Sponsored

Decision Time Tidal or Spotify?

What streaming service?


  • Total voters
    119

OldGoat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2021
Threads
10
Messages
165
Reaction score
304
Location
North Carolina
Vehicles
R1T Grand Cherokee 4xe
Clubs
 
So, I'm nearing the end of my 2 month trial for Tidal. I haven't tried Spotify yet because I'm happy with the sound quality and library on Tidal (albeit integration and buffering issues do drive me crazy). Seems like integration is an issue with other services but I haven't seen muich related to buffering (just today, it took five minutes for Tidal to play a song that I selected that was about five down the list of a mix created by Tidal).

So before I go all in on Tidal I'd like to see what people are going with for music. (I didn't include Tunein since it doesn't provide specific song selection)
Sponsored

 

CommodoreAmiga

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2020
Threads
39
Messages
4,104
Reaction score
7,706
Location
INACTIVE
Vehicles
INACTIVE
Tidal sounds best in the R1T.

Spotify sounds awful. I won't use it.

Where this sucks is that Spotify is the only service with half-working Alexa integration. Tidal has ZERO Alexa integration.

So you have to choose:

Spotify: Terrible quality but you can change songs when driving.

or

Tidal: Good quality but really not safe to change songs when driving.
 

joelster

Well-Known Member
First Name
Joel
Joined
Jul 1, 2022
Threads
8
Messages
242
Reaction score
301
Location
PDX
Vehicles
R1T
I have both.

Tidal sounds better but I find it hard to figure out what to listen to. Also, all of the lists seem to display without the artist's name, just song or album titles. Kind of frustrating to me.

I have been using Spotify for years. Personally, I think it sounds fine in my R1T and I think its algorithm does a decent job of serving up new things to listen to.
 

Blueassassin

Well-Known Member
First Name
Allen
Joined
Apr 5, 2021
Threads
30
Messages
1,430
Reaction score
2,636
Location
il
Vehicles
LE R1T, Hummer H1, Lotus Elise
Occupation
Equipment Manager
Clubs
 
Tidal sounds the best but I could not take hearing the N word so much and the music that it had. I use pandora and amazon music through Alexa which has been great up till the last update. now im really hoping they get an app for those soon.
 

Sponsored

stynes

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2021
Threads
9
Messages
419
Reaction score
768
Location
Atlanta, GA
Vehicles
2022 R1S LE
Clubs
 
I also find myself using Pandora via BT. I tried a Tidal 3 month trial and it sounds great. I just found the library, interface, and recommendations lacking. Pandora to me is head and shoulders better than Spotify on recommendations. Just being able to hit play and have it keep playing things I like is most appealing to me.
 

azbill

Well-Known Member
First Name
Bill
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Threads
14
Messages
1,261
Reaction score
1,558
Location
Arizona
Vehicles
R1T, Mach E, Hummer EV SUT
Occupation
Engineer
I am using TuneIn, which offers stations similar to what I am used to having with XM in my other cars. I hate the buffering and signal losses, guess that depends on where you live and where you drive to. I do not listen to music on my phone and never create playlists, call me old fashioned.
 

CommodoreAmiga

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2020
Threads
39
Messages
4,104
Reaction score
7,706
Location
INACTIVE
Vehicles
INACTIVE
Apple Music.

I believe Rivian will have a native app in infotainment, like Tesla.

Since I already have it and use it for home and on the go, works for me.
Why do you believe this?

I want it to be true... But last we heard from Rivian they had "no plans" to add Apple Music integration.
 

Sponsored

chrismc

Well-Known Member
First Name
Chris
Joined
Nov 10, 2020
Threads
6
Messages
241
Reaction score
481
Location
Seattle
Vehicles
r1t
Another vote for Apple Music. Even having to currently use it via Bluetooth it is still preferable to Spotify or Tidal.
 

MountainBikeDude

Well-Known Member
First Name
Adam
Joined
Jun 20, 2019
Threads
40
Messages
1,878
Reaction score
3,845
Location
Vancouver
Vehicles
2023 El Cap Quad Motor R1T (Selling the Xterra)
Clubs
 
I have both and there are pros and cons to each.

Tidals biggest pro is the sound quality, both in the Rivian and through proper headphones.

It's shortcomings compared to spotify are curated playlists (yacht rock as an example is superior on spotify) and UI. Tiles are far too large on a phone, and the inability to drag tiles of a specific category left or right to see more on the Rivian is frustrating. Add to that, a search function doesn't remember previous searches, forcing you to retype your query.

Tidal will improve their experience, but it's unlikely Spotify will increase their bitrate.
 

KootenayEV

Well-Known Member
First Name
Andrew
Joined
Sep 22, 2021
Threads
14
Messages
317
Reaction score
248
Location
Nelson, BC
Vehicles
R1T, Tesla Model 3
Occupation
Environmental Engineer
I switched to Tidal once integration became available in the my Tesla, and had been using Spotify previously. Price is good on Tidal for HiFi, and the sound quality is far better in my T than Spotify, and the integration has gotten to a pretty good place (including being able to search for music by voice), so I am hopeful that Rivian will get to the same place reasonably sOOn. As an aside, I download playlists to my phone for listening out and about (and when going through non-service areas in my vehicles), and Spotify had this INCREDIBLY annoying habit of just un-downloading music whenever it felt like it; so far I haven't had this issue with Tidal.
 

electruck

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2019
Threads
69
Messages
3,495
Reaction score
6,454
Location
Dallas, TX
Vehicles
2023 Rivian R1S
Tidal sounds the best but I could not take hearing the N word so much and the music that it had. I use pandora and amazon music through Alexa which has been great up till the last update. now im really hoping they get an app for those soon.
Tidal has north of 100 million songs in their library. If you weren't hearing the songs you wanted to hear, it sounds like you may not have spent enough time figuring out how to use it. Rivian's Tidal app needs work so that may be part of the problem. I've been using Tidal for years so already have playlists, etc so I didn't have to start from scratch with Rivian's app. With that in mind, I only hear the music I like and want to hear when listening to Tidal even though they have millions of songs available that I can't stand.
Sponsored

 
 




Top