TIDAL's CEO Jesse Dorogusker has made good on his promise back in April that TIDAL "will be introducing hi-res FLAC for our HiFi Plus subscribers soon" and his later announcement that the update could reach HiFi Plus subscribers in August. Unlike other streaming services (we're looking at you, Spotify), the hi-res update is right there for you to enjoy.
The new FLAC streams makes the service's hi-res offering much more accessible to the entry-level audiophile as well as those unwilling to replace their streaming chain to decode and fully 'unfold' MQA's format. However, as also promised, the service's current MQA-powered hi-res streams remain.
The change has also brought about a renaming of TIDAL's audio quality levels to make it easier for you to opt for the correct one depending on hardware specs and data strength.
- Max – High fidelity lossless audio up to 24-bit, 192 kHz with HiRes FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and Master Quality Authenticated audio (MQA).
- High – Lossless audio with FLAC (16-bit, 44.1 kHz)
- Low (up to 320 kbps) – Listen to the music you love using lower data usage with compressed AAC files.
Power users will no doubt notice there is no longer mention of "Masters", which was attributed to MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) as the top-tier quality is now dubbed "Max", with TIDAL Masters moving to TIDAL HiRes.
These changes were prompted by the news that MQA Ltd had entered administration, which created uncertainty around whether the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) format would continue to be supported on TIDAL. While MQA Ltd's future remains unclear, TIDAL confirmed that its "existing MQA catalogue will continue to be available on the platform" for the foreseeable future.
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Posted in: Music
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