FLAC vs. MP3 Test - Tidal Music Service

[Santo]

Just recently ran across this. Tidal Music is a streaming service that started sometime last year. They are trying to switch people from Spotify by using Apple Lossless and FLAC files instead of high quality mp3. They are twice as expensive ($20/month) and don't offer a free service. At first glance, the player looks pretty slick (at least online) and they offer mobile and offline caching services.

They also offer a test to see if you can tell the difference between the two formats. It can be found here: http://test.tidalhifi.com/. I'm curious how other folks do. I didn't fare so well. I took it several times, with different headphones, and the best I could do is 3 out of 5. This could be because of my equipment and/or my ears. But, for me, its not worth the money. That being said, I hope Tidal Music catches on. I love the that they are offering a different product and competition is always good.

For the record, I've never thought that the FLAC sounded significantly better than a properly compressed high quality mp3. I've heard a lot of poorly compressed mp3s and I think that's were they get a bad rap. FLAC is vastly superior for archiving, but mp3s are better for portability.