Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Tidal MQA albums found so far

Hi Hector,

Yes it was in 2013 and it ironically was a required sale when competitor Universal bought the EMI group, including the Virgin label. Here is an archive article about the deal.

It has had a more noticeable impact in the classical circle, as many legends like Callas, Perlman, Karajan in his younger days, were all sold under EMI for decades and are now being re-issued in new editions under Warner.

Best /bt

Hi BTSo am I right to conclude that possibly some 50% of the old EMI assets are retained by Universal.

All very confusing.

Hector

Hi Hector

Yes EMI's Capitol and Virgin labels were retained and absorbed under Universal - this gives Universal control of music from Katy Perry, Beach Boys and alas, the Beatles. So for these great names we wont see MQA anytime soon. I suspect Warner would have tied MQA into a lock in period not to offer it to other major labels.

Best /bt

But see the "MQA streaming to expand" thread.

Indeed Asa,

Richard and I were discussing it's ideal for the Indy labels to get on MQA - such as Chandos, Channel Classics, Testament - as they have great recordings and can reach more audiphiles with MQA versions of them.

Hope they do so soon.

As of today, I can access 433 MQA / Masters albums on the Tidal Masters App web page.

A good start but everything appears to have ground to a halt.

People have suggested that in excess of 9000 albums have received the MQA treatment.

Could anyone speculate when and how these will be available from a streaming source.

Hector

Hector,

I count 514 on the Master page (64 rows of 8 plus 2) plus there is another 1266 titles identified in the Roon Goodle Doc's list. It is possible they finally added the Master's to the Roon list but initially I was told those were only those not identified by Tidal.

I see 48 Rows of 9 + 1 = 433

You see 64 Rows of 8 + 2 = 514

Tidal Masters appears to be a mess.

Hector

Today was the first time I found a title listed in the ROON file that I could not find the MQA version via Sooloos and Tidal. Linda Ronstadt's - Cry like a Rainstorm - Howl Like the Wind. Hmm. Only the PCM version shows up.

Having just upgraded to 818v3 from my v2, it's great to read that there's actual MQA material now hitting the world. I'm a huge fan of MQA from all the demo's I've heard and I'd like it to become the mainstream de-facto format.

However, I browsed the Tidal MQA google doc and found the same as when I had a Tidal trial - there's proportionally so little classical music, or opera, in their catalogue that it's not worth my subscription as yet. I'm still subscribed to their emails and I've not once seen anything on any classical releases, it seems they're just not that interested.

Does anyone have any idea of alternate streaming services which might be offering more of Warner's classical, or opera, catalogue? Or is it possible to simply purchase MQA tracks yet?

Also, has anyone seen any soundtracks available yet?

The roll-out of MQA being almost entirely non-classical is indeed disappointing for those of us who like that kind of thing. Along with the almost total lack of download sales (that I've found) the whole thing has suddenly become relatively irrelevant to me.

Much though I disapprove of DSD (Bob please note), I am buying and ripping a lot of s/h SACDs on eBay at the moment. That is a better way to get high resolution in the repertoire I want. (Your 818v3 will do a great job with DSD too, btw.)

As a rough and ready measure I get 10% of my favourited MQA albums on Tidal are Classical according to Roon.