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#290688 2020-01-27 10:03
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Vogon Civil Servant
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Bob James’ ‘Espresso’ album is an original MQA CD. It does not exist as a ‘non MQA’ CD.

Naturally, in Tidal, MQA is present in the stream, but in the Qobuz stream MQA is missing.

What is it on Qobuz that inherently strips out MQA from an original recording?


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Don't Panic!
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Originally Posted by spinaltap
It does not exist as a ‘non MQA’ CD
Do you know that the label has not supplied a non-MQA version to Qobuz? i.e. Is it stated anywhere that it was an MQA-only release?


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Vogon Civil Servant
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It is an MQA-only release.

Similarly, the (2019) remastered ‘Joined at the Hip’ CD album by Bob James and Kirk Whalem is an MQA-only release - which doesn’t stream as MQA via Qobuz.


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Don't Panic!
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I would suggest that it's not worth it these days releasing a vanilla RBCD if you are sold on MQA. OTOH, it's very easy for studios/labels to supply different formats to different providers; which is what I think has happened here. I really doubt that Qobuz is "nobbling" the audio.


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Hitchhiker
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A quote from a Qobuz HiRes v Tidal MQA discussion:
Quote
When Mike Jbara, CEO of MQA Ltd., visited Toronto in late June, I asked him if MQA streams and their FLAC counterparts usually come from the same source, with MQA processing being added for Tidal’s Masters versions. “Yes,” he replied.
So no embedded MQA on Qobuz.


Fitcaz #290752 2020-01-29 14:26
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Don't Panic!
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Sorry, what does "embedded MQA" mean?


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Pan-dimensional being
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It drives me a little nuts that MQA can be available one day on Tidal and gone the next. It drives me even more crazy that it is impossible to tell whether something you buy from Tidal is MQA or not.

If I could find a reliable source for buying MQA now Onkyo is gone, I'd probably drop Tidal completely. It's likely I'd retain Qobuz to listen to music I don't own, but with Tidal I feel I'm paying for something where you can't be sure what you're getting one day to the next.

Thinking about it, I might just drop Tidal. For some reason, Qobuz often sounds better anyway [mostly for non-MQA tracks, though].


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I absolutely hate Tidal. I guess it is my fault and I am doing something wrong but me and Tidal aren't friends. Tried it several times but every time it is very disappointing.

I only use music from my hard drive. I don't know where to buy MQA music. Would also like to know a good site.

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Ronald


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I'd love to know a good site too. Tidal Store can be a good source, but they don't label the music they sell as MQA or not and Onyko sadly closed their international music stores down :-(


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Hitchhiker
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It seems that purchasing music is disappearing fast with a subscription/streaming model now being preferred by the music industry, and not just for MQA but all forms.



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