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
gkelly's avatar
gkelly
207 posts
 

@steakster I was just using Google AI. Thanks for any clarification on this subject. 

vicdior
43 posts
 

I had both Tidal and Qobuz and for my preference I stayed with Tidal going through Audirvāna for best sound quality. I find Tidal is easy to search and has lots of music that I like in Jazz, blues,vocal jazz,pop,soft rock and etc….

eagledriver_22's avatar
eagledriver_22
83 posts
 

OP's comment  01-06-2024

'So 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.'

Why is wirelessly the only option? Thanks for elaborating.

mojo771 OP
50 posts
 

@eagledriver_22 

The Bluesound Vault has an ethernet port for connecting directly to the router.  But the only way to get the Tidal flac is through the Tida Connect App and not the BluOS app.  Theres no way to directly connect my android phone or pc to the Vault, so it needs to be wireless.  

Hopefully, mspot is correct and Bluesound will correct this and Tidal Connect flac will be integrated into the BluOS like the Tidal mqa is.

In the meantime, I can keep both Qobuz and Tidal.

yage
401 posts
 

@mojo771 

After doing some more reading, I think @moonwatcher is most likely correct - the app acts only as a remote control when TIDAL Connect is used. This means that the audio data is sent directly to the Vault over your wired network connection and the app only sends commands to the streamer for playback / volume / etc. This is similar to how Spotify Connect and UPnP / DLNA works. An email to TIDAL support should clear up the technical details.

More to discover