I do not know why till this day, there is a thread for Tidal. Guys, if you choose 16/44.1 HIFI, does it count as being 'FLAC' or just 'FLAC' equivalent. Help enlighten me.
Tidal Lossless Streaming
- Thread starter Baroninkjet
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Since you stream. Format does’n matter. Press PLAY and enjoy
rkw
Headphoneus Supremus
Tidal streams everything using FLAC file format, except on the free tier and slow connections when it uses AAC format.
Recursion
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Of course it matters, streaming audio doesn't magically stream without a audio format. Which format is used can obviously make a large difference in the sound quality you end up with.
Tidal streams in flac format, 44100hz, 16 bits, with a bitrate of 1411 kbps. That is equal to CD quality.
They also offer MQA with higher sampling rates, but MQA is a lossy audio codec, so the resulting sound quality is rather questionable and could very well be worse instead of better than their hifi tier.
Tidal doesn't have a free tier as far as I'm aware of. At least not here in the Netherlands.
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rkw
Headphoneus Supremus
Most albums are in 44.1/16 FLAC but some albums are 48/24 FLAC (mostly MQA).
In the US, Tidal has a free, ad-supported tier with 160kbps AAC streaming.
So its pure FLAC ? Because some say its not FLAC and just FLAC equivalent. Can anyone correct me on this ?
Am starting to like this thread.
rkw
Headphoneus Supremus
Please give a link to technical details. The data that Tidal sends to streaming software such as Roon or Volumio must be compatible with FLAC or else the streamer cannot play it.
What link ? I do not have technical link. So meaning its pure FLAC right ? Not just FLAC equivalent. Meaning not just equivalent to CD quality but streaming CD FLAC quality.
So meaning if the data that Tidal sends to streaming software such as Roon or Volumio must be compatible with FLAC is considered as pure FLAC for Tidal Hifi 44.1/16hz right ? What if Tidal without streaming software just the application alone ? Still considered as pure FLAC, exactly as CD quality FLAC when being ripped ?
Yea, here as well.
rkw
Headphoneus Supremus
I don't know what that means. Please give a link to what they say.
Tidal can use any format they want to send data from their server to the Tidal application. It won't matter to anybody else. It just needs to be capable of lossless bit-perfect data transmission.
FLAC has a technical specification (see here). Something is either FLAC or not FLAC. You have mentioned "pure" FLAC and "just FLAC equivalent" but it doesn't make sense.
No link because its verbal.
When I mentioned pure FLAC I mean direct physical rip CD as oppose to streaming 44/16hz on Tidal which I wonder if its actually FLAC or just FLAC equivalent.
isn`t 16-44.1. anyway? cd-quality. . format dos not matter...
I know but just want to know the term and concept. Is it actually FLAC or FLAC equivalent for hifi 44.1/16hz...
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