Shortly after saying a value bump, Tidal brings new options to its HiFi Plus subscribers with FLAC help.
Tidal is rolling out HiRes FLAC help for its Early Entry program on iOS. “HiFi Plus subscribers have at all times had entry to our highest decision audio, and now we’re providing hi-resolution content material in FLAC format, as much as 24-bit, 192kHz. Attempt it not by updating your beta app and choosing ‘Max’ high quality within the new Audio & Playback settings display screen,” the announcement put up reads. For now, Android customers should watch for the broader roll out of the characteristic to expertise FLAC listening.
The FLAC format has been round since 2001, however Tidal embraced a proprietary hi-res audio format referred to as Grasp High quality Authenticated (MQA), and now the corporate behind it has sought chapter safety earlier this 12 months. Regardless of the MQA codec requiring a licensing price to make use of, MQA has made nearly no cash since its inception in 2015, with greater than 130 licensing agreements in place.
The swap to FLAC for Tidal has been hinted at in HiFi communities across the web for a number of months now. Following the information of MQA’s chapter proceedings, Tidal CEO Jesse Dorogusker all however confirmed this transfer again in April with a touch upon reddit.
“We’ll quickly introduce high-resolution FLAC to our HiFi Plus subscribers. It’s lossless and an open customary. It’s a big file, however we are going to enable customers to up or downgrade the decision relying on the scenario.” Whereas MQA makes use of considerably much less information than FLAC, it seems this proprietary customary’s greatest supporter has backed out. Tidal says it’s selecting FLAC as its most popular format, however will “proceed to help a number of codecs to verify we have now as a lot hi-res content material as potential.”
There are actually over 6 million tracks out there to stream in HiRes FLAC format on Tidal. The DSP says it’s actively working with distributors, labels, and artists so as to add extra content material to the format on daily basis.
Welcome to 2001, Tidal.