MQA is Vaporware

[MaxBuck]

I still really don't understand the antipathy toward MQA, aside from the marketing babble its promoters use.

 

Doesn't it provide the opportunity to stream high-quality audio while minimizing data usage?  For that purpose alone it seems like a good idea.  Many people are somewhat data-limited, and the ability to lower their GB costs strikes me as a good thing.  But I'm sure I'm missing something here.  Bottom line: all the anti-MQA talk I've heard and read focuses purely on the "MQA = bad" canon without providing any reasons as to why it's bad.  (And don't cite that it "violates the creative output of the recording engineer."  I really couldn't care less what they might want.)

[MaxBuck]

6 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I highly recommend you read up on mQa and watch @GoldenOne’s videos. 
 

MQA consumes more bandwidth than pure PCM when compared Apples to Apples. It chops off information, adds it’s own proprietary encryption, then resamples it up to where it was before it chopped it off. 
 

The big thing for me is it reduces consumer choice. Roon users in Canada only have Tidal as an option for streaming. Tidal removed tons of pure PCM content and replaced it with mQa. Try streaming Tracy Chapman’s self titled album without mQa on Tidal. You can’t. 
 

It’s lossy as well. 
 

If you want lossy perceptual encoding, use MP3 or AAC. 

Thanks; finally watched this video, though not in its entirety.

 

Frankly, my concern is far less with whether MQA is "lossless" (clearly it's not) than with the distortion that it apparently introduces.  Obviously not good.

[MaxBuck]

5 hours ago, botrytis said:

Want me to go on?

No, you provided discrete, objective reasons for avoiding MQA.  Appreciate that.

 

Apparently, simply asking the question here is enough for people to downvote one's posts.  Interesting phenomenon.

[MaxBuck]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Your post has been repeated dozens of times over the years and often the posts lead to pissing matches. We are just tired of BS. Don’t take it personally if you had good intentions. 

No problem. I'm not looking for validation here, just information. Appreciate when I get it. 🤓

[MaxBuck]

4 minutes ago, Stereo said:

Audioquest survey/sweepstakes. It includes a few questions as they want to know what you think of MQA. Good way of telling Audioquest what you think of MQA. Might want to fill it out soon as I thinks it ends at the end of July. https://www.headfonia.com/audioquest-giveaway-survey/

Oh, great.  Do I also get to provide my opinion on Audioquest and its snake-oil product line?

[MaxBuck]

15 hours ago, RichardSF said:

Tidal hasn't released subscriber numbers in recent years, but it probably has less than 1% market share of streaming music, and Qobuz is even much smaller than Tidal. If you look at charts of market share, Tidal and Qobuz are usually not listed, and lumped into the "Others" category. As a point of reference, in 2019 Roon said they had 100K subscribers (equivalent of 2 football stadiums). In summary, audiophiles make up a very, very small portion of total market share.

 

https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/global-music-subscriber-market-shares-q1-2021

Correct. But we're the ones who count! 

 

Seriously, Spotify is likely to remain the major player in this streaming game, but for those of us who want to listen to better quality reproduction, our choices are relatively limited. The testing by @GoldenEar is persuasive that I shouldn't hitch to the Tidal/MQA wagon, and their false marketing claims are extremely troubling. And yet ...

 

1. Tidal's user interface on the Bluesound platform is far superior to Qobuz; the Qobuz track information for classical performances is so bad that I'd probably have to add Idagio to my monthly costs. Qobuz is an inadequate platform for classical listening IMO. 
2. Regardless of measurements, the sonic quality of Tidal streaming is, subjectively to my ears, not inferior to Qobuz, Deezer and Amazon HD.  I understand that MQA likely adds distortion components to the signal, but I honestly can't hear a difference. 
3. Neither Amazon nor Deezer can match the Qobuz or Tidal interface on my Bluesound Node. Neither can Spotify, actually. 

Ultimately I think I'll probably go with Idagio and Qobuz, using Idagio for classical listening and Qobuz for other genres.  This will also let me try out some DSP for room correction without having to buy into Roon. And the Qobuz-Idagio combo is only $2.50/mo more than Tidal, and it'll give me many more classical listening choices.