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Holy crap Tidal makes the audio system come ALIVE.

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I can confirm that it uses the onboard LTE for streaming audio (just like any of the other audio apps). It also streams HiFi over LTE btw. Pretty awesome actually. Works just like Spotify but sounds better.
I am really happy to hear this but I am at a loss to explain how the sound quality improved so much compared to Spotify unless Tesla is allocating a much higher bitrate downlink to Tidal than to Spotify.

To my understanding Tidal HiFi provides CD quality lossless audio (16/44). That's 1.4mbps, which using FLAC could typically be compressed down to the 700 to 900kbps range. How is Tesla providing this throughput? Isn't anyone else surprised that Tesla would allow such high bitrate on their built in cellular (LTE)? This is the same car, after all, that previously limited Spotify to just 96kbps.

I'm not saying I disbelieve it, just that if Tesla is now allowing LTE downlinks in the megabit per second range to support lossless CD quality audio streaming I would expect them to make a big deal announcement to this effect. This is a huge benefit to audio lovers everywhere!
 
I have to ask….who the heck uses Tidal? Maybe I’m out if the Loop/Woke crowd? Have a family Spotify Premium account whole family uses….that’s after we all agreed and dumped Apple Music. There’d be a mutiny if I even mentioned Tidal.

Ski
Tidal is used by the lossless and high resolution audio crowd. It is for those who want higher audio quality than that which could be achieved using Spotify. Initially it was the only option but now Qobuz, Amazon, and Apple all offer similar quality plans and Spotify will soon be offering one as well.
 
Tidal is used by the lossless and high resolution audio crowd. It is for those who want higher audio quality than that which could be achieved using Spotify. Initially it was the only option but now Qobuz, Amazon, and Apple all offer similar quality plans and Spotify will soon be offering one as well.
Thanks! All news to me. Love high quality audio but never been a lossless/FLAC guy. Appreciate the input. Guess I’ll be jumping on it when Spotify rolls with it and/or Tesla even offers it. Like I said just running the Spotify Premium in the Tesla now.

Ski
 
I am really happy to hear this but I am at a loss to explain how the sound quality improved so much compared to Spotify unless Tesla is allocating a much higher bitrate downlink to Tidal than to Spotify.

To my understanding Tidal HiFi provides CD quality lossless audio (16/44). That's 1.4mbps, which using FLAC could typically be compressed down to the 700 to 900kbps range. How is Tesla providing this throughput? Isn't anyone else surprised that Tesla would allow such high bitrate on their built in cellular (LTE)? This is the same car, after all, that previously limited Spotify to just 96kbps.

I'm not saying I disbelieve it, just that if Tesla is now allowing LTE downlinks in the megabit per second range to support lossless CD quality audio streaming I would expect them to make a big deal announcement to this effect. This is a huge benefit to audio lovers everywhere!
How it works currently in my car with Tidal is that what bit rate you get depends on how the car is connected to the internet (LTE or WiFi) and whether you are downloading or streaming the track. You get lossless (downloading or streaming) when connected to WiFi and lossy when using the car’s LTE connection.

If you want the benefit from Tidal’s lossless content you need to pre-download the tracks (which seem to be stored in the car’s internal storage rather than on any USB storage you might have attached) while connected to WiFi, or tether your car to your phone so the car remains on WiFI while driving and using your phone’s LTE connection and then stream that way.

Lossless tracks (whether downloaded or streamed) are marked up with “HiFi” in green next to the track title.

There would be no sound benefit in your Tesla from the “HiFi Plus” tier of Tidal, as the car doesn’t have decoding for that format; the less-expensive “HiFi” tier gives you lossless and that’s all your car can take advantage of.
 
Not sure. I downloaded some stuff while farting around with the update last night and listened to the download stuff on the way to work. Will try streaming later today and I’ll get back to you. For what it’s worth I’m pretty sure that streaming over LTE is supported because the app shows everything and isn’t limited to a “downloaded only” section.
how did you download items to the car?
 
how did you download items to the car?
When viewing an album or playlist in the Tidal app in the car, there is a download button near the top of the screen (next to the play and heart ones). If you click on that, it will add the album/playlist to a download queue.

When the car is connected to WiFi the queued downloads get downloaded and during the download that download button turns into a progress circle. After the download is complete the button changes to a garbage bin that you can click to delete the download.
 
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When viewing an album or playlist in the Tidal app in the car, there is a download button near the top of the screen (next to the play and heart ones). If you click on that, it will add the album/playlist to a download queue.

When the car is connected to WiFi the queued downloads get downloaded and during the download that download button turns into a progress circle. After the download is complete the button changes to a garbage bin that you can click to delete the download.
Thank You!!!
 
When playing songs on WiFi it will automatically convert over to the HiFi version, but when driving on LTE it just plays normally, is that correct?

I'm a bit confused how to get HiFi while driving if I move over to an unplayed list... and what about the songs that converted over to HiFi while playing on WiFi... are those downloaded automatically?

Should I download the entire playlist in order to get it all songs on HiFi while driving? Where is it stored? I guess I can delete it later if needed?
 
I have to ask….who the heck uses Tidal? Maybe I’m out if the Loop/Woke crowd? Have a family Spotify Premium account whole family uses….that’s after we all agreed and dumped Apple Music. There’d be a mutiny if I even mentioned Tidal.

Ski
In addition to higher-quality audio, as others have noted, Tidal also reportedly pays artists a much fairer share of revenue vs. other streaming providers (like Spotify). Just wanted to point that out in case it was important to you. Metallica and Taylor Swift are doing fine, but for many other artists...not so much :)
 
I have to ask….who the heck uses Tidal? Maybe I’m out if the Loop/Woke crowd? Have a family Spotify Premium account whole family uses….that’s after we all agreed and dumped Apple Music. There’d be a mutiny if I even mentioned Tidal.

Ski
I never thought I would get rid of Spotify as I have been a subscriber for years, but the Hi-Fi sound of Tidal is making me consider this.
 
Great to hear about higher bitrate music streaming. I've had spotify for years and the sound quality is bad and pure garbage when streaming in car. I've resorted to playing music over bluetooth. How does the sound quality of playing HiFi Tidal from phone to car over bluetooth compare vs streaming directly from the native car UI?
 
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Interesting thread! The only "subscription" I have right now is YouTube Music which comes included with my Premium subscription. I think it was CNET or someone who compared all the streaming services; I'll have to go back and re-read it. Between Apple, Spotify, Amazon Unlimited, Tidal, etc. etc. it makes my head spin which one is best.

Tesla-wise, I guess if I eventually choose a service that is near/at the lossless rate, I'll be in for a nice treat eh? For now I happily use the Streaming option (which I think is Slacker, right?) with the Immersive setting on Standard and even that alone is impressive enough to my ears haha!