuz & deezer are up there in terms of quality and as far as i'm aware, they don't use MQA. i think deezer gives a free trial for a month or so.

          • blergmonkeys on 12/09/2021 - 12:17

            @[Deactivated]: Thanks mate, I'll look into it, appreciate it.

          • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 20:08

            @[Deactivated]: I've never used Qobuz, due to location. Though, I'd have to say Deezer is my favourite in terms of usability, although I found Tidal gave slightly better recommendations and I managed to fill up my new liked songs much faster than on Deezer.

        • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 18:28

          Agree it sounds a lot better
          You can change the windows device to the DAC, and can still use it if it isn't playing MQA content at the same time. Not sure what's wrong with that. It's just the way it works, hardware decoding.

          • blergmonkeys on 12/09/2021 - 23:15

            @G-rig: I tend to listen to music whilst doing other tasks (gaming, office work), so I need system and other audio to work at the same time. Missed a few important teams calls and messages due to not realizing it would do this.

            • G-rig on 13/09/2021 - 07:27

              @blergmonkeys: Yeah mate, I understand the issue.

              I suggest turning 'Use Exclusive Mode' off

              With exclusive mode, TIDAL has exclusive use of the audio device. This option only has effect for HiFi and Master playback.

              Sound Output icon down the bottom -> Chose the device (in my case, Speakers (iFi HD+ USB Audio) -> More settings)
              Just tested it again on the desktop and webpage players, and able to play a YouTube clip at the same time with audio.

              I'm sure you've tried it but may be handy for others.
              Also, only the desktop app can decode MQA, so sometimes it's easier to use the webpage player, which I tend to do if chromecasting.

              I've adjusted focus assist settings in windows and got teams icon in the system tray. Never liked hearing most of the windows default sounds, too intrusive.

              Depends on your setup, when I want the best quality (and MQA decoding) I use the dac-amp-headphones, but had a bose mini soundlink lying around which i use for general windows notifications and media playback so can hear it as well (or use exclusively if I don't want headphones).
              It's just the nature of MQA requiring passthrough to hardware decoding but can turn that off as mentioned.

    • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 12:29
      -1

      I Always turn off windows sounds and have another speaker with a 3.5mm cable. Just change the output in tidal to system controlled perhaps when you aren't listening to MQA content. There are also some settings that relate to MQA passthrough etc (I'm sure that you've looked into these, and that the DAC is an MQA one). Hopefully helps

  • JaiQiBoi on 12/09/2021 - 10:39
    +1

    Just to restate as above, This company is notorious for charging it's customers after they have unsubscribed, fighting them till the end for every dollar.
    Whirlpool and reddit forums show a consistent trend of this practice.

    • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 10:42

      Yes, and I've mentioned twice on this page how to prevent that from possibly happening, why have you decided that this deal is bad because of something that's easily avoidable?

      • JaiQiBoi on 12/09/2021 - 10:45

        Righteo, I'll take the downvote back. Yes the PayPal authorization cancelation is right on.

        • JaiQiBoi on 12/09/2021 - 10:50

          Am not used to removing downvotes. Am I unable to? It was just to encourage members to be wary and take precautions, to avoid losing out. If any mods want to take the downvote away, they are welcome; am unable to from my end.

        • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 20:17
          +1

          I appreciate you retracting your vote.
          As I'm not trying to support the company here, but am just trying to make a positive "ozbargain"(which has been required a quite bit more time invested than a user normally would), that I feel like for some reason a red negative is a reflection on my something I have or haven't done throughout my listing.(which I know isn't necessarily true, but it still feels that way, hence my appreciation for the initial understanding and removal of the negative vote)
          I mentioned to the mods about your vote and they sent me guidelines of reasons to make a negative vote, one of which is a problem with the retailer. So I suppose your negative vote was completely within reason, and it was unfair of me to question it without having known the proper voting guidelines.

          • JaiQiBoi on 13/09/2021 - 12:15

            @Beyond: No problem Beyond, your deal execution was perfect. :)
            Great OzBargaining, it is a good deal.
            Yeah my downvote was purely pointing to a company that (allegedly*) tends towards dragging it's customers underwater financially.

  • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 10:51
    +1

    I understand that users ideally shouldn't have to go through that process for peace of mind, but at the same time, we're a community that is ongoing with trial accounts and VPN prices to maximise our value of a product while saving as much coin as possible.

    Sometimes these things happen, but as long as we communicate about them, comfortable measures can usually be taken to avoid the problem, or at least give the user complete transparency beforehand.

  • sapsec on 12/09/2021 - 10:54
    -1

    Guys and Girls,
    The issue I have with using a VPN to create an account from a 3rd world country is around ethics. Tidal and others provide those rates as the income in those countries is very low, compared to say Australia.
    Is it the case if we abuse the service the company may pull back on discounting O/S subscription costs!
    I like bargains, as an Ozbargainer, but we are in a fortunate position in Australia. Maybe consider who loses for ones personal gain.
    My 50cents worth for the day.

    • BonanzaBuddy on 12/09/2021 - 14:35

      Seems like Tidal is using this model to either price gouge Australia users, or the Australian user is subsidizing a foreign country user.

      • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 15:05

        Agree, people would be happy to pay a reasonable price but not 36$ a month, bit absurd compared to other steaming services (Netflix, Kayo etc), and there are reports that they aren't always passing on royalties to artists.

    • Beyond on 12/09/2021 - 20:28

      I gave you a + because I didn't believe that post deserved any negatives.

      Your post was about your own unique perspective and understanding of a particular use-case.

      You didn't tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do, but just left information for the users to absorb as is.

      Myself personally, with my current financial state I've had to cancel pretty much every subscription, so I will likely still try to utilise the VPN method.

      BUT! I respect and support posts like these in every ozbargain thread. I value all of the additional insight available from users when announciated in this manner, that isn't trying to tell us what's best or why we're wrong, but a well thought out, well-written opinion.

  • swalloweda on 12/09/2021 - 10:57

    Spotify lossless coming by the end of the year apparently.

    In the meantime Tidal is a good option for gapless streaming (no pause between tracks when one track is meant to merge into the next), but there's big audiophile controversy about MQA (even higher than CD quality) and whether it's what it claims to be (check out Goldensound's YouTube channel if you want to be informed and utterly baffled at the same time). TLDR; You most likely won't tell the difference between CD quality and MQA in any case, and the file size for MQA is exponentially bigger.

    For CD quality stuff though, 3 months Tidal can keep you going till Spotify hopefully completely undercuts Tidal's HiFi pricing.

    Apple Music also offers HiFi (CD) quality for a similar price to Spotify but gapless isn't an option for streaming. Not a deal-breaker for a decent price.

    Whether you can tell the difference between 320 MP3s and CD quality is another question, and depends on your ears and what you're listening to your streams with. On your phone without a DAC MP3 quality is likely sufficient more most humans, though @blergmonkeys comment is probably a common experience too. Once you've gone there it's had to switch back.

    • TeddyBear on 12/09/2021 - 12:37

      I've seen many people recommend Apple Music's lossless library, however, I've heard that their Windows application doesn't support lossless playback. It may even be limited to iPhones.

      • Spizz on 12/09/2021 - 22:12
        +1

        Even though Apple are including lossless for free, the amount of hurdles you have to jump through to use the full lossless makes it nearly unusable.

  • Raj09 on 12/09/2021 - 11:09

    Waiting for spotify lossless

  • BraggingRights on 12/09/2021 - 12:00

    Apple now offer Dolby Atmos Lossless sound including in their subscription price for partipating artists (Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber etc…)

  • oadvdotcom on 12/09/2021 - 12:34

    how about use one time use 16 digit temperate debit card like zip?

    • oadvdotcom on 12/09/2021 - 12:35

      to avoid being charged

    • hawkeye93 on 12/09/2021 - 13:47

      Exactly. That's what I have been using for every trial/SIM deal. No need to do anything as the card expires after 24 hours.

  • heyimsu on 12/09/2021 - 13:26

    So how much data does this chew up every hour?

    • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 13:41

      Not sure but there are plenty of setting to adjust streaming quality if on wifi or cellular, and can downloaded albums for offline listening

    • swalloweda on 12/09/2021 - 14:39

      From https://www.allconnect.com/blog/is-hifi-music-streaming-wort…

                         Download speed    Data usage

      Spotify (High audio setting) 0.160 Mbps / 0.072 GB per hour
      Spotify (Very high audio setting) 0.320 Mbps / 0.144 GB per hour
      Deezer / Tidal HiFi 1.411 Mbps / 0.635 GB per hour
      TIDAL Masters 3 Mbps / 1.35 GB per hour

      For comparison:
      Netflix in HD 5 Mbps /3 GB per hour

      Conclusion: Best to use 320mbps when on phone data

      edit: sorry, formatting a bit stuffed up!

  • Flognuts on 12/09/2021 - 13:57
    +1

    The best music streaming service at the moment if you want Lossless.

    Will jump back to Spotify when they go Lossless.

    • bagachin on 12/09/2021 - 14:16

      Any particular reason why Apple Music is not on your top spot for lossless?

      • askbargain on 12/09/2021 - 14:17

        Or even Qobuz? Probably only knows Tidal, that's why.

      • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 14:21
        +1

        Not everyone has an iPhone or is in the apple ecosystem, or wants to use iTunes

      • swalloweda on 12/09/2021 - 14:55
        +1

        Apple has way fewer options to stream on hifi systems. Apple doesn't play nice with others.

        The majority of streamers or streamer/DACs can't stream via Apple Airplay, and wont do gapless (particularly annoying for fans of prog or EDM, mixtapes etc)

        I use it with headphones and DAC from my MAC, and I'm impressed with the quality, and have been using it since my last Tidal trial ran out. Be interested to compare the two side by side now I have both, and for the price it's great value if you can put up with the constraints of the Apple eco-system.

        • Spizz on 12/09/2021 - 22:15
          +1

          If you have standalone equipment for lossless then I think Qobuz and Tidal are better for now. The only way to get Apple Music Lossless with auto rate changing is via an ipad using a cable hooked up to a AQ Dragonfly then to your HiFi system. Not really usable in its current state.

    • rictee on 12/09/2021 - 16:50

      Qobuz still wins in terms of sound quality. Trialed both extensively. MQA is no match for true Hi Res format.

      • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 17:33

        Hi res as in 16 bit 44,000 kH CD?

        Would be hard to hear the difference if people claim you can't hear the difference in a blind test between MP3 and lossless

        • rictee on 12/09/2021 - 18:24

          Hi Res 24 bit or higher. Can definitely hear the difference when listening critically on a good speaker set up. Less so in the car stereo while driving obviously but I still value good SQ.

          • G-rig on 12/09/2021 - 18:30

            @rictee: Sounds interesting, I'll have to look for a sample on the net. MQA I've noticed goes up to 92,000kHz or something, displays on the windows widget for the DAC

            • rictee on 12/09/2021 - 23:19

              @G-rig: MQA supposedly unfolds to the Hi Res bitrate if you have a supported device but I never got the same SQ as a Hi Res stream from Qobuz.
              There have been independent tests done which proved that MQA isn't really lossless. Not to mention the licensing fees for a proprietary format. But that's beside the point - if the SQ is not as good as it claims it won't get my money.

              • G-rig on 13/09/2021 - 03:56

                @rictee: Yeah fair enough. It sounds great to me, not all titles are MQA and I'm happy knowing the minimum default quality is lossless (cd quality).

                This Qobuz sounds interesting will have to test it sometime.

  • zooter on 12/09/2021 - 15:49

    can stack this with the mates offer? I.e. if you start using this, then switch over to mates, can you continue using the service for free?

  • Thrifty Dan on 12/09/2021 - 16:36

    Thanks OP. Signed up with new email after I used a hungry jacks win for 3 months free.

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