Essentially Spotify Connect for Tidal, it allows the native Tidal app to be a controller for connected devices – like Chromecast can, only Connect supports Tidal's MQA and Dolby Atmos Music catalogue. Tidal HiFi subscribers can now easily 'cast' MQA Tidal Masters from the app to compatible kit that can decode them thanks to a new feature called Tidal Connect. However, the only way to entirely unpackage an MQA file for playback, and therefore give you a more accurate representation of the file, is by pairing the app with a MQA-compatible product (as listed above) that takes the decoding process away from the software (the Tidal app).

These apps can complete the first 'unfold' of MQA file decoding, outputting streams to a maximum of 24-bit/96kHz. If you don't have any of the above hardware, then you can still play Tidal's 'millions' of Masters tracks through the Tidal desktop, Android and iOS apps, which can decode and play them through your, say, phone or Macbook. See the full list of MQA's hardware partners and products.Meridian, iFi, Arcam, Bluesound, dCS, Moon by Simaudio, Mark Levinson and Audiolab are also among MQA's product partners. MQA-supporting products include desktop and USB DACs such as AudioQuest's DragonFly Black and DragonFly Red and Cambridge Audio's DacMagic 200M music streamers like NAD C 658 and Technics SL-G700 and hi-fi systems including Dali Oberon 1 C and KEF LS50 Wireless II. The LG V30 became the first globally available smartphone with MQA in 2017, and the format has since found its way onto its LG ThinQ successors, as well as the Essential phone.Īs for hi-fi kit, MQA compatibility is only going one way – up.

The Pioneer XDP-100R and Onkyo DP-X1 were among the first MQA-compatible portable audio players, and that's since been expanded to include various players from Pioneer, Onkyo, Astell & Kern and Sony – including the Award-winning Sony NW-A55L and Astell & Kern A&norma SR25. And, now we're some years into its existence, there's plenty of it.

You will need compatible hardware, such as a music streamer or portable music player, or software such as the Tidal desktop app, to decode the MQA files.Īnd this is no pie-in-the-sky promise the hardware is available. Rather than being a new file type to sit alongside FLAC, WAV et al, MQA files can instead be packaged inside any lossless container such as FLAC, WAV or Apple Lossless.

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