Does anyone know a way to stream pure PCM / non-MQA from Tidal in Roon? It appears the pure PCM option has finally been taken away from us in favor of MQA only.
The only way I know of to play the pure PCM version in Tidal is to go into the Tidal app, change one’s streaming settings to HiFi (not Master) and stream it through that app. There is no way to favorite the pure PCM version anymore.
MQA uses PCM to represent the sampled analogue signals and uses FLAC as the container.
Are you suggesting that TIDAL has withdrawn all 44.1kHz 16bit content? I’m away from home but I can’t imagine TIDAL eliminating the vast majority of their catalogue. Most titles in my TIDAL collection is only available in Red Book.
The album shown seems to be available as 24bit only on Qobuz too.
Hi Martin - Albums with an MQA version are no longer available in pure PCM (non-MQA) from Tidal via Roon. The content is still there in Tidal but only if you use the Tidal app and select HiFi as your streaming tier.
As I suggested in Twitter, I BELIEVE that phenomenon has happened previously yet they eventually match up an MQA album with a NON-MQA version?
Have you confirmed this with your entire library? You are making a bold statement that needs validation.
Here’s an album I haven’t added to my library. Both MQA and Redbook versions are available in Tidal…
If every word of every sentence is taken literally, we’ll have a hard time communicating.
I’m sure there are situations of no MQA and all MQA and in the middle. However, we no longer can play pure PCM (non-MQA) in Roon for many albums. The big thing is the loss of choice that seems to be only in Roon and likely because of the way Tidal is delivering albums.
how many do you think?
I don’t, and I doubt anyone here has, the time to find out.
Just browsing the Tidal Masters in Roon I see many albums with only an MQA version on the versions tab.
In a way this makes sense. Searching for an album and getting multiple copies and then having to read the fine print to figure out what the difference is can be annoying. With Tidal + Qobuz it’s 4 or more copies of the same album right now. With additional streaming options, maybe, in the future the problem just gets worse. Options and toggles are great but by default I really only want to see the highest bitrate version returned in my searches. It’s just a shame that for Tidal it means they will return the MQA’d version.
34 posts were split to a new topic: I guess this could be the beginning of the end for “pure PCM” in Tidal
It does seem that Roon is missing the standard pcm versions. Just searched for The Raconteurs new album only MQA 96/24 and Qobuz 96/24 showed up. Tidal app shows mqa and standard pcm , Qobuz only has the hires version which is odd.
Here are some others where Roon doesn’t show the pure PCM version:
The Black Keys - Let’s Rock
Beyonce - Homecoming The Live Album
The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger
Dawnbreaker - Daughter of Swords
Doobie Brother - Live from the Beacon Theater
Foy Vance - From Muscle Shoals
Gucci Mane - Delusions of Grandeur
@support is there a reason why Roon cant see the standard PCM versions when they exist via the Tidal app?
I dont see them in the TIDAL app either I dont think
Racounters album is available as both on Tidal app. The others in that list I have looked for are available as only MQA.
