"How great can music sound?" presumptuously asks TIDAL, young runt of the music streaming giants. The up-and-coming service has been fighting for the limelight under the foot of substaintial competitors Spotify and Apple Music, bolstered by claiming the most music for your buck. They're hellbent on campaigning a richer sound and, by extension, a more respectable user base. Their entire service seems wrought in hipster-steeped judgement on us casual listener peons. Their ads suggest that any respectable music lover should be more than willing to shell out $20 ($10 more than Spotify Premium or Apple Music's monthly rate) for their specialized hi-fi music streaming service.

This hi-fi option (a high quality reproduction of sound), is TIDAL's ace in the hole, and most certainly their only hope for contention against behemoths Apple and Spotify.So what exactly sets this service apart from competitors? Normal music streaming service uses mp3, a file format that efficiently reduces its file size through trimming what is mostly considered inaudible bulk on the source file. TIDAL does not deal in such paltry file formatting. TIDAL uses the famed FLAC file, (painfully missing the opportunity to use wav formatting, giving rise to TIDAL-wav) which works essentially like a .zip file might, to preserve all the information the mp3 file would have cut away. But enough of me flexing my technical jargon and my ability to use the Google search bar. Is it worth it? That's exactly what I set out to discover.

Day 1

Today started out just like any other day. Then, it ended like any other day. I forgot I installed TIDAL so whenever I listened to music I just used Apple Music. Which explains why it sounded so similar to Apple Music. I needed more data to reach a verdict.

Day 5

Music still sounds like music, and TIDAL still sounds like a total rip-off.

Day 10

I watched a fly die of natural causes. It was a strange sight, as I usually give them oblivion myself in some form or another. However this one was just cruising. I wondered if the fly would maybe later write a poem entitle,d "I heard a human buzz when I died." But that's all anecdotal. I was still unimpressed with TIDAL's highbrow service.

Day 15

At approximately 3:15 p.m. my left foot started tapping. At 3:50 p.m., the curious infectious movement spread to my right foot.

Day 20

Huh. You know, this really is pretty good. Maybe I was a bit quick to judge.

Day 30

Swallowed by the TIDAL wave (If they're not going to capitalize on a pun, I sure will.) Anything that is not hi-fi audio turns to dust in my ears. I can't recall a time before where I wasn't perpetually head-boppin'. In the wake of such premium sound, my face has melted into an unrecongizable heap. Friends and family mourn my ugliness, but I don't mind because I can hear just fine. Higher highs, lower lows -- this service offers the perspective of what it would be like to take all your favorite drugs through your ears. Sonic PCP.

Verdict

I'm getting it.