Tidal and Meridian successfully stream high-res MQA files

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The two companies have successfully demoed streaming of high-res MQA music files, paving the way potentially for another leap in quality for music streaming services.

The demonstration took place at Tidal's Oslo HQ, with Meridian founder Bob Stuart taking to the stage to run the demonstration, which used Tidal's streaming technology with MQA files and Meridian streaming products.

Pal Bratelund, Tidal's strategic partnership manager, told What Hi-Fi? at CES 2015 that Tidal was working with Meridian on a high-res music streaming service. And now we've had the first public demonstration of the technology.

Stuart said on the Tidal partnership: "We’ve been working very closely with Tidal and we appreciate their support very much. Today’s events clearly demonstrate that we can bring quality and convenience together with this innovative MQA technology. Streaming this sound quality is a big milestone, it’s an important moment for future generations of music lovers."

Tidal joined Qobuz in offering lossless, CD-quality streaming last year, delivering a jump in quality over the likes of Deezer and Spotify in return for an extra £10/month on the subscription price (£20/month as opposed to Spotify Premium's £10/month). But now it seems they're ready to up the standard again.

MQA is Meridian's own technology, promising to more efficiently package studio master quality files in order to take up less space when it comes to streaming and downloading high-res music.

Tidal has already been integrated into Meridian's Sooloos systems, and now we know the hardware - the MQA demo used Special Edition DSP7200 speakers and an 818 Reference Audio Core - can support MQA Tidal streams, too. 7digital also announced it would adopt MQA files at the end of last year, using MQA to power services such as Technics Tracks and e-Onkyo.

All this activity suggests a high-res streaming service some time soon looks increasingly likely...

MORE: Tidal review

Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).