Update your app and you can set MQA as a streaming level.
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Thanks for the heads up Chris.
Now I can compare Qobuz with Tidal head to head on my phone. (Which also feeds a paired set of Homepods in a not-bad sounding near-field setup.)
Tom
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Is it possible to control Roon via the iOS app?
There is a (free, official) Roon Remote app available on the Apple Store. It allows you to control your Roon Core and also use your iPhone
Thank you - I have the app. But would be great if the Tidal app which is far more intuitive and provides better usability would also be able to control what to play. As Spotify app does it with Spotify Connect.
So are the “Master quality” streamed files FLAC or ALAC, or are they still MQA?
If MQA, and if the Tidal iOS app fully unfolds the MQA audio, will the Tidal app pass that Hi-Res Audio to any outboard DAC, like the Onkyo HF app or the iAudioGate app? Or will it require an MQA DAC to fully unfold it, which requires a lightning-to-usb “camera” adapter?
I can’t seem to find any information on this beyond the hype at the Tidal web site.
It should perform the first unfold and then if passed to a renderer MQA DAC via the camera connection kit allow for the final upsampling MQA DACs do.
Word is, is that the Tidal iOS app and DAC in the iDevice decodes and renders MQA in its entirety, before passing it to the analogue output of the iOS device.
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Now if the DACs in Apple devices could only handle > 24/48.
Well, seeing as MQA never uses a 24-bit word length, it shouldn’t ever be a problem.
My point was the sample rate. Unfolding for playback on the apple device only is pointless when the internal DAC doesn’t do the unfolded sample rates.
An external DAC could take advantage of it.
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I found a tidbit in a press release:
“The MQA decoder in the app recovers all the direct music-related information and also authenticates the source of the original master recording.”
My little Meridian Explorer 2 turns a light blue when the track is studio authenticated, and green when it’s not. No such color indication in the Tidal iOS app or the Windows desktop app. I know it probably doesn’t make any difference to sound quality (either the mastering, encoding and decoding were done right or they weren’t), but it is nice to know when a track has been signed off by someone at the label or the recording studio or in the band. Oh well. Grateful for what’s available now and baby steps going forward.
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iPhone 7 or later, with no headphone jack and only a lightning port, all allow the use of an outboard DAC, in my case the Oppo HA-2. But even without the Oppo, the Cirrus Logic CS42L42 chip in the $10 lightning-to-jack apple dongle supports 24-bit audio up to 192kHZ.
So for iPhone 7 or later users, the opportunity to hear Hi-Res Audio sent to the lightning port is available.
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Darko is reporting it as 24/48 as well.
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FYI, If I turn the Tidal app to Hi Fi and NOT masters, my Meridian Explorer 2 will play MQA (Blue Light) from the Tidal app via iPad Pro and camera kit.
It will not render the first unfold via the app.
Thanks for the correction. That article was good information.
Cheers.
Is it possible the app is fully unfolding the music? Or is that not possible with software alone under MQA standards? (See the quote I posted above)
The second unfold is hardware based.
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Software cannot fully unfold MQA, that has to happen in the DAC. This isn’t being difficult, it’s how it works.
My test shows that the Explorer 2 cannot just render a Tidal app MQA file. It has to do it all.
I don’t know how the Dragonfly works here as that is a renderer only I understand.
I got a usb3->Camera adapter and powered it properly from a wall socket. Then I connected the Explorer 2 to the adapter and the adapter to my iPhoneX and iPad Air. Results of my tests:
- Playing Tidal MQA from Roon’s iOS app with the iPhone (or iPad) set as MQA decoder and renderer in Roon gave the proper light show for full MQA unfold and authentication on the Explorer and Roon’s signal path showed full unfold to the Explorer as well.
- Streaming the same MQA files from the Tidal app with Master selected as the streaming quality only ever lit up 2 white lights on the Explorer. So the DAC indicated a max of 96/88.2 kHz audio, even with known 192 kHz MQA files. There was no green or blue authentication light. Same result for downloaded Master files.
- Changing the streaming quality from Master to HiFi changed the light show on the Explorer to one single white light only, indicating CD quality as expected with HiFi.
I couldn’t get the Explorer to show a full unfold/authentication light show from the Tidal app no matter what I did. How did you get yours to do it, please?