Tidal Masters & MQA Thread!

[gimmeheadroom]

TIDAL ASKING FOR ACCESS TO MY CAMERA!
I am running Tidal 2.30.1.505 under the latest Windows 11.

For the first time, today, I got a warning from Norton that Tidal is asking for permisssion to access my camera. I denied access.

Anyone have this experience?
Why would Tidal want access to my PC camera?

I don't know but I solve the problem by using PCs without any cam or mic

Anyway, Windows should warn you without Norton. Not sure what's going on there.

 

[jsmiller58]

TIDAL ASKING FOR ACCESS TO MY CAMERA!
I am running Tidal 2.30.1.505 under the latest Windows 11.

For the first time, today, I got a warning from Norton that Tidal is asking for permisssion to access my camera. I denied access.

Anyone have this experience?
Why would Tidal want access to my PC camera?

 

[KaiFi]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but the Tidal app is now Apple Silicon ready. I have an M1 Max MBP and I didn't know it had been updated. You have to download the new Apple Silicon version from Tidal's website. If you have the Intel version, it won't automatically update to the Apple Silicon version.

Time to catch up, Qobuz. (I actually prefer Qobuz ultimately, at least for classical music, but their app is still Intel only so it's stuttery and slow on M1 Macs).

 

[rkw]

I actually prefer Qobuz ultimately, at least for classical music, but their app is still Intel only so it's stuttery and slow on M1 Macs

Qobuz performance is also poor on Intel Macs (and Windows as well). If it's any consolation, it has actually improved and was much worse a few years ago.

 

[KaiFi]

Qobuz performance is also poor on Intel Macs (and Windows as well). If it's any consolation, it has actually improved and was much worse a few years ago.

Aw well I use either through Roon, though Roon is not Apple Silicon ready! (Yet. Last I heard it is coming at some point...)

 

[priest331]

hello..
has anybody experienced this?

the tidal app in my Hiby R8 could download playlist, track radio, and album files faster, when i clear the cache via the file manager app (built in R8 app), and when i also delete the files in the artwork subfolder (also via the file manager app).

it's quite a tedious task to do, especially when you have forgotten to manually update your playlists, and to delete the said cache and artwork files before going to work so you can listen to tidal offline.

secondly, i also have to manually update my downloaded playlists and track radio / master radio playlist files from time to time. and the download process becomes very slow and annoying if i have not deleted the cache files and the album artwork files. is there an auto update (of downloaded playlists) function which i may have missed?
or there's just none?

i hope that there would be a future software update that could resolve this issue, as my tidal listening experience becomes more annoying than relaxing..

 

[The1Signature]

i hope that there would be a future software update that could resolve this issue, as my tidal listening experience becomes more annoying than relaxing..

the question is where should the update come from? hiby itself with its adapted firmware or is it an tidal app issue?

from my experience, any dap has a relatively weak processor and wlan module. so i never expect performance like a high-end smartphone.

 

[priest331]

from my experience, the issue is in the app, as all other music apps (which i can download offline music) that i have installed seem to work fine without any difficulty in downloading music files.

 

[DataTutashxia]

Question on TIDAL - if I go for HiFi plan, do I actually lose access to all "Master" content as such, or only lose the ability to get this content in "Master" quality?

 

[Brain Damage]

Question on TIDAL - if I go for HiFi plan, do I actually lose access to all "Master" content as such, or only lose the ability to get this content in "Master" quality?

You will get access to the same music content with HiFi as with HiFi Plus; however, you will only be able to stream music at CD quality (44.1/48 16bit compressed (folded) MQA flac files). With HiFi Plus you can stream Master quality (MQA flac files as per HiFi but these can be unfolded firstly to 88.2/96 24bit by Tidal native app/UAPP/Audirvana/Roon). If you have a dac capable of rendering or fully decoding MQA files then the 2nd unfold to 176.4/192 24bit of these Master files can be completed by the dac/renderer on the HiFi plus tier.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I don't get how this is supposed to work. If they serve MQA, then full MQA DACs should be able to do all the unfolds.

Is it just that the 1st Tidal tier doesn't unfold at all via the desktop app?

 

[rkw]

I don't get how this is supposed to work. If they serve MQA, then full MQA DACs should be able to do all the unfolds.

Is it just that the 1st Tidal tier doesn't unfold at all via the desktop app?

They deliver the same MQA encoded file, but the HiFi tier streaming turns off the MQA flag so that a decoder (hardware or software) won't do unfolding.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

They deliver the same MQA encoded file, but the HiFi tier streaming turns off the MQA flag so that a decoder (hardware or software) won't do unfolding.

I wish I could test that but I have the plus tier. Where is the MQA flag?

 

[rkw]

I wish I could test that but I have the plus tier. Where is the MQA flag?

MQA would not want it to be easily bypassed and it would be encoded.

People try to deduce how it works from available information and looking at the bit streams, but the reality is that nobody knows for sure because MQA does not reveal details of the format and encoding. Here is a discussion about the HiFi tier (search for others around the web): https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/mqa.1021429/page-25#post-26780779

 

[gimmeheadroom]

MQA would not want it to be easily bypassed and it would be encoded.

People try to deduce how it works from available information and looking at the bit streams, but the reality is that nobody knows for sure because MQA does not reveal details of the format and encoding. Here is a discussion about the HiFi tier (search for others around the web): https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/mqa.1021429/page-25#post-26780779

Thanks, I'll look at that thread.

I know there is at least a header variable that tells certain dumb devices like my Oppo 205 whether the file is MQA or not. You can use command line tools to set that. I tested an MQA file without the header setting, the Oppo didn't know it was MQA; I used the tool and set the variable and Oppo decoded it correctly. And this works for PCM or FLAC.

But I have other gear that can start playing MQA in the middle of a file and so it seems (but I'm not sure) that it doesn't need that header variable. That suggests either good MQA decoders don't need any help from flags, or that the flag is carried in each block.