TIDAL: 5 Things You Need to Know Before You Subscribe

TIDAL is an excellent Spotify alternative if you want exclusive music, an option for higher sound quality and better royalties for the artists.

I’ve been testing TIDAL alongside Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services and can help you understand what you need to know about the service.

You can also try TIDAL free for 30 days or jump straight into a TIDAL deal to get four months for $4 using this special link.

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What is TIDAL?

TIDAL is a music streaming service similar to Apple Music and Spotify. TIDAL offers a wide music catalog, a variety of exclusive benefits.

Many people know of TIDAL because of Jay-Z or because of the Hi-Fi roots that initially grew the service. TIDAL still offers Hi-Fi and an even higher quality Masters track, but there is also a Premium version that is the same price as Spotify and Apple Music.

With a TIDAL subscription, you get access to standard music app features, but you also get music videos and music video playlists, which are really cool to watch on a TV.

There is no free option, but there are various discounts for students, first responders, and military members.

How Much is TIDAL?

TIDAL is $9.99 a month for the premium offering and $19.99 a month for the Hi-Fi plan that includes higher quality music. These all stack with a 30 day free trial.

You can also get a Family Plan of Premium for $14.99 or a Family Plan of Hi-Fi for $29.99 a month.

There are a lot of discounts available, including ones you won’t find from Spotify or Apple Music.

The Student discount is incredibly affordable at $4.99 a month for Premium and $9.99 a month for HiFi.

TIDAL also offers military and first responder discounts after you confirm eligibility. This is 40% off the monthly price, bringing it down to $5.99 a month for Premium and $11.99 a month for Hi-Fi.

You can stack the $4 for 120 days of TIDAL offer up right now and roll into any of these plans.

Is TIDAL Better than Spotify?

Is TIDAL really better than Spotify? I’ve been testing TIDAL Hi-Fi against Spotify and when you listen to Hi-Fi and Masters Quality Audio there is definitely a benefit to using TIDAL.

This is most pronounced on a good sound system or with good headphones. While reviewing cars I am able to test on higher-end car systems and I’m also able to test on a range of headphones.

In my experience the Hi-Fi and especially the Masters Quality Audio sounds crisper, with clearer bass and an overall better tone and spacial quality.

You don’t have to take my word for it though, you can try TIDAL Hi-Fi free for 30 days.

Is TIDAL Lossless Worth It?

If you want to get the most out of TIDAL, you need to go with a TIDAL Hi-Fi plan, which is $10 more a month.

For the higher subscription price you get vastly higher quality audio when listening in Hi-FI, which is the lossless thanks to FLAC streaming which is CD-quality.

The Master Quality Authenticated streaming is another step up, which let’s you listen to tracks exactly how the artist intended — straight from the studio. This is my preferred method to use TIDAL right now, even though it means I am downloading most of the albums to my phone.

You can get 4 months of TIDAL Hi-F- for $4 right now, which is a great way to figure out for yourself if TIDAL Lossless is worth it with your own ears.

What Does TIDAL Work On?

You can listen to TIDAL on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows and it works with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

That’s just the start. You can use Google Assistant and Alexa to play through smart speakers, and there are many other connected options for TIDAL. Some of these include;

• Sonos
• Bluesound
• Roon
• Naim
• Denon
• Audirvana
• Yahama
• Onkyo
• Cambridge Audio
• Ickstream
• Aurender
• Dvialet
• Astell&Kern
• Serato
• Teufal
• LUMIN
• Phorus
• KEF
• And many others

Here’s a full list of TIDAL streaming options.