2. digital
  3. 187901-181583

Tidal FLAC vs. Qobuz

Does the recent change by Tidal, from MQA to FLAC make Tidal the better choice for streaming?  Or, since Tidal only seems to offer FLAC on its own app and not the BluOS defeat the purpose since you need to transmit by Bluetooth instead of ethernet?  

Currently, I stream from Tidal over direct ethernet cable to a Bluesound Vault streamer, to a McIntosh amp and Revel speakers.  I have a trial membership to  Qobuz but I find Tidal has a much better catalog.  Since Tidal added Flac I thought it would be the obvious choice moving forward, but isn't the point of FLAC defeated since you need to send wirelessly from the Tidal app over Bluetooth?

mojo771

Showing 1 response by mspot

mspot
113 posts
 

I can stream wired through the BluOS at mqa quality OR I can use the Tidal connect app to get flac, but only connect wirelessly.  So I thought Tidal had solved the flac issue but if its only wirelessly then I will need to stay with mqa or go to Qobuz on the BluOS app.

@mojo771  You can get hi-res FLAC from Tidal's own desktop apps (Mac/PC) on USB output.

On 3rd party streamers, only a few vendors so far have completed updating their software to support Tidal hi-res FLAC (I know of Linn, Volumio and Lumin). Roon says they are working on it, and no doubt BluOS is in progress as well.

More to discover