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 ?
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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 -
@Jan Yes, yes, you’ve told us this already. You’ve sold your Bluesound stuff, congrats. Now you can relax with your Eversolo, and have no need to keep us apprised of your spectacularly interesting journey.
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I really don’t understand the vitriol towards Bluesound. It was Tidal who chose to launch this feature first on their own apps and only by the end of the year on third party platforms. So the delay is just because Tidal decided to not to address partner integrations before launching the feature. Also remember that Tidal is a pretty small streaming service that probably accounts for a small percentage of BluOS usage. Yet, the fact that Bluesound representatives have made an effort to communicate here to the few dozen people that actually care about the distinction between FLAC and MQA, that they are working on it and will deliver it soon, deserve more credit than a lot of these negative MQA conspiracy theory posts are giving it. Bluesound just released a major version of their OS, and Tidal only recently extended support for third parties, and anyway you cannot blame them if this wouldn’t be the #1 feature that they need to work on and stop everything else their working on instead. Give them break and be patient. You’ve probably been listening to Tidal for many years without HighRes FLAC, another month is not going to kill you…
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We have been working closely with Tidal to implement the "new-to-them" high resolution FLAC for both the integration and Connect. It is soon'ish...
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If Tidal's platform officially states the following: "If a track exists in both formats, and a user has selected Max, the HiRes FLAC will be prioritized over the MQA version". Why would we, Bluesound Node owners, then be denied the listening of HiRes FLAC format?
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More info to follow next week. Stay tuned.
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@ Nikos Great idea. You should start by counting the seconds that pass. That'll teach 'em. Question: do you actually enjoy listening to music, or just compaining about the equipment through which you may theoretically enjoy music?
BS came up with a compromise. For the time being, at least, maybe you should just listen to music via Tidal Connect, where the blessed FLAC streams still coexist with that affront to the audiophile ear, MQA. Give it a rest, man.
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@Michal Zelazny It's hardly a "consensus." A lot of people enjoy what MQA brings to the table. I'd love to have the option of being able to access both MQA and hi-res FLAC, hopefully sooner rather than later.
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To be fair I don't like being restricted by a company because it either tries to push a certain standard by their 'ethics' or because of some 'behind the scene deals'.
As a customer I expect the widest bandwidth of the technological containers possible. I bought this product because of it's ability to playback exceptional sound quality. And now it is limited because of the said reasons. I can understand the 'choice' argument. But when us customers cannot choose the other option available, bluesound supports a Anti-Consumer stance.4 -
Tidal Connect has release new version version 3.569 22. Oct . High res flac is running on Volumio Rivo using Tidal Connect but not on Bluesound.
Hope Bluesound will change in the new future4 -
Seems like the conversation is going South here. Just confused as:
- All of us using Tidal/Bluesound bought our Bluesound equipment powered by Tidal during a time when there were already FLAC options out there. (e.g. Qobuz) With Tidal, we choose MQA
- Bluesound can also play Qobuz directly, all you need to do is to change subscription and you are done. Same goes for Apple Music. We may all prefer Tidal, but how is this a deal-breaker for the hardware?
Myself, I do look forward to HiRes FLAC and just as everyone else, I wish the API provision/software upgrade happened faster. But I am also very pleased with Tidal as a music library and my set of Bluesound players (Pulse Flex, 2 Powernode, NAD C399 w BluOS and NAD C368 with BluOS). I think the way Bluesound integrates Tidal into solid HiFi hardware is excellent.
But yeah, still longing however a couple of months will not impact my decision. And yeah, I guess there will be a bunch of streamers I can pick-up cheap from this confused crowd. Just need a bigger house...4 -
REPOST of @Andrew H. now marked as an 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.
-Andrew4 -
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.
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What is the status on this issue?
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Tony, any updates on whether or not the upcoming release of Blue OS 4 will include FLAC high res support for TIDALconnect?
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For Tidal's preferences for high res and MQA there is a chart that shows the various responses. Lenbrook is committed to supporting MQA and working together with Tidal to ensure that we can create even more visibility to MQA over time. In the meantime we are working very closely with the folks at Tidal to be able to launch "new-to-Tidal" high res FLAC to both the integration and the connect model, timing is soon'ish.
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I would like to thank Bluesound for the super new OS, it looks great and is super easy to use! I especially like the new bitrate display feature. Thanks for listening. The search function however could be more intuitive when switching between providers. That’s really nit-picking! Like many others here I purchased my Bluesound streamer to purposely enjoy MQA. It’s been great and is so much more than a compression/decompression format as explained in posts above. I have been enjoying MQA sound consistently since it is still fully supported - at least on the tracks I’ve been listening to. I understand those who are annoyed at FLAC’s implementation being delayed and agree that this could have been planned much better given that MQA’s difficulties were known about a fair old time ago. A need for this FLAC update really could have been anticipated much sooner. BUT many will have bought purposely into MQA and will be happy with it like me and can wait a little bit longer for FLAC.
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New BluOS version has been released, but still no Tidal HiRes FLAC support. :(
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what if you worked on the solution instead of empty chatter??? I paid for a very expensive system and I cannot use it in the best quality in the 21st century. If this doesn't change in a short period of time, I will sell all my Bluesound devices. I hope others will do the same. :)
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While the vitriol is spewing here, has anyone checked Tidal’s official support page on this topic (see link below)?
https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360004565898-TIDAL-Connect
It reads: “HiRes FLAC is currently not supported through TIDAL Connect. Support will be added later in 2023.”
Translation: Tidal is still working on this with their partners, including Bluesound, and has not changed this “later in 2023” commitment since inception months ago. Not sure why some folks are losing it here. Especially given the fact that Tidal has 5 million users, some who have been paying good money for the top tier option and enjoying the listening experience long before FLAC was an option, and if high res FLAC was such a game changer, why does Qobuz, which has offered high res FLAC at 24/192 for years, only have 200,000 customers? That’s a mere 4% of Tidal’s customer base.
Would appreciate an update on when this will happen, however, including user selectable format—in November or December?
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Hurry Up Tony!
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I am a veteran Software Engineer, do you need help with this?
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It works great! Thank you so much!
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Tidal has just reported that by the end of the year there will be
compatibility with tidal connect and sonos.2 -
@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 -
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
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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
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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!
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I fully second what @M just said. I’m also happy to get more high res music available with the introduction of FLAC, but I’m also very happy with the continued investment in MQA as it’s a very interesting technology that tried to correct the loss of analogue information that happens during digital sampling of analogue signals. Also, very happy with how responsive Bluesound has been to community feedback on these topics.
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Given that it is rare to have capable product people in a thread like this, I wanted to raise a surprising discovery that I made today. While getting dressed this morning, I decided to play on TIDAL the awesome album, ‘Aural Sculpture’, by the Stranglers on my reasonably resolving budget system in my bedroom, paired to the Bluesound Node N130. Given that we are still waiting to get support from TIDAL for high res. FLAC, I suspected that the high fidelity reproduction I was hearing, with clear instrument separation, wide soundstage, pleasing vocal tones in the mid range, etc., was because I was listening to a high-res. MQA file. After checking the new Node app, I discovered that it is MQA all right, but only in CD quality (16/44.1).
To our Bluesound node friends in this thread who just acquired MQA assets, how can the relatively small MQA file sound objectively better than the lossless FLAC CD quality songs on Tidal and nearly as good as a high resolution file? I have no skin in the game when it comes to audio file formats. I like to think of myself as a music lover/audiophile first, and avid equipment nerd and researcher second. This result was surprising and begs a number of questions about what we will actually hear when FLAC on TIDAL Connect is fully enabled by TIDAL.2 -
Hi M, it's a great question that would take a while to answer. Technically in MQA Bob Stuart calls the folding of data "origami" which is meant to reduce the size of the files without losing any of their integrity. Remember he is the guy who created FLAC all of those years ago so there is a bit of legacy knowledge there. I really don't want to get into the bit this and bit that discussion, this is as you have heard about the effect on your ears, and if you really want to more fully understand about time correction and some of the other magic of MQA there are plenty of videos and docs available. To me MQA is about the T's, S's, decays on instruments and an overall richer listening experience. When an artist in recent times uses the tools and produces an album in MQA it means they have something closer to the original experience of the music. We did a listening test with a jazz group in the UK a couple years ago, where they played in a studio, it was transcoded into MQA in real time, and then played back over a power node 2i with some nice speakers. The artists were asked to judge what they heard as a reproduction versus what they hear as artists being there. The results were that they all said it sounded like it was live. To me that's the experience the team wants to share and for people to have.
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