>You can also use Amazon HD, which is cheaper than Tidal. I recently switched and been happy.
But with Amazon HD your music is stuck in the app right ? You don't have access to raw music files. Using this software https://www.audfree.com/store.html it seems like you can convert MQA and other Tidal files directly to wav or what you want. I know its cheap enough I should just sign up for a Tidal trial period and see for myself.
I also realize downloading music from tidal and using software like this to strip the DRM encoding and put it into a WAV file is a form of piracy. That's why I keep wondering if that's really how it would work.
Love this discussion, guys. I"ve been doing car audio for a long time and am technically savvy but the options for source and conversion are absolutely bewildering now even to people like us.
In my case I am definitely not moving away from my GMC Head Unit that is using the NAV-TV MOst50 interface to provide a digital signal to my Helix. I've been told that is a raw digital signal but I sometimes wonder if that's true (ie is there a conversion happening somewhere before or inside the MOST-50). For SQ listening I play WAV files off a USB stick or use the CD player.
For my car I have a P99rs head unit and no plans to install an outboard DSP so again its either CD player or USB. I really don't want a digital player hanging off the dash or for God's sake to have to plug in a phone all the time.
so while I would love to have some of these fancy higher res options they won't work for me as neither setup will play higher resolution than 44/96.
For the guy who said he couldn't tell the difference between high rate MP3 and other formats I haven't found that to be the case. I have often compared playing the CD or a WAV file to a 320 MP3 and its subtle but the higher res definitely has more "air", more "space", more realistic sound. I certainly coulldn't tell while driving though. The nice thing about that kind of comparison is its very easy to A/B it on the deck vs switching equipment around. That's also why I wish I had a setup where I could try higher res files but again not willing to hang crap off the dash or plug in a phone everytime I"m in and out of the car.