I’d like to pitch in a bit, since this is a Roon forum, the answer to your question for me lies in the combination Tidal-Roon.
Amazon nor Apple are integrated with Roon. That means, neither of the two will allow you to get HQ Player, the incredibly potent Muse DSP capabilities, the ability to “cast” music (using the Roon app as a fire & forget remote), hi-res into my streaming DAC, and the proper functioning suggestions Radio engine. All of those are important to me, and Tidal+Roon works way better in every way then trying to get Airplay or a DAC USB-attached device to play from Amazon or Apple.
Re Qobuz, you’re right, good question. For me it frankly boils down to musical taste. Tidal leans a bit closer to my musical tastes, with a catalog a bit better filled to electronic and indie-rock then Qobuz. Getting the Radio function activated with Tidal vs. Qobuz alsways surfaced music I like better with Tidal.
Great question about Tidal’s $19.99/month high-res offering. Here are some quick key points on why some might find it justifiable despite the competition:
Exclusivity: Tidal often has early releases and exclusive content.
Curated Playlists: Their ‘Tidal Masters’ and editorial playlists add value for some users.
User Interface: Tidal’s UI is arguably better for discovering high-res tracks.
Connectivity: Seamless integration with high-end audio systems, including Roon.
Artist Compensation: Tidal claims to pay artists better, which might matter for some.
Even with these points, I agree that Tidal needs to reassess its pricing to stay competitive, especially as Amazon, Apple, and Quboz offer similar quality for less.
If it did it may well go bust , Apple put the pressure on by entering the market at a lower price than most . Is this the reason Spotify Hi Fi tier has yet to materialise
As I commented above Tidal does have some “Currency Balanced” pricing where the country currency isn’t quite as strong as the Dollar , I personally pay ZAR 120 = approx $6 for the hi fi tier , Apple and Spotify apply similar principals
Well I have decided to drop Tidal. I’ll continue with both Qobuz and Deezer. I have an annual subscription on both. And together they cost about the same as Tidal Max for a whole year here.
MQA does sound very good here, but I don’t think Tidal is worth it for me any longer now that they start focussing more on hi-res FLAC. Which Qobuz already had for a long time.
So Qobuz + Roon for most of my music. And Deezer for the albums that Qobuz is missing. And to be honest even though Deezer only does 16/44.1 it sounds really good. Their app is pretty nice and StreamMagic on my CXNv2 fully supports both.
I’ve compared Apple Music to each of them. But even with the combination of a 2017 MacBook Air and an iFi Zen DAC V2 directly connected to my Cambridge Audio CXA81 Apple Music doesn’t sound as good as either Qobuz or Deezer.
I’d always resisted streaming, but then broke down and bought a year of qobuz. I won’t be renewing. If I like something, I’ll buy the album - which gives me something palpable, and rewards the artist.
The irony is how do you know you like something to buy the album without hearing it via streaming first (okay, there are samples on some services)? Finances have been a bit tight lately, so I haven’t been buying as much as I’d like, but dang if Roon/Qobuz hasn’t helped me discover so many new artists and music, much of it in genres I’d never even considered before (mostly, again due to lack of time, knowledge and $$). So streaming is a bit of a god send in that manner. It’s unfortunate that it does cost so little (pretty much one dinner for two or a couple of lunches per year) as that can’t be good for the artists.
Like iv said so many time’s some people want somthing for nothing.
I like to no the people that complain about tidal pricing, what they do for a living, i bet we would be in for a shock.
People charge for there product thats the way it is. £20 year i get it, but compared to some companys its cheap.
You ither whant it or dont.
All this why, what and how…who cares
Back in the 70’s, the only way to buy LPs for me was whether I liked the look of the cover or not, or whether it was an artist known to me, in my case back then, Queen, or T-Rex, Roxy Music, Genesis, Rush, anything mainstream and on the TV at the time
I remember buying No Mean City by Nazareth based on the cover alone and loving it, same with a few Hawkwind LPs.
As a life long music fan, streaming has been a gift of unimaginable benefit based on where I started in the mid 70’s. No more waiting until Saturday to catch the bus into the city to the record store.
The prices of any of the music streaming services reflect excellent value for the consumer, IMO. They all have their pros and cons depending which eco system you’re in, Apple, Amazon, roon etc but they are all great value.
I mitigate the fact that I stream most music by the fact that I go and see my favourite bands live as often as possible, locally and far, always buy merchandise which rewards them financially way more than cd sales will.
I’m quoted in Everett True’s book on Nirvana - ‘some put down payments on houses, others ended up with record collections’ - or something to that tune. It’s true, we are spoiled in this day and age, able to access millions of albums for the price of a coffee and croissant.
