CES 2017: MQA announces TIDAL Masters, and more

[dglow]

Well, I'm willing to endure MQA so long as we have pure software players/decoders which perform the first unfolding and output bog-standard PCM.
 
Why? Because 1) the first unfolding gets us past the sub-standard redbook layer; 2) software decoding means we can ignore this 'authorized hardware' nonsense; 3) the most audible jump in SQ for high-rez comes between 1x (44/48) and 2x (88/96) sample rates; 4x is diminishing returns.
 
I'm just glad MQA decided to offer the software option. When first announced it didn't sound like they would. 

 

[doggiemom]

Tidal has added A Masters section under Playlists.
Playlists must suffer from volume level differences across songs.

I'm really enjoying the playlists.  It is nice to see Tidal featuring something other than R&B and hip hop.  Listening to the Americana playlist now.

 

[pdickerson]

I hate the slow UI with Tidal, and all those music videos (to hell with those). Spotify is way faster to use. Im going back to Spotify the moment they go lossless too. Ill just spend the difference between the two purchasing one hdtracks album a month, as usually the album I purchase is an album I end up listening alot to..

That is one one the most logical responses I have read here.

 

[pdickerson]

I have really enjoyed the albums on MQA pretty much exclusively over the past 2 months. But TIDAL is one serious piece of crap. Deezer interface blows it away, Spotify wipes it up. JC Penny just shut down 138+ stores. I heard a Rumor they were going to lunch a new lossless+DSD+HIDef+MQA site.

 

[OldRoadToad]

Q
 

In your opinion.

I would guess that you haven't given it a protracted audition with an open mind, since you've already decided that it's all just an obvious marketing scam.

Many of us really like MQA sound quality, and for many of us it has nothing to do with an indicator light nor any other form of suggestion or validation.

Just musical quality.

​Why, pray tell, would any one with an iota of smartses want to strain to hear that which is not audible but rather, audiBULL.
 
And just what in the name of the Belly of the Buddha is "time smear" and how is it heard by humans?  Sounds like a test women get called a "pap smear" or the one we older men get that is jokingly called a "poop smear".  Time smear must be the audio equivalent of poop smear.
 
Some people suffer from Zelig Syndrome.  They want to be one of the cool kids, even if it means sacrificing the truth that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes.  And now you justify your disbelief of my having heard MQA and pronounce it a fraud by saying, "I guess that you haven't given it a protracted audition with an open mind".    Grasping at straws for the sake of the Kool-Aid is beneath you. I believe you are smarter than this but suffer from the aforementioned Zelig Syndrome as so many neophyte frAudiophiles do.  They want to belong.  They want to sit at the lunch table with Fonzie. 
 
I am far too Alpha Nerd to give up my testicular fortitude.  And again, nothing personal just as I do not think any thing you have said is personal but rather in defense of what you believe and with a sense of humor. My thoughts are what I think with a touch of humor too.
 
 
ORT

 

[chaturanga]

Good news! Recent USB Audio Player Pro update added MQA playing capability for Tidal MQA tracks (Bit perfect should be ON), through MQA supporting DACs (I think currently only Meridian Explorer 2)
 
I just tried with Lemonade album and boom. Blue light is ON!

 

[jwbrent]

​What I find disgusting is this -  If you want MQA's hands up the dress of every DAC and music producer and in doing so, force those who do not want this tripe to have to pay for it all the same, then to Hades with that.  Follow the money.  Your opinion is valid for you, not I.  It does not give MQA license to take my hard earned money by forcing every one to pay for some thing that the truth of the matter is none can hear in a genuine double-bind test. 

You "feel more connected to the music"?  Really.  No offence (and I was not offended) but just what does this mean?  I can hear a song on an AM radio and if it has meaning to me, i.e., it brings forth a memory or memories associated with a period of time in my life, I do not need some DSP for that.  I do not need "deblurring" or "unfolding" of either the memories or music.  My feelings toward a particular song do not require a light coming on to tell me that the Turtles "Happy Together" makes me think back to when I was a child and all that entails. 

Did the light tell you MQA  was on?  Can you double blind and pick it out every time?  Or are you caught up in the hype of the tailors of MQA and now repeat their buzzwords as rote?  "Deblurring" and "unfolding" are two biggies for these thieves and are so far exclusive to the MQA "experience".  MQA has become the newest variation on the theme of the frAudiophile's Scientology.  

"Bigger, grander soundstage"!  "Instruments floating in air but still positioned with laser like accuracy!"  "Transparency so clear I could see and hear right through it !"  And more.  These people are full of themselves.  They berate those that speak the truth with such retorts as "You're deaf"  or "Did you critically listen to the wire, cable, M&Ms on the tops of the speakers", etc.

ORT
.

I find your reply incomprehensible. Peace.

 

[Left Channel]

  Good news! Recent USB Audio Player Pro update added MQA playing capability for Tidal MQA tracks (Bit perfect should be ON), through MQA supporting DACs (I think currently only Meridian Explorer 2)
 
I just tried with Lemonade album and boom. Blue light is ON!

Have you found a way to identify MQA albums other than just playing each version of an album until your DAC lights up? UAPP seems a step behind Tidal, which just rolled out MQA labels.
 
Sometime there are three versions of an album side-by-side: old, remastered, and MQA. Can't even tell by drilling down and looking at most track labels. Several taps are needed to get in and out of each album, because when you exit an album you're taken back to the playing queue each time.
 
I guess the only way do this right now would be to reorganize in the desktop app first, maybe replacing everything in "My Albums" with MQA versions. No?  I don't have an MQA DAC, and the developers of UAPP have not licensed MQA 1x software decoding — nor do I expect them to pay for that at this time — but I am exploring the interface for MQA features and so far I find it very frustrating.

 

[jwbrent]

I like that.  Dude you should use that in your signature.

Edit: Now that I've thought about it some more Bob Stuart is the cross between Hubbard and Noel Lee.  All of the jibber jabber reminds me of Lee.

Why this hate towards Bob Stuart?

Meridian has been developing high end digital sound going back to the early 80s. They have earned a reputation for state of the art gear. I was lucky enough to own their top end, 808 CD player, and at the time it was revelatory.

Due to my experience with the company, I trust that Bob Stuart is amply qualified to put together a team to take digital audio further, and so I view his efforts regarding MQA as a continuation of 40 years of repeated success, enviable success for that matter.

It sounds like this thread has some Linn acolytes given the harsh words on display.

 

[chaturanga]

 
Have you found a way to identify MQA albums other than just playing each version of an album until your DAC lights up? UAPP seems a step behind Tidal, which just rolled out MQA labels.
 
Sometime there are three versions of an album side-by-side: old, remastered, and MQA. Can't even tell by drilling down and looking at most track labels. Several taps are needed to get in and out of each album, because when you exit an album you're taken back to the playing queue each time.
 
I guess the only way do this right now would be to reorganize in the desktop app first, maybe replacing everything in "My Albums" with MQA versions. No?  I don't have an MQA DAC, and the developers of UAPP have not licensed MQA 1x software decoding — nor do I expect them to pay for that at this time — but I am exploring the interface for MQA features and so far I find it very frustrating.

 
I could not find a way to easly list MQA albums on Tidal Mobile app or UAPP. As you know recently Tidal added an M letter to show Master tracks on desktop app. May be they will add this M on mobile too. For now, it seems only way is finding MQA album list from Tidal desktop and search them through UAPP and make a playlist on UAPP for MQA albums. 

 

[OldRoadToad]

I find your reply incomprehensible. Peace.

​Do not pretend to be ignorant.  Doing so only serves to make you appear so to the general public.
 
I was alive in the 60s.  "Peace" is hippy-speak for "I have nothing of worth to add", only subjective feelings that can not be proven scientifically by a double blind test.
 
You seek to discredit my words by your passivity which is some what akin to demonstrators/trespassers  going limp when being arrested.  It does not work.
 
Do as you desire but do not expect the normal folk of the audio world to stand for being made to pay for MQA when they neither want nor need it.
 
ORT

 

[OldRoadToad]

Why this hate towards Bob Stuart?

Meridian has been developing high end digital sound going back to the early 80s. They have earned a reputation for state of the art gear. I was lucky enough to own their top end, 808 CD player, and at the time it was revelatory.

Due to my experience with the company, I trust that Bob Stuart is amply qualified to put together a team to take digital audio further, and so I view his efforts regarding MQA as a continuation of 40 years of repeated success, enviable success for that matter.

It sounds like this thread has some Linn acolytes given the harsh words on display.

​Not hate.  Disgust. But you more than likely knew that so why you chose that word is known only to you.   
 
And the truth is only "harsh" to those that would run from it like a cockroach from a kitchen light.  You are not a roach.
 
Years ago I fooled a frAudiophile friend that would often make fun of my stereo into thinking I had a new high end CD player.  I had borrowed such a player and had hooked it up but instead of actually playing the CD through that player I played an identical CD through a cheap portable CD player.  Not knowing this and only hearing with his eyes and ego, he waxed euphoric over the liquidity and fluidity and mucalifragelisticexpealidociousness of it all.
 
And then I showed him the truth.  He was humiliated and deservedly so.  A cheapo Yorx had fooled him because he listened with eyes and his EGO.
 
We do not talk much but we are still friends and he laughs about it because that is all he can do. He was pwned big time. 
 
ORT

 

[dglow]

 

 
Have you found a way to identify MQA albums other than just playing each version of an album until your DAC lights up? UAPP seems a step behind Tidal, which just rolled out MQA labels.
 
Sometime there are three versions of an album side-by-side: old, remastered, and MQA. Can't even tell by drilling down and looking at most track labels. Several taps are needed to get in and out of each album, because when you exit an album you're taken back to the playing queue each time.
 
I guess the only way do this right now would be to reorganize in the desktop app first, maybe replacing everything in "My Albums" with MQA versions. No?  I don't have an MQA DAC, and the developers of UAPP have not licensed MQA 1x software decoding — nor do I expect them to pay for that at this time — but I am exploring the interface for MQA features and so far I find it very frustrating.

 
I could not find a way to easly list MQA albums on Tidal Mobile app or UAPP. As you know recently Tidal added an M letter to show Master tracks on desktop app. May be they will add this M on mobile too. For now, it seems only way is finding MQA album list from Tidal desktop and search them through UAPP and make a playlist on UAPP for MQA albums. 

Unless I am mistaken MQA tracks are not available through Tidal Mobile. 

 

[rkw]

Unless I am mistaken MQA tracks are not available through Tidal Mobile. 

 
Yes MQA tracks are available through Tidal Mobile. You can favorite an MQA track or album in the desktop app and it will appear in the mobile app, which will play it in HiFi resolution. The mobile app doesn't do software MQA unfolding but the bits can be streamed to an external DAC that has MQA capability.

 

[jwbrent]

Yes MQA tracks are available through Tidal Mobile. You can favorite an MQA track or album in the desktop app and it will appear in the mobile app, which will play it in HiFi resolution. The mobile app doesn't do software MQA unfolding but the bits can be streamed to an external DAC that has MQA capability.

Didn't know this, thank you.