MQA and Warner Music Sign Long-Term Licensing Deal

[The Computer Audiophile]

I'm curious... I know it's not the intention as stated, but is there any reason that MQA encoded files couldn't be distributed on CD(RB) played as 16/44.1 on everyone's CD players but decoded to high res. by us "audiophiles"?

That should work just fine. I guess someone could run a crude test by burning a CD with MQA test files and play it & rip it etc...

[Kal Rubinson]

AFAIK, the MQA package is 24/44.1 and, while you can probably burn it to disc, it is not RB.

[crenca]

ouch. who is your cable provider. I'm in SoCal. Time Warner. I always get at least 20MB/s download with several things running. Just ran a speednet test on my ipad. 84.75 MB/s down, 24MB/s up on wifi.....

 

I'm envious. In my semi-rural SW location I am on a WISP, though I am darn fortunate to have it and it is a reliable 7.4 MB connection.

 

Interestingly, I have the "atypical" experience with Tidal. In the evenings starting about 5 pm (I am in mountain time) until about 10 pm, Tidal playback in "Hi-Fi" is all skip and stutter, averaging about 5 stops/stutters per song. On Friday and Saturday evenings, it is more (say 10 skips per song) and the window last longer, until about midnight. Any other time Tidal is reliable.

 

Watching network throughput, I can see that my stream from Tidal is at fault, where as my "general" bandwidth is normal and other connections are not being bandwidth limited. I assume it is my particular route to Tidal. I am not sure if Tidal is big enough to do much co-locating etc., and this behavior is obviously "peak time" related.

 

Not that it matters much as during these times I simply fall back to my own collection, and I gladly pay for the benefits Tidal brings me.

 

However, if they MQA their stream (replacing their standard 16/44 "hi-fi" service) I will probably fall back to Spotify 320 as I am simply not interested in a proprietary format (even for streaming, obviously not actual purchasing of music)...

[rrwwss52]

@crenca

 

Just took speedtest off my iMAC desktop (wired). I will get a bit over 300MB/s down at times, never much over 24MB/s up. The Time Warner Cable (I'm about 20 miles south of Riverside, CA) internet cable has been a good service. I even have had good luck with Tidal on my cellphone (cellular), linking up via bluetooth. Being on WISP, my guess is you have the good fortune of having some space around you. I live in a tract house, where the houses are on top of each other. (about 10 -15 feet between houses).

 

If you drop Tidal, you might keep an eye on Deezer. That is a great service, although you currently have to pair it with service from Sonos, Cricket, or Bose (in the US). I have Deezer Elite for Sonos, and it works great too.

[audio.bill]

For those experiencing problems with streaming services (like Tidal) having intermittent stuttering or dropouts, many users have reported resolving similar issues by configuring their networks to use Google Public DNS as detailed here. I haven't had any problems so I don't use these settings, just sharing what I have read elsewhere which you may find helpful if you're willing to try. Please let us know if you try the suggested settings how it works for you, and I hope that you find this information helpful.

[Mordikai]

Wow, I feel like a fossil. All this MQA, roon, tidal stuff just does not interest me at all. I would be happy with better mastered redbook. Am I alone? I'm only 45, are you guys all kids?

[jazzy1]

Wow, I feel like a fossil. All this MQA, roon, tidal stuff just does not interest me at all. I would be happy with better mastered redbook. Am I alone? I'm only 45, are you guys all kids?

 

That's the thing. MQA isn't going to change the way labels master their material.

[One and a half]

Wow, I feel like a fossil. All this MQA, roon, tidal stuff just does not interest me at all. I would be happy with better mastered redbook. Am I alone? I'm only 45, are you guys all kids?

 

I'll join your club, have hardly interest in streaming.

[master]

Tidal user and it works great for me. Not into Roon though (yet).

 

OT - MusicBee and Last.FM also work very well as music discovery tools. MusicBee might not be a stellar choice for all, but most players offer Last.FM scrobbling as an option. I've discovered a lot of bands on Last.FM that I might have never run into otherwise.

[Doak]

Wow, I feel like a fossil. All this MQA, roon, tidal stuff just does not interest me at all. I would be happy with better mastered redbook. Am I alone? I'm only 45, are you guys all kids?

63 here.

Streaming is here now and is, no doubt, the future of music delivery.

Tidal can sound very good and when things go hires it will get even better.

It's a great way to hear and discover new music. For instance: Have a classical, jazz, popular, etc. piece you like? Hear several to many different versions of it. Tidal often has different masterings of the same titles of the same album/song. Great way to "try before you buy"!

[MikeJazz]

Wow, I feel like a fossil. All this MQA, roon, tidal stuff just does not interest me at all. I would be happy with better mastered redbook. Am I alone? I'm only 45, are you guys all kids?

 

They are not mutually exclusive.

I prefer good mastered music on mp3 320 to a bad master on 24/192.

But Tidal have exploded my awareness of music, and not only newly released music.

And there is plenty of good recorded music in Tidal as well...

[Mordikai]

I have no problems finding music to listen to and have no problem with the delivery methods currently available( Lp,cd, computer, flash drive etc) I don't have a problem with streaming or roon or anything else( MQA sounds stupid), but I'm not going to get to excited about it when they are not solving the only real problem I do have with music playback, the often poor production ( recording and mastering) of the music.

[Bob Stern]

A license agreement can merely be a framework for paying royalties in the event the licensee decides to market the licensed product (MQA-encoded music). It is not necessarily a commitment to sell any licensed products at all, nor a commitment to drop other formats in favor of the MQA format. Without further details from Warner, the announcement does not mean much.

[The Computer Audiophile]

A license agreement can merely be a framework for paying royalties in the event the licensee decides to market the licensed product (MQA-encoded music). It is not necessarily a commitment to sell any licensed products at all, nor a commitment to drop other formats in favor of the MQA format. Without further details from Warner, the announcement does not mean much.

But it would be fairly nonsensical to negotiate for years without an intention to produce a product.

 

Who knows. I guess I'll be excited when I see some content.

[master]

But it would be fairly nonsensical to negotiate for years without an intention to produce a product.

 

Who knows. I guess I'll be excited when I see some content.

 

The content will be here, probably soon enough.

 

The question though is how many will buy what they already own.

 

Certainly possible, I've bought enough of my DVDs in Blu-ray and will probably buy a few in 4K too... just not all of them.

 

At some point, the effort in developing new technology must be worth the ROI, or they might as well just give up and let things be.

[davidbeinct]

Wow, I feel like a fossil. All this MQA, roon, tidal stuff just does not interest me at all. I would be happy with better mastered redbook. Am I alone? I'm only 45, are you guys all kids?

 

I'm 53 and use Roon and Tidal. I love how they interface together and allow me to seamlessly search my own library and Tidal's. I do agree that recording/mastering is more important to me than any supposed benefits of MQA. I'd have to hear a huge difference over what I get now to pay $10 more a month for MQA.