2. digital
  3. 128335-4292

Percentage of mp3 vs FLAC on Tidal?

Hi all,

I recently discovered that on my Squeezebox app I can tap on the artist and album title while the music is playing to see what the source file is and I'm finding that there is a much higher percentage of mp3 music that is streaming than I had expected.  For the price I'm paying I was assuming that everything was at least redbook CD quality but apparently not.

Does anyone know what the approximate split between mp3 and FLAC is on Tidal and if any of the other services are pure and 100% FLAC if you pay for their premium service?

Feeling a bit cheated at the moment, thanks...
audiojedi
jl35
3,938 posts
 
the Advanced Settings on my Sonos Connect offers the options of Uncompressed, Compressed, and Automatic    I believe the Automatic uses compression when the signal is weak
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,541 posts
 
Audiojedi, If you're subscribed to Tidal HiFi ($20/month) you should be getting cd quality or better.  If you're subscribed to Tidal Normal ($10/month), you will get mp3s.  Which are you subscribed to?
loadrecords's avatar
loadrecords
11 posts
 
I own a record label and use a digital mediator (the Orchard) to post my titles to digital services (both streaming and for sale). Since at least 2008 all titles are ingested via 16/44.1 WAV files. Tidal is serviced by the Orchard. Digital Mediators are how a title passes on the audio files and metadata to streaming services. I am not sure about CDBaby, but all other mediators I have been exposed to use this 16/44.1 standard.
audiojedi OP
225 posts
 
Hmmm - not sure what is happening here - I'm 100% on Tidal HiFi.  There is a streaming quality setting in the squeezebox server that says either "MP3 or FLAC or MP3" but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme nor reason as to why I'm getting one format or the other.  The Squeezebox is hard wired to high speed so I don't think it's buffering due to bandwith issues.  

For example, if I go through all of the albums from an artist some will play as MP3 some as FLAC.  I think there's still a Squeezebox forum running I'll have to ask there, thanks for the replies back...
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
You might try the Tidal Desktop app just to confirm that you are receiving flac files.
More to discover