It’s a good day for subscribers of Tidal’s HiFi service: millions of tracks from Warner Music Group have now been added to the streaming service’s catalogue as high-resolution Tidal Masters. New Tidal Masters albums include works from The Notorious B.I.G., Missy Elliott, LCD Soundsystem and Madonna.

Tidal has also improved the discovery of Tidal Masters – and in doing so the overall hi-res streaming music experience – by introducing ‘Master Edition’ Artist Radio and Track Radio, which allow subscribers to listen to an uninterrupted stream of Tidal Masters tracks based on their listening habits. Also in response to listeners’ requests, Tidal has also added the Master Edition of My New Arrivals, a personalised playlist of newly released music.

For the uninitiated, Tidal Masters are hi-res (typically 24-bit/96kHz) tracks available to subscribers of Tidal’s £20/$20-per-month HiFi service. Hi-res streaming comes courtesy of MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) technology, which efficiently captures and stores original studio master recordings as files that are small and convenient enough to stream, without the sonic sacrifices traditionally associated with compressed files.

Streamers of Tidal Masters have apparently doubled since 2019, and Tidal HiFi users now stream 40 per cent more tracks than they did last year. This latest Warner Music Group expansion means Tidal now offers the largest MQA catalogue outside of China. If you haven’t yet tried Tidal HiFi but are curious about streaming in optimum sound quality (and why wouldn’t you be?), now is a good time to try it: Tidal is currently offering new subscribers three months of the service for just £3 ($3) – that’s just £1 ($1) per month for glorious hi-res streaming!

• UK: Tidal HiFi hi-res streaming just £3 for 3 months
• US: Tidal HiFi hi-res streaming just $3 for 3 months

It’s been a big month for Tidal. The service recently launched Tidal Connect – a similar concept to the Spotify feature with the same suffix. The ‘casting’ feature allows subscribers to control music streaming (including of Tidal Masters and Dolby Atmos Music tracks) on compatible products (from Bluesound, Cambridge Audio, DALI and KEF, for example) directly from within the Tidal mobile apps. 

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