Hi-Rez Streaming Coming

[MylesBAstor]

Announced at CES. Hmmmm....can you say format wars?!?! Thought they were on board with MQA?

[Cincy2]

Totally expected this. History definitely does repeat itself. Sony will jump into the mix with a proprietary format they will introduce but then back away from in a few years. Several other formats will try to get traction and fail because the market becomes too fragmented and users won't know which horse to ride. Those of us who crave good recordings will lament that any hi res format can't make up for a bad recording and go back to buying CD's and files from the labels we have come to trust to deliver high quality sound. The best recordings I own were mastered in the 90's in red book by Mapleshade. You don't need new formats and electronic tricks to knock the ball out of the park on SQ. I guess all the HDCD, DVD, SACD etc churning over the past 20 years has left me with no patience for this.

Cincy

[Madfloyd]

This is unfortunately. I want everyone to get on board with MQA!

[Rhapsody]

+1

[dcc]

Qobuz has been offering hig rez streaming in 24/96 for several months now. My only beef is that you only get high rez streaming for the albums you already purchased/donwloaded which is a nonsense. I understand that they are working on a new offering including high rez streaming for the catalog they have in HR.

[cpp]

Warner Music Group already providing music to Tidal for MQA and they do have a good share in the music, I think the rest will follow, in time once the mobile part of MQA occurs since that's where all the major users are really it. .

• Universal Music Group (USA based) — 29.85%
• Sony Music Entertainment (USA based) — 29.29%
• Warner Music Group (USA based) — 19.13%
• Independent labels — 12.11%
• EMI Group - 9.62%

What I see in the dark corners of all of this is the music companies implementing DRM to restrict unauthorized copies. And burying DRM in digital downloaded music files does just that.

[JCOConnell]

Damn, I'm happy to be ignorantly bliss just spinning my analog Lps and not bothering to fool around with all this digital chaos...

[Rhapsody]

That's great for you! Good to be happy!!! I'm ECSTATIC over this digital chaos now that it has delivered MQA streaming Tidal......most significant happening for me in the last 50 years of listening to music.

[1morerecord2clean]

Just set up my Bluesound for Tidal and subscribed. A terrible move to the dark side for me. What a time waister. Every conceivable album at my fingertips. Just spent 2 hours listening to soundtracks, jazz, classical. Then of course put on vinyl and all the difference.. if they ever get streaming to something like analog I'll never leave my chair.

[Rhapsody]

What do you mean if they ever get streaming to sound like analog, they already have.....500 albums in the Masters section.....the future is now

[1morerecord2clean]

Explain Masters Section. Where and what is it?

[Beaur]

To find the Masters. Navigate to the "Whats New" page then look for the Masters tab over to the right. If you don't have an MQA ready DAC your mileage will/may vary on the difference it makes but it definitely doens't hurt.

[Rhapsody]

Hi, If you subscribe to Tidal HiFi, then you go to albums, and then to the right it will say New - Recommended - Top 20 - Masters......click on Masters and then to the right click on "show all"....500ish MQA titles that literally sound more like vinyl than any digital than I have ever heard.

I do not know how this works or if it does with BluSound....I think at present it only works with the desktop Apple and Pc apps.

[1morerecord2clean]

Thanks. I'll check it out today. Yes Bluesound has MQA so I should hear what it has to offer

[Rust]

Color me unimpressed. Maybe when the dust clears. I've dealt with most formats from 78 on up and managed to avoid wasting money on the dead on arrival ones like Quad, El-Cassette, DVD-A, SACD and so on. Not being an early adopter has allowed me to instead upgrade basic components and expand my music collection. The same goes for video, how many competing surround sound/processing formats are there. I haven't a clue. Likewise the latest display technology, 4K, 5K, 8K, OLED or whatever the buzzword of the day. I guess I'm not a good little consumer.

It's not like the music industry has ever had any consideration for artists or consumers, only the bottom line. At some point they will likely try to kill off all physical media completely to exert complete control of content. Streaming, the next cash cow.

Not that I'm against digital media. I'm slowly archiving LPs and ripping CDs simply for convenience, not getting rid of the physical media. But then I like owning, not renting when the terms of use can change at any time and the rights of the consumer are essentially nonexistent.

Color me skeptical.

[Rhapsody]

Rust, As skeptical and unimpressed as you are I am the exact opposite after listening to MQA/Tidal streaming for the last four days. It's good to have ying and yang it keeps the universe in balance And the good part for you is that no one if forcing you to even think about MQA more less try it.

Btw, I think I was more skeptical and unimpressed than you are or at least as much after hearing MQA demos at several of the last two years shows.....Chicago, RMAF, CES, NPB. Then I heard it in my system/room and color me much more than impressed, I'm grateful.

[wisnon]

Rust, you can rip SACDs as well.

[Rust]

SACD was one of the formats I skipped. The high price for discs, the extremely limited library, the very expensive hardware. Had the format proven even mildly successful I might have bought in but I couldn't see the expense for the very limited selection of titles, and of those I considered very few of worth purchase.

I'm not debating the sound quality of the format, just the rather significant expense when it first came to market. Even now the selection is rather limited, virtually nothing I'd be interested in.

[cpp]

If folks are wondering how to set up Tidal

"Go to Settings. Select "Streaming" Make sure the HiFi/Master box is checked (unless you are a HiFi subscriber you will not have that option). Next, go to the DACs section, select your DAC and then click on the gear icon next to your DAC's name. This will put you in a second selection box where you can turn on "Use Exclusive Mode." The final box to check or not check is the "Passthrough MQA." When it is clicked and turns blue you are sending an unconverted MQA stream to your MQA-compatible DAC. When it is unchecked then the Tidal App will do the MQA conversion and send either an 88.1/24 or 96/24 stream to your non-MQA DAC.

[JCOConnell]

And whatcha all gonna do after you get hooked on MQA streaming and they jack up your bill to a hundred bucks a month? no thanks

[Rhapsody]

I would pay it happily!!!

[JCOConnell]

I already don't like paying $150 a month for sat tv

[Rust]

Products/services require a certain amount of market penetration in order to be considered financially successful. A new "format" is no different. Going much higher than current introductory pricing would assure it is no more than a niche product. As it is, the general public will take some convincing to pay for a service that they can get essentially for free albeit at lower resolution. And that service requires a new piece of gear. Audiophiles look at the potential sound quality and go "Ooooh shiny" while glossing over the viability of the business model.

As to the broader marketplace, I do not personally know anyone who even knows what MQA is. If it's still around in a couple of years and stable maybe I'll buy in.

[Tapetech]

the Tidal App will do the MQA conversion and send either an 88.1/24 or 96/24 stream to your non-MQA DAC.

I don't understand the "88.1/24 or 96/24 part". The A in MQA stands for "authenticated". As in the bit rate and sample rate should be exactly the same as the original recording whatever that original bit depth and sample rate is.. Not restricted to either 88.1/24 or 96/24. One of the main ideas behind MQA is to not alter or convert the original digital recording.

[MylesBAstor]

Good question.

[Tapetech]

Myles, this very recent post with some comments from creator Bob Stuart may explain it. Turns out if you are only using the software MQA decoder (like the Tidal app) and a non-MQA DAC, you are not getting the full MQA quality. MQA process needs to know the characteristics of the DAC so it can do the "time alignment" corrections for that particular DAC. Stuart refers to it as an "analog to analog" process. So apparently one needs a hardware MQA DAC to realize the full potential of sound quality when using Tidal.

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks!