Unable to play flac files from Tidal HiFi

[jeffreykc]

I cannot change the setting for playback of Tidal files from AAC to Flac. On the LMS web app under my Apps I select Tidal then streaming quality then FLAC or ACC. It then states that streaming quality has been changed, but if you go back and look at it it always shows ACC.

I had previously had a Tidal subscription from Apple and this feature seemed to work fine, but of course Apple charges a higher fee for the privilege of using Tidal.

Is there a fix coming to solve this issue? I see no point in a Tidal subscription if I can't use FLAC.

[philippe_44]

I cannot change the setting for playback of Tidal files from AAC to Flac. On the LMS web app under my Apps I select Tidal then streaming quality then FLAC or ACC. It then states that streaming quality has been changed, but if you go back and look at it it always shows ACC.

I had previously had a Tidal subscription from Apple and this feature seemed to work fine, but of course Apple charges a higher fee for the privilege of using Tidal.

Is there a fix coming to solve this issue? I see no point in a Tidal subscription if I can't use FLAC.

AFAIK, there is no issue switching between aac & flac in Tidal. Are you sure of your subscription?

[jeffreykc]

AFAIK, there is no issue switching between aac & flac in Tidal. Are you sure of your subscription?

This has nothing to do with Tidal. This is in the settings in the web browser for Squeezebox. You can play Tidal through Squeezebox no? Well, there is an option that allows you to change between aac and flac. This doesn't work, it only allows aac.

Yes in the Tidal app itself I can choose Flac, that is not the issue and it is not a subscription problem as I do in fact have the HIFI account.

Thanks.

[philippe_44]

This has nothing to do with Tidal. This is in the settings in the web browser for Squeezebox. You can play Tidal through Squeezebox no? Well, there is an option that allows you to change between aac and flac. This doesn't work, it only allows aac.

Yes in the Tidal app itself I can choose Flac, that is not the issue and it is not a subscription problem as I do in fact have the HIFI account.

Thanks.

Yes I'm well aware of the way it works, I'm the dev who added the MP4->AAC direct support inside LMS, precisely to help the Tidal plugin migration. I was trying to confirm that, once you have the HiFi account, the change between AAC only vs FLAC/AAC just happens in the LMS web interface. I've used it many times during the development phase. Make sure you have migrated to the latest LMS nightly (8.1.2) to be sure and it works.

[CJS]

@jeffreykc: This could be a bug in the Tidal plugin for LMS OR a problem with your Tidal HiFi subscription.
Before concluding that this is a bug in the Tidal plugin for LMS, it would be good to have confirmation from other users with a Tidal HiFi subscription that they also can't change the Tidal streaming quality to FLAC.

I have the lower cost Tidal Premium subscription that provides only AAC 320kbps streams, which I consider good enough. This means that I can't change the Streaming Quality to FLAC, as expected. It is a little suspicious however that I also can't change the AAC bit rate to a lower value than 320kbps, while in the Tidal for Windows desktop app I can select between "High" (320kbps) and "Normal" (96kbps?) quality AAC streams. I would select 320kbps anyway, so for me it is no problem that I can't select a lower bit rate.

The screenshot below shows the Streaming Quality selection form of the Tidal plugin for LMS:



=> Question for users with a Tidal HiFi subscription: Can you please confirm if you can change the Tidal Streaming Quality to FLAC?

EDIT: I now see in the post above that Philippe confirms that he can change the streaming quality to FLAC. This would mean that there is a problem with jeffreykc's Tidal subscription, or maybe jeffreykc is using an older version of LMS.

[philippe_44]

=> Question for users with a Tidal HiFi subscription: Can you please confirm if you can change the Tidal Streaming Quality to FLAC?

Yes I can, that was part of the tests when we did the migration. I also used Tidal/Flac to check seeking in track as well as block alignment feature I’ve added in LMS and this is why if you look at Tidal plugin code, the method ‘forceTranscode’ is implemented.

[CJS]

Thanks Philippe for your confirmation!

[philippe_44]

Thanks Philippe for your confirmation!

One thing I can think of doing for the OP is delete the mysb.com account connection with Tidal and re-create it (i.e. uninstall Tidal in "my apps" on mysb.com, not delete the whole mysb.com account)

[rootee]

I recently subscribed to Tidal Hifi, and can confirm that switching from compressed to lossless (AAC/320kbps to FLAC) works with LMS 8.1.1 (release version 8.1.1 - 1610364019). I make the quality change via the LMS web interface, I.e. "My Apps"->TIDAL->"Streaming Quality"->"FLAC or AAC", and you should get a "Streaming quality changed" confirmation. LMS then indicates the lossless stream with "PCM VBR, FLAC" in the player window.

It doesn't seem to be an immediate change though, like at the next played track. Changing the playlist seems to kick it consistently for me. It's almost like the playlist songs are tied to Tidal quality setting that was active when they were added to the current playlist/queue. Maybe the OP can try clearing the current playlist, and loading a new one.