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Tidal and in car audio with 2021.40.x
- Thread starter MrBadger
- Start date
The HiFi+ tier offers MQA standard playback, which Tesla doesn't support, so you'll get the HIFi tier service instead - it offers FLAC playback and downloading over WiFi and higher bitrate streaming than Spotify and works on the M3.
As I understand it, it streams over 4G at a higher bitrate than Spotify, and uses AAC rather than Ogg Vorbis encoding, so it should sound better. I haven't tried Spotify streaming enough to confirm, but Tidal sounds pretty good on 4G to my ears. You can tell the difference with downloaded songs in Tidal, compared to streamed, but it's not day and night.
In my experience SQ wise it has been like this, in descending order of quality:
TIDAL (WiFi) / USB SSD FLAC > TIDAL (LTE) > Spotify (WiFi/LTE)
To my untrained ears TIDAL defintely sounds better over LTE than Spotify. Over wireless it's considerably better. I haven't been able to discern a difference in SQ on Spotify between wireless and LTE, it sounds pretty much the same.
I would add also that the car only needs to be fooled into thinking its on wireless. Using a personal hotspot on your phone is enough, so long as your phone gets half decent 4G or above connectivity and you have a reasonable data plan. My workflow when driving now is to get in the car, switch the WiFi network to my phone (which is set to stay connected in Drive), and head off. Every track plays in HiFi quality, as indicated on the display.
As said above you only need the "HiFi" tier now for lossless audio. HiFI+ is a waste as the car won't play at "Master" level. It's only worth having if you have high end audio kit at home that can make use of it.
Here's a new annoyance: The wifi settings are no longer on the main screen and you can no longer see how you are connecting. This is with 44.25.2, the latest. Where the icons were on the upper right, and usually are on every system I use anywhere, is now just blank. I don't get it, why not keep the display and control there? So now I have to reset the hotspot on my phone, go to the wifi settings on the Driving/Software menu to click the same icon that used to be on the front, turn the wifi back on and wait until it selects the phone hotspot again. I don't know why I need to reset the phone hotspot each time but that may not be the car's fault. Once it connect at least I'm good, but only until my next stop. The sound quality over LTE on Tidal isn't terrible though so I don't always bother to reset the hotspot, especially on short trips.
All I want in this car is to be able to get in, select something to play on either Tidal or Qobuz, and have it play in the highest resolution available without any additional fussing. It shouldn't be this hard.
All I want in this car is to be able to get in, select something to play on either Tidal or Qobuz, and have it play in the highest resolution available without any additional fussing. It shouldn't be this hard.
Don’t know if it helps but on my iPhone (13 Pro Max) I have to go on the Personal Hotspot page in the Settings before the car will see or join the phone network.
I don’t have to change any settings or turn it off and back on again, but I do have to go on that screen and leave it on there for a few seconds for the car to see the network.
I actually don't know if I have to turn it off and back on, I just do that. But it could be that just going to the screen is what reconnects it.
bo3bdar
Member
There is another Tidal thread:
teslamotorsclub.com
But thought I'd add here that I did the experiment of letting Tesla Premium Connectivity expire. You can no longer play anything from Tidal when on the road, not even stuff that is downloaded and marked HiFi. Bit of a surprise, I'd expect streaming to fail, but not the downloads. Not sure I'll keep it because of this- that managing the downloads is a drag already.
Holy crap Tidal makes the audio system come ALIVE.
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...
teslamotorsclub.com
But thought I'd add here that I did the experiment of letting Tesla Premium Connectivity expire. You can no longer play anything from Tidal when on the road, not even stuff that is downloaded and marked HiFi. Bit of a surprise, I'd expect streaming to fail, but not the downloads. Not sure I'll keep it because of this- that managing the downloads is a drag already.
RobDickinson
Active Member
Using my home system/dac and mqa capable I cant tell a difference between the hifi tracks and the master tracks.
I'll be dropping the subscription down to hifi at the end of the 3 months.
WFH this week, managed to get the house to my self and for the first time in ages been able to 'enjoy' music on the home stereo in the main living room (Denon amp with Floorstanders in a roughly 50sq meter room) that isn't Nursery rhymes or cartoon theme tunes.
Running Tidal with HiFi quality, mind blown (or just reminded), its simply leagues better than anything in the car either downloaded or streamed, premium speaker or not, if you want to be reminded how good music can sound don't waste time/effort with any car audio, just turn up the stereo at home (and get everyone else out of the house)
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Running Tidal with HiFi quality, mind blown (or just reminded), its simply leagues better than anything in the car either downloaded or streamed, premium speaker or not, if you want to be reminded how good music can sound don't waste time/effort with any car audio, just turn up the stereo at home (and get everyone else out of the house)
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I'm totally confused by Tidal. First, does it stream via premium connectivity, or do you have to download music, or do you have to log in via your phone, tether it via USB, and control it over your phone?
If the last two are the answers then my inability to log in in my Tesla is N/A, I'll just have to do it via my phone.
But if you CAN stream it, I can't figure out how to log in. I have a (free) Tidal account and app on my phone. When I try to log in in the Tesla via the screen icon, I get the QR code, which I scan with my phone, hit the link it brings up,, and it simply takes me to my account on my phone. I did get a verification code once but I couldn't enter it on the Tesla screen, I entered it on my phone and it simply opened up the account on the app on my phone.
What am I missing?
For connecting Netflix or Hula I'd get the code on my phone but a box would open up on the Tesla screen, I'd enter it, and presto change, the accounts are activated on the Tesla. But I'm doing something wrong with Tidal and I can't figure out what. Can it be because I'm connecting to Tidal via Facebook versus creating an account with a discrete username and password?
But if you can't stream via the Tesla connectivity matter to me anyhow.
If the last two are the answers then my inability to log in in my Tesla is N/A, I'll just have to do it via my phone.
But if you CAN stream it, I can't figure out how to log in. I have a (free) Tidal account and app on my phone. When I try to log in in the Tesla via the screen icon, I get the QR code, which I scan with my phone, hit the link it brings up,, and it simply takes me to my account on my phone. I did get a verification code once but I couldn't enter it on the Tesla screen, I entered it on my phone and it simply opened up the account on the app on my phone.
What am I missing?
For connecting Netflix or Hula I'd get the code on my phone but a box would open up on the Tesla screen, I'd enter it, and presto change, the accounts are activated on the Tesla. But I'm doing something wrong with Tidal and I can't figure out what. Can it be because I'm connecting to Tidal via Facebook versus creating an account with a discrete username and password?
But if you can't stream via the Tesla connectivity matter to me anyhow.
I don't remember the login sequence the first time you use Tidal in the car except for scanning the QR code. But I don't remember it being an issue either if you just followed the instructions. Given that the app is new I'm sure though there are bugs and somehow it isn't working for you. And of course there is no instruction anywhere except maybe in this thread.
The way you use it once you are signed in is this:
1. While on T connectivity you can stream in lower resolution
2. While on home or fixed wifi you can download music in "HIFI" that can be played later while driving. You go to the playlist or album and there is a download button, and there is a tab that contains all of your downloaded music.
3. While tethered to your phone you can stream "HIFI" while driving anything that Tidal has.
Once a song has been played in "Hifi" it appears to save it as that even if you didn't hit download, up until you fill the cache of about 500 songs. Then I don't know what happens. It may automatically drop songs that were not specifically downloaded to make room for new ones.
The biggest PITA is that on an iPhone at least, the phone itself does not allow the car to auto connect, you must first go to the hotspot tab in settings. This is a security feature built into the phone. And if you are already driving, the car turns off wifi, so you have to turn it back on. Also, if you are at home and the car connects to your home wifi automatically you need to switch it to the phone hotspot. There is also the "stay connected to wifi while driving" button that must be selected. Once connected though to the hotspot I have no further trouble. If I make a stop and stay within range of the car with my phone it'll stay connected, but if I go inside a big store it'll drop and I never remember to reconnect. I mostly just use the tethered method because once I've downloaded something I don't want to hear it again.
And overall, the difference is noticeable between Hifi and lower resolutions. Bass is tighter and better defined, voices have more presence, instruments are more distinct.
The way you use it once you are signed in is this:
1. While on T connectivity you can stream in lower resolution
2. While on home or fixed wifi you can download music in "HIFI" that can be played later while driving. You go to the playlist or album and there is a download button, and there is a tab that contains all of your downloaded music.
3. While tethered to your phone you can stream "HIFI" while driving anything that Tidal has.
Once a song has been played in "Hifi" it appears to save it as that even if you didn't hit download, up until you fill the cache of about 500 songs. Then I don't know what happens. It may automatically drop songs that were not specifically downloaded to make room for new ones.
The biggest PITA is that on an iPhone at least, the phone itself does not allow the car to auto connect, you must first go to the hotspot tab in settings. This is a security feature built into the phone. And if you are already driving, the car turns off wifi, so you have to turn it back on. Also, if you are at home and the car connects to your home wifi automatically you need to switch it to the phone hotspot. There is also the "stay connected to wifi while driving" button that must be selected. Once connected though to the hotspot I have no further trouble. If I make a stop and stay within range of the car with my phone it'll stay connected, but if I go inside a big store it'll drop and I never remember to reconnect. I mostly just use the tethered method because once I've downloaded something I don't want to hear it again.
And overall, the difference is noticeable between Hifi and lower resolutions. Bass is tighter and better defined, voices have more presence, instruments are more distinct.
RobDickinson
Active Member
You can only stream anything via the tesla connection with premium connectivity.
Or hotspot your phone
Or hotspot your phone
I had Tidal and loved it - sound quality is much better than Spotify when you download it over WiFi HOWEVER, since the last update (which has at least fixed the reversing camera stuttering) I’ve no longer got the Tidal app in the car and can’t select it in sources either.
RobDickinson
Active Member
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