Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Tidal dumping MQA files

Is there a clue in the name? :-)

One potential sticking point for me is how much alternatives to Tidal pay artists. Qobuz has never been transparent about this, unfortunately, and Tidal pays far more than any of the other services for which reliable figures have been calculated.

This trumps other considerations, for me. Streaming revenues are already pitiful compared to CD and vinyl sales, and I’m not prepared to go any lower than Tidal in this respect. To me this outweighs any consideration in sound quality.

Honestly, if the new HDT/MQA service doesn’t match up to Tidal in this regard, I might well ditch all streaming and simply buy CDs again.

I agree, Tidal has disappointed me by dropping MQA shortly (2 years) after I invest in the SE upgrade... I'm not sure either the tweeter and new electronics alone would have been enough to entice me, but Tidal does pay the highest royalty fees. Applaudable.

Currently there's no streaming service for MQA in the USA and while there's some recordings I can't hear a difference there's others I really can.

For sound quality I have been impressed by the best versions of MQA on tidal, having a better sound stage and attack relative to the (even hires) FLAC, but also I have found the result of MQA to be less impressive. Not all MQA sounded better to my ears. I think MQA had the benefit that it required less bandwidth, but we are 10yr further and steaming 96khz/24bit is no problem anymore in most countries. I will miss MQA, I thought it made sense and sometimes sounded better. But I will never regret the SE-upgrade, I think that shines even in 44khz/16bit. I sometimes go for a listen to other speakers and tend to come back to my DSP7200SEu, they are special.
I have no expectation that MQA will come back to us in some way, the commercial perspective looks too thin.

Regards

I have very similar views on the sound quality of MQA, and I think it probably relates to what source was used for the MQA mastering. The white glove and MQA transfers from the original master tapes were sublime, but if the existing PCM/red book version was simply passed through MQA (as I’m sure many were) the results were more variable, depending on the source quality.

I also agree that SE speakers are a significant step-up even with red-book and standard PCM. MQA might have been icing on the cake if the mastering was good, but SEs make the best of whatever source they’re fed. Amazing speakers.

I think it’s a matter of watch this space to see what happens with MQA and the new streaming service now that Lenbrook have acquired it. Perhaps the licensing won’t be so onerous, or it won’t be done in the same way as before. Perhaps a service which offers a choice for each track between MQA and PCM won’t attract the vitriolic trolling which occurred on Tidal…

I'm not discounting the improvements the SE upgrade brings even to the newer models. The tech that did my software update told me mine are v4 8K's. I'd word it more appropriately to say this membership club is a bit of a reach for a person of my means.

New prices, me too!

But I’ve seen some incredible used prices for 8Ks recently, including SEs…

Hi

I don’t care very much for audio formats anymore the real upgrades are Acoustic Treatment.

In support of MQA I never heard an example where MQA sounded inferior to CD quality or 96/24.

I was never a fan of the guy who made the online vids regarding MQA alleged weaknesses to FLAC, I found him to be smug and possibly just trying to earn a reputation for himself.

Over on the 'science' audio forum I posed a question asking if they still believed the CD players of the 1980's were indistinguishable from modern dacs and transports and the guys over there still believe the differences are inaudible! I asked what the point of the rating chart was if they all sound the same? Anyhow these number crunchers could never subjectively listen to MQA and choose it over redbook standard, they don't admit to hearing a difference in hear hi rez.

Ah, the “science” forum, where everything sounds the same, and whose users constantly point out the unnecessary extravagance and foolishness of audiophile equipment when cheap Chinese made boxes equal or exceed them in measurements. Don’t even dare mention MQA over there!

The owner of the site and main protagonist, though, owns Mark Levinson amplifiers and DAC, Revel Ultima Salon 2 Speakers, a Berkeley Alpha USB->AES/EBU converter, etc., and is carefully non-vocal about his like for MQA. He also happens to be a dealer for Harman, who own the above brands, and Revel speakers seem to get universally good reviews on the site. He discloses all this, but the hardcore fanboys there seem to continually miss the irony.

The speaker test/measurement methodology used is the one these companies use so no wonder they measure well.

Indeed.