Tidal loudness normalization


I am listening back and forth this morning between streaming via Tidal and cd playback.  One thing I keyed on was the Tidal stream lacked dynamic contrast compared to cd.

 I did a little search to find out if Tidal is messing with things.  I find the answer is “yes they are”.  There is a feature called “loudness normalization “ in your Tidal app that is automatically engaged unless you turn it off.  Check your settings.  

To do so in your Tidal app, click the heart shaped “my collection “ @ bottom right, then click the gear wheel top right.  You will then see the screen and button to disable/enable loudness normalization.

Let’s see who likes one vs the other.
rhljazz
All fine explanations.  So have you listened with the normalization defeated?  

Do do you hear a difference?

If so, do you have a preference?
If properly implemented normalization will not diminish dynamics.  Normalization raises the loudest point in a recording to a predetermined level.  The peak loud to soft differential remains the same.  Google "Tidal loudness normalization".  There is extensive discussion of why it's implemented as it is.
I'm not sure this is such a bad thing that Tidal started doing this last year.  This gives Tidal listeners a better listening experience via streaming by applying their "album normalization" thereby helping to quash the Loudness Wars that historically have occurred during mastering. I feel this benefit outweighs individual complaints incurred when toggling between system component sources; the streaming experience is better and I don't think we should expect Tidal to be focused on anything beyond that.  This is just my opinion, and like you say, there is a very easy disabling toggle in the app.