There’s a thread on it over here:
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-compatibility-with-new-tidal-hires-flac/246363/
Thanks. In a quick scan of what has been posted so far I don’t see an answer to my question.
I should also clarify that the change from Master (MQA) to MAX in Tidal shows up on my Tidal desktop app (using an iMac). On my iPhone Tidal still shows albums as Master not MAX.
I’m seeing exactly the same.
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Then you likely haven’t updated or are using Android which seems to be lagging with the update.
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That’s because updates to Roon, streamers, etc. etc. will be needed for this all to work properly together again with hi-res FLAC. That’s why Roon still shows MQA.
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Thanks, but what I’d like to understand is if Roon will distinguish between albums Tidal tags as MAX that are hi-res but not MQA.
Does anyone know of any MAX albums offered by Tidal currently that are not MQA?
It has been reported in a public article elsewhere before. For those who have missed that, it needs to be clarified that:
MAX encompasses both Hi-Res FLAC and MQA. When your quality setting is MAX, Tidal selects a version for you based on its own rules.
Even if Roon and streamers are updated to support MAX, you will still see MQA. You still need MQA decoder from Roon or DAC or streamers otherwise you get degraded sound quality if Tidal chooses a MQA version for you.
Once Roon releases an update for Tidal Max/hi-res FLAC I would assume the Versions tab and Signal Path would show this info (i.e. continue to function as they do now) but that remains to be seen.
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Both my iPad and iPhone are running on the latest versions of the Tidal app.
The iPad version shows Max. The iPhone version does not.
Once the transition is fully done you probably won’t see much MQA with the MAX setting. And with roon you’ll still have versions tab and the signal path to verify what you’re actually playing. Here are the rules to their hierarchy.
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I needed to “kill” the app after updating it for it to properly switch.
Make sure you did that as well.
Hopefully there is a way to completely disregard MQA and use Hi res- flac and flac
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The problem, as I understand the situation, is that there will be no way for a subscriber to choose between an MQA recording and the same album in Hi-Res, but without MQA.
According to the “hierarchy” posted by @Mike_Scheinkman above, where both types of files exist, Tidal will choose, and it will now choose the non-MQA version.
Only when no other Hi-Res version is offered by Tidal, will a listener be able to choose and hear an MQA version.
Up until now, listeners who prefer not to hear MQA have always been able to choose the standard FLAC version of the same album. Now those who do prefer MQA, will not be able to choose it, if a Hi-Res, non-MQA version exists.
That seems like an unfortunate restriction on subscriber choice to me, but one we have no control over.
In my case that will mean reconsidering my choice of Tidal over Qobuz. Unfortunately if I make the change I believe I will lose all my playlists that include albums I’ve previously listened to through Tidal.
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I hope you’re right. If so, Tidal has done a poor job of communicating that thus far.
Why you’ve suggested is what I had expected. One has always been able to choose between MQA and non-MQA versions (where both were available).
Thanks for the Soundiz suggestion. I’m unfamiliar with that site but I’ll look into it.
Every service has restrictions on choice that subscribers have no control over. Spotify is lo-res, Apple Music can’t be played in hi-res on your hi-fi unless you want the inconvenience of plugging in your iPad/iPhone, Tidal has the MQA thingy (for those that care about it), Qobuz has a more limited library (in my experience) and is available in a more restricted range of countries. I’m sure others like Amazon and Deezer etc. have their own idiosyncrasies. If the perfect streaming service existed, we’d all be using it and doing something other than posting on all these threads 
You pays your money, and you takes your choice.
Yes I acknowledged we likely have no control over this decision. But the point you seem to miss is that Tidal appears to be ending a choice we have always had – between different versions of the same album.
As I said, while the choice my be Tidal’s – and all services make similar decisions – in this case they appear to be rescinding a choice subscribers were once able to make.
If my understanding is mistaken, as @Jim_F has suggested, then all of this will be a non-issue as far as I’m concerned. It only becomes an issue if a subscriber can no longer choose which version of the album to listen to.
Since MQA is in Administration with no financial support, will any of this be relevant in short order?
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Looks like in Roon Versions both options are supported
you can choose either format , at least on this album, a new Release of Who’s Next advertised in Tidal New Releases for me
All will no doubt be revealed
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I interpret the decisions by Tidal as a step towards dropping MQA entirely. It looks like a setup where they don’t have to change anything to completely remove MQA in silence. They are trying to save face about the whole MQA thing now that so many people have MQA hardware.
Or not. Who knows 
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The way the transition is being made makes it clear that MQA files will be phased out completely. In the new TIDAL application the versions are HiRes or MQA, there’s no choice.
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