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TIDAL Masters — Master-quality music now available online
In partnership with MQA, we’re bringing you the ultimate audio experience. With your TIDAL HiFi membership, listen to thousands of master-quality songs on your iOS or Android device, and through your TIDAL desktop app.
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Replies
Hunter
@rrhoover I was the same, I thought a good pair of headphones makes all the difference, then I borrowed a DAC from a friend, and put in my same headphones and was blown away. The easiest way to explain is that you were used to listening to one range of sound, and then suddenly there was this whole area of sound above and below that range you never heard before... That's what a DAC can do, (Great DAC's don't have to be expensive, the Red Dragonfly from Audioquest, or the Explorer2 from Meridian are great DAC's that don't break any budget).
What MQA does is certify that the sound you are receiving is the same as it was supposed to sound like when recorded. That and its high resolution audio, you remember that same range of sound example from before, well, imagine that same range as a pixelated image, suddenly its now a high resolution image and you can see every detail.. thats High Res audio.
I've been listening to my favourite albums again in MQA and its really a different experience.
I don't consider myself an Audiophile, I consider myself a music fan, I spent a lot of my early years working in the music industry at concerts, and the younger me would have rejected technology like this.. but it's as close to being there as i've ever experienced.
MQA isn't just high resolution audio, it's certified master quality... or ... Master Quality Authenticated.
This is apparently even higher quality than FLAC music files (what audiophiles often download), so would be impressive to hear. Spotify already offers "hi res" music to premium subscriber, so it will be interesting if they end up offering even higher resolution music.
according to The Verge, other companies might launch similar products this week: http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/5...
Hunter
@_jacksmith Its something I love about this format, it has a fallback compatibility when you don't have hardware decoding, It's basically a FLAC or whatever format file, but If you have MQA Hardware it will "unfold" many times over to be much higher quality. From memory software will unfold one time so its double the bitrate.
Hunter
I've been listening to MQA on TIDAL for a few weeks now and I'm absolutely in love with high res music.
The problem with high res audio has always been where to listen to it, it's always been a content problem, well that's now no longer around. There's so much music in MQA on TIDAL..
Give it a listen if you're a HIFI member you have access to the Master quality already, if not you can get a 60 day trial.
I truly believe that the limiting factor to sound quality is your hardware, not your files. However, for those who have the proper hardware to truly hear the difference, this is a nice move towards high audio fidelity accessibility. Seems like there would be a small demographic that has the right hardware and would still use a phone/computer to get HiFi rather than a regular stereo setup though...
Hunter
@john_cockerill There are a couple of cheap DAC's on the market, I personally recommend either the Explorer2 by Meridian, or the Dragonfly series from Audioquest (specifically the Red dragonfly). I personally have a Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus and love it.. If you or anyone is curious on DAC's we have a lot of different DACs in the office and can always give a personal recommendation..
@intothemild Excellent, thank you for the recommendation! I will probably be in the market for one within the next year, so I greatly appreciate the insight.
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