Regarding Tidals 24 bit flac
Answered
So Tidal is coming out with 24 bit flac, it is currently in beta testing available for those who are connected to Tidals beta program. And in the beginning only for iOS users and later it will also come to Android users.
My question is do you know if it will be available to stream this also through the bluos app to my bluesound or only through tidals own app ?
-
Official comment
UPDATED OFFICIAL COMMENT
Hi everyone,
We appreciate your patience as we’ve worked through the final details around Tidal’s new Hi-Res FLAC approach. Our BluOS team knows that many in our community have asked for as much access to MQA as possible so we needed to test our two-pronged approach that will provide the most flexibility within Tidal’s new mandates.
On or around December 12th (depending on your timezone), we will release a BluOS update to include Tidal Max support available via Tidal Connect only. The new Tidal platform defaults to FLAC versions of tracks if multiple versions are available, so Tidal subscribers who want to listen to Hi-Res FLAC content on Bluesound can do so as of Dec 12th via the Tidal app.
For the many BluOS users who signed up to Tidal to take advantage of their MQA content, you will still be able to access MQA streaming in the BluOS App via our existing direct Tidal “Classic” integration. This will continue to operate as it currently does.
More information will be posted in the Knowledge Base FAQs prior to the launch to answer questions you may have. You can also direct questions or comments here - Matt (Bluesound Product Manager) and myself will be happy to chat further.
-Andrew -
Hi Tom
That is a question for TIDAL as to when it will be made available in the main catalogue to be selected.
1 -
Hi Tony,
Tidal officially released it yesterday and I still cannot play hires tracks via bluesound. It converts the max file to cd quality.
0 -
Hey @Tony W. BlueSound needs to update BluOS's TiDAL API.
0 -
@Tony W.
It was more if it would work with bluos / bluesound, but reading the other comments here it seems it does not.0 -
BluOS currently does not support Tidal settings such as max quality and audio settings. It's unclear when the new Tidal API with these features will be implemented.
0 -
Thanks for your patience.
We have identified that the current model of TIDAL's integration, both direct and TIDAL Connect allow for FLAC files to be limited to 16-bit CD Quality playback. To listen to Hi-Res Playback you still have the option of MQA when available from their catalogue.
We are working very closely with TIDAL, one of our Premier Partners, to allow for the playback of their entire catalogue, regardless of format as quickly as possible. Please follow this thread for updates when they become available.
0 -
Tidal has just reported that by the end of the year there will be
compatibility with tidal connect and sonos.2 -
^^^ That’s going to be tough for Tidal as Sonos does not support anything beyond 24/48
0 -
I’m going to downgrade my subscription to Hifi plan until they fix it. It doesn’t make sense to pay for something that you cannot have benefit
1 -
^^^ You still have the same thing you were paying for one month ago. And you still have high res tracks in MQA. Nothing has changed except that they made FLAC available early on their apps before 3rd party players and even Tidal Connect. Just be glad that Tidal continues to invest and improve their platform and offer us so many options for high res, when other companies don’t even offer CD quality.
1 -
According to Tidal, HiRes files are over MQA. If the song has both versions then it will play hires. At that point bluesound will convert that hires file to CD quality.
0 -
Hi Servet - your assumption is incorrect - MQA is MQA - when you select MQA in TIDAL today, you will get MQA at whatever the original digital recording was at or what the analog tape was remastered to and that includes 24/192 MQA files.
That being said we are continuing to work with TIDAL to include non-MQA Hi-Res service as quickly as possible.
3 -
@Tony W.
Thank you for providing info.
Is the timeline "as quickly as possible" a matter of weeks or months? If you can tell us.2 -
@Whir I am not a Bluesound representative but as Tidal have work to do prior to anything being implemented in BluOS I say months.
0 -
As part of this update, it would be great if BLUOS would indicate if we are listening to a Hires FLAC or an MQA stream when playing Max. I understand that would be possible on the streamer level, despite Tidal's choice to not show it in their app.
1 -
Vivement la mise à jour tidal connect en flac Hi-Res sur bluos avec le bluesound node 2i et si il y avait en plus la fréquence d'échantillonnage des fichiers ce serait le grand luxe
----------------
Can't wait for the tidal connect update in flac Hi-Res on bluos with the bluesound node 2i and if there was also the sampling frequency of the files it would be a great luxury
2 -
Why wait? You already have that with MQA and TIDAL.
Just a reminder if the Masters Quality Assured file is 24/48 this means the original digital recording was 24/48 (which is pretty frequent for recordings in the late 1980s and early 1990s). If this was never recorded in analogue, 24/192 versions of these recordings are upsampled.
1 -
What is the status on this issue?
3 -
Agree v much with Emmanuel Berbuteau above - it would be really interesting to see the sampling rates clearly visible this time round. We’ll then know what we are hearing. It’s just nice to see. Like the light that used to appear on old stereograms to let you know that the fm broadcast was in stereo. We audiophiles are funny like that!😀. Really looking forward to new connect update as well!
2 -
@Tony W. You keep saying that all stays the same like it was except eventual new HiRes Flacs. Kind of different opinion here. I see Tidal more and more replacing MQA with Flacs whenever Flac is available. So lack of this functionality makes less and less hires (at all) file visible.
Today I have got beta verssion of Tidal app for android, and it is showinng if the file is Flac or MQA. This was already avaiable for apple devices from what I know.
0 -
@Whir, by the way, I can also see with the beta version of the Tidal app on iPhone that when playing for example the new James Blake album, it shows "FLAC" when playing on the iPhone, but then shows "MQA" when playing on my Bluesound via Tidal Connect. And I verified in my DAC that it's in fact MQA.
So Tidal does give preference to FLAC when the player supports it, but still uses MQA where high-res FLAC is not supported, like on Tidal Connect. And the that fact that I can see this in a new album also shows that Tidal is still releasing high-res albums in both MQA and FLAC.
1 -
I have not seen such example so far. Can you give me some samples to check (album or tack)?
The cases I could see was when flac was available, and jumpped with tidal connect to Bluesound, it turned to CD, not mqa.0 -
Upd: I have found such example: max flac shown as a priority file, but connecting with bluesound it jumps to mqa.
0 -
@Whir, the example I mentioned is Playing Robots Into Heaven by James Blake.
0 -
I see. You are right.
1 -
We R all waitin 4 BlueOS supporting flac!
-1 -
I'm hoping that when BlueOS version 4 comes out (maybe next month) that we will see this resolved. It's one of my assumptions why there hasn't been substantial updates on this issue.
For now, I'm playing only certain music on my Pulse speaker/sub.
0 -
Well 96 will do for the moment - 19+ will take time - money is paying
-1 -
I don‘t see it before Q1/24
-1
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
237 comments