Tidal Hi-Res FLAC - Available (?) Now

According to Tidal, yes, HiRes FLAC and MQA will coexist.

Through Volumio, all MQA files will appear as either 48/24, 44.1/24, or even 44.1/16 depending on the file resolution. A 48/24 file will usually be “unfolded” to at least 96/24 by your DAC if it can do full decode, but it all depends on the file itself.

For more info, please take a look at the following thread which also reaches a similar conclusion:

https://community.volumio.com/t/suscription-volumio-and-tidal/

I can’t get tidal to see my Volumio, the connection was lost three days ago, nothing happened in between, I don’t see the Volumio icon on my mobile, PC or my wife’s mobile.
Is there a way to force the reconnection? My Tidal account is operational, I restarted all the devices several times, I don’t know what else to do…

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This will be good - at least it will stop the cranky-old-man comments regarding MQA as soon as someone mentions Tidal.

My PC and Android app still only show MAX (Up to 24-bit, 192 kHz), I thought I saw somewhere the app was displaying FLAC (could be the Apple app).

In other news it seems Tidal subs are getting cancelled the next billing date for those not in Argentina :(.

I think so too. And I’ve also seen reports of users comparing Qobuz Hi-Res files to Max quality, Hi-Res FLAC files on Tidal, and have found them to be the same file and master - so there’s that as well.

Regarding Hi-Res availability on Tidal Connect, Volumio, and other 3rd party software:

  • Tidal’s API needs to be updated to allow these extensions to see and access the new catalog (Hi-Res FLAC).
  • From what’s been published, Tidal is expected to make this available by late 2023, so (hopefully) they are (already) working with 3rd parties to make this happen as soon as possible.

Maybe the team at @volumio could confirm this, and let us know? (thanks!)

I realize this was a month ago, but did you manage to fix it? I’ve seen this happen and all that was needed was a reset (or two), and to verify that your device is effectively signed on to your My Volumio account.

thansk @TubularBells for bringing this up. And yes, we have some news to share.

About 2 weeks ago TIDAL contacted us providing the technical informations required to implement Hi-Res FLAC in TIDAL Connect. And guess what, we are working on it :wink:

We don’t have yet an ETA for when this will be released, as we must follow TIDAL’s indication. But rest assured that we want to be the first to have it out :wink:

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Thanks for the quick reply and the great news!

Happy to hear that this is in the works and coming soon. We’ll be eagerly waiting and enjoying the music!

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Fantastic news indeed… :smiley:
Should work out well, as I didn’t bother with an MQA enabled DAC in my main setup (RPI 4 - RME ADI 2), and I think only 48 kHz is the maximum. 96 kHz would be good (Qobuz did hi res but not from the native app).

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I see many are cheering for the total disappearance of MQA from our streaming systems then :wink:

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Yay haha. Althought didn’t mind it on the iFi Zen DAC but easier if it’s consistent and have always used FLAC.

ps. Have just noticed the proper logos in Tidal PC app, FLAC :slight_smile:

Still quite Annoying the Tidal app doesn’t show kHz on the playing screen. All depends on your hardware I guess- I can trust the iFi device in Exclusive mode. Can confirm 192kHz Playback (search for Hi-Res FLAC - 24bit/192kHz playlist).

Been trialling Peace APO EQ on different headphones, seems to display 96kHz in non-exclusive mode (and not a true indicator). Not really an issues as the 192 kHz selections is mostly selected classics (boring) and getting some buffering.

Will just have to sort out Tidal again in a few days :frowning:

I sincerely hope that the update integrating the MAX system will allow us to choose between MQA and Hi-Res FLAC versions of the albums (If Tidal allows it - I have not been able to get a clear answer regarding this from them).
This way MQA lovers and haters can get what both part wants:-)
(as a note: in the Tidal app, even if music is there as a higher resolution MQA than Hi-Res, the Hi-res will prevail!).
I suppose the part of getting MAX working for Tidal Connect is a Tidal matter, not Volumio?
A bit off-topic (but I assume there may be other users of Pro-Ject streamers here, as they run a slightly customised (but rather out-dated) version of Volumio): I have trying to get an answer from Pro-Ject regarding plans to make an update (supporting Tidal Connect and MAX). I received a total non-answer.
I urge other Pro-Ject users to contact them about this as well - numbers may make a difference!
@volumio

On a personal note, not Volumio’s!!!

For Support abandon Pro-ject, they are not familiar with that word. (guess there is no Austrian translation for that word)
They simply don’t respond, not even to their own distributors.

At least it shows which format is playing now, pretty happy about that and have confirmed 96 kHz and 192 kHz FLAC playback using the Tidal App. MQA shows up as 88.2 kHz (and a purple light on my iFi Zen). Not exactly releavant to volumio but like this improvement.

If you search for an album there are usually a few copies of it (various formats, delux etc). Not that easy to know until you play them but could add to your Albums whichever is your preference. There’s also an interesting github project that says if it’s lossless or not in the interface.

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Agreed! Finally being able to see what format is available (and playing) on each album, aside from an external DAC’s display, is great. And the fact that they’ve been improving on these things so quickly after initial rollout is also a good indicator of dedication to the product.

There is a (slightly complicated) way to get the Tidal web player to show if an album is available in MQA and/or Hi-Res: GitHub - Inrixia/TidalTags
You need to set it up for each session, though…
Unfortunately, this does NOT allow you to choose which format to play.
For now (at least), in Tidal apps and web player, if a Hi-Res version is present, it will be chosen automatically.

Just to get the hole picture here
As i use volumio primo hifi edition isnt Tidal high(hifi) only 44.1 cd quality and max (mqa) ?
I use Tidal app via Android mobile to volumio and only get 44.1 as i only have there hifi sign in.

But will or is Tidal hifi now 192k after latest update on the hifi and max setup?

And will the Tidal option in volumio app give hi-res 192 with Tidal hifi account?

Cheers

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Hi,

TL;DR: What Volumio sees and plays back depends only on your Tidal service, and not Volumio.

Tidal HiFi and HiFi Plus are two different service tiers or subscription plans from Tidal. HiFi offers music files at a maximum resolution of 16bit, 44.1kHz, while HiFi Plus offers their new “Max” quality which for stereo goes up to 24bit 192kHz resolution FLAC files + their previous MQA catalogue.

Volumio will only be able to access what Tidal and your Tidal subscription level allows.

This means that if you have a HiFi subscription you will be limited to 16/44.1, and if you have a HiFi Plus plan you will eventually be able to access up to 24/192 FLAC files in addition to the currently accessible MQA catalogue; once this is implemented for both Tidal Connect and 3rd party software.

In my opinion users should have the choice between FLAC and MQA formats, given the streaming service they use and their hardware supports it.

I was never a fan of the fact that MQA generated lots of user confusion (very hard to understand if a service or device supports it, and what you get at the output) but if some people find value in it, then they should have the choice of using it. Same goes for who does not.

Agreed: users should be able to choose what format they want to stream according to prefference, hardware, and catalogue availability. But maybe it’s a matter of time on their end?

In any case, this already happens when there are Atmos/multichannel versions of an album, for example.

And through software and OS’s like Volumio, on which we currently see albums with an (M) label for MQA and none for CD quality FLAC; maybe we’ll see a new HiRes (Hi) or similar label for files up to 24/192 soon?

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since 2 days Rivo doesn’t send MQA to my dac. What’s the problem? I tried everything… From my laptop no problems my dac shows Mqa but with Rivo it can’t anymore…