I thought an MQA file still plays on non MQA dacs, just not full resolution. I have my Bluesound node2 connected two ways to my Peachtree Nova Pre. Analog and digital. If I play an MQA Tidal track and try to listen thru digital input of Nova Pre, no sound. Once i change track back to a regular file or switch to Qobuz hi rez file.. plays with no problem. Wihin Node settings i have "no" checked where it asks if i have external MQA compatible dac.
I started like many by collecting LP's then beginning with CD's then SACD and DVD-Audio and finally high resolution downloads I would consider myself an early adapter. I jumped right in. I bought my albums over and over and over. But I'm done now. I won't get on that train anymore. I've definitely chosen easy access and ease of use to listen to music. Really the same holds true for my music sources as it does for the equipment I use. Hardware is another area I was on the choo-choo train for years. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the rides but I've traveled those rails as long as I'm going too. I enjoy my music every bit as much now if not more than while I chased the next best thing.
It would be interesting to see what % of, let's say, Dark Side of the Moons all time recording sales were repeat buyers. I bet it's quite high.
I admit it to be highly skeptical of the performance/correction aspects of MQA (even after hearing a fairly compelling with/without demo of some selected high quality recordings) but I am quite enthusiastic about the potential for MQA to enable 24/96 streaming. I've listened to 24/96 streaming of "Master" files on the TIDAL desktop app running on my MacBook Pro (I couldn't use my usual network setup; I had to use a USB connection to my upsampler/DAC) and the results were very promising. Try comparing the Mott the Hoople Brain Capers Master file to the Hi-Fi file. (My equipment is listed in my profile.) Hopefully, this process will become easier when Roon and my DAC are MQA enabled.
Me: 70's LP, MFSL LP, early 90's cd, SACD, 2011 single Cd, immersive box set Sgt Pepper : 70's LP capitol, 70's 8 track, 80's LP, 80's Cassette, 80's CD, 2009 mono box, 2009 stereo USB, 2017 box set.....plus 2 or 3 used lp versions thru the years ( i use to collect lps)
I think that this year Chesky records was supposed to release MQA encoded CDs, perhaps they did after all it's the same company that insist that I need to buy binaural recorded music.
"2L" (site here) offers albums, and single album tracks, for sale in a variety of formats...typically including stereo 320 kbps MP3, 44.1k/16 CD quality FLAC, high rez PCM FLAC (including DXD), DSD, and multi-channel PCM FLAC and DSD...and, yes, stereo MQA (in FLAC format). An example album is here. 2L also provides a page of free downloads in a variety of selections and formats, including MQA, here.
Hello, you just nailed it to the point! If the inventor of a new technology needs to make arguments that his technology provides better sound, then obviously the sound improvement is not obvious. Best regards
Qobuz and 7digital, then, if you don't live in the USA. I'm a major detractor of MQA, but misinformation on either side is not helpful.
#3 is the only one I don't track with. It seems to me that many enhancements in our lives have been brought to us courtesy of the profit motive. Just to pick one out of an almost infinitely large hat--sound movies! I'm pretty sure Western Electric, RCA, et. al., wouldn't have permitted the use of their technology to create movies with sound had they not been able to control it through licensing.
Apple has shown no interest in that area. I hate to say "never" but I don't think it will ever come about.
I agree - Apple could kill MQA, but I don't think Apple cares at all about the hi-res market. And probably with good reason as it's way too small of a niche.
From Charlie Hansen on the Asylum: When a 96/24 high-res file is fed through the MQA processor, the first thing that happens is that the bit depth is reduced to approximately 17 bits. I say approximately because the noise floor varies in the audio band due to the noise shaping used by the MQA dither. Fully decoded it will be about 96/17, and without decoding the 24 bit FLAC file will currently play back at about 48/17. MQA CDs only play back at about 44/13 undecoded. When they are decoded they *can* play back at roughly 96/13 (assuming a 88/24 or 96/24 master was used as the source - and in the latter case there will be the audible artifacts of the sample rate converter - another form of lossy compression used by MQA). This loss of resolution is audible on some files more easily than others. One of the easiest places to hear it is on The Doors track, "Riders on the Storm". See the link below for more information, plus confirmation. And you can always try it for yourself. Comments and information on "The Whisper Overdub"
I noticed in the last Stereophile they are going to be publishing articles on MQA to rectify what they are saying is sometimes ill informed criticism of the format they all suggest no subject has created as much antipathy in the world of hi-fi than MQA. Ultimately in the real world if people are presented with a new format and it's better they will herald it-the reality is in hi-fi even going back to CD and through SACD that hasn't happened in a major way-there are too many variables I guess. But MQA isn't even getting the "praise" SACD got when it arrived.
