Qobuz streaming MQA CD's?

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, crenca said:

 

If we are to take to 2L for it, then the same album on Tiadal is also an MQA CD, it's just that the Tidal app is not recognizing it or show it to you that way.  In any case the only real way to confirm is to capture a snippet and apply mansr's tool, or ask him to do it.

I'd say @austinpop's method is pretty reliable. If Roon doesn't see the MQA metadata and embedded code, then it's likely not there. This would suggest Tidal has some Redbook from 2L, but Qobuz doesn't.

 

Maybe @Tintinabulum should email Morten to let him know there are some remaining Redbook CDs that need to be swapped out for the Lossy MQA-CD-13 version.

[austinpop]

3 minutes ago, crenca said:

 

If we are to take to 2L for it, then the same album on Tiadal is also an MQA CD, it's just that the Tidal app is not recognizing it or show it to you that way.  In any case the only real way to confirm is to capture a snippet and apply mansr's tool, or ask him to do it.

 

You're right - until now, I've been assuming Roon's MQA detection is our canary in the coal mine, but maybe that canary isn't 100% accurate!

[crenca]

2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This is strange. I went back and searched for two different strings of words. When I search for Pat Metheny and click to show all his albums, the MQA version if the only one available. See screenshots 1 and 2 below. When I search for Pat Metheney What's it all about, then Tidal shows me both versions. 

 

 

1

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

3

 

 

Search and Tidal has always been problematic. The Roon guys say the back-end database is a mess

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, crenca said:

The Roon guys say the back-end database is a mess

Very believable.

 

Tidal used to be full of "rock stars" who were great to deal with and knew their stuff inside and out. Now, not so much.

[austinpop]

4 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This is strange. I went back and searched for two different strings of words. When I search for Pat Metheny and click to show all his albums, the MQA version if the only one available. See screenshots 1 and 2 below. When I search for Pat Metheney What's it all about, then Tidal shows me both versions. 

 

 

1

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

3

 

 

Chris, these stream as you'd expect:

1. TIdal:
   • Redbook version is CD (not MQA-CD)
   • MQA version is full (24-bit) MQA
2. TIdal:
   • Redbook version is CD (not MQA-CD)
   • Hi-Res version at hi-res

Right now, it seems to be 2L, but who knows how many other labels have adopted (or will adopt) MQA-CD.

[crenca]

3 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Very believable.

 

Tidal used to be full of "rock stars" who were great to deal with and knew their stuff inside and out. Now, not so much.

 

Anybody worth their salt will not last long in a hip-hop driven management culture 😋

[austinpop]

2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Very believable.

 

Tidal used to be full of "rock stars" who were great to deal with and knew their stuff inside and out. Now, not so much.

 

Now it's full of "rap stars!"

 

Too soon?

[Jud]

7 minutes ago, crenca said:

 

Anybody worth their salt will not last long in a hip-hop driven management culture 😋

 

Maybe the problem is not enough hip-hop driven management culture!

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/27/diddy-credits-his-success-to-a-business-lesson-he-learned-at-age-12.html

 

Quote

Sean Combs, commonly known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, is an artist and entrepreneur whose business acumen has garnered him a net worth of $820 million, according to Forbes.

 

Edit: Yes, I know Jay-Z, not Diddy, is the Tidal guy.  Maybe the wrong hip-hop manager?

[The Computer Audiophile]

This whole thing about releasing MQA because a label thinks it sounds better is strange. If this is true, then stop releasing MP3, pull your AAC files off iTunes, your OGG files off Spotify, and stop selling Lossless downloads. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I wonder if these albums are MQA and consumers don't know? If yes, this really sucks. If no, then Morten should stick to his word and supply HDtracks with the MQA versions.

 

http://www.hdtracks.com/music/label/view/id/87/

[austinpop]

Folks, I'm willing to give Qobuz some lattitude to work this out. 

1. Step 1 is clearing up their existing confusion with streaming resolution. They acknowledge the problem and they say they are fixing. Good.
2. Step 2 is transparency. At the very least, I want to know if content is hi-res, Redbook CD or MQA CD. Then it's my choice what to stream. The current situation with 2L content being silently MQA CD is unacceptable, but as @David Craff has said, they are requiring clear metadata to spell this out. We will see what this looks like, and also if Roon correctly flags MQA CD content correctly.
3. Step 3 is what many of us want: for Qobuz to decline MQA content.

I would like Qobuz to achieve step 3, but could live with step 2 - IF the catalog of Hi-res and Redbook content was compelling enough for me.

[mansr]

44 minutes ago, Taz777 said:

There are only MQA Masters on Tidal for 2L.

What about the lower tier? What was the source for the MP3 encodes?

[austinpop]

10 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I wonder if these albums are MQA and consumers don't know? If yes, this really sucks. If no, then Morten should stick to his word and supply HDtracks with the MQA versions.

 

http://www.hdtracks.com/music/label/view/id/87/

 

Right: if Morten is so proud of his MQA CD sound quality, he should be more than happy to comply with Qobuz and clearly label his content as MQA CD.

[russellbobby]

1 hour ago, mav52 said:

Interesting, I followed your choice on Tidal and searched for the same artist , same album and got the MQA version and a Flac 44/16 version.  Using the Lumin app,  NOT USING ROON

 Aurender shows both also. Great sounding album BTW. Using the Conductor app.

[crenca]

10 minutes ago, austinpop said:

Folks, I'm willing to give Qobuz some lattitude to work this out. 

1. Step 1 is clearing up their existing confusion with streaming resolution. They acknowledge the problem and they say they are fixing. Good.
2. Step 2 is transparency. At the very least, I want to know if content is hi-res, Redbook CD or MQA CD. Then it's my choice what to stream. The current situation with 2L content being silently MQA CD is unacceptable, but as @David Craff has said, they are requiring clear metadata to spell this out. We will see what this looks like, and also if Roon correctly flags MQA CD content correctly.
3. Step 3 is what many of us want: for Qobuz to decline MQA content.

I would like Qobuz to achieve step 3, but could live with step 2 - IF the catalog of Hi-res and Redbook content was compelling enough for me.

 

Regarding step 3 they do position themselves in the market with their own marketing speak as really only being about hi-rez, transparency, etc.  So yes in one sense the transparent labeling of MQA CD is good.  On the other hand there is the glaring contradiction of MQA being part of Qobuz at in any way.

 

A tiny insignificant label insisting on giving them MQA is all it takes for them to cave.  We are right to ask what's really going on behind all this...

[austinpop]

This whole thing saddens me. Some of my all time favorite albums are from 2L. Arnesen's Magnificat (in DXD) is one of the prized albums in my collection. 

 

My hope was that one day we would have a Sublime(r) streaming service delivering albums like this at their native recorded resolution. Instead, all we can look forward to is crippled MQA CD.

 

Sad.

[austinpop]

1 hour ago, ddetaey said:

For HiRes download service Qobuz have our 4*fs FLAC without MQA, but due to the migration from Phonofile to The Orchard I believe Qobuz is now in a limbo with our HiRes FLAC files only available for download but not for streaming.

 

@David Craff 

 

Any idea what the above means? I'm not familiar with Phonofile or The Orchard.

[Jud]

4 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

@David Craff 

 

Any idea what the above means? I'm not familiar with Phonofile or The Orchard.

 

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/the-orchard-bolsters-distribution-might-europe-finetunes-phonofile-acquisition/

[mav52]

8 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

@David Craff 

 

Any idea what the above means? I'm not familiar with Phonofile or The Orchard.

The Orchard specializes in media distribution, marketing and sales based in NYC and owned by Sony Music Entertainment

[rickca]

13 minutes ago, austinpop said:

Instead, all we can look forward to is crippled MQA CD.

Maybe they should call it GMO CD.  Then we could launch a company called Whole Music and eventually sell it to Amazon.

[wdw]

2 minutes ago, mav52 said:

The Orchard specializes in media distribution, marketing and sales based in NYC and owned by Sony Music Entertainment

 

So begs the question...do we know what Sony's position is on MQA?  I am assuming UMG is fully on-board, correct?

[The Computer Audiophile]

14 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

@David Craff 

 

Any idea what the above means? I'm not familiar with Phonofile or The Orchard.

I believe it's a licensing issue. 

[Rt66indierock]

3 minutes ago, wdw said:

 

So begs the question...do we know what Sony's position is on MQA?  I am assuming UMG is fully on-board, correct?

Sony is a shareholder in MQA Ltd.

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, wdw said:

 

So begs the question...do we know what Sony's position is on MQA?  I am assuming UMG is fully on-board, correct?

 

This is the scary part. the labels own the content. If they want you to stream MQA and you want to stream their music, you will stream MQA. A big selling feature of MQA to the labels was the fact they could have a single deliverable (file). Public companies like to get rid of redundant anything if it means a "+" on the quarterly report. 

[Mayfair]

11 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

Sony is a shareholder in MQA Ltd.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

 

Antonio: "...what's past is prologue..."

The Tempest, Act 2, Scene I