Tidal’s New Lossless Tier Says Goodbye to MQA (but does it really?)

[abdo123]

Living in Sweden where Spotify dominantes the market . I’ll opt for waiting a bit more and test thier hifi offering.
I have a quite large local collection, streaming is more of complementary activity for me.
If I really really like something i get myself some files or media .

To be fair Spotify is huge everywhere, their business model is changing to compete with YouTube and TikTok, not really to take Qobuz and Tidal’s non-existing share of the pie.

 

[Jimbob54]

If the above article and link story proves true. Looks like @amirm was right about MQA going away and it took 2 days for news to break.

Nah- they are just differentiating their tiers a little more - I have a funny feeling when some of the anti MQA crowd (Im anti in principle, agnostic in reality) start digging into what some of the "lossless" tier contains, it will be some of these 13/44 files that have been creeping in lately. I hope not, I hope one can use Tidal and get redbook files going forwards.

Also, either the linked article title has changed, or your post title is misquoting them. MQA is most definitely staying in the highest tier- it now reads " Tidal’s New Lossless Tier Says Goodbye to MQA"-

 

[Jimbob54]

From the article:

HiFi Plus – $23.99 AUD a month with lossless High Fidelity sound quality (1411 Kbps), Master Quality audio (up to 9216 Kbps), and immersive audio – 360 Reality Audio, Dolby Atmos Music

You would think if they are saying goodbye to MQA they might use different terminoligy than Master Quality audio

Edit: I'm confused. Does HiFi Plus tier still include MQA. I think so? But also hires PCM up to 9216 Kbps? The confusion fest does not make Tidal attractive to me.

No, Master Quality Audio IS MQA , there is no PCM above 44/48 on Tidal that arent MQA, new or old tiers, thats the unfolded MQA files that go up to 9216kbps

Thats how they have always described it

 

[Jimbob54]

My take on this is that Tidal MAY BE being intentionally vague with their language. The term “MQA” doesn’t appear in this particular notice, but there are still references to MQA (the process) in Tidal online propaganda if you look for it.

MQA is Master Quality Audio- it isnt vague, its just using the expanded acronym.

Edit, OK the A in MQA is Authenticated. But they are keeping mqa in this tier.

 

[abdo123]

MQA is Master Quality Audio- it isnt vague, its just using the expanded acronym.

It’s actually Master Quality Authenticated, you might want to get your facts right before you mansplain to others

 

[Jimbob54]

It’s actually Master Quality Authenticated, you might want to get your facts right before you mansplain to others

That's a good point.

 

[Jimbob54]

That's a good point.

Still blatantly keeping MQA though, regardless.

 

[pjug]

No, Master Quality Audio IS MQA , there is no PCM above 44/48 on Tidal that arent MQA, new or old tiers, thats the unfolded MQA files that go up to 9216kbps

Thats how they have always described it

Ha, that's funny. Maybe Deezer should have their player upsample the redbook and also say they are providing up to 9216kbps.

 

[Jimbob54]

Ha, that's funny. Maybe Deezer should have their player upsample the redbook and also say they are providing up to 9216kbps.

Well, in fairness, we know a lot of the stuff sold as hi res files and probably lots of stuff on Qobuz etc is taken from analog tapes, not hi res digital masters. The whole more than redbook situation is a bit of a mess to be honest.

 

[pjug]

Well, in fairness, we know a lot of the stuff sold as hi res files and probably lots of stuff on Qobuz etc is taken from analog tapes, not hi res digital masters. The whole more than redbook situation is a bit of a mess to be honest.

Well we know there is no real >48KHz in MQA. 96000*24*2 is 4.6 Mbps, so the 9216kbps is BS. I knew MQA puts out this lie about >48KHz capability but I didn't realize that Tidal had translated the lie into bps units.
edit: the above assuming that Tidal masters are all MQA, don't include any 24/192 PCM.

 

[pjug]

Speaking for myself, if they charge me more for MQA, I will opt out.

Myself, I won't consider paying for Tidal unless they completely do away with MQA. I'd take 320K lossy over MQA at the same price just for honesty's sake.

 

[dmac6419]

Myself, I won't consider paying for Tidal unless they completely do away with MQA. I'd take 320K lossy over MQA at the same price just for honesty's sake.

It'll be competitive

 

[Music1969]

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/01/apple-music-hifi-tier-new-airpods-coming-weeks/

Apple HiFi coming.

I'll be spending 4 x $10 a month the way things are going LOL.

First world problems of course.

 

[AdamG247]

Nah- they are just differentiating their tiers a little more - I have a funny feeling when some of the anti MQA crowd (Im anti in principle, agnostic in reality) start digging into what some of the "lossless" tier contains, it will be some of these 13/44 files that have been creeping in lately. I hope not, I hope one can use Tidal and get redbook files going forwards.

Also, either the linked article title has changed, or your post title is misquoting them. MQA is most definitely staying in the highest tier- it now reads " Tidal’s New Lossless Tier Says Goodbye to MQA"-

Hi Jimbob54,
The Title of the Article, linked in the first post wording is (cut and pasted): If I made some editing error, my apologies. It most certainly was not to intentionally mislead. Below is word for word the title:
‘Tidal’s New Lossless Tier Says Goodbye to MQA.”

 

[mSpot]

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/01/apple-music-hifi-tier-new-airpods-coming-weeks/

Apple HiFi coming.

I'll be spending 4 x $10 a month the way things are going LOL.

First world problems of course.

This article includes more credible information:
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/01/ios-14-6-beta-6-hifi-apple-music/

 

[AdamG247]

Hi Jimbob54,
The Title of the Article, linked in the first post wording is (cut and pasted): If I made some editing error, my apologies. It most certainly was not to intentionally mislead. Below is word for word the title:
‘Tidal’s New Lossless Tier Says Goodbye to MQA.”

It is entirely possible that they edited the title of the story. I said this in my previous reply but using a phone screen and must have fat fingered up the reply. Either way you are correct the title appears to be different than how I named the thread. Lots of word salad when reading anything from Tidal.

 

[Jimbob54]

It is entirely possible that they edited the title of the story. I said this in my previous reply but using a phone screen and must have fat fingered up the reply. Either way you are correct the title appears to be different than how I named the thread. Lots of word salad when reading anything from Tidal.

No worries. My take is the same as others, they are creating a "no whistles and bells but still hifi" tier above their lossy 320 premium to compete with upcoming Spotify lossless then the audiophile mqa /atmos tier sits above.

 

[bambadoo]

Will make it easy to distinguish those who are willing to pay 33% extra for MQA.

 

[dmac6419]

Hi Jimbob54,
The Title of the Article, linked in the first post wording is (cut and pasted): If I made some editing error, my apologies. It most certainly was not to intentionally mislead. Below is word for word the title:
‘Tidal’s New Lossless Tier Says Goodbye to MQA.”

That's not from Tidal official site.
https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/...What-Audio-Quality-Do-TIDAL-HiFi-Plans-Offer-

 

[bobbooo]

It is entirely possible that they edited the title of the story. I said this in my previous reply but using a phone screen and must have fat fingered up the reply. Either way you are correct the title appears to be different than how I named the thread. Lots of word salad when reading anything from Tidal.

I'd suggest you change the title of this thread to match the (new) article title to avoid further confusion. We have more than enough misleading information coming from Tidal and MQA themselves...