Tidal - not all "HiFi" music is Lossless

I'm new to Tidal. Most of what I've listen to sounds really good and I like the service! However, I've found a number of titles (mostly older releases) stream at a lowly 96kbps AAC. I'm streaming with Audirvana plus 3 set to "HiFi/Master Lossless FLAC". Most titles come in at FLAC 16/44.100 but look at these:

A Tribute to John Hartford - Live from Mountain Stage - 96 kbps 16/22.0 kHz
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - New Orleans Preservation, Vol 1 -96 kbps 16/22.0 kHz

Perhaps that is all the labels supplied Tidal with..... disappointing.

 

Yeah, I'm always disappointed to see the low quality indicator when streaming Tidal through Roon. Thankfully it's rare enough, although sometimes an artist with a deep catalog I love turns out to be less than cd quality and that is indeed disappointing . Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is one I remember. Not sure what can be done just wanted to say, you're not alone! As you say, I think it comes down to the labels.

 

Thread title is misleading as lower bitrate streams on Tidal do not show up as "HiFi"

 

Just made another observation- When using the Tidal application (mac desktop) The word "HiFi" in the lower left corner does not light up when the track is less than Lossless.

 

The Thread title is based on the fact that when you pay for the higher "HiFi/Lossless" subscription on Tidal, one expects lossless streaming on all tracks, not just on some/most.

 

This makes me think...Is it possible in our time, dominated by lossy iTunes an mp3 downloads, that some titles by some labels are using lossy masters even when pressing red book CDs? In other words, even if the titles you mention exist in a CD format, there are no real lossless digital files existing.

 

Yes. Quite a few examples where I've purchased music either on CD or as FLAC downloads from otherwise reliable lossless providers and have received lossy transcodes

 

I'm very new to streaming music, just 2 weeks. I went w/the basic $9.99 Tidal subscription. Not bad, but quality is up and down. I think it's just depends on the master they are using. No different than other formats. You get good and bad recordings using a TT or a CD player too. For other Tidal users is the MQA for $19.99 worth it? I have a Bluesound Node 1 that my dealer sold me at a very nice discounted price and have it plugged into a CJ ET3 SE.

 

I have a separate but related question regarding offline usage of Tidal/ I need to listen to Tidal offline in areas that do not have high speed internet and streaming is not a viable option. When using the HiFi download option on Tidal to store music on an Android or IOS device, does anyone know what is the true quality of the downloaded music on my portable device? I have heard that the downloaded file is not truly lossless or anywhere even close. The reason I ask is that I am thinking of buying a high end Android DAP and high end DAC to replay downloaded music from Tidal in areas that streaming is not a viable option. Am I wasting money on technology to replay a poor quality downloaded music file from the Tidal Streaming Service. Finally, if Tidal download quality is not great, are there other streaming services that provide a better option for offline music?