While Tidal may not have as many subscribers as Spotify or Apple Music, one of the benefits of the music streaming service is audio quality. And that trend continues with the latest addition to the service.
Announced today, Tidal is launching Dolby Atmos Music support for a range of devices, including set-top boxes, home speaker systems, TVs, and soundbars. The new feature is available for customers of its Tidal HiFi service, which costs $19.99 per month. Of course, you’ll need the subscription and a compatible device to actually take advantage of Dolby Atmos Music.
Dolby’s mission has always been to create the strongest bond possible between artists, their stories, and the world. As the driving force in sound innovation, Dolby Atmos Music pushes the boundaries and frees music to be expressed and experienced as intended. Welcome to music reborn in Dolby.
Tidal is not actually a stranger to Dolby Atmos. The company welcomed the mobile version of Atmos back in December of last year, launching support for the feature for Android smartphones and tablets that support Dolby Atmos’s mobile feature. This is a leap forward for Tidal, though, welcoming the Dolby Atmos listening experience into the living room (or the rest of the house for that matter) proper.
Not only will you need the compatible device to listen to Dolby Atmos Music, but you’ll also need a compatible device that’s connected to your TV if you want to listen to music that way. Basically, a supported device to output Dolby Atmos Music. Thankfully, Tidal has a handy list:
Compatible TV-connected devices include:
- Apple TV 4K (running tvOS 13 or later)
- Fire TV (Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 2016, Fire TV Gen 3 2017, Fire TV Cube 1st Gen or 2nd Gen)
- Nvidia Shield TV and Shield TV Pro (2019 and newer models)
Tidal says the updated app for Android TVs is available from Philips and Sony as well, so you won’t need a set-top box to get Dolby Atmos Music to work on these specific TVs.
The good news here is that if the content supports Dolby Atmos Music and you’ve got the necessary hardware to listen to it, the song or album will automatically play at the higher definition audio quality. However, there is a catch: not all content on Tidal supports Dolby Atmos Music.
In the TIDAL app, navigate to Explore then scroll down to find and select Dolby Atmos Music. If your TV is capable of Dolby Atmos playback, you will see a module on your Home screen called Available in Dolby Atmos.
The new feature is rolling out today, so if you’re a Tidal subscriber to the HiFi plan, make sure to try it out and let us know in the comments below what you think.
And not to take away anything from Apple Music here, which does admittedly sound great whether you’re listening to songs or albums on a soundbar, TV, or on headphones, but the addition of Dolby Atmos support would be pretty great. Not that will happen.
Do you think Tidal rolling out support for Dolby Atmos Music will get more people to sign up?