Holy crap Tidal makes the audio system come ALIVE.

[EVNow]

I tried Tidal previously and yes the quality can be Ok, but since I mostly use music off my USB drive with typically 320kbps mp3 although has compression that format

Audiophiles are picky and I been one since my teens and also a musician.

LOL - audiophile and you use lossy ?

And if you use BT to stream from your phone you just killed some of the quality as well. You would be at 1/3 of the highfi plus 1192kbps if you did that. So you paid for something that was just undone by BT codecs.

No - you don't use BT - you use phone's wi-fi to stream decent quality Tidal music. So, not lossy.

I wish they would make an app for Amazon Music. Better coverage than Tidal and truly HiRes music too (though not useful in Tesla).

Once FSD Beta gets ported to 40.6 I will try Tidal. Already have Youtube Premium and Amazon HD Music ....

ps : BTW, there is a new BlueTooth codec - LDAC that android supports. Probably not Tesla.

Sony makes two major claims about LDAC. First, that its 990kbps top speed can maintain the maximum bit depth and frequency of 24-bit/96kHz Hi-Res audio files. Secondly, that the codec can transmit 16-bit/44.1kHz CD quality files completely untouched.​

The ultimate guide to Bluetooth headphones: LDAC isn't Hi-res

Sony’s LDAC has risen to popularity as the audiophile-grade Bluetooth codec. Can LDAC match the quality of wired 24-bit/96kHz Hi-Res audio?

www.soundguys.com

LDAC: what is it? How can you get it? LDAC vs aptX

Sony’s ‘hi-res’ wireless audio codec explained

www.whathifi.com

 

[rjpjnk]

LOL - audiophile and you use lossy ?


No - you don't use BT - you use phone's wi-fi to stream decent quality Tidal music. So, not lossy.

Are you sure about this? As far as I’m aware there are only two ways to get external music into the Tesla system: USB and Bluetooth. There has never been a WiFi path. Wish there was!

 

[EVNow]

Are you sure about this? As far as I’m aware there are only two ways to get external music into the Tesla system: USB and Bluetooth. There has never been a WiFi path. Wish there was!

Create a wi-fi hotspot using your phone and just stream Tidal. Apparently you can get lossless.

 

[rjpjnk]

Create a wi-fi hotspot using your phone and just stream Tidal. Apparently you can get lossless.

Right, but in that case the tidal app in the Tesla is doing the streaming, not the phone. In the post you responded to the OP was talking about the case where people were running tidal on the phone, and pointing out that if someone were to do that they would be reducing there tidal quality down to BT levels.

All is good with the hotspot method. Yes, should be lossless in that case.

 

[EVNow]

Right, but in that case the tidal app in the Tesla is doing the streaming, not the phone.

No - Tesla is streaming Tidal. Phone is just passing the bits like a router ... (yes, I know just semantics).

Just as at home when you are streaming Netflix, its the "streaming device" like FireTV that streams, not the router.

Bottmline : When Tesla can use wi-fi to stream, it will stream full quality. On LTE its not full quality.

 

[Cossa]

No - Tesla is streaming Tidal. Phone is just passing the bits like a router ... (yes, I know just semantics).

Just as at home when you are streaming Netflix, its the "streaming device" like FireTV that streams, not the router.

Bottmline : When Tesla can use wi-fi to stream, it will stream full quality. On LTE its not full quality.

So do we get better quality audio streaming from the native Tesla Spotify app when tethered to iPhone WifI vs Spotify with Tesla's LTE premium connectivity?

 

[Bp25]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it, Best Buy occasionally sells a Tidal subscription at 50% off. I don’t see it now, hopefully it will come back. Once you get on it through Best Buy, it auto renews at the 50% price, not at full price.

 

[AcidTest]

After trying the Tesla Tidal app for a few weeks, it's been rough. I get patches where I have dropouts on LTE, or it just flat out won't play. Really frustrating. I'm not in a dead area for cell reception. The LTE signal strength may drop to 2-3 at times but mostly it's above that.

The app seems to really need some work.

 

[kriskros91]

After trying the Tesla Tidal app for a few weeks, it's been rough. I get patches where I have dropouts on LTE, or it just flat out won't play. Really frustrating. I'm not in a dead area for cell reception. The LTE signal strength may drop to 2-3 at times but mostly it's above that.

The app seems to really need some work.

This is super disappointing. I sometimes get this issue when I stream it from my phone over Bluetooth. I still haven't gotten Tidal on my MYP because I'm on FSD beta but had high hopes that it would work well over LTE.

Have you tried downloading songs while on WiFi instead? That should work better though of course limits music discovery as you drive

 

[Hayseed_MS]

We can download (via WiFi) into the car, correct? How much music can we download into the car?

 

[evnautilus]

So to make the audio system "come ALIVE" do I need the HiFi Plus plan? Or just HiFi?

 

[Hayseed_MS]

I did the Tidal thing and downloaded the HiFi files onto the car. Night and day difference between Tidal and Spotify. It does sound deeper and richer. I like Spotify's interface better but the sound is so much better with Tidal.

 

[Zacster]

So to make the audio system "come ALIVE" do I need the HiFi Plus plan? Or just HiFi?

Just the hifi plan. Hifi Plus gives you MQA, which the car doesn't support so it is a waste of money unless you also plan on using it at home. MQA was designed to deliver hi-res sound without needing the bandwidth, but here we are with Tesla's limited bandwidth over LTE and MQA wasn't included anyway.

 

[surfrasch]

I'm trying the HiFi out, sounds pretty good. But, I'm having trouble understanding how I can search for an artist in the car, to download.....say, something basic like Beatles, how can I find them?

 

[DadRS99]

Not sure. There has been talk about higher bitrate with Spotify but it probably won’t come to the native Tesla app - just like the rest of Spotify features that are only on smartphone apps. For example, crossfading and EQ. I really wish that Spotify had cross fade for the Tesla app. The Spotify for Tesla is pretty bare bones (playlists have a song cap too) and I wouldn’t expect them to change anything.

How does Tidal Hifi compare to playing a USB say 320 mp4?

 

[rjpjnk]

After trying the Tesla Tidal app for a few weeks, it's been rough. I get patches where I have dropouts on LTE, or it just flat out won't play. Really frustrating. I'm not in a dead area for cell reception. The LTE signal strength may drop to 2-3 at times but mostly it's above that.

The app seems to really need some work.

I am baffled as to how Tidal HiFi can play at all on LTE. I realize some are having success doing this, but does Tesla claim it should be possible? The way I read it says we need to download the songs or possibly stream via WiFi, not LTE.

The bitrate necessary for Tidal HiFi is roughly 1 Mbps. This seems very high for Tesla's LTE link. Is it possible this is accounting for the drop outs?

 

[Zacster]

It doesn't play hifi over LTE, it is the same type of lossy, compressed file as Spotify. It should be able to keep up with that and it does in mine. But then again it should be able to keep up with hifi too but it won't even allow it.

 

[Marty3SR+]

I am baffled as to how Tidal HiFi can play at all on LTE. I realize some are having success doing this, but does Tesla claim it should be possible? The way I read it says we need to download the songs or possibly stream via WiFi, not LTE.

The bitrate necessary for Tidal HiFi is roughly 1 Mbps. This seems very high for Tesla's LTE link. Is it possible this is accounting for the drop outs?

I know nothing about Tidal or Tesla's LTE, but did you misquote the bitrate necessary or is Tesla's LTE super slow? I just recently signed up for the in-car internet, but with my phone on LTE, I can get 100+ Mbps at home.

 

[rjpjnk]

I know nothing about Tidal or Tesla's LTE, but did you misquote the bitrate necessary or is Tesla's LTE super slow? I just recently signed up for the in-car internet, but with my phone on LTE, I can get 100+ Mbps at home.

No, 1mbps is about the right max bitrate assuming lossless compression (FLAC), but since Tesla is known to be limiting Spotify on LTE to just 96kbps it seemed to me they would not likely allow Tidal to grab 10 times this rate. Since no one actually publishes the bitrate data though it is all speculation. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that on LTE Tidal gets some form of lossy compressed low bitrate channel no better than Spotify.

 

[jamesmbond]

I already thought that the audio systems in our Tesla’s were amazing. Then I used Tidal. Holy cow does the hi fidelity source make a huge difference. It’s truly amazing.

Load up Tidal, set the base to 4-5, Treble to 4, and mid to 1. Immersive sound to standard or high.
search for song “Internet friends” by Knife Party.

It’s like an IMAX experience!

Enjoy!

Only problem so far with Tidal on my M3 is the lack of a shuffle play button/option when you use my playlists. Interface just a little bit strange compared to Spotify which I've gotten used to. But sound quality is better if you sign up for the paid/higher bit rate service.