Popular Post left channel Posted January 31, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted January 31, 2018 3 hours ago, oneway23 said: Tone, I've tried to use HolaVPN on numerous occasions to create an account on Qobuz over the years, to no avail. I've also just emailed them directly and was told by their customer service that Qobuz used to give accounts to US residents 3 or so years ago, but, no longer. If you have a way for me to do so, I'd greatly appreciate the assistance (via PM), but, until they launch in the US with a legal option (I understand it's apparently on the way), I'm not really sure this is a fair comparison to the large majority of folks here in the states. When my wife and my parents can log onto the site, create an account, and enter payment details in their native language and without a VPN/geographical workaround, we can compare options. At this point it's an open secret, and not likely a big deal as they'd like to transition us to long-term local customers now. The problem most people encounter is that they've tried this via VPN only after they've already been to the Qobuz UK website. Their browser now has a cookie identifying their location. What you need to do is clear your browser cookies (and maybe the cache just to be safe), and then VPN to a UK server before accessing the website again. Also pay via PayPal to avoid international transaction fees, and to avoid giving a billing address of course. Download the desktop app while you're in there. Then log off, log off VPN, and you're good-to-go. You can also download and use the iOS and Android apps from anywhere. We have a Qobuz USA thread here: oneway23 and MikeyFresh 1 1 Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
Popular Post left channel Posted March 28, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted March 28, 2019 57 minutes ago, Currawong said: It's more than that. Take Getz and Gilberto on TIDAL. The MQA version has, in effect, been EQ'ed, with boosted bass and some weird distortions in parts of some tracks. Then there's INXS Kick, which has a serious pitch change. Some of the changes make it seem as if they've run one of those sound enhancer plug-ins over the music to ensure there is a distinct difference for consumers to hear. They are trying to tie this in to being a result of "MQA" when really they've simply altered the music itself, something that doesn't require the fancy compression scheme at all, or the filters. 6 minutes ago, Jud said: Damn, I would "like" this multiple times if I could. Exactly matches my MQA listening experience, before this thread ever started. (There were obvious remasters that went beyond MQA, to the extent of things like instruments in different locations.) 1 minute ago, firedog said: MQA will probably claim that they were given the best available "authenticated" master and that's how it sounded.... There are several versions of Getz/Gilberto on Tidal. If it has boosted bass then it's from a loudness-enhanced remix for a 2014 "50th anniversary" release, which never should have been "MQA'ed" in the first place. This kind of indiscriminate so-called remastering is part of the problem. It is not a master in the first place, it is not "as the artist intended", and yet it gets a blue dot because some clerk at the current copyright owner approved it. Trying to pick through all the chaff looking for wheat is part of what makes the Masters experience so frustrating, and a big reason why I have pretty much given up on it. MikeyFresh, crenca, Currawong and 3 others 3 1 2 Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
Popular Post left channel Posted March 28, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted March 28, 2019 3 minutes ago, Jud said: I certainly don't mind people going back and doing better masterings. That's to be encouraged. It's just frustrating that having been run through the MQA process, it's not quite as good as it could be. Hah, we posted at almost the exact same moment. You saw my post above, but just to reiterate: the problem with that one is it's not based on a master, so is not a remastering, and never should have been run through the MQA process in the first place. This is unfortunately far too common. #Sad. lucretius and Jud 1 1 Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
left channel Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 1 hour ago, firedog said: MQA will probably claim that they were given the best available "authenticated" master and that's how it sounded.... 49 minutes ago, mav52 said: Maybe ,but they sure aren't going to tell us what master it was. Actually, they did tell us. And it's not an original 1964 master at all. Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
Popular Post left channel Posted March 28, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted March 28, 2019 9 minutes ago, mav52 said: Not what I was getting at. Did MQA tell its listeners which master was used on this or any recording that performed their voodoo magic on.. Agreed the lack of information about MQA albums severely worsens the Hi-Res provenance problem many times over. This has driven me almost entirely from Tidal to Qobuz. mav52, MikeyFresh, Sonicularity and 4 others 4 2 1 Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
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