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?
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. |
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. |
@yage I've been emailing Tidal and Bluesound for days now and it appears the only way to get flac is through the Tidal Connect app and not the Bluesound app that is imbedded in the Vault. The BluOS integrated in the Vault is limited to mqa. But maybe they are working on another upgrade.
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@mojo771 I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a BluOS update for Tidal FLAC, since Lenbrook now owns MQA. What's the problem with using Tidal Connect? It has a few more features that are not available on the BluOS app. (Also note that a lot of MQA on Tidal has still not been converted to hi-res FLAC). |
