Tidal Lossless Streaming

[KowalskiFUT]

I believe Masters come included in HiFi plan. They were separated only in the beginning of the Tidal as a company.

 

[SoLame]

Oh I thought it was for the Master tier

Hi-Fi = Master
Premium is lower tier.

 

[brianzurf]

Hi-Fi = Master
Premium is lower tier.

Hi-Fi = Master
Premium is lower tier.

Oh I thought it was a different tier

 

[brianzurf]

Well that is a smoking deal then

 

[SoLame]

Well that is a smoking deal then

Since you will pay around $8 per month, it is pretty good deal compared to paying close to $20 directly to TIDAL.

 

[brianzurf]

Ok so just to be sure HiFi is Tidal's highest tier?

 

[SoLame]

Ok so just to be sure HiFi is Tidal's highest tier?

Yes.

 

[brianzurf]

Yes.

Thanks

 

[crypticc]

Did you change your password after you noticed the issue?

In some countries (notably the EU), IP address is classified as personally identifiable information and businesses may be required handle it as private data that they cannot share.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5648af5d-268c-4561-985c-9fcd2186c0a9

doesn't seem to mind if I have multiple instances of it open and running on different devices in my household. Of course, these all appear as the same IP address.

hey - sorry for not getting back sooner. Yes I changed password. Tidal also kicked out all devices.
the issue I had was the idea that someone had logged into my account and playing JayZ tunes etc but they wouldn't tell me the IP address used to access my account.
I get the personally identifiable information thing, but if it's logging into my account surely that makes it "my data".

Also given the news that was kicking around at the time about JayZ being given fake play-time to divert % royalties more heavily to himself, wife and his chums I wouldn't have been surprised to find the IP address was actually Tidal's own servers - e.g. if they were actively being played to "test" people's connections.

Cheers

 

[rkw]

As far as I know my soundcard does not decode MQA. Why then I can hear music when I select "Use exclusive mode", "Max volume" and also enable "Passthrough MQA"?

MQA files are still standard FLAC audio files that can be played directly by any audio player. That is why your soundcard can play them.

MQA files also have some information encoded in the low bits of each sample (supposed to be inaudible) that can be optionally decoded by hardware or software to generate a higher resolution stream. The Tidal app has capability to do the first level MQA decode in software. If you enable "Passthrough MQA", the Tidal app will not do decoding in software. The DAC can then do all the MQA decoding (if it has MQA capability). If it doesn't do MQA, then no decoding will happen and the stream will still play like a standard FLAC file.

So it basically takes whatever I put in my Windows settings - bit depth and sample rate?

In exclusive mode, the Windows settings are ignored and the stream is sent directly to the DAC (your soundcard). Along with the max volume option, this ensures that the original stream is sent bit perfect to the DAC without being altered and resampled by Windows.

 

[Recursion]

MQA files are still standard FLAC audio files that can be played directly by any audio player. That is why your soundcard can play them.

An MQA file is certainly not the same as a FLAC file. FLAC is a lossless codec, while MQA is lossy.

It uses a lossless container, but the resulting bitstream is always lossy, irregardless of which unfold is eventually chosen to be played back.

At a low level, MQA uses a PCM bitstream, which is why it can be played back by any audio player.

 

[breakfree40]

Since you will pay around $8 per month, it is pretty good deal compared to paying close to $20 directly to TIDAL.

Actually... today it’s $6.67 per month. If you buy Tidal with the Pop Smoke LP then you get $70 off of Tidal. The total price for both is $79.99 so basically you pay <$7 per month and get a free record. If you actually want and will use the record, then Tidal is ~$4 per month!

 

[rkw]

An MQA file is certainly not the same as a FLAC file. FLAC is a lossless codec, while MQA is lossy.

FLAC is not a codec. It is a file format, and TIDAL uses it to deliver MQA files.

I wasn't being precise. I was just trying to convey the idea to @caleb66 that MQA files can be played without an MQA decoder. More accurately, MQA is PCM data with encoding in the lower bits. It is most commonly stored in a FLAC file but can be in some other format such as Redbook CD in the case of MQA encoded CDs.

 

[Recursion]

FLAC is not a codec. It is a file format, and TIDAL uses it to deliver MQA files.

I wasn't being precise. I was just trying to convey the idea to @caleb66 that MQA files can be played without an MQA decoder. More accurately, MQA is PCM data with encoding in the lower bits. It is most commonly stored in a FLAC file but can be in some other format such as Redbook CD in the case of MQA encoded CDs.

Of course FLAC is a codec, it's even what the "c" stands for in the acronym free lossless audio codec.

 

[caleb66]

Thanks! All clear now. So if DAC does not support MQA enabling passthrough means u basically get 44.1/16. Not that matters too much for me as I am unable to distinguish AAC 256 kbps from loseless