Key Takeaways
- Tidal focuses on high audio quality with features like Live, Tidal Rising, and high-quality audio levels.
- Both Spotify and Tidal have clean interfaces but differ in content organization and video offerings.
- Tidal offers superior audio quality with FLAC and HiRes options, making it a must-try for HiRes music enthusiasts.
There are many alternatives to mainstream music streaming services. One of these is Tidal, which I decided to try out. How does it fare against my go-to app, Spotify? Here is all you need to know.
Comparing the Features
Spotify and Tidal offer a wide range of features that see some overlap and some stark differences.
Spotify, especially Premium, offers well-known features like Spotify Connect (one of the best features in my opinion), collaborative features like Blend and Jam, Spotify Wrapped, Smart Shuffle, a personalized AI DJ, and more. It’s easy to customize the way you listen to music with Spotify, including EQ and crossfade controls, car play, and connecting to third-party navigation apps. There are even lots of third-party apps to further improve Spotify.
Tidal doesn’t skim on basic features, despite its focus on its high audio quality. Features like Live for real-time music listening, videos, and personalized mixes are a few features that got me hooked on Tidal. It also has the Tidal Rising platform which offers support for emerging new artists.
Both apps offer offline listening with a subscription and offer different levels of sound quality.
What About Sound Quality?
Spotify offers a few different tiers of sound quality for the app on desktop, mobile, and tablet.
- Low: Equivalent to 24 kbps
- Normal: Equivalent to 96 kbps
- High: Equivalent to 160 kbps
- Very High: Equivalent to 320 kbps (only for Spotify Premium users)
For the web player, you can stream in two levels of quality: free (AAC 128 kbps) and Premium (AAC 256 kpbs). You can change the audio quality, setting any level you want (or automatic, which changes the audio quality depending on your network connection).
On the other hand, Tidal offers three tiers of sound quality.
- Low: Up to 320 kbps
- High: Up to 1,411 kbps (16-bit, 44.1 kHz)
- Max: Up to 9,216 kbps (24-bit, 192 kHz)
Tidal’s lowest quality setting matches that of Spotify’s highest at 320kbps. Going one step further to the “High” setting unlocks 110 millions songs in CD quality, while “Max” uses HiRes FLAC files to go beyond even that, reaching a bitrate over 28 times higher than Spotify’s best offering.
It’s worth nothing that many people struggle to hear the differences in sound quality at these bitrates. Even going from Tidal’s “Low” to “High” option could be difficult to distinguish for some people, especially if they aren’t using high end headphones or speakers to listen to the music. Additionally, only some of Tidal’s music library is available in bitrates that would take advantage of the “Max” setting.
The Battle of Interfaces
Both Spotify and Tidal offer uncluttered interfaces that focus on simple visuals. The playlists and recommendations on both home pages are categorized neatly, with Spotify focusing more on personalized recommendations as opposed to Tidal, which highlights new music discovery.
While the web player for Tidal is less crowded than Spotify’s, both desktop and mobile apps see similar sleek interfaces that make navigation easier.
Tidal offers tabs like “Tracks,” “Albums,” and “Videos” that categorize your broader library (also known as Collections). Spotify’s library is organized with a focus on playlists, which makes it easier to sort and search for all the playlists that you have created. Spotify also has in-app podcasts, which is something that Tidal does not provide.
You would also notice that Tidal’s app places importance on videos (which has a separate tab), while Spotify’s video element is mostly restricted to current song visuals.
Music Discovery
While Spotify offers many categories and genres on the Explore page, the preset options below your search bar are clumped into one long page. However, Tidal provides a less cluttered way to discover new music. The Explore tab has well-organized categories for more than just genres. You can search for tracks by moods and activities, recent releases, staff picks, and clean tracks.
You can also search specifically for high-resolution songs, browse videos, and check your top songs, albums, and playlists. Tidal also has a feature called Tidal Rising, which shines light on rising new artists from around the world.
Spotify and Tidal also offer mixes and radio stations, with Spotify having a one-up on new music discovery through the Smart Shuffle button and the AI-powered DJ. While Spotify provides more discovery features, exploring new music through Tidal is easier.
Which App Has Better Playlists?
Both Spotify and Tidal come very close in terms of playlists. With both services, you can create playlists and playlist folders from scratch. However, I found that Spotify’s song recommendations for new playlists are superior, with more options being displayed compared to Tidal (which only displays six to seven songs before refreshing).
Spotify also has more customization options when it comes to things like creating playlist cover art, although Tidal’s “Playlists” tab makes it easier to organize all your playlists in a more streamlined manner.
With the new “Create” button on Spotify, you can also easily create AI playlists, saving you time. Tidal’s curated playlists, however, give Spotify a run for its money. These personalized playlists are a treasure trove for music discovery.
How Much Would You Pay?
Spotify offers a free, ad-supported version. This version also means that you miss out on features like very high-quality audio and offline listening, among others. Spotify Premium has four monthly plans that you can choose from.
- Individual ($11.99/month): One Premium account
- Student ($5.99/month): One verified student Premium account
- Duo ($16.99/month): Two Premium accounts
- Family ($19.99/month): Up to six Premium or Kids accounts
Tidal offers similar plans and prices, with a few variations in the tiers of plans offered. You can opt for a subscription after a 30-day free trial.
- Individual ($10.99/month): One account
- Student ($5.49/month): One verified student account
- DJ Extension ($9/month): This add-on can be bought with an Individual or Student plan
- Family ($16.99/month): Up to six accounts
DJ Extension unlocks stem separation for available tracks and integration with Tidal’s DJ hardware and software partners.
The Final Verdict
Switching to Tidal for some time after being a long-term Spotify user taught me two things: Tidal was easy to use since its interface does not stray too far from Spotify, and I am too dependent on Spotify for my daily dose of music. This was obvious from how I kept mentally comparing Tidal’s features against Spotify. As a loyal Spotify user, my answer for which streaming service is better is still in gray waters.
This doesn’t mean Tidal disappointed me by any means. The service had excellent music recommendations, discovery, and playlists. The video feature was something that I wasn’t a big fan of, since I didn’t see the need to watch videos through a music streaming platform when I’m primarily focusing on the audio. This was, however, a good substitute for podcasts, and ties in well with the rest of the service.
The audio quality was something that Tidal absolutely dominated. If you are particular about high-resolution audio quality or just want to try out something better without compromising your user experience, then Tidal is a must-try. Overall, Tidal is a music streaming service that you can use to listen to CD quality music for a price comparable to Spotify, which is an extremely appealing alternative.
While you might miss out on Spotify Premium features that you may have been attached to, Tidal also fills in gaps that Spotify misses, like more options for music discovery and audio quality levels.
