Edit : solved by @SKBubba :
www.audiosciencereview.com
Hi folks,
About two months ago, Tidal announced the support of "Hires" FLAC for Hi-Fi Plus subscribers. A decision that obviously comes next to the financial troubles surrounding MQA sooner this year. At the time, Tidal communicated about their plans to integrate HiRes FLAC in addition to the already existing MQA tracks (Which by the way, are still remaining by today).
I mainly used Qobuz this last couple of months, so I did not realise until a few days ago...
... Where are supposed to be these so-called "HiRes FLAC" tracks, which I assume are at least 24 bits /44.1kHz and above ? I found none of them so far. None.
More worrying, I feel like the Tidal mobile app is deliberately lying by labeling some tracks as HR FLAC while they absolutely aren't. Let me explain...
The Tidal app is clearly distinctive about regular 16/44 FLAC:
MQA (could be either 16 or 24 bits):
And the lastest addition, HiRes/24 bits FLAC :
Please note that supposedly HiRes content is displayed in yellow colour, which is misleading to begin with, since it also applies to 16bits MQA tracks (and yes, there're a lot of these).
Now, what are these HR FLACs exactly. The app doesn't say if it is 24b 44/48/88/96/192, as Qobuz does. What's interesting is that I couldn't find anything close to HiRes/24 bits, while playing the same tracks in tiers-apps such as Roon or UAPP.
Let have a look at the New Arrivals : Tidal HiRes playlist:
Whatever track I take in that list, I couldn't verify it as some "HiRes" file in tiers apps. Here is what Roon tells me :
The exact same file is indeed a regular 16b/44.1kHz one... Note that there still are MQA 24bits, but no sign of common 24 bits FLAC.
Same goes for UAPP:
You get the MQA but no sign of 24 bits FLAC anywhere.
That is not supposed to be a proper investigation, yet, I think that should raise some red flags:
- What the heck is going on ? Are other apps simply not supporting 24 bits FLAC yet ? It would be kind of weird, indeed, since either UAPP and Roon have no issues playing 24 bits FLAC from Qobuz at all...
- Is Tidal deliberately lying to us ? By tagging some of their 16/44 files as HiRes while they are not?
For now, I'm just wondering. Open to thoughts or suggestions...
Is "HiRes" FLAC from Tidal really a thing ?
Edit : solved by @SKBubba : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/is-hires-flac-from-tidal-really-a-thing.48493/#post-1738451 Hi folks, About two months ago, Tidal announced the support of "Hires" FLAC for Hi-Fi Plus subscribers. A decision that obviously comes next to the...
www.audiosciencereview.com
Hi folks,
About two months ago, Tidal announced the support of "Hires" FLAC for Hi-Fi Plus subscribers. A decision that obviously comes next to the financial troubles surrounding MQA sooner this year. At the time, Tidal communicated about their plans to integrate HiRes FLAC in addition to the already existing MQA tracks (Which by the way, are still remaining by today).
I mainly used Qobuz this last couple of months, so I did not realise until a few days ago...
... Where are supposed to be these so-called "HiRes FLAC" tracks, which I assume are at least 24 bits /44.1kHz and above ? I found none of them so far. None.
More worrying, I feel like the Tidal mobile app is deliberately lying by labeling some tracks as HR FLAC while they absolutely aren't. Let me explain...
The Tidal app is clearly distinctive about regular 16/44 FLAC:
Please note that supposedly HiRes content is displayed in yellow colour, which is misleading to begin with, since it also applies to 16bits MQA tracks (and yes, there're a lot of these).
Now, what are these HR FLACs exactly. The app doesn't say if it is 24b 44/48/88/96/192, as Qobuz does. What's interesting is that I couldn't find anything close to HiRes/24 bits, while playing the same tracks in tiers-apps such as Roon or UAPP.
Let have a look at the New Arrivals : Tidal HiRes playlist:
Whatever track I take in that list, I couldn't verify it as some "HiRes" file in tiers apps. Here is what Roon tells me :
The exact same file is indeed a regular 16b/44.1kHz one... Note that there still are MQA 24bits, but no sign of common 24 bits FLAC.
Same goes for UAPP:
You get the MQA but no sign of 24 bits FLAC anywhere.
That is not supposed to be a proper investigation, yet, I think that should raise some red flags:
- What the heck is going on ? Are other apps simply not supporting 24 bits FLAC yet ? It would be kind of weird, indeed, since either UAPP and Roon have no issues playing 24 bits FLAC from Qobuz at all...
- Is Tidal deliberately lying to us ? By tagging some of their 16/44 files as HiRes while they are not?
For now, I'm just wondering. Open to thoughts or suggestions...
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