What's up Tidal?
Contents
The new version of the Tidal app shows a few changes. In places where ‘MASTER’ was used as a designation to indicate MQA quality, the label has now become ‘MAX’.
What do the release notes say:
Version 2023.08.02
Released 8/2/2023
Baby Got (Hi-Res) FLAC
HiFi Plus members are in for an absolute treat with this audio quality upgrade. Prepare your ears for a sonic adventure like never before, as you now have access to a jaw-dropping selection of over 6 million songs in HiRes FLAC!
New Audio Quality Settings
We’ve renamed the audio quality levels to make it easier for you to pick based on your hardware and signal strength. Formats available on each level are as follows:
- Max – High fidelity lossless audio up to 24-bit, 192 kHz with HiRes FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and Master Quality Authenticated audio (MQA).
- High – Lossless audio with FLAC (16-bit, 44.1 kHz)
- Low (up to 320 kbps) – Listen to the music you love using lower data usage with compressed AAC files.
How would like to have your high res served?
If you choose MAX, you will either get an MQA or a FLAC stream. There is no indication in the Tidal app which of the two you get. You are not offered a choice, nor is there a preference option in the app settings for MQA or FLAC.
This change is lacking transparency for the consumer.
It is to be hoped that Tidal will address this format fog for the picky audio fanatic. Unless, of course, the plan is to remove MQA quietly, then MAX will always represent a high res FLAC stream.
For now though, it is unclear whether MQA will be replaced, or FLAC added. Our field test shows that for at least 1 album, which was previously offered in MQA, only a FLAC version is available. Tidal is still working on adding music in FLAC format, so time will tell.