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In Reply to: RE: tidal sounds like shit posted by bullethead on February 26, 2017 at 15:28:44
I wasn't impressed with 16/44, but the partially unfolded Masters can sound very good.
I got a free three month trial, right after the Masters were released. At first I was a little suspect of them, it kind of seemed like they had done something to just sweeten the sound, but then I listened to enough different artists/bands that I think what I was hearing was, for example the first three Van Morrison LPs and The Doors was, for lack of a better descriptor, a house sound.
If there is any real limitation it is their player. My transport is out for a warranty replacement of the disc drive, after it gets back I will do some direct comparisons. Well as direct as possible, because they could be different versions. Tidal will sometimes have three or four versions of the same album. Sometimes they will be labeled as remastered or deluxe, other times they appear identical.
I heard from a friend, a local dealer we both respect for his golden ears, says the Masters streamed through an Aurender sound better than the CD played on an Audio Research CD9, high praise, as the CD9 is the best CD player I have personally heard.
What are you hearing, comparing, that brought you to the above stated conclusion?
Follow Ups:
16/44.1 direct to CD comparison,
midrange seems artifical dullness to it.
used a bunch of sources, macbook usb, sonos connect which was modified and an auralic aries.
cd transport is a basic yamaha CD-S1000 and Auralic vega as the DAC for all of the sources.
Well, my transport should be back by Friday, once it settles in, I'll do some comparisons.
What about Masters? Did you listen to any of them? If you use the Tidal player, you should be seeing 24/88 or 96 at your DAC.
Are you new to Tidal? There are more settings after you click on your DAC, of course you probably know that, but it is not obvious to everyone. I think I missed it the first time.
Masters sound pretty good. I used the Meridian Explorer 2 DAC with them.
considering most of the content I listen to is only available as 16/44.1 I still prefer the CD. However the stream is convenient, just not the best compared to physical disc.
Have you tried partially unfolded through Vega DAC?
Playing the partially unfolded MQA files through by Lindemann, well depending on the original recording, some do sound really good.
I do wish I could bypass the Tidal player, but Roon is too expensive, and JRiver doesn't have any plans for Tidal. I did some reading, and apparently JRiver had done a lot of work to integrate, and Tidal said no.
Roon must have paid enough for them to allow it.
yes, tried the partial unfold on the Vega. Does not sound as good as the Meridian Explorer 2.
I subscribe to Deezer Elite, and will stick with it instead.
Tidal MQA through their player into my Dragonfly Black sounded really good. The 16/44.1 not as much, but still better than any other streaming. I gave up on CD a while ago, but as I said elsewhere, maybe I needed to get a better DAC.
Vinyl Rules! (ducks)
You haven't updated your system since 2007, so it's hard to say. To get the best out of CDs, I believe everything matters. That means a good transport or all in one player. If separates then a good cable, preferably an I2S connection.
It is the same thing with Tidal, with partially unfolded MQA, and a good clean connection,or full MQA DAC like a Mytek, it can be totally enjoyable audio.
Right now I prefer CDs or downloads through JRiver, to Tidal's 16/44, but having all that music available is very cool. I think if you aren't using it to listen to music you already have, it is easier to enjoy. Kind of like ignorance is bliss.
If you only listen to audiophile quality recordings, you miss out on a lot good, but sometimes poorly recorded music. To me it is about the music first. And with the right gear, bad recordings are still worth listening to.
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