Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Tidal begins its rollout of hi-res lossless audio

By
Smart phone with the Tidal logo
DANIEL CONSTANTE / Shutterstock

Tidal has said that starting today, select subscribers will be able to access its catalog of music in hi-res lossless audio that uses the open-source FLAC format. The announcement was made via a Reddit post in which CEO Jesse Dorogusker said that hi-res FLAC tracks, in up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution, are now available to the company’s Early Access Program (EAP) users on iOS. Dorogusker says the company wants feedback from this smaller group of listeners before rolling out the format more broadly. All HiFi Plus subscribers are expected to get access to the new format by August.

If you’re an EAP member, you can access the new hi-res lossless content by updating your beta app and selecting “Max” quality in the new Audio & Playback settings screen.

Recommended Videos

When Dorogusker first announced in April 2023 that hi-res lossless tracks were coming to Tidal, there was speculation about what this meant for the MQA format, which has historically been the only format on Tidal that goes beyond CD quality. Today’s announcement doesn’t settle this open question either, with Dorogusker saying that “we’ll continue to support multiple formats to make sure we have as much hi-res content as possible.”

Related

However, in the same sentence, he indicates that Tidal has chosen FLAC as its preferred format for high-resolution audio, which won’t provide MQA fans a lot of confidence in the format’s longevity on the streaming audio service. He also seemed to indicate a strong preference for FLAC’s open-source technology (MQA is a licensed, proprietary audio format), saying, “It’s open source, allowing greater access for artists and fans, and aligns with Tidal’s support for open platforms. Pairing accessibility with best-in-class audio quality directly aligns with our purpose of empowering artists to run thriving businesses in the economy.”

Starting today, EAP users will have access to over 6 million tracks in hi-res, lossless FLAC and Tidal indicates that it is actively working with distributors, labels, and artists to add more content in this format every day.

Apple Music and Amazon Music already offer much of their music catalog in hi-res lossless format, as does relative newcomer to the U.S. streaming landscape, Qobuz. Amazon Music uses the FLAC format, however, Apple Music uses ALAC, its own version of lossless audio encoding.

Spotify remains an outlier, as the one major streaming service that doesn’t offer a lossless audio option, though that may change soon.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
Dali says its latest wireless headphones achieve electrostatic levels of clarity
Dali IO-12 wireless headphones.

Dali's latest wireless headphones, the Dali IO-12, will cost $1,299 when they hit retail later this month. That's a huge jump up from the company's previous offering, the $500 Dali IO-6, and it might even be a new record price for a set of wireless headphones, but Dali says the new noise-canceling cans are worth it because of the unusual technology that has been used to create the headphones' 50mm drivers.

The Danish company claims the IO-12 are the world's first to use a Soft Magnetic Compound (SMC) magnet system -- the same tech that Dali patented and used in its acclaimed floor-standing speakers. The primary benefit to SMC is a reduction of hysteresis -- distortion that can be caused by resistance to the voice coil in traditional magnet systems. Reducing hysteresis can lower uneven harmonic distortion "drastically," according to Dali.

Read more
Earfun makes hi-res audio more accessible with affordable earbuds and DAC
Earfun EH100 hi-res audio wired IEMs.

Earfun, a company known primarily for its ultra-affordable yet high-quality wireless earbuds and Bluetooth speakers, has launched two new products designed to get folks into the world of hi-res audio at a fraction of the price that its competitors charge. The Earfun EH100 ($100) are a set of triple-driver in-ear monitors (IEMs) with swappable tuning nozzles and the Earfun EA100 ($80) is a tiny digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and headphone amp with dual headphone jacks for both balanced and unbalanced connections.

These are already pretty affordable prices, however, between October 2 and October 15, you can buy one or both at a significant discount. The price for each product has been discounted by 30% ($70 for the EH100 and $56 for the EA100), or you can buy them as a bundle and save 35% ($117 for the EH100 and EA100).

Read more
What is MQA? The controversial digital audio format fully explained
A Zorloo Ztella MQA USB DAC plugged into a Google Pixel 7 Pro, showing the MQA logo and a magenta LED light.

When it comes to discussions of digital audio, you'll quickly run into an alphabet soup of acronyms: MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, WAV, DSD, and so on. It's practically endless.

You'd think that with this many digital audio file types, we wouldn't need yet another. However, there is one more digital audio file you need to know about. It's called MQA.

Read more