[koenoe]

They do sound better to me, because software decodes the MQA and therefore plays in a higher bitrate.

But I said ‘probably’ because it’s all related to the equipment you use too.

Edit: if you have a non-MQA dac and don’t enable MQA software decoding the masters play in the exact same bitrate as non-masters.

 

[rkw]

software decodes the MQA and therefore plays in a higher bitrate.

There is a fair amount of controversy about this. Some people have analyzed unfolded MQA streams and found them to be indistinguishable from upsampling (which most DACs perform internally anyway).

The quality of the MQA encoding/decoding process may be questionable, but there seems to be a real benefit. MQA claims to preserve the integrity of the original master recording. This means they should not allow an audible watermark to be added to recordings, and it seems to be the case. For example, this non-MQA recording has the characteristic fluttering/modulation sound distortion caused by the watermark: https://listen.tidal.com/track/53068878. The equivalent MQA version does not have the distortion: https://listen.tidal.com/track/77599024. If you login to Tidal in the web browser and compare playing the tracks on the web player (not the app), there is no software decoding and it is an apples-to-apples comparison. Track 28 is particularly good to compare because of long sustained notes which tend to highlight the watermark distortion.

 

[audionewbi]

As someone who spent a lot of money on music and its external storage as well networking I entered Tidal usage as a huge skeptic. Now I'm a firm believe, boy Am I a believer or what!
Most of the music that I own and all the music that I'm yet to discover all under my finger tip. I hate the app, or should I say it sucks the life out of my battery. I wish Tidal now lets me buy the song i want using a discounted method. I still like to be able to own music and I believe if artist are wise they learn that if you reduce the price gap between streaming and music ownership more people will be paying for it willingly.

 

[toolio]

That’s pretty much how I feel, made even better by the fact that I use Tidal hi-fi with Roon. I remain skeptical of MQA, but even without it Tidal with Roon has heightened my music enjoyment and led me down new paths. I hope it sticks around, since it’s the only streaming service integrated into Roon.

 

[audionewbi]

That’s pretty much how I feel, made even better by the fact that I use Tidal hi-fi with Roon. I remain skeptical of MQA, but even without it Tidal with Roon has heightened my music enjoyment and led me down new paths. I hope it sticks around, since it’s the only streaming service integrated into Roon.

I like to move to ROON long term, but that requires more spending, ROOM server, ROON account and currently I'm not really keen on spending. I do like how MQA sounds, I find it a lot less harsh and to me that is the main bonus for it. I own two DAP that is MQA friendly, (Sony WM1A and Onkyo DP-X1). However I only have a limited MQA albums and I wish there was a way for me to use them with Tidal but at this stage there isnt a way.

 

[Omega139]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to get the student discount on the Family Hifi plan? I contacted Tidal but have yet to hear back from them.

 

[rkw]

I was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to get the student discount on the Family Hifi plan? I contacted Tidal but have yet to hear back from them.

These are the available subscription plans:
https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003662825-Subscription-Types
There are no "student family" plans.

 

[almarti]

Is anyone suffering on sending to Chromecast Audio from Tidal on Android (OnePlus 3)? For at least 2 weeks Tidal tries but it doesn't send anything.
Tidal on iPad Mini 2 is working properly with same CCA.
Everything is updated to last version

 

[rkw]

Is anyone suffering on sending to Chromecast Audio from Tidal on Android (OnePlus 3)? For at least 2 weeks Tidal tries but it doesn't send anything.
Tidal on iPad Mini 2 is working properly with same CCA.
Everything is updated to last version

Does it connect (the cast icon turns solid)? No problem for me, on Nexus 7 tablet and Galaxy S9. Are you able to cast other apps to the CCA, such as Spotify, Google Music, TuneIn, YouTube Music, etc?

 

[Roybenz]

Hi. I have searched a lot for this but can't seem to find a clear answer. I would like to get the best out of my setup, wich is imac/tidal-usb-moon neo 430had-lcd4

I wonder if tidal app on imac sounds the same as tidal with roon? Or does roon sound better for some reason?

Would a streamer with tidal, instead of imac with tidal sound better?

 

[gefski]

Hi. I have searched a lot for this but can't seem to find a clear answer. I would like to get the best out of my setup, wich is imac/tidal-usb-moon neo 430had-lcd4

I wonder if tidal app on imac sounds the same as tidal with roon? Or does roon sound better for some reason?

Would a streamer with tidal, instead of imac with tidal sound better?

iMac/Tidal/Audirvana+ is very transparent and not buggy.

 

[Roybenz]

iMac/Tidal/Audirvana+ is very transparent and not buggy.

Would you say that audirvana is better then roon?

I can't spot the difference between tidal alone and tidal-roon. To me it sounds the same.

 

[gefski]

Would you say that audirvana is better then roon?

I can't spot the difference between tidal alone and tidal-roon. To me it sounds the same.

I can't; haven't used Roon.

 

[jegnyc]

Anyone having difficulties with the Tidal iPhone App today? I'm getting a lot of lost connection notices on more than one iDevice (but not always), and when I do I cannot reconnect. I am not having a problem with the Windows app, nor with Squeezebox/LMS/Tidal add-in.

 

[BobSmith8901]

Recent article on Tidal's status in summer 2018:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/28/17510390/tidal-streaming-service-subscribers-spotify-apple-music

Tidal teams up with Essential:

https://www.essential.com/audio