Tidal ditch MQA

[Jim Audiomisc]

The antagonists should consider very carefully what they might have shot down here. If all the MQA tracks revert to 44.1/16 and the push for higher resolution formats loses momentum the audiophile community will have lost a very great deal in my view.

You conflate two different issues for your IF and presumed outcome.

It seems reasonable to me that If people continue to want genuine hi-rez then suppliers will follow the money and supply it. Ones who do - at a price - will gain added income compared with those who fail.

Similarly, MQA would be a market success if people flock to buy it.

The decision simply hinges on market forces, not on engineering.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

It highlights the need for continuing support from the streamer manufacturers.
There’s some concern amongst Arcam users, particularly of SA30 units that Arcam haven’t confirmed that they intend to switch on streaming above 44.1 FLAC. It supports full res files in MQA but only seems to get to 44.1 on a straight FLAC file and obviously those nice MQA files disappear in July. The problem seems to be at the Arcam end and not the Tidal end. I think it might affect the ST60 as well. These units are still being sold by dealers and are only three years old at a maximum.
Arcam might yet update the service but it’s a clear warning that any expensive streamer is a gamble, particularly where there are a number of companies involved as in this case with Tidal and Arcam.

Do Arcam have to pay a fee for providing MQA support? If so, maybe they have decided it isn't worth the sixpence to get a promised moon...

 

[Tony L]

It seems reasonable to me that If people continue to want genuine hi-rez then suppliers will follow the money and supply it. Ones who do - at a price - will gain added income compared with those who fail.

Similarly, MQA would be a market success if people flock to buy it.

The decision simply hinges on market forces, not on engineering.

I’m sure that is what is happening. We are not far off being able to reliably stream high-res audio over cellular networks to smartphones pretty much anywhere populated. Very few if any audiophiles will have internet connections so poor they can’t manage the bandwidth considering 4k video streaming is now normal behaviour. As such MQA, even if it worked or was honest, serves no discernible purpose. It just makes no sense in today’s marketplace.

I suspect Tidal are responding to the better sounding (why, I’m not sure!) Qobuz and will be junking the propriety MQA format to compete with 24/96 or 24/192 Flac. That certainly seems to be how most fresh content is served up, with a fair bit in 24/44.1, 24/48 and some older stuff in 16/44.1.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

Sadly, one outcome may be that - as with HDCD - we may in future get reissues of material unknowingly based on reprocessing material in an MQA file.

It is difficult to unscramble an egg - particularly when you don't notice that it is scrambled. 8-]

Maybe one of my reasons for doubting MQA was that a fair part of my work during one period in the past was related to steganography.

 

[Tony L]

Sadly, one outcome may be that - as with HDCD - we may in future get reissues of material unknowingly based on reprocessing material in an MQA file.

The one advantage here is no material was originally mastered or physically released in MQA. It is only a post-manipulation, and it has been limited to specific streaming services. That’s very different to HDCD where many titles original 16/44.1 CD release was in that format. As such I think MQA will hopefully prove far easier to erase. It was really nothing but a transient marketing scam for some online services. It doesn’t really exist in any artists or labels archives. As Tidal purge it from their servers it will hopefully fade away. In many ways it can be viewed as a transport mechanism, just a means of getting a stream from point A (streaming service) to point B (home user) at one point in time.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

Yes. FWIW I just got the new box in the Joni Mitchell Archives series. Hopefully, none of these are infected by HDCD as they are claimed to be remastered from the original master tapes. Some of her earlier CDs got saddled with HDCD problems.

 

[Iain Docherty]

The one advantage here is no material was originally mastered or physically released in MQA. It is only a post-manipulation, and it has been limited to specific streaming services. That’s very different to HDCD where many titles original 16/44.1 CD release was in that format. As such I think MQA will hopefully prove far easier to erase. It was really nothing but a transient marketing scam for some online services. It doesn’t really exist in any artists or labels archives. As Tidal purge it from their servers it will hopefully fade away. In many ways it can be viewed as a transport mechanism, just a means of getting a stream from point A (streaming service) to point B (home user) at one point in time.

Reading this thread, I’m reminded of this, which caused quite the stir at the time IIRC. https://www.linn.co.uk/us/blog/mqa-is-bad-for-music-heres-why

 

[Tony L]

Reading this thread, I’m reminded of this, which caused quite the stir at the time IIRC. https://www.linn.co.uk/us/blog/mqa-is-bad-for-music-heres-why

That is a very good article/premonition. Linn clearly saw it as what it was long before the penny had dropped for many of us.

PS I was in the ‘meh/don’t care/doesn’t affect me’ category until the ruse was fully exposed. It is only after taking out a Tidal subscription a month or two ago that I first saw it in the wild (not that I can decode it).