TIDAL-App only in Hifi-quality instead of Master-quality

Hi!

I have a Mu-so 2. I use the TIDAL app and listen to music through it. I use Google Chromecast as my connection.

When I select a piece of music that is available on TIDAL in Master quality, the display in the TIDAL app (top right) jumps from Master to only Hifi quality directly when playing.

From my point of view, my internet connection is sufficient.
How do I make it so that I can use the better audio quality?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Yours
Ansgar

It may well be because Naim don’t currently support MQA (Tidal Master Quality uses MQA).

Is there another way to play Tidal’s master quality?

Should I connect my Mu-so 2 to my phone via cable?

My dealer can also listen to master quality music via Tidal. That’s what he told me. But how?

I’m no expert here, but I think some software such as Roon can do the first unfolding for MQA. MQA itself though is not without some controversy, so probably worth doing some research there.

Naim have also said that they will be introducing Tidal Connect at some point this year…

Thanks Richard for your answer.

I am already very disappointed that it is advertised in a big way that you can stream music via Naim also with TIDAL, but no one writes openly and honestly that it is “only” the Hifi quality. I do not find good.
On the homepage it literally says: TIDAL delivers lossless compression and the sound quality comes into its own on the Mu-so. Very funny!
Further it says: Qobuz comes later, but is already available with higher quality up to Hi-Res 24 bit to 192 kHz. There is something wrong.

When can I expect that the master quality is also available?

I have now seen in the settings of the Naim app that the inputs at TIDAL is really only Hifi at quality.

Would I stream with Qobuz, would also be more. However, I like TIDAL better.

Is there another solution? Does it bring something to connect the Mu-so 2 with cable to the cell phone?

MQA isn’t as good as the marketing suggests, there are threads on this forum debating this. The fact that MQA isn’t a proper lossless format was enough for me to jump ship and move to QoBuz. I’d suggest that if Studio Masters are important to you you change to QoBuz who support them properly.

Have said all this I would say that on a Muso you will be hard pressed to hear any difference between a lossless CD quality file and a Studio Master, I certainly can’t on my QB but my NDS is capable of showing the difference and even then it varies between masters.

1 Like

Thank you for your answer.

I also think that I just wait for the update from TIDAL or Naim or whoever. For another, it’s probably really advisable to try Qobuz to test on certain music whether or not my ears perceive any difference at all.
Thanks a lot for your help.
Could you send me another link where the topic of MQA is discussed? Thank you very much.

Use the search function and type in MQA.

Search is your friend on the forum, a lot of history on a lot of subjects. The information you seek has been covered…

There are quite a few threads which you can find using the search facility but this one is of particular interest https://community.naimaudio.com/t/goldensound-s-view-on-mqa/16139.

1 Like

I have a subscription to both Tidal and Qobuz. Also I am using Roon with my Uniti Star.

Richard is correct in saying you get the first unfold of MQA with Roon.

I can honestly say that comparing MQA source to CD quality to Qobuz is really very close. So I would not worry about it too much. Naim gear plays Tidal HiFi quality very well.

I don’t have a Muso but I suspect you won’t hear much of a difference either. Just enjoy the music. Or give Roon a try and see if you notice a difference with the first unfold. Roon is free to try for a demo.

What is wrong with CD quality playback?

With Muso and chromecast CD quality is very good…

Try to compare Spotify and Tidal if you can hear any diffecence while somebody holds the remote

Muso is not even stereo…

The debate around MQA is extremely toxic. Not so much on this forum but on the Roon forum itself. There are a number of individuals on the Roon forum who have appeared to make it their life’s ambition to campaign against MQA because A) they object to the way it works or B) because they think that one of MQA’s main purposes is to re-introduce DRM (Digital Rights Management) into the music chain, or C) they (claim to) hear unpleasant digital artefacts when they listen to MQA .

I would recommend that you do not get involved too heavily into the debate. It is very unhealthily toxic, and exaggerations abound.

I listen to MQA masters on my systems. My main system does not support MQA, but Roon software performs the first unfold for this system. My second system has a DAC that fully supports MQA.

My view on MQA for what it is worth is that MQA sounds pretty good on my main systems. I do not hear any of the digital artefacts that some others claim to hear. Is it better than hi-res from Qobus? Not in my opinion, but I do think MQA is worth having if your primary streaming source is Tidal and if your DAC supports it. However, having said that, if I was purchasing a new DAC, the question of whether or not it supports MQA would be way down my list of priorities.

By the way, I also have a Naim Muso Qb for which I use Roon as my control software, and I am of the opinion that the difference between standard 16bit44mHz files and hi-res (MQA or otherwise) on the Muso Qb (or indeed the Muso) is negligible. I doubt very much that you would hear a significant difference on your Muso.

It won’t be easy nor at all practical at this stage for Naim to introduce support for MQA in its hardware or firmware, so I suspect it will never happen. I suggest that you simply forget about MQA or indeed any form of hi-res unless you plan to upgrade your system and simply continue to listen to standard resolution Tidal on your Muso as you currently do.

3 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.