Having used both Tidal and Spotify, I can assure you that Spotify's music quality is bad ... compared to its expensive counterpart ($ 10 a month). With the same DAC / amp and headset, the sound of Tidal is clear, the sound of Spotify is a bit of a mystery and sometimes a sense of grit. If not for so many cool features in the experience that Tidal could not deliver, I certainly would not have chosen Spotify.
One of the highlights of Tidal vs. Spotify is the ability to play music through exclusive mode. In general, the audio signals from the application will have to go through the middle layer (called Direct Sound) of Windows - one of the signal distractions and reduce the quality of sound. To solve this problem, audio players often use technologies such as ASIO or Wasapi to send digital signals directly to their DACs on a single channel (exclusive, exclusive). Remove the effect of Windows. Another advantage of using Exclusive Mode is that the listener will not lose focus (or startle) due to notification notification from Windows or applications.Since it's an audiophile service, Tidal has Exclusive Mode. Unfortunately, Spotify does not have the same option: audiophiles are forced to accept their music signals to be "dirty" by Windows. If the max volume to ensure the number of bits transmitted to the DAC is as much as possible, they will be startled when Windows "prompts" Update.
Worst of all, Spotify is completely ignorant of its audiophile audience. Many support requests have been posted on Spotify's community site for years, but the service has yet to reveal any sign of support for its exclusive application.
Fidelify solution
Fortunately, a special follower of Spotify has the answer. Please visit fidelify.net and download this application now. Once installed, you can sign in with your Spotify account (must be Premium) and open the Fidelify interface:As you can see, this interface is still fairly straightforward. While Spotify's official app provides both "music", Fidelify only allows you to open playlists created from the main service. If you have changed the list, you need to click the Refresh Playlist button at the bottom.
Fidelify does not even allow you to open other people's followers lists, instead displaying only your own playlists. The reason is that this application (independent) only gets access to a very small amount of data on the Spotify APIs created.In return, Fidelify can give you the only thing you're looking for: the ability to play exclusive mode with DAC. In the Settings section of Fidelify, you can choose ASIO or WASAPI depending on your device. If the device supports ASIO, use ASIO instead of WASAPI.
Buy Spotify or Tidal?
How effective is it? The answer will probably depend on the individual ears, but personally I think that even with Fidelify using ASIO, Spotify's music quality is still worse than the 256kps AAC purchased from iTunes. The distance from Tidal is still a "one-sided sky", to the extent that even "amateur" listeners can still recognize.Should audiophile buy Tidal? I'm not sure, because Tidal is too expensive and there is not much music, in which the Vietnamese music store is even less than Spotify. Each party has its own weaknesses, no stream services are perfect and serves all needs from the user. If you choose Spotify, accept that the quality of the sound is more or less disappointing, and even ASIO can only improve a little.
