[Mediahound]

Sorry if it's been discussed here before but does anyone know the actual timetable of Tidal streaming in at least mostly Flac. I canceled my paid Tidal subscription after I learned I wouldn't lose my playlists. I've been using Qobuz but plan to return to Tidal for high-rez streaming once it's Flac

I don't think it has been announced. As of now, I'm still seeing mostly MQA on Tidal.

 

[BobSmith8901]

There was a brief update on 4 May from techradar.com saying they did not have a date yet on the FLAC launch. Not sure if anyone has heard any different since then. I'm kind of anxious to see what it's like myself. Knowing Tidal, one day it'll just show up, but it may be a while before it populates the entire catalog. I imagine Masters versions will be around for quite a while longer too.

"Update 5-4-2023: A Tidal representative got back to us and said the "controls" Jesse Dorogusker was talking about on the Reddit AMA relate to users being able to choose the audio resolution of the FLAC file. Users can select either Tidal HiFi Plus, which is the maximum resolution, or Tidal HiFi. Anything below that is a compressed stream. The representative added that Tidal didn't have anything to share regarding the launch of FLAC support and whether or not the MQA tracks will remain on the platform."

https://www.techradar.com/news/tida...-a-better-spotify-alternative-for-audiophiles

 

[Sonic Defender]

Sorry if it's been discussed here before but does anyone know the actual timetable of Tidal streaming in at least mostly Flac. I canceled my paid Tidal subscription after I learned I wouldn't lose my playlists. I've been using Qobuz but plan to return to Tidal for high-rez streaming once it's Flac

I hosted a head-fi meet several years ago and I conducted just such a test. There were 7 head-fi members who participated in a multiple trial, blind listening comparison. I used a very well recorded and dynamic song - One Trick Pony by Holly Cole. I had the Flac master that I ripped from the CD. I then also made a 320mp3 file from that same rip.

I had really nice headphones at the meet, a $3000 amp and a $3000 DAC as the source (NAD M3 amp and NAD M51 DAC) played through JRiver Media Center bit perfect playback. I allowed the user to first listen to the song and decide on the volume they liked. Once the user picked a volume setting, they were not allowed to adjust it again. I then went through 5 trial pairings where the user was asked which sounded better. Each trial I played the exact same part of the track, once Flac once mp3 version. The user then decided what sounded better.

The juicy bit was that two of the head-fi members, both young and with great hearing were so confident that they would hear the difference that they bragged about their ability to tell the difference because they had tested themselves many times at home, of course not blind testing as they knew what was what. Anyway, the point was that two of the 7 subjects were already supremely confident in their ability to discriminate between the two file formats. Guess what happened. After all 7 people went through all the trials not one person did better than I think close to a 60% discrimination rate. That is completely chance level of detection so they were simply guessing and fooling themselves. To have been able to say that somebody could detect a difference reliably they would need to detect a difference at a 90% rate of discrimination.

There are many such actual blind tests where people fail over and over and over again to tell the difference. Once people don't know what version of a file they are listening to, their ability to tell the difference vanishes. I used to pay for the Tidal high resolution subscription. Cancelled that years back and have happily made due with the 320mp3 level of streaming quality, and I listen through very nice speakers and headphones and I have never for a moment heard a difference. Obviously you don't need to listen to what I say, nobody does, but I did want to share this with you. Make of it what you will, and whatever you decide it doesn't really matter does it? As long as people enjoy their hobby the way that they want, there is no right or wrong. Just enjoyment, and we can all agree about the desire to enjoy our music. Happy listening to you.

 

[NickT23]

Sorry if it's been discussed here before but does anyone know the actual timetable of Tidal streaming in at least mostly Flac. I canceled my paid Tidal subscription after I learned I wouldn't lose my playlists. I've been using Qobuz but plan to return to Tidal for high-rez streaming once it's Flac

Cant answer you because i dont know and am sure others would know. But I have a question for you, in general do you prefer Qobuz or Tidal ? I had a heated discussion with others on why Tidal is not flac and they are equivalent to flac. But now finally Tidal is going to stream mostly in flac.

 

[NickT23]

I hosted a head-fi meet several years ago and I conducted just such a test. There were 7 head-fi members who participated in a multiple trial, blind listening comparison. I used a very well recorded and dynamic song - One Trick Pony by Holly Cole. I had the Flac master that I ripped from the CD. I then also made a 320mp3 file from that same rip.

I had really nice headphones at the meet, a $3000 amp and a $3000 DAC as the source (NAD M3 amp and NAD M51 DAC) played through JRiver Media Center bit perfect playback. I allowed the user to first listen to the song and decide on the volume they liked. Once the user picked a volume setting, they were not allowed to adjust it again. I then went through 5 trial pairings where the user was asked which sounded better. Each trial I played the exact same part of the track, once Flac once mp3 version. The user then decided what sounded better.

The juicy bit was that two of the head-fi members, both young and with great hearing were so confident that they would hear the difference that they bragged about their ability to tell the difference because they had tested themselves many times at home, of course not blind testing as they knew what was what. Anyway, the point was that two of the 7 subjects were already supremely confident in their ability to discriminate between the two file formats. Guess what happened. After all 7 people went through all the trials not one person did better than I think close to a 60% discrimination rate. That is completely chance level of detection so they were simply guessing and fooling themselves. To have been able to say that somebody could detect a difference reliably they would need to detect a difference at a 90% rate of discrimination.

There are many such actual blind tests where people fail over and over and over again to tell the difference. Once people don't know what version of a file they are listening to, their ability to tell the difference vanishes. I used to pay for the Tidal high resolution subscription. Cancelled that years back and have happily made due with the 320mp3 level of streaming quality, and I listen through very nice speakers and headphones and I have never for a moment heard a difference. Obviously you don't need to listen to what I say, nobody does, but I did want to share this with you. Make of it what you will, and whatever you decide it doesn't really matter does it? As long as people enjoy their hobby the way that they want, there is no right or wrong. Just enjoyment, and we can all agree about the desire to enjoy our music. Happy listening to you.

Like I said before, even spotify sometimes could sounds the same as Tidal depending on the music and recordings. Its about the recording as well. There are many factors to take into consideration as well. There will be no audible difference with true a/b test but people with ego will claim they hear the difference. Till to this day, I even listen to mp3 320 kps believe it or not.

 

[NickT23]

Hello, am probably late to the panel but could anyone tell me their impression regarding the differences between mqa to flac or any other format whether streaming or physical ? Never heard mqa ever in my life. I only read negative attack on mqa.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Like I said before, even spotify sometimes could sounds the same as Tidal depending on the music and recordings. Its about the recording as well. There are many factors to take into consideration as well. There will be no audible difference with true a/b test but people with ego will claim they hear the difference. Till to this day, I even listen to mp3 320 kps believe it or not.

I believe you are still listening to 320mp3 files. Why not? If you already have them and they sound perfect why not use them? I still do as well, when I use Tidal which is frequently. Now that storage space is not so much of an issue, there is less need for compressed formats, but it is great to know that when and if you listen to a high quality MP3 file that it will sound indistinguishable from a lossless version.

 

[NickT23]

No they dont sound perfect. Just some music and depending on the recording sounds very close between mp3 and flac regardless streaming or not. No matter how expensive the dac is, they sound the same so yea. Also yes the right word is 'high quality MP3 file'. Its about the recording and not the format. There are always few exception to the rule.

 

[Sonic Defender]

No they dont sound perfect. Just some music and depending on the recording sounds very close between mp3 and flac regardless streaming or not. No matter how expensive the dac is, they sound the same so yea. Also yes the right word is 'high quality MP3 file'. Its about the recording and not the format. There are always few exception to the rule.

The only reason I mentioned the cost of the gear in a previous post was without failure if you don't demonstrate that your gear was decent, the naysayers will chime in and say that your DAC or your amp or the headphone wasn't good enough to portray the difference, or some garbage like that.

 

[NickT23]

The only reason I mentioned the cost of the gear in a previous post was without failure if you don't demonstrate that your gear was decent, the naysayers will chime in and say that your DAC or your amp or the headphone wasn't good enough to portray the difference, or some garbage like that.

Especially the term 'scaling'.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I don't know but I noticed some of the masters I used to listen to have disappeared and have been replaced with Redbook.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I don't know but I noticed some of the masters I used to listen to have disappeared and have been replaced with Redbook.

Great news. MQA was always a scam anyway. Glad that we are starting to see the end of that farce.

 

[alekc]

I don't know but I noticed some of the masters I used to listen to have disappeared and have been replaced with Redbook.

@gimmeheadroom Finally but it took them way too long IMHO. Hope this is continous process not just one time deal. On the bright side due to MQA on Tidal I have bought some brilliant albums on CD and as files to have them in original mastering

 

[gimmeheadroom]

@gimmeheadroom Finally but it took them way too long IMHO. Hope this is continous process not just one time deal. On the bright side due to MQA on Tidal I have bought some brilliant albums on CD and as files to have them in original mastering

I have Tidal for MQA and other services for Redbook. Tidal is cheap and good, even if they go Redbook and ditch MQA completely it's still worth having. But I would prefer they kept MQA and if they're gonna have Redbook, add it as a second album etc. rather than deleting the MQA copies.

 

[alekc]

I have Tidal for MQA and other services for Redbook. Tidal is cheap and good, even if they go Redbook and ditch MQA completely it's still worth having. But I would prefer they kept MQA and if they're gonna have Redbook, add it as a second album etc. rather than deleting the MQA copies.

@gimmeheadroom you still have Mytek dac with MQA filter, am I right? Awesome setup