When I recently read What hifi's review of Tidal, I was surprised to learn that Tidal, according to What hifi, sounded better than Deezer in hifi mode. Aren't we all raised to believe that flac is flac, it is lossless and thereby end of story? Apparently not.
The strange thing is, I even noticed this myself having tested Deezer hifi and Tidal hifi side by side, before reading the What hifi review. But, as flacs are flacs, I simply ignored my own hearing, thinking I must imagine things. What I thought I heard, but ignored, was that Tidal sounded clearer, crisper and with more drive to the songs, in summary; more engaging. And before you rave about Tidal using hi res files in Master mode, I played both streaming services in hifi mode only - for a fair comparison.
So, what to think? Uncle Google to the rescue, and lo and behold, apparently I am not alone, in thinking that flacs are not just flacs, and certainly not as "lossless" as you might think, as this scientifically more substantiated article seems to conclude.
So, what to think? How can Tidal deliver better sounding flacs? And do you agree that they are? Are they cheating, somehow using a magic enhancement potion when transcoding?
The strange thing is, I even noticed this myself having tested Deezer hifi and Tidal hifi side by side, before reading the What hifi review. But, as flacs are flacs, I simply ignored my own hearing, thinking I must imagine things. What I thought I heard, but ignored, was that Tidal sounded clearer, crisper and with more drive to the songs, in summary; more engaging. And before you rave about Tidal using hi res files in Master mode, I played both streaming services in hifi mode only - for a fair comparison.
So, what to think? Uncle Google to the rescue, and lo and behold, apparently I am not alone, in thinking that flacs are not just flacs, and certainly not as "lossless" as you might think, as this scientifically more substantiated article seems to conclude.
So, what to think? How can Tidal deliver better sounding flacs? And do you agree that they are? Are they cheating, somehow using a magic enhancement potion when transcoding?