Tidal today added support for its Tidal Masters Quality Authenticated audio tier on iOS devices, bringing master quality music to iOS devices for the first time.
Master audio was previously available on Android, but hasn't been available to iPhone and iPad listeners.
Tidal's highest studio quality audio option is limited to certain tracks (Tidal says there are 150,000 of them) and you'll only hear higher fidelity audio if you're using appropriate hardware, aka, a wired connection. Full release notes for the new Tidal update are below:
- HiFi users can now access over 150,000 master-quality tracks - audio as flawless as it sounded in the mastering suite.
- CarPlay improvements
- Minor bug fixes
Tidal master quality songs are available to those who subscribe to its Tidal HiFi service, which is priced at $19.99 per month. Tidal does offer a 60-day free trial for new subscribers.
A full list of albums that feature master quality recordings is available on Tidal's website.
Top Rated Comments
[doublepost=1552343032][/doublepost] No, you need a wired connection and a compatible DAC. Quite amazingly, while iPhones up to the 6S have a built-in decoder capable only to decode up to 16-bit, 48kHz, the $9 Lightning to jack adapter has a 24-bit, 192kHz CirrusLogic decoder. A good review of compatible hardware here:
https://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/info/hi-fi/les-cingles-de-la-hi-fi/choisissez-votre-dac-ou-votre179124
Duh I wouldn't notice when recompressed to 16/44.1 ~256kbps aac (or even worse SBC) for bluetooth. The audience these features are geared towards are generally knowledgeable about how to utilize the quality, as they sought it out for their equipment.
I really wish apple would add at least a hi-fi option (16/44.1 ALAC) to Apple Music, or at very least the iTunes Store, especially considering AirPlay 2 supports it. I'm so tired of trying to find it on various random websites like Beatport or 7digital or bandcamp, all with very incomplete libraries and weird tagging schemes, and having to local sync everything as iCloud Music Library compresses down to 256.
I've been waiting for this since I signed up for Tidal HiFi last year. Hooray!