Tidal vs. CD/FLAC/AAC and others

[audiohippo]

Originally Posted by nicoff

IIn your Aerosmith example, you may have been comparing a remastered album (24/96) to a non remastered 16/44 Tidal. So not an Apple to Apple comparison.

Good point!

[audiohippo]

So the consensus is that Tidal 16/44 vs. CD or Flac 16/44 is so close its hard to pick and not worth worrying about?

[eljr]

Originally Posted by audiohippo

So the consensus is that Tidal 16/44 vs. CD or Flac 16/44 is so close its hard to pick and not worth worrying about?

It IS the same so yes, no worries.

[crwilli]

Originally Posted by audiohippo

So the consensus is that Tidal 16/44 vs. CD or Flac 16/44 is so close its hard to pick and not worth worrying about?

Yes, at least to my ears and I rarely spin any of my CDs or SACDs.

[PMCH]

I think I am the odd man out since I prefer the sound of CD's over Tidal 16/44 or Flac 16/44. I also prefer SACD's, downloaded Hi-Res music and Tidal MQA over most CD's.

[onehole150]

I'm using Tidal (master setting) through a Computer desk top. I run it to my Mytek Brooklyn DAC. The Brooklyn reads the stream as 32 bits 192 KHz.

My question: Is this an accurate reading? I'm just curious and if it is, does it mean anything.

I use Tidal because I listen to music I like and I can make my own play lists; every track in the list is a song I like.

I haven't found a CD yet where I like all of the tracks.

I've tried to compare the CD vs Tidal and my conclusion: some CD's the music/sound is different, not better just ever so slightly different.

BTW - When I went to the Tidal Master setting and installed the Mytek DAC my music; in my opinion is as good as almost anything I've heard at several audio shows the last couple of years. Yes I realize the show rooms generally aren't set up the best.

[Jbags]

Hey guys, so I have Tidal and I am streaming it via a Lumin S1. Every track I play is 16bit 44K. How do I get 24bit files? For the master setting is this something that can only be done on a desktop or laptop? Thank you.

[For The Love of Music]

Pretty sure you need to go to settings on the device you are using that sends info to the Lumin and look for streaming and select high fi or similar

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by Jbags

Hey guys, so I have Tidal and I am streaming it via a Lumin S1. Every track I play is 16bit 44K. How do I get 24bit files? For the master setting is this something that can only be done on a desktop or laptop? Thank you.

Tidal doesn’t do 24 bit files per se, it streams MQA encoded “Masters.” Your Lumin does the MQA decoding. In your Lumin app you should find settings for MQA. If your Lumin is doing all the DAC work you’ll get the decoded Masters at the analog outputs. If you’re just using the Lumin to stream and feeding a digital signal to a DAC, then your DAC needs to have MQA capability.