Misunderstanding, sorry - sounds the same, but you mean that noise is added.
Of course - noise IS added.
But there is no any noise added in iTunes.
Very interestingā¦
So - ECM is OK !
That watermark is on much of the UMG catalog, which somehow is part of the licensing deal between ECM and Tidal. Itās not on all ECM content, but itās on much of itāmost of the older Pat Metheny albums have it, but not most of Keith Jarrettās newer records. It is easiest to hear on piano, but I can also hear it on cymbals and on sustained notes on guitarāsounds kind of like listening through a ceiling fan. Listen to the first track here, acoustic guitar sounds really squishy (and Iāve compared to CD, difference is clear): https://listen.tidal.com/artist/14068.
Anyone who hears this problem, PLEASE email Tidal and ask them to get UMG to send them un-watermarked tracks! Iāve been writing them for years about this and for a while they said they were going to fix it, then they stopped responding. More info here: https://www.mattmontag.com/music/universals-audible-watermark
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That has to be the craziest policy I ever heard!
Here are some more examples of the watermark on Tidal, type in
https://listen.tidal.com/artist/ and add the number below.
Then email them to complain!
361377531 Bill Henderson
7253668 Dinah Washington
1214738 Joe Pass
4858874 Stan Getz
35627838 Vijay Iyer
1703361 Gene Harris/Scott Hamilton
6813865 Martha Argerich
2269750 Tom Waits
3969097 John Coltrane
4359078 John Coltrane
2937881 Karrin Allyson
35629508 Etta Jones
4013058 Shirley Horn
7253696 Abbey Lincoln
3288342 Stevie Wonder
13372614
4012450
4871005
4020347
3716884
35771851
13181411
3719302
3969936
4036787
2532582
album/35627351
album/35687714
album/530243
album/4822924
album/36734769
3974630
35616681
11628101
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Can the responsible person please explain publicly why he/she has flagged Tonyās last post about watermarking? If Tony is wrong, I think arguments persuade more than censoring. If Tonyās right, I think itās a disgrace, am not surprised at all, and think the only thing we can do is protest against it, rather than silence people who do.
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I think it was automatic by the system because he linked to it from two places: the system thought it was spam.
LOL, and breathe 
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I followed the technique @mike described, but Iām still seeing some strange behavior. For example, with Anouar Brahemās The Astounding Eyes of Rita, if I either star the album in Tidal or add it to my library in Roon, the tracks all show as āunavailableā and I canāt play the album or any of the tracks in Roon. However, if I just search for the album in Roon, I can play the album as long as I donāt add it to my library. Something similar happens with another Anouar Brahem album, Barzakh.
OTOH, other ECM albums can be added to the library and played without issue.
Can I expect this stuff to straighten itself out over time?
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Noticed the same issue with MQA version of Keith Jarrettās āKoln Concertā today.
Tried all the work-arounds and even rebooted the Roon Core. No happiness.
Kind of frustrating since identifying MQA tracks is much easier in the Tidal app than in Roon to begin with. Hope it sorts itself out.
BW
Yes, Iāve been fooling around with other ECM albums and noticed the same behavior with a number of Eberhard Weber albums, although sometimes after adding an album to my Roon library, itās not the entire album but just one or two tracks that show as unavailable. Weird.
I continue to hope that if and when Roon starts supporting MQA decoding in software, there will be a concomitant interface change that makes it easy to identify MQA tracks within Roon.
IĀ“ve read your blog earlier Tony. Great writing. Do you have an email address to Tidal? They have only an online form. (Maybe itās better to write them an email than filling out a form.) IĀ“ll send a complain. Itās a pity that piano is so affected by the watermark. Piano trios is 75% of ECM catalogue. To me, many of the recordings are unlistenable because of this.
Tony
Are you sure itās not just Keith Jarrett in the background singing along to the music as is his wont? 
Phil
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Thanks! I contacted them through the form and they wrote back, but you can also try support@tidal.com
Great choice of music, but unfortunately i cannot hear what you are referring to.
On the other hand this song seem to clarify the difference between streaming and local, ripped files. As such most streamed content have a ājitteryā feeling when compared to local content. And i dont mean ājitterā in the digital way, more of an anxious feeling around the performance. And in this particular case the local file has got a lot more visceral impact and heft in the bottom octaves. The difference is not big but i can hear it on most well recorded music when comparing to local files. I simply have difficulties identifying this as āwatermarkingā, and if that is what i am also hearing then so be it. It doesnāt detract from my experience of the music much anyways.
And being an old fart, i still believe in purchasing physical media! 
But I remind - this track is pretty clean in iTunes service.
If you are referring to a clean decay of notes without wow-wow effects or flutter this is also true regarding both Tidal content and my local ripped CD. There are no such anomalies in my setup.
Or i cannot hear them, or my rig is not resolving enough, or there are differences in how DACs tackle these watermarks or whateverā¦ I think iāll prepare a test here, by recording each and letting you all decide which is which?
I agree with you about getting back on topic, but I think itās serious enough to keep it online. Thereās a thread where this might fit in:
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