MQA is Vaporware

[JoeWhip]

Reference to catching Omnicronmqa that unfolds into smallpox and something else. I thought he was being funny.

[Revelation]

Wow, so may pages...All I can say is I use my ears. I like the Tidall MQA Masters better than the sound I get from Spotify or Apple. So if I am going to use digital music besides using my Denon CD player and Dual CS 5000 turntable, Tidal is what sounds best clearly out of the 3. Yeah there are other music streaming services out there but for me it works and Im happy with it. Not always, but for about 90% of the time I am happy. I looked at Deezer but I like the way Tidal looks, operates and they have more music.

 

What do you guys listen to for streaming services if you don't like Tidal and want quality music. It seems all streaming services have filters and add some type of spatial effect to the music.

[AudioDoctor]

11 minutes ago, Revelation said:

Wow, so may pages...All I can say is I use my ears. I like the Tidall MQA Masters better than the sound I get from Spotify or Apple. So if I am going to use digital music besides using my Denon CD player and Dual CS 5000 turntable, Tidal is what sounds best clearly out of the 3. Yeah there are other music streaming services out there but for me it works and Im happy with it. Not always, but for about 90% of the time I am happy. I looked at Deezer but I like the way Tidal looks, operates and they have more music.

 

What do you guys listen to for streaming services if you don't like Tidal and want quality music. It seems all streaming services have filters and add some type of spatial effect to the music.

 

qobuz. No MQA, no spatial nonsense, no nothing but the highest quality streaming thats truly lossless.

[AudioDoctor]

On 12/27/2021 at 11:55 AM, mrjktcvs said:

I'm not sure who else distributes MQA-processed files besides Tidal, but technical discussions are a non-starter for me when they have holes in their catalog. What other ubiquitous music service doesn't have Samantha Fish's Wild Heart album, published in 2015? I'm with deezer, thanks.

 

You mean this on Qobuz?

 

[Revelation]

I don't like the format of the bands in Qobuz. Check out the Beatles and compare it to Tidal. Tidal has the albums in the right order. It's all thrown together in Qobuz. The library is smaller too. Hmm will have to compare the two more carefully 

 

 

 

[Stereo]

1 hour ago, Revelation said:

I don't like the format of the bands in Qobuz. Check out the Beatles and compare it to Tidal. Tidal has the albums in the right order. It's all thrown together in Qobuz. The library is smaller too. Hmm will have to compare the two more carefully 

 

 

 

Qobuz definitely sounds better than Tidal. Qobuz should be working on the layout of it’s artist’s pages. Last report was it may be updated sometime this month however Qobuz is a small company with a limited number of workers and they are slow to update even from their stated timelines. But they say they have been working on it at least so maybe they will deliver on it soon. Qobuz needs a slap upside the head to understand that they really need to enlarge their catalog to be equal or better than the competition. Sound quality does no one any good if there isn’t anything to listen to. They shouldn’t be using the tagline “we are the music lovers” until they actually have all the music to listen to available. In the meantime send them feedback telling them this as the more customers asking the better and at the very least you can request an individual title here:  https://airtable.com/shrWFlthbAGjTSuJu

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, Revelation said:

I don't like the format of the bands in Qobuz. Check out the Beatles and compare it to Tidal. Tidal has the albums in the right order. It's all thrown together in Qobuz. The library is smaller too. Hmm will have to compare the two more carefully 

 

 

 

 

The choice is, do you want a pretty interface but worse music, or do you want to support the guys bringing you the best quality music, and who are working on a better interface as a much smaller company.

Which one would you like to see succeed and be around in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

[AudioDoctor]

13 minutes ago, Stereo said:

Qobuz definitely sounds better than Tidal. Qobuz should be working on the layout of it’s artist’s pages. Last report was it may be updated sometime this month however Qobuz is a small company with a limited number of workers and they are slow to update even from their stated timelines. But they say they have been working on it at least so maybe they will deliver on it soon. Qobuz needs a slap upside the head to understand that they really need to enlarge their catalog to be equal or better than the competition. Sound quality does no one any good if there isn’t anything to listen to. They shouldn’t be using the tagline “we are the music lovers” until they actually have all the music to listen to available. In the meantime send them feedback telling them this as the more customers asking the better and at the very least you can request an individual title here:  https://airtable.com/shrWFlthbAGjTSuJu

 

No one has "all" the music there is to listen to.

[Stereo]

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

No one has "all" the music there is to listen to.

You misunderstood my post.

[Revelation]

I like Tidal...plain and simple.  I know the problems people have with it but I like the results it provides. With a better workflow and finding things easier plus nice recommendations it's what works for me. I am hopeful Spotify will provide the higher sample rates and perhaps not put the Dolby atmos on their music but I know they are focusing on the larger market and  not audiophile users as much.

 

I will give Qobuz a try but right now it has a lot less music compared to Tidal. It has to develop more. A lot of artsit they don't have a picture of the band or artist but just the name with a black and white generic image. Maybe in w years they will be better. But they also need the financial backing to compete. 

[mrjktcvs]

10 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

I got a free trial subscription to Qobuz, but my iPhone is too old to install  the app....LOL. It's $4/month cheaper than Deezer, but I can't listen to it in my car.

 

 

[watts]

12 hours ago, Revelation said:

Wow, so may pages...All I can say is I use my ears. I like the Tidall MQA Masters better than the sound I get from Spotify or Apple.

You can use Tidal and get 1411 kbps vs. Spotify's 320 kbps, of course it will sound better, but the point is why have MQA? It would make more sense in this thread if you stated you liked the MQA tracks better than the regular 16/44.1 Tidal tracks, as you might own some MQA encoding/decoding gear.

 

I have just "upgraded" from Tidal hi-fi plus to Tidal hi-fi as I don't want MQA, and I don't find it adds anything to my streaming quality, so why pay for it? In Canada hifi plus was $29.99 for family plan and hifi is $14.99, so I am saving $15 a month; thank you Tidal for giving me the option. 

 

I still see the MQA on various Tidal tracks, I am not sure why, but to my ears the best sounding recordings in Tidal just state 16/44.1 and the MQA acronym is nowhere to be seen (Steely Dan - Aja, Reference Recordings Brahms Sym. no. 4 for examples) 

 

The hifi sound quality has always been in the way the music was recorded, not the post processing applied, whether the marketing is good or not. The albums above sound better than many upsampled 24/192 recordings I have purchased: The numbers mean very little. 

 

10 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

The choice is, do you want a pretty interface but worse music, or do you want to support the guys bringing you the best quality music, and who are working on a better interface as a much smaller company.

Which one would you like to see succeed and be around in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

 

As soon as Qobuz is offered in my Country I will switch from Tidal to Qobuz, to get rid of this MQA crap, I am still waiting.... 

[Revelation]

I found this article insightful on MQA.

 MQA vs MQA  Studio files on Tidal - av2day.com

[Rt66indierock]

15 minutes ago, Revelation said:

I found this article insightful on MQA.

 MQA vs MQA  Studio files on Tidal - av2day.com

 

Sorry that article is marketing fluff. Bob Stuart had his chance to fool people and failed. We debunked what you consider insightful years ago. This thread is beginning its sixth year to help people like you see MQA for what is. A bad idea created by man with a poor financial track reocrd and promoted by the audio press.

[Revelation]

Ok thank you for your response. For my current situation however,  Tidal is the best streaming service as it sounds better than Spotify and I don't need to buy Roon to play it. I can play Tidal directly through my NAD preamp or through BluOs. I currently am trying to play Qobuz through BluOs but am having log in issues right now.

 

 

[AudioDoctor]

@mrjktcvs, I think you quoted the wrong person.

[watts]

1 hour ago, Revelation said:

I found this article insightful on MQA.

 MQA vs MQA  Studio files on Tidal - av2day.com

 

57 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Sorry that article is marketing fluff. Bob Stuart had his chance to fool people and failed. We debunked what you consider insightful years ago. This thread is beginning its sixth year to help people like you see MQA for what is. A bad idea created by man with a poor financial track reocrd and promoted by the audio press.

 

Yeah, that whole "ad" is weird.

 

First, who cares if one MQA track sounds better than another MQA track? The point is what is the advantage of MQA over lossless? It has become quite clear: none. 

 

Second, there are actually people out there using a $150 DAC with a $2000 digital cable?

 

Third, I am not knocking that Zen DAC, but what would the consumer cost of it be if they didn't have the MQA fees on it? 

[mrjktcvs]

37 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

@mrjktcvs, I think you quoted the wrong person.

I'm a newbie here, and don't know how to respond to a post without quoting. I didn't want to include your image again, so I deleted it, but the post was in response to your finding the Fish album on Quobuz.

[AudioDoctor]

3 minutes ago, mrjktcvs said:

I'm a newbie here, and don't know how to respond to a post without quoting. I didn't want to include your image again, so I deleted it, but the post was in response to your finding the Fish album on Quobuz.

 

for future reference you can quote the response and write your reply underneath it, like I am doing here, or you can use the "@" symbol, and the username and it will show like this @mrjktcvs

[The Computer Audiophile]

17 minutes ago, watts said:

Third, I am not knocking that Zen DAC, but what would the consumer cost of it be if they didn't have the MQA fees on it? 

This depends on what the company can do for mQa. Some companies got mQa for free because of large customer bases / exposure for mQa or because of prestige. Others paid more per unit.  

[watts]

21 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This depends on what the company can do for mQa. Some companies got mQa for free because of large customer bases / exposure for mQa or because of prestige. Others paid more per unit.  

 

So if a budget low-fi audio component can be engineered to clearly show an improvement when playing studio over regular mqa files, there will be no mqa fees charged?  

 

The audio company sells units, and mqa will look like it does something beneficial, win win. 

 

I think I am beginning to see the light. Or darkness, as it were. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

23 minutes ago, watts said:

 

So if a budget low-fi audio component can be engineered to clearly show an improvement when playing studio over regular mqa files, there will be no mqa fees charged?  

 

The audio company sells units, and mqa will look like it does something beneficial, win win. 

 

I think I am beginning to see the light. Or darkness, as it were. 

No. 
 

Has nothing to do with audio. 
 

If a company can introduce a lot of customers to mQa, the company will get mQa for free. If the company is seen as prestigious by mQa, it will also be offered mQa for free. 
 

All others must pay and mark it up to customers. 

[sphinxsix]

Seems that they are getting softer, it clearly shows where they are as for their position on the market after all these years. 

Will they pay to get MQA implemented by companies in the near future.? 

[Revelation]

I got Qobuz going on my NAD preamp and Focal Aria speakers. I found some songs sound better than Tidal,  Tidal sounding better Qobuz and some sound too similar to say which one is better.

 

1. The Beatles remixed Let it Be album. Get Back sound great on both. 

2. Rolling Stones Tatto you: Start me Up. Tidal sounded better. There was a slight edge on the snare drum on Qobuz. 

3. Donald Fagen Nightfly IGY. Tidal is warmer and louder. The CD is closer to Qobuz which sounds better than Tidal.

4. Rolling Stones.  A rock and a hard place. Qobuz is a very clean and slightly edgy. Tidal sounds better...though very similar, it just does not have that edge. 

5. The Eagles Hotel California from Hell Freezes over. I hear that same crystal slightly hard edge on Qobuz that I heard on A rock and a hard place. Tidal is slightly more easy on your ears.

 

I know converters and it sounds like Qobuz are using Mytek converters which have a very open detailed sound but slightly edgy on the top end.

[KeenObserver]

Seems like a prelude to the MQA Ltd financial posting.

 With this rash of postings I will take a wild guess and say that MQA Ltd is going to be financed for another year.

 

The world is going to have to endure another year of this MQA crap!