Tidal adds hi-res audio streams with 'Tidal Masters' (with MQA)

Discussion in 'General Audio Discussion' started by weldp, Jan 5, 2017.

Tags:
  1. weldp

    weldp New

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2016
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    Massachusetts
  2. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    9,028
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Amsterdam
    Home Page:
    So is a dynamic range tag/indication included so you can check whether the added value of the "master quality" is even slightly there?

    If not, this is B.S. marketing...
     
  3. Comzee

    Comzee Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2016
    Likes Received:
    106
    Trophy Points:
    33
    I find it funny they edited in a breathing sound to that video, to make it sound hifi...
     
  4. Derf

    Derf Acquaintance

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2016
    Likes Received:
    45
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    Huh, would be curious to see if I could hear a difference or if it's all just a bunch of hooey. Unfortunately (or not?) I have a Schiit DAC. Not worried about it. I'm glad they're not charging extra for it though.
     
  5. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    8,193
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in Roon ... the next version of which (1.3 ... due this month) is supposed to have a proper dynamic-range analysis function.
     
  6. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    8,193
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Outside the economic factors, two things will be really interesting here ...

    The first, obviously, is whether there's a useful, consistent, improvement in quality for MQA encoded material.

    The second is how fast it propagates across the catalog and how deeply it permeates.

    I'm very skeptical about the whole thing ... but the only way I know to resolve that is to try it. So now, in addition to a major vinyl rig upgrade, I shall be looking to see what MQA DAC options exist that'd be worth picking up for evaluation purposes. Don't take this as me currently thinking MQA is going to do anything other than crater, and hard, but I'm perpetually curious and it'll give me something to fiddle with in between turntable auditions!
     
  7. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,176
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Nation's Capital of failure
    Wonder how much longer Tidal will be around. It may have to be bought out in order to survive as a service.
     
  8. Serious

    Serious Inquisitive Frequency Response Plot

    Pyrate BWC MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,594
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    near Munich, Germany
    Looks like you can't go back from Master quality to Hifi for the albums that are now available in Master. I don't want Meridian forcing their stuff on me, so that's not very nice. Gonna have to compare MQA with software decoding vs the CD files that I have on my computer for some of the albums.
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2017
  9. zonto

    zonto Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,975
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Now if only they'd stop pausing streams when a user streams on two devices simultaneously.
     
  10. weldp

    weldp New

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2016
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    Massachusetts
    It looks like Tidal is doing software decoding. You can select optional MQA stream passthrough in the settings for your output.

    -Chris
     
  11. meloman

    meloman Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2015
    Likes Received:
    56
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Bay Area
    Are these actually new never released to hi-res masters? Or they just took existing hi-res PCM and compressed it to MQA?
     
  12. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,569
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Well the Tidal iOS app hasn't updated and I use Audirvana on my computer, not Tidal's standalone app, and I'm guessing that hasn't updated either.

    This isn't even audible without an MQA capable DAC, right?

    Edit: I see from the announcement that this is only available on Tidal's desktop app for now.
     
  13. weldp

    weldp New

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2016
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    Massachusetts
    The original redbook versions are still there. Look at Enya "Dark Sky Island". You can play that and see HIFI displayed or you can play Enya "Dark Sky Island (Deluxe)" and see MASTER displayed.
     
  14. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    8,193
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Hard to say.

    The most likely scenario for catalog material is that they're existing masters that have been run the the MQA process with knowledge of the source ADC, so that it can apply it's various corrections/compensations.
     
  15. drfindley

    drfindley Secretly lives in the Analog Room - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,533
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Austin
    At least seeing bands like Beyonce, Coldplay, Bowie, Coltrane, Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin and Sturgill Simpson is a huge step forward in bringing out a new format. Managed to do what DSD failed at it seems.
     
  16. Serious

    Serious Inquisitive Frequency Response Plot

    Pyrate BWC MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,594
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    near Munich, Germany
    You're right. There seems to be a regular version for all of the MQA albums, at least that was the case for the few that I checked. And there actually seem to be more MQA albums than shown in the MQA Albums tab. For example there seem to be 2 MQA versions for Coldplay's X&Y, or MQA versions for the Muse studio albums. All of this seems a little confusing, especially since it can essentially double the albums per artist and clutter the albums tab (same thing for some of the singles).
     
  17. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,750
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    Home Page:
    Just tested that album as well and can confirm there are two versions available. How to differentiate them or know which ones are 'Master' I can't tell on the desktop app.

    Not sure what's happening in the background but I can say that my lowly Fulla 2 plays both 'Hifi' and 'Master'.
     
  18. TheIceman93

    TheIceman93 El pato-zorro

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,300
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    SoCal
    You can only tell when the it says Master in the lower right corner when you click play. Kind of annoying. They should but "Master" next to the album title. For now, I'm making a separate folder for master albums that I'm pulling directly off the "whats new" section.
     
  19. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    8,193
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Ordered a little Meridian Explorer 2 DAC so I can do a MQA-enabled DAC to software decoded comparison (you can disable MQA passthrough in Tidal so that you only get the software-decoded version). Should have it on Monday. Maybe first comparisons on Tuesday.
     
  20. TheIceman93

    TheIceman93 El pato-zorro

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,300
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    SoCal
    Where is that option? I don't see it anywhere.

    Edit: Nevermind, I found it. What does this option do? I don't have an MQA DAC, which option should I select?
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2017

Share This Page