When it comes to music streaming services, listeners have plenty of choices. There are the options at the top of the pyramid, Spotify and Pandora and Apple Music. And then there are the other options, like Deezer, SoundCloud, and Tidal. There are quite a few others, and it all comes down to personal taste. Some will prefer what others dislike. But that's just the nature of things, right?
We're going to focus on Tidal for this one.
Reason being, the streaming service recently announced an upgrade for customers that are already paying for its highest-tiered option. It's called Dolby Atmos Music and it's available for customers on the HiFi plan, which retails for $19.99 per month. This is just another audio upgrade, but a noteworthy one even if Tidal isn't a complete stranger to Dolby Atmos in general. It's broadening availability to soundbars, set-top boxes, home speaker systems, and TVs. As long as you've got a supported piece of hardware, and the song or album you want to listen to supports the upgrade, you can hear the improved quality. Technically speaking, Tidal has supported Dolby Atmos since December of last year, when it rolled out support for mobile devices.
It's worth noting that while Tidal does indeed support Dolby Atmos Music, availability is pretty limited. Tidal users will be able to pick out supported content in the app easily enough, but there are only thousands of songs available that support Dolby Atmos. Hopefully that number balloons in the future, because it sounds like a genuinely exciting feature.
But the good news is that Tidal isn't charging even more per month to access it. If you're already paying for the HiFi plan, Dolby Atmos support is included, which is a nice bonus. The question, of course, is whether or not this is a feature that will get customers joining the Tidal ranks.
I listen to music every single day, but I'm not what's considered an audiophile by any means. I'm usually happy enough with my Surface Headphones or my AirPods. But I tried out Tidal because of the HiFi plan and the focus on audio quality years ago. I eventually jumped ship to Spotify --and eventually Apple Music-- because the boost in quality was lost on me.
That doesn't mean I wouldn't try out Dolby Atmos Music, though. That would technically count me as a new subscriber, albeit for a month, but I doubt that it would be something that would keep me on board for long.
What do you think? Will Dolby Atmos Music be the one feature that boosts Tidal's subscriber numbers in a big way? Let me know what you think.