I downloaded the Sennheiser CapTune app from Google Play as I wanted to try higher quality audio and in the options was a 3 month TIDAL trial on the HiFi subscription. After the free trial, the price is £19.99 per month. Sign up (payment details are required), delete the Sennheiser app and just use TIDAL itself.
Apart from being free, you're gonna want to ask why this over Google Play Music or Spotify (I did). The guff from the site says:
HiFi Vs. Premium Subscriptions What is the difference between a HiFi Subscription and a Premium Subscription?
HiFi
With a TIDAL HiFi subscription, you have have the ability to stream 40 million tracks in lossless quality. Lossless content is CD quality music meaning that the files are not compressed, so that you hear the music the way the artists intended for their music to be heard.
Premium
With a TIDAL Premium subscription, you still have access to over 40 million tracks, but you are restricted to only High quality. This means that the maximum quality is AAC 320 kbps.
What else is included?
In both HiFi and Premium subscriptions, users have access to nearly 130 000 High Quality Music Videos, with no ads. Also, users have access to our curated editorial content, so you can learn more about your favorite content, read artist interviews, and experience hand crafted playlists from the editorial team and artists themselves.
Bear in mind that as this is far higher quality than the other subscription streaming services, it eats a lot more data so make sure your plan has enough or you have access to WiFi.
If you're using the free earphones you got free with your phone, you probably won't notice a difference in sound quality. If you're using a DAC and a decent set of cans, you probably will. Having said that, three months free is three months free, especially if you've had all the other free trials.
You can cancel the subscription immediately so don't have to remember to cancel and get stung.
Top comments
miffyl to jwsg
22 Dec 1610#4
From a TechRadar review:
It streams music in the form of 16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC files with a bitrate of 1411kbps. And I can tell you now, it's brilliant.
For the uninitiated, FLAC is the format of choice for many people who want to listen to music files without having to put up with lossy formats like MP3.
When you compress a music track into an MP3, you have to shave off a lot of detail in order to achieve that miniature file size. Other formats like OGG (as used by Spotify) do a highly commendable job of limiting that shaving mostly to parts of the audio that might be considered 'inaudible'.
The truth is that all compression formats are a compromise, a victory for convenience over sound quality.
FLAC tracks are also compressed but in a totally different way. They're a lot more like a zipped file, so when they're played back, they can be decompressed to their original glory without any loss of fidelity.
Thus, while a CD track might take up anywhere between 60 and 100MB, a FLAC file will be more like 30 to 50MB. MP3s encoded at the maximum bitrate of 320kbps are typically only about 5-10MB in size, and there's no way to get back the information you threw away during compression. That's why MP3 is described as a lossy format while FLAC is not.
The upshot of this is that FLAC is the perfect format for delivering CD-quality music down an internet pipe.
paulj48
6 Jan 174#42
no your initial point was how can the ops thread be a good deal.
paulj48 to Thoughtful
6 Jan 173#36
no the deal is £0 for 3 months, come on its not rocket science its written in the title :man:
All comments (72)
random_dude
22 Dec 16#1
cold, not vinyl. JOKE!
geoff3
22 Dec 16#2
Thanks op.
jwsg
22 Dec 16#3
Interesting that Tidal themselves say HIFI option is not compressed - yes it's lossless compression but if it's FLAC then it's compressed.
miffyl to jwsg
22 Dec 1610#4
From a TechRadar review:
It streams music in the form of 16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC files with a bitrate of 1411kbps. And I can tell you now, it's brilliant.
For the uninitiated, FLAC is the format of choice for many people who want to listen to music files without having to put up with lossy formats like MP3.
When you compress a music track into an MP3, you have to shave off a lot of detail in order to achieve that miniature file size. Other formats like OGG (as used by Spotify) do a highly commendable job of limiting that shaving mostly to parts of the audio that might be considered 'inaudible'.
The truth is that all compression formats are a compromise, a victory for convenience over sound quality.
FLAC tracks are also compressed but in a totally different way. They're a lot more like a zipped file, so when they're played back, they can be decompressed to their original glory without any loss of fidelity.
Thus, while a CD track might take up anywhere between 60 and 100MB, a FLAC file will be more like 30 to 50MB. MP3s encoded at the maximum bitrate of 320kbps are typically only about 5-10MB in size, and there's no way to get back the information you threw away during compression. That's why MP3 is described as a lossy format while FLAC is not.
The upshot of this is that FLAC is the perfect format for delivering CD-quality music down an internet pipe.
geoff3
22 Dec 16#5
I'm attempting to sign up to Tidal via the CapTune app, but I'm going round in circles. Keep entering email and password, then I'm sent to the offer, where I go through the same process, only to end up at the beginning again. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks
evelith
22 Dec 16#6
You need to instal Tidal on your phone after CapTune and before signing to Tidal. It works for me.
geoff3 to evelith
22 Dec 16#7
Now fixed. Just changed to another email address and it worked. Thanks for the help, though.
Intenso
23 Dec 16#8
Great find :smiley:,
Now streaming flac on my squeezebox :smiley:
kakah
26 Dec 16#9
Just installed captune but I can't see any options settings or the offer. Thanks in advance for your help.
Nevermind, it was in the choose your music section.
steveyboy79
30 Dec 16#10
Just spotted this having ended a Deezer subscription and no idea why this isn't scorching! Thanks!
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Opening post
Apart from being free, you're gonna want to ask why this over Google Play Music or Spotify (I did). The guff from the site says:
HiFi Vs. Premium Subscriptions
What is the difference between a HiFi Subscription and a Premium Subscription?
HiFi
With a TIDAL HiFi subscription, you have have the ability to stream 40 million tracks in lossless quality. Lossless content is CD quality music meaning that the files are not compressed, so that you hear the music the way the artists intended for their music to be heard.
Premium
With a TIDAL Premium subscription, you still have access to over 40 million tracks, but you are restricted to only High quality. This means that the maximum quality is AAC 320 kbps.
What else is included?
In both HiFi and Premium subscriptions, users have access to nearly 130 000 High Quality Music Videos, with no ads. Also, users have access to our curated editorial content, so you can learn more about your favorite content, read artist interviews, and experience hand crafted playlists from the editorial team and artists themselves.
Bear in mind that as this is far higher quality than the other subscription streaming services, it eats a lot more data so make sure your plan has enough or you have access to WiFi.
If you're using the free earphones you got free with your phone, you probably won't notice a difference in sound quality. If you're using a DAC and a decent set of cans, you probably will. Having said that, three months free is three months free, especially if you've had all the other free trials.
You can cancel the subscription immediately so don't have to remember to cancel and get stung.
Top comments
It streams music in the form of 16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC files with a bitrate of 1411kbps. And I can tell you now, it's brilliant.
For the uninitiated, FLAC is the format of choice for many people who want to listen to music files without having to put up with lossy formats like MP3.
When you compress a music track into an MP3, you have to shave off a lot of detail in order to achieve that miniature file size. Other formats like OGG (as used by Spotify) do a highly commendable job of limiting that shaving mostly to parts of the audio that might be considered 'inaudible'.
The truth is that all compression formats are a compromise, a victory for convenience over sound quality.
FLAC tracks are also compressed but in a totally different way. They're a lot more like a zipped file, so when they're played back, they can be decompressed to their original glory without any loss of fidelity.
Thus, while a CD track might take up anywhere between 60 and 100MB, a FLAC file will be more like 30 to 50MB. MP3s encoded at the maximum bitrate of 320kbps are typically only about 5-10MB in size, and there's no way to get back the information you threw away during compression. That's why MP3 is described as a lossy format while FLAC is not.
The upshot of this is that FLAC is the perfect format for delivering CD-quality music down an internet pipe.
All comments (72)
It streams music in the form of 16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC files with a bitrate of 1411kbps. And I can tell you now, it's brilliant.
For the uninitiated, FLAC is the format of choice for many people who want to listen to music files without having to put up with lossy formats like MP3.
When you compress a music track into an MP3, you have to shave off a lot of detail in order to achieve that miniature file size. Other formats like OGG (as used by Spotify) do a highly commendable job of limiting that shaving mostly to parts of the audio that might be considered 'inaudible'.
The truth is that all compression formats are a compromise, a victory for convenience over sound quality.
FLAC tracks are also compressed but in a totally different way. They're a lot more like a zipped file, so when they're played back, they can be decompressed to their original glory without any loss of fidelity.
Thus, while a CD track might take up anywhere between 60 and 100MB, a FLAC file will be more like 30 to 50MB. MP3s encoded at the maximum bitrate of 320kbps are typically only about 5-10MB in size, and there's no way to get back the information you threw away during compression. That's why MP3 is described as a lossy format while FLAC is not.
The upshot of this is that FLAC is the perfect format for delivering CD-quality music down an internet pipe.
Now streaming flac on my squeezebox :smiley:
Nevermind, it was in the choose your music section.