MQA Deep Dive - I published tracks on Tidal to test MQA

[A Jedi]

And yet, many people enjoy the sound. So it really doesn't matter what the technicalities or social issues are. Some people just prefer it to Spotify, Apple music etc.

So if someone sold you a CD player that turned out to be an 8 track but you liked it you'd be happy? Nothing wrong if you do - just trying to "unfold" your mentality.

 

[ian91]

just trying to "unfold" your mentality

I think this might be a lost cause...but all my respect for attempting to reach an understanding of mind.

 

[Coztomba]

Just canceled my Tidal for Qobuz. Question, I've only just started using Roon. Right now have have both Tidal and Qobuz added as services and my favorited artists and playlists etc have all come from Tidal. When my sub ends in 10 days will all this disappear? Or is that info all in Roon now?

Sorry if this is sidetracking the thread.

 

[mammal]

When my sub ends in 10 days will all this disappear?

If you go to Roon > Settings > Services and log out of Tidal, you will see that all of your Tidal related favourites/albums/artists will disappear.

 

[Coztomba]

If you go to Roon > Settings > Services and log out of Tidal, you will see that all of your Tidal related favourites/albums/artists will disappear.

Damn. I was hoping it might be an easy way to move things across. Thanks for the info.

 

[mammal]

Damn. I was hoping it might be an easy way to move things across. Thanks for the info.

There are services that can help you to move your Tidal library to Qobuz, have a look at soundiiz.com (I used them for Deezer to Tidal transfer in the past)

 

[apmusson]

There are services that can help you to move your Tidal library to Qobuz, have a look at soundiiz.com (I used them for Deezer to Tidal transfer in the past)

I've just used Tunemymusic to move my library (albums, playlists and tracks) from tidal to qobuz. All went smoothly and it reported all the tracks that weren't able to be moved (43 out of 4900).

 

[JES]

Damn. I was hoping it might be an easy way to move things across. Thanks for the info.

I used this to go from Spotify to Amazon HD when I trialed that: https://musconv.com/

It did a good job. I immediately cancelled the service after the "transfer". It cost $5.59. I had to email them to cancel. They were super friendly about it though.

I manually moved to Qobuz from Spotify. It allowed me to choose the specific versions of certain tracks, and I used the experience to add to (and detract from) my overall list.

 

[ubs28]

Tidal never sounded the same as my local high-resolution music. So I knew it was crap.

The only reason why I still have Tidal is because I got an amazing deal.

However I would never pay full price for it.

This needs to blow up more, and MQA need to answer for this ..

Don’t people know about this themselves? Just take a local high-resolution track and then compare it to Tidal and there is difference.

So Tidal is obviously doing something weird.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

You have to compare the same exact master. When you compare some track off a streaming service to something you have, how do you know what you're comparing?

None of the streaming services I saw give you any info on the master they serve. That makes it impossible to compare anything.

Some of the stuff that sounds great on MQA includes Van Morrison albums and Elton John's Captain Fantastic. They sound like the vinyl I have, very analog.

 

[littlej0e]

And yet, many people enjoy the sound. So it really doesn't matter what the technicalities or social issues are. Some people just prefer it to Spotify, Apple music etc.

I have no doubt some people would prefer the taste of McDonald’s hamburgers if they were made from humans. But can you honestly say it would be ok to eat them? Especially if they advertised they are made from something else like old shoes? If so, that’s fine. That doesn’t necessarily make it wrong. The bulk of consumers just don’t like being lied to (more specifically, I think people hate finding out they’ve been lied to).

 

[AxelCloris]

We've gone through the thread and removed a number of off-topic posts and personal comments from the discussion. Thank you to everyone who kept their posts within the guidelines, we appreciate it. Let's please keep the discussion focused on the OP's post rather than each other. Thanks everyone.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

There are services that can help you to move your Tidal library to Qobuz, have a look at soundiiz.com (I used them for Deezer to Tidal transfer in the past)

I use Soundiiz to sync my Spotify and Tidal playlists. It works great. Easy to use and you can sync on a daily basis if you want.

 

[littlej0e]

You have to compare the same exact master. When you compare some track off a streaming service to something you have, how do you know what you're comparing?

None of the streaming services I saw give you any info on the master they serve. That makes it impossible to compare anything.

Some of the stuff that sounds great on MQA includes Van Morrison albums and Elton John's Captain Fantastic. They sound like the vinyl I have, very analog.

Neil Young already compared the “masters” for you and pulled his music from Tidal specifically because they weren’t his real masters and sounded differently with MQA:

“TIDAL is calling their files of my songs Masters. But TIDAL’s MQA files are not my masters. I make my masters – not TIDAL. I made my masters the way I wanted them to sound. If TIDAL referred to their titles as TIDAL MASTERS, I would have no problem, but they don’t. They call them Masters. I had my music removed from that platform. They are not my masters.”

Tidal’s master is a degradation of the original to make it fit in a box that collects royalties. MQA is the company supplying technology to TIDAL. In their own official descriptions they go into what they did to my original files. They altered them and charge a royalty. I feel that my master files are in no way improved. They are degraded and manipulated. I made them. I know the difference. I can hear it.”

Pretty much the exact comparison you were asking for.

This combined with GoldenOne’s fine detective work, and many manufacturers previously coming out against MQA (despite the fact they feel commercially compelled to support it) doesn’t paint a very flattering picture of MQA or Tidal in this instance. I don’t think the actual sound of MQA is the problem. I think knowingly misleading people is and it appears that is exactly what MQA has been doing for a while now.

 

[OmniscientNihilist]

i didnt read the whole thread

ive noticed some flac showing up on pirate sites that claims to be from an mqa tidal source

so far i dont know the details on those. if mqa is being ripped from tidal and then converted to flac or whats happening. but if mqa is not lossless and then its being converted to flac that would mean those flacs are upscaled. and therefore not true lossless flacs

any ideas?

because formats with royalties and drm tend to increase piracy.