It really is the worst of both worlds, and something Tidal needs to get straight before releasing it to the public.DescriptionThis Digital to Analog Audio Converter is designed for either home or professional audio switching. But this new design seems destined to frustrate and anger both groups. Tidal clearly hoped that by offering FLAC alongside MQA, it would appease picky audiophiles while maintaining its loyal MQA fanbase (Tidal remains the only major streaming service to support MQA). One day, you’ll wake up and the MQA indicator on your DAC won’t light up for any Max tracks. And because you can’t pick the one you’re streaming, it will all happen invisibly. But the cynic in me thinks there’s only one good reason why the company has merged FLAC and MQA into a single tier with no way to choose - it’s planning to eventually migrate its entire catalog over to FLAC, at which point the MQA versions will simply go away. I don’t believe it’s trying to make it hard to get the content you want. I’m going to give Tidal the benefit of the doubt and say that there’s no way this was an oversight. I was told that there are no plans to do so “at the moment.” I also asked if this inability to differentiate (or choose) between the the formats would be fixed soon. Presumably, some Tidal listeners won’t be happy that Continuum is no longer streaming in MQA. But it now exists only as a Max version in FLAC, highlighting once again the problem of not being able to choose formats. Previously, this was a collection of Master tracks in MQA. One exception I found was John Mayer’s 2006 album Continuum. I guess this means that Tidal hasn’t acquired the hi-res FLAC versions (yet). What I can tell you is that every track in my favorites that was previously labeled as “Master” quality still lights up the MQA indicator on my external DAC, even with the new “Max” label. If a HiRes FLAC version (a FLAC version that is at least 24-bit, 48 kHz) does not exist then the MQA version will be the source file.” Specifically: “If a track exists in both and a user has selected Max, the HiRes FLAC will be prioritized over the MQA version. I know what you’re thinking: what happens when a track exists as both a hi-res FLAC and as MQA? Which one wins? According to a Tidal spokesperson, it’s FLAC. In the new quality settings for mobile data or Wi-Fi streaming, there are only three choices: Low, High, and Max, with no additional options for FLAC or MQA. To make matters worse, there’s no way to filter Max tracks by your format preference. To be clear: when listening to Max tracks, there is no additional indicator on the playback screen or anywhere else, for that matter, that shows you if the track in question is FLAC or MQA. And there’s no way to know which one you’re streaming without connecting your phone to an external digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that can tell the difference between the two formats. That best quality version might be FLAC, or it might be MQA. According to Tidal, “Max” means “you’re getting the best quality version of any song” on the service. Master or Max? Who cares? As long as this label is associated to hi-res FLAC when you want it, it shouldn’t really matter.
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