Tidal review: An unbeatable hi-fi music streaming experience

Tidal may not be as popular as Apple Music or Spotify, but it is the go-to streaming platform for lossless and hi-res music. It has more than 110 million tracks that you can listen to in CD-quality sound, along with 650 thousand videos and plenty of exclusive content (e.g., livestreamed concerts, podcasts). No music app matches this level of curation, nor do they offer better artist remuneration than Tidal (up to $0.015 per stream). Then there’s the unrivaled audio quality.

Tidal has been known for its hi-res MQA format. At the time it launched, MQA enabled hi-res audio files containing large amounts of data to be 'packed' in such a way that they could easily be streamed from music servers over digital networks with limited bandwidth and 'unpacked' by compatible MQA playback devices in our homes.

As digital networks and infrastructure have improved though, Tidal began phasing out its MQA format support, and in June 2023 started making its hi-res library available in FLAC format. With support for immersive sound technologies such as Dolby Atmos and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio, and some of the best streaming features, Tidal is a fantastic service to hear songs the way artists and studio engineers intended. 

Read our full Tidal review to discover why this is one of the best music streaming services around right now.