Tidal Plans and Pricing

[Cossa]

In August I purchased a $35.00 / 12 month access to Tidal HiFi Plus from someone on Etsy. Weird place, I know. I bought it with my AMEX in the event things went sour. It has worked flawlessly since.

 

[Green G]

In August I purchased a $35.00 / 12 month access to Tidal HiFi Plus from someone on Etsy. Weird place, I know. I bought it with my AMEX in the event things went sour. It has worked flawlessly since.

Wow. It may be that the seller sets up a family account and makes each buyer a family member.

 

[Cossa]

Wow. It may be that the seller sets up a family account and makes each buyer a family member.

It is somehow tied to a Plex promo but essentially the same. Given the low cost, I took a gamble since it was low risk...

 

[Andretex]

I got this email today. I guess all prices will be good going forward. I have the full Tidal Hifi Plus plan.

 

[Fischman]

In August I purchased a $35.00 / 12 month access to Tidal HiFi Plus from someone on Etsy. Weird place, I know. I bought it with my AMEX in the event things went sour. It has worked flawlessly since.

Does it still work

 

[Cossa]

Does it still work

It has worked flawlessly since.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

No reason why it won't. There are tons of promos out there. Many manufacturers and apparently software companies buy 3 or 6 or 12 month subscriptions in bulk and give them away to their buyers to entice you to buy their DAC or streamer. None that I know of are tied to specific product.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I happen to totally agree with you. It's just a car. As long as the sound is enjoyable, I am fine with it. My mind and senses are focused on the road, not music. But several here have spent small fortunes on car audio. To each their own. @Bunnylebowski comes from a movie sound engineer background and I come from 45 years in high end music audio business, so we disagree totally. He loves Atmos, I think it's a nifty gimic when used for music reproduction.

I will tell you that I have been privileged to know many of the true greats in high end music reproduction, from Arnie Nudell of Infinity, Paul at PS Audio, William Johnson, Henry Kloss, Mssrs Conrad and Johnson. Not one had a fancy system in their car. Even Arnie joked about the millions Infinity made on car speakers. If someone wants to buy it, he said, I'll sell it to them. He always just had a stock system.

Many here will violently disagree. I am fine with that. To be totally honest, I mostly drive my Lucid with no music. No news. It's my quiet time to think. And I love the Lucid ambiance undisturbed. That just me.

That said, the Lucid premium audio system with Tidal sounds wonderful.

This is an interesting conversation. My take on Atmos is it’s not the format that matters, it’s just that it gives audio engineers new tools that if applied intelligently can actually recreate sitting in a recording studio or performance space. Honestly my favorite thing about Atmos is not the myriad surround positioning choices, it’s the CENTER speaker, which film mixers have benefited from since the birth of 5.1 audio decades ago. Stereo itself is a gimmick given nearly all sound sources are mono, not the stereo binaural reproduction that misrepresents the reality of that audio depending on how it was recorded. To my ears, proper use of the center channel for vocals I think for the first time achieved in music what film audio has been doing for decades, putting the human voice where it belongs, as a mono source directed at you rather than your left and right ears. Theres a LOT of lame Atmos mixes, but at least to my ears hearing The Doors Riders on the Storm Atmos mix is almost like the song was born again into a format where you could feel like you’re just sitting in the studio in front of them performing (of course the thunder is gimmicky, but hey they put that in there so I’m sure they’d approve of that floating in the height surround channels Atmos allows).

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Cosmo, no one ever really truly recovers from being an audiophile. You know better

Hahaha. I forget what musician said this quote, but it was something like “music fans listen to your music on their speakers, while audiophiles listen to their speakers using your music”. For me as long as the frequency reproduction is not too biased, I don’t need some expensive crazy system. For the longest time I used either KRK, Genelec or Meyer HD1 monitors because those were what the tracks were likely mixed on, all of which are MUCH less expensive than the usual audiophile setups.

 

[PureVA]

I purchased the $120/yr Tidal HiFi Plus subscription through Best Buy last June. Then in September Best Buy discontinued supporting the Tidal subscriptions and provided me a pro-rated refund of about $80. I was quite disappointed at the time, but my Tidal account wasn't actually affected as I still can use Tidal even though it says it is managed through BestBuy. This new $10.99/month pricing is close enough and just in time for when my old subscription stops.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I got the email that it’s $13.99 now for Tidal. I think that’s exactly the right price since the quality is a bit better than Apple Music and they pay artists more.

 

[Tesla2.0]

I enjoy my Tidal subscription. Not only just for Lucid Air. I use it on Rivian and Polestar. When I’m on road trip Turo Tesla and other EV, I login to Tidal as well.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

I enjoy my Tidal subscription. Not only just for Lucid Air. I use it on Rivian and Polestar. When I’m on road trip Turo Tesla and other EV, I login to Tidal as well.

And the Tidal Apps work perfectly on my Pixel 8 and iPad. And integrates perfectly with our Sonos system around the house and our ROON server - software. I never got lag free playing from Qobuz.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

Hahaha. I forget what musician said this quote, but it was something like “music fans listen to your music on their speakers, while audiophiles listen to their speakers using your music”. For me as long as the frequency reproduction is not too biased, I don’t need some expensive crazy system. For the longest time I used either KRK, Genelec or Meyer HD1 monitors because those were what the tracks were likely mixed on, all of which are MUCH less expensive than the usual audiophile setups.

Could I tell you stories to prove your point.!!!! I have never heard your quote but its spot on. Some audiophiles were also great lovers of music. I count Arnie Nudell, of Infinity/Genesis, as one. He and I once sat up all light listening to every CD recording of Carmina Burana - drinking wine and arguing. Arnie loved what amazing speakers could do to reproduce live music. It was what it could DO and not the equipment per se.

During my tenure at PS Audio, I was often in LA area where we had components and sheet metal made. I got invited to musicians homes, tagging along with the real movers and shakers in the audio and music industries. On more than one occasion, I was in the LA or BH home of a Grammy winning artist. And more than once, we got talking about famous performances. And then world class artist took me into in his or her study, and they played this amazing recording on a old KLH set up. These people could afford anything. AND, just like you said @Bunnylebowski, they were listening to THE MUSIC. And it hit me: it was about the music.

 

[Green G]

Could I tell you stories to prove your point.!!!! I have never heard your quote but its spot on. Some audiophiles were also great lovers of music. I count Arnie Nudell, of Infinity/Genesis, as one. He and I once sat up all light listening to every CD recording of Carmina Burana - drinking wine and arguing. Arnie loved what amazing speakers could do to reproduce live music. It was what it could DO and not the equipment per se.

During my tenure at PS Audio, I was often in LA area where we had components and sheet metal made. I got invited to musicians homes, tagging along with the real movers and shakers in the audio and music industries. On more than one occasion, I was in the LA or BH home of a Grammy winning artist. And more than once, we got talking about famous performances. And then world class artist took me into in his or her study, and they played this amazing recording on a old KLH set up. These people could afford anything. AND, just like you said @Bunnylebowski, they were listening to THE MUSIC. And it hit me: it was about the music.

That must have been an amazing journey.
I do have to note that these days, iconic recordings have been destroyed by the “remastered” versions which have replaced the originals under the guise of them being better. Au contraire. In my book, most of them are destroyed by loudness wars and the dynamic compression it serves….. all for the AirPods using audience on Spotify.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

That must have been an amazing journey.
I do have to note that these days, iconic recordings have been destroyed by the “remastered” versions which have replaced the originals under the guise of them being better. Au contraire. In my book, most of them are destroyed by loudness wars and the dynamic compression it serves….. all for the AirPods using audience on Spotify.

Couldn’t agree more. For example Led Zeppelin was mixed for vinyl. Once you’ve heard any of their records on a halfway decent not bank-busting turntable it’s like an epiphany when you compare it to any other format, remastered or not. I’m not a purist, I love plenty of these new Atmos mixes and remasters and the clarity that you get from some of them really is like taking your fingers out of your ears, but for me the pinnacle listening experience for Led Zeppelin II is the way Eddie Kramer mixed it, for vinyl, not the digital remaster.

 

[Green G]

Couldn’t agree more. For example Led Zeppelin was mixed for vinyl. Once you’ve heard any of their records on a halfway decent not bank-busting turntable it’s like an epiphany when you compare it to any other format, remastered or not. I’m not a purist, I love plenty of these new Atmos mixes and remasters and the clarity that you get from some of them really is like taking your fingers out of your ears, but for me the pinnacle listening experience for Led Zeppelin II is the way Eddie Kramer mixed it, for vinyl, not the digital remaster.

For me, 2.1 beats all other formats. As for Zepp, shut off the lights and imagine Bonzo in the stairwell of their mansion drumming When The Levee Breaks.
For me, Atmos is of significance as it is usually not compressed to death. Folding it down to 2.0, is why I buy the Atmos Blu-Rays.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

Couldn’t agree more. For example Led Zeppelin was mixed for vinyl. Once you’ve heard any of their records on a halfway decent not bank-busting turntable it’s like an epiphany when you compare it to any other format, remastered or not.

Thanks @Bunnylebowski , now I can't get Good Times, Bad Times, out of my head. I remember taking some of my law school loan to buy a Thorens.

Wasn't everything mixed for vinyl until the mid to late 80's? And they just dumped those masters onto the first CDs. I ignored CDS until the early nineties, but still used tube preamp and Amps.

 

[joec]

Being a musician myself, all I’ve ever cared about is a system that sounds decent enough. Can I hear all the instruments clearly? Is it not overdriven? Is it balanced?

Beyond that, it’s sit back and appreciate the composition, the performances, and yes, the production. Half the fun of Pink Floyd Albums is how damn well they were recorded.

Everything else to me is just a dick measuring contest by people who think listening to music is somehow a competition.

What did Henry Rollins call these folks? “Record player players.” My guess is half of them wouldn’t know a II, V, I progression from a hole in the wall.

 

[Green G]

Being a musician myself, all I’ve ever cared about is a system that sounds decent enough. Can I hear all the instruments clearly? Is it not overdriven? Is it balanced?

Beyond that, it’s sit back and appreciate the composition, the performances, and yes, the production. Half the fun of Pink Floyd Albums is how damn well they were recorded.

Everything else to me is just a dick measuring contest by people who think listening to music is somehow a competition.

What did Henry Rollins call these folks? “Record player players.” My guess is half of them wouldn’t know a II, V, I progression from a hole in the wall.

Not sure I’d call appreciation of distinction between well recorded music formats a “dick measuring contest”, whether you’re a musician or not (maybe especially if you’re a musician).

One could make a similar argument for cars:
As a driver, all I want to be able to do is to be able to go from A to B in a reasonable time. Everything else could be a dick measuring contest by people who think….
Well you get the idea, but somehow we all are drawn to this contest with phenomenally expensive electric vehicles that serve far greater services than strictly necessary.
To each their own but I respect your opinion. I don’t know if Henry had anything to say about cars.

Have fun everybody and good night.