In my little over a year of experience at Which Hi-Fi? I learned a lot of things and started to appreciate video and audio in a whole new way. One of the first things I was introduced to in April last year was Tidal; a streaming service I’d certainly heard of before, but not one I’d ever tried to use. Up to that point I was an avid Spotify user, having the occasional fling with Apple Music when offered a deal, and trying out Dolby Atmos when it first launched on the platform. However, I kept crawling back to Spotify, and I’m afraid it’s that time again…
I’ve been using Tidal for a little less than a year now and have come to terms with many of its quirks. Giving Tidal the credit it deserves, it certainly gives the impression that it cares specifically about music as it doesn’t mix in podcasts, news channels and more within its UI. It’s also worth mentioning there now that Tidal is by far the best sounding streaming service I’ve used, and I’ll continue to use it when testing products – especially thanks to the Masters and Atmos mixes. I even tried a quick side-by-side test where Spotify played The 1975’s song Luck from their latest album, and could immediately deduce that Tidal sounded more detailed and energetic.
That said, I can certainly get used to Spotify’s lower-quality streaming as a trade-off for its other great features. What immediately comes to mind is Spotify’s social features, and yes, before you roll your eyes, I’ll justify this. I know social features can be gimmicky, but in my eyes, Spotify gets the fun out of music, while Tidal is more about appreciating music, and a big part of the fun for me is the social aspect. Spotify has a much larger user base, including the majority (if not all) of my friends, and this is where the social aspect really comes into play.
When I’m with friends and we’ve got music playing, Spotify lets everyone quickly queue up and add their own entries and share songs with each other with just one tap – everyone but me, as I often have to awkwardly ask someone’s phone borrow or ask someone to queue a song for me. There’s also Spotify Wrapped, which has a vice grip on my generation as everyone shares their results by the end of the year. Again, I don’t, because I was flaccidly presented with a round-up-style 2022 playlist, much like a cat brings you a dead bird; I appreciate the effort, but I don’t really want it and it’s kind of sad.
Tidal is also very spotty when it comes to compatibility with a lot of the technology I use. I’ve had a Sonos One smart speaker for about five years and I’ve always used the built-in voice assistants to launch playlists and search for songs. I’ve tried using Alexa and Google Assistant and were told by both that Tidal isn’t compatible, and even Siri on my iPhone shuts me down when I ask for a song. Playing music through my PS5 is also not possible through Tidal, with only Spotify and Apple Music support, and while it’s not the end of the world, it’s another limitation. While I could (and often do) connect via AirPlay or Bluetooth, the bottom line is that I don’t like losing features that I’m used to and use in my day-to-day life.
Finally, it’s no secret that Spotify is the most popular music streaming service out there, and it’s made evident by how much better its playlists are and how artists interact with their playlists. Spotify has a playlist for just about every mood and occasion, as well as personalized daily mixes that are all constantly updated. They’re usually clearly marked and neatly arranged, and while they’re not always quite my taste, I appreciate the variety.
In terms of organization, Tidal is nothing short of a mess, with Master, Atmos, and regular versions of albums all juxtaposed. Sometimes Atmos versions of albums don’t even appear and instead randomly appear in recommendations. I only found out that my favorite band had Dolby Atmos mixes of their entire back catalog because I came across them in the “More Albums” menu, which can only be accessed by scrolling to the bottom of one of their albums. The messy and confusing approach just doesn’t do it for me, with artists like The weekend with six different versions of his album Dawn FM all with the same name – how do I know which one to download?
At the end of the day, Tidal will always have a space on whatever phone, tablet, or streamer I use for when I want to do some serious listening; but it may not be my everyday streaming service. I’ll always appreciate how good it sounds and the Master and Atmos mixes help a lot with that, but when I have my AirPods in my ears on the bus, or when I’m using a Bluetooth speaker in the garden with friends, I appreciate the feature set and usability of Spotify much more.
And of course there’s always Spotify Hi-Fi for higher quality music streaming. That’s coming, right guys…?
MORE:
View our full Tide overview
As well as our full Spotify review
And our picks for the Best wireless headphones