In Reply to: TIDAL and quality posted by John PA on April 26, 2016 at 12:17:16:
I agree in some ways. When I compare material from Tidal (lossless 19.95 membership) with CDs burned onto my 2015 MacBook (i7, 16GB, 1TB SSD, used only for music) with JRiver MC21, I think the MC21 burned material sounds better (slightly more dynamic sounding, little better focus, more spatial cues).
That said, I still enjoy Tidal and think it sounds pretty good (just not identical with my ripped material). But there are other variables that I have not been able to optimize. Tidal is streamed in through Fios optical, converted and piped via 50' of Ethernet. There may be issues of noise contamination from the router's switching PS? In any event, my Tidal equipment chain is considerably more complex than playing material from my laptop's hard drive.
You know what else sounds different? I can play Tidal from Ethernet or WiFi and they sound different too.
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Follow Ups
- RE: TIDAL and quality - TubeDriver 13:42:17 04/26/16 (0)