Tidal review (2021): catalog, sound quality, prices… Can Jay-Z's music streaming platform compete with industry leaders?
If no other service (except perhaps Qobuz) offered such sound quality to its subscribers a few years ago, everything changed in the space of a few months, with in particular the arrival of lossless on various platforms such as Apple Music, Amazon Music HD or even Deezer. The latter offer all the possibility of accessing CD quality (as long as you have the necessary equipment to take full advantage of it).
In other words, the difference between Tidal and its competition no longer really lies in offering CD quality throughout its catalog, but rather in having made Masters quality available to its subscribers (for higher price). To be clear, we will only take advantage of the optimal quality offered by Tidal if we have the necessary tools to highlight it. The service is therefore aimed at the most zealous of audiophiles, because it will also be possible to find excellent sound quality from the competition, and for the same price.
It is still possible to discern a real sound difference if you have good consumer headphones like the Bose Headphones 700 or the Sony WH-1000XM4. These devices allow you to get a good idea of the improvements made by the CD or Masters quality, even if they do not sublimate them as much as a good pair of speakers.
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