TIDAL Brings MQA Support to Apple's iPhone

TIDAL Brings MQA Support to Apple's iPhone​

(March 13, 2019) As promised earlier this year, TIDAL and MQA have joined forces to bring Masters compatibility to TIDAL’s iPhone app. This completes TIDAL’s early-year MQA smartphone rollout, making the format available on both Apple and Android devices.

Mike Jbara (MQA CEO) stated, “From our ongoing work with engineers and artists, we know the importance creators place on delivering the original sound they created all the way to the music fan. Through our global partnership with TIDAL, this becomes a reality wherever you’re enjoying your music.”

As of today, MQA tracks are now available on iPhone devices via the latest iteration of TIDAL’s iOS app. This version of the app carries an MQA decoder (up to 24-bit/96kHz), which can be accessed by anyone with a HiFi membership ($19.99/month through TIDAL or $25.99/month through Apple) and an Apple device running iOS 11 or newer. The included decoder completes the first “unfold” of a streamed MQA file. Anyone looking for a top-line MQA experience (up to 192kHz) must connect their device to an external MQA compatible DAC.

To confirm the news, I updated my iOS TIDAL app to the new-release version (2.7.0) and instantly found a section dedicated to “Master Quality Audio Albums” on the app’s front page.

For more information about TIDAL’s MQA access, visit here.

 

[JBrax]

This is pretty sweet Todd! I can’t wait to try it out.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Just as an FYI, I believe the lightning to 3.5mm adapter reduces resolution to 48Hz. I need to find an official source for this...

 

[Todd Anderson]

^^^ I know this makes no sense. I can’t find reference to it. I thought I read it somewhere on a technical doc. Perhaps I’m misremembering

 

[JBrax]

Regardless I’m still excited to give it a try. So if I’m streaming can I get the MQA quality?

 

[Grayson Dere]

Just as an FYI, I believe the lightning to 3.5mm adapter reduces resolution to 48Hz. I need to find an official source for this...

Hi Todd, I did a little research and although not from the Official Apple resource, What HiFi also has the conclusion that the lightning cable restricts audio output to 48kHz.

"When you’re listening to music on, say, the iPhone 8 Plus via the Lightning connector, you bypass the iPhone’s internal DAC entirely. You’d think this means we’d be able to play hi-res files unobstructed, but even then we hit a snag. If you’re listening to your iPhone using the Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter that comes bundled with new iPhones, the output is limited to 48kHz files."

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/how-to-play-hi-res-music-your-iphone-0

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Yes it’s correct. The dac built into the adapter is only capable of 24 bit/48khz. The tear down revealed a mystery chip, but it’s very likely a citrus Logic part with dac/ADC and headphone buffer all in one. There are very few of these all in ones that operate beyond 48khz. I’ve measured it’s output and it behaves like a 48khz device.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Ah. So I’m not crazy.

Regardless I’m still excited to give it a try. So if I’m streaming can I get the MQA quality?

Correct!

 

[JBrax]

I’m going to have to have a Tidal MQA night here soon. I love the interface on the App!