GRACE NOTES

A few months ago, we reported that Tidal High Fidelity music streaming was going to be launched in the US. It’s now up and running, and we had a chance to check it out. It’s the first full-resolution music streaming service available to US consumers. (Deezer is also full resolution, but only available for Sonos users.) Blah, blah, yet another music streaming service. Is it really that much better than Beats, Spotify, Slacker, or Pandora? Is it worth the $19.99 monthly fee? After some intensive listening, I say without hesitation, enthusiastically “YES” on all accounts.

Tidal has launched with a claimed 25 million tracks available to stream or download, all in CD-quality 16-bit/44.1k, lossless FLAC files, or for Apple users, lossless ALAC files. I didn’t count them all, but so far I’m impressed with the depth of their library. In addition to music, there are over 75,000 music videos available in high def. They have contracts with Sony, Universal, Warner, and more, along with indie labels. In addition, they have platforms for PC and Mac users, and mobile Android and iOS apps. Contracts are in the works with numerous manufacturers (at least 34) to include Tidal in their hardware systems too.

Since streaming this much data can come at a cost, Tidal has an option to download lossless files to listen offline, and you can also downgrade from HiFi to lower resolution streams to conserve data. You can choose the resolution of the downloads too, along with where to store it, and authorize up to three devices per account. They make it easy to see what’s downloaded and even easier to edit your downloaded playlist. Currently, there is a free 7-day trial subscription being offered, but it should be noted that downloads are not available during the trial period. It’s easy to understand why. Did we mention that Tidal is free from commercials? Ad-free, high-quality music. What’s not to like?

Choosing what to listen to is almost overwhelming. You can simply pick an artist and listen to their repertoire, or pick a genre and let Tidal’s music editors choose for you. There are also editorial sections with artist interviews, album spotlights, music news, and more. The user interface will be familiar to both users of Spotify and iTunes.

I started out with a tough one. See how much Philip Glass they have. Well, a lot more than Pandora. How much Peter Gabriel? Quite a bit, but some only available as album downloads, not streaming. For a while, I just let their Classical playlist roll. I was impressed not just with the variety, or quality of performances (Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Joshua Bell, etc.) but of course, with the fidelity.

Then it hit me. There was so much of my favorite music that I don’t listen to very often because it sounds so awful as a compressed file. I rediscovered Renaissance and Pat Metheny. Found albums I had worked on from years ago. Lost hours reconnecting with Emerson, Lake & Palmer. And then, I searched for Yes.

Close To The Edge has been one of my favorite albums, ever since it first came out. But an MP3 file, even at 320kbps, loses the depth, the sparkle, the detail. But hearing the opening guitar notes of “And You and I” brought back that incredible sound, the fidelity, and the reason I love this recording. I was hooked. This song starts with clearly struck guitar notes with high harmonics. Tidal conveyed that sense of space and clarity flawlessly. Tidal makes it easy to switch resolution, and switching to Standard (AAC+ 96) or High (AAC 320) and back to HiFi (FLAC 1411) really shows off how good streaming can sound. In this case, it sounds fabulous.

There is a current resurgence in Hi-Res Audio, and as an audio writer and recording engineer, I couldn’t be happier. However, the general public might not see a benefit in something better than CD quality—they were told for decades that CD-quality was the gold standard, and with good reason. If Tidal can break people of the MP3 habit and just restore music back to CD quality, which is pretty darn good, it’s an amazing service, and perhaps a gateway to even higher resolution. With Tidal, you don’t just get good quality; you get great quality with a music service that has a deep lexicon of tracks available for a variety of musical tastes. There’s really no excuse for low-fidelity, low-quality streaming. None.

"We are delighted that TIDAL has launched and that music lovers can now appreciate music the way it is meant to sound," said TIDAL CEO Andy Chen. "But the music is just one part of the service. The expert editorial educates, entertains and enriches the music experience while the music videos complement the music perfectly. We are sure that TIDAL will quickly become the music streaming service of choice for all who appreciate high quality at every level."