[Left Channel]

Bandwidth is still an issue here in the US. I have AT&T “unlimited” plan, but they start throttling speeds after 23 gig in a month. I usually hit that with 4 or 5 days left in my billing cycle, and then my streaming gets choppy and unreliable until the next cycle hits. MQA helps, but I’ve been using Qobuz lately and that murders my data allowance. I can’t hear a difference in MQA and Qobuz hi-res. I’ve started downloading more and trying to watch less YouTube, but I really don’t like the hassle of having to worry about how much data I used. They should change the name, it’s certainly not unlimited.

I have my Tidal and Qobuz apps set to stream at Master/Hi-Res only on Wi-Fi, and at CD quality on mobile. As I'm sure you know, the settings can go as low as 320 kbps on Qobuz and 96 kbps on Tidal. I also stream internet radio stations at 32 kbps on cellular data, but at higher resolutions on Wi-Fi.

Video's the real data gobbler in most comparisons. With video and music on their lowest quality settings, video consumes almost seven times more data than music. As you ratchet them up equally (music from 96 kbps to CD, and video from 240p to HD), the gap only grows. And if you leave the video at its lowest quality setting, it still consumes three times more than 320 kbps music: https://www.androidcentral.com/how-much-data-does-streaming-media-use

CD quality at 1411 kbps uses about 500 MB an hour, which is still less than all but the lowest-quality video. MQA streams are not a lot larger than that, but it's from there to full Hi-Res where music starts catching up to video. 24-bit VBR Hi-Res streams will eat up from ~1.1 to 5 times as much as CD streams, equivalent to HD video at the highest resolutions.

 

[Tenashus1]

That's exactly right: Bandwidth is still a big deal in USA. Unlimited plans from big carriers cost $100/month (less for additional phones on a family plan). And even those have data caps, as described by @abirdie4me.

In comparison, my wife and I paid $15/month for plans with 15GB LTE data, when we were in Denmark last year. And that country is generally much more expensive than USA in almost every other way.

This is what happens when a country lets big companies and industry write their own legislation and fill the seats in the regulatory bodies that are meant to oversee them: What was supposed to be fierce competition driven by a free market, becomes actual lack of competition, when a few players can comfortably divide the market between them -- as long as they appear to be competing, of course.

Edit: I should add that AT&T's CEO received $29 million in compensation last year, and their stock pays 6% dividend. So the model is working for some

For me, MQA is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I'm not an acoustical engineer, but to me MQA sounds so clear and present it adds a whole new dimension to my listening. I find the sound to be superior to standard FLAC. An absolutely significant difference to my hearing. With all due respects, I cannot understand when others don't hear the difference. I hope that very soon more albums will be presented in the MQA format. I love it.

 

[abirdie4me]

I have my Tidal and Qobuz apps set to stream at Master/Hi-Res only on Wi-Fi, and at CD quality on mobile.

Yep, I do the same. I'm probably an edge user in that I stream a lot on mobile since I'm often at client sites and don't want to use their wifi because they can monitor what I'm doing (nothing bad, but don't want them thinking they are paying me to listen to music all day). I do sometimes reduce settings or just not stream for a while, but I'd much rather just set it at max quality and enjoy without having to worry about it.

First world problem, i really shouldn't be complaining about it.

 

[Left Channel]

Yep, I do the same. I'm probably an edge user in that I stream a lot on mobile since I'm often at client sites and don't want to use their wifi because they can monitor what I'm doing (nothing bad, but don't want them thinking they are paying me to listen to music all day). I do sometimes reduce settings or just not stream for a while, but I'd much rather just set it at max quality and enjoy without having to worry about it.

First world problem, i really shouldn't be complaining about it.

VPN can help you hide the music on Wi-Fi. It would keep you safer on Starbucks' and other public Wi-Fi too.

 

[abirdie4me]

VPN can help you hide the music on Wi-Fi. It would keep you safer on Starbucks' and other public Wi-Fi too.

Thanks. I'm an Information Security consultant, so I'm quite familiar with VPN options. Most of my clients lock down their Guest wifi so that vpns won't work (often based on my firm's recommendation).

 

[Left Channel]

Thanks. I'm an Information Security consultant, so I'm quite familiar with VPN options. Most of my clients lock down their Guest wifi so that vpns won't work (often based on my firm's recommendation).

Ah-hah, so you're the culprits! OK, guess the only solution is 5G. Or not.

 

[masterpfa]

It really doesn't matter. MQA seems kinda dumb to me since nobody needs compression or worries about bandwidth in 2019.

But it sounds good to me so I listen to it.

Speak for yourself
I have Netflix, Amazon Prime, BT Vision and I work from home.

If I have any combination of 2 products in use even with my 60Mb connection, Qobuz trying to play 192Khz files stutters and splutters then skips to the next track and this continues until I stop Qobuz playback, whereas Tidal doesn't on ant file Flac or MQA

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I don't have the disappearing gapless issue only one guy seems to be complaining about all the time.

But I did notice the last 5 or six times I started the Windows desktop app my sound quality setting was set to hi instead of Master. Looks like an advantageous bug for Tidal.

No, I set it on Master and I meant it....

 

[saintintn]

So, here's my question. I've got an iPhone X with CCM and Dragonfly Black. Masters are playing great and fully unfolded.

The question is when using an iPad Air or later (with the headphone jack) is the Tidal software unwrapping the mqa if I connect my headphones to the iPad Air headphone jack? At least with my MacBook Pro that is my understanding, that the Tidal desktop software does unfold the mqa so that what you are hearing through your headphones is the true Masters quality version.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

So, here's my question. I've got an iPhone X with CCM and Dragonfly Black. Masters are playing great and fully unfolded.

The question is when using an iPad Air or later (with the headphone jack) is the Tidal software unwrapping the mqa if I connect my headphones to the iPad Air headphone jack? At least with my MacBook Pro that is my understanding, that the Tidal desktop software does unfold the mqa so that what you are hearing through your headphones is the true Masters quality version.

I don't have iAnything but if it's like the Windows desktop app then yeah, the default is to unfold via software. If you have an MQA-capable DAC you go to the extra streaming settings and you can choose Exclusive Mode (on Windows anyway), Fixed volume (good idea for all digital playback) and Passthru MQA.

 

[saintintn]

This is what I’m seeing in the Roon app on my iPad mini.

 

[Tenashus1]

So I downloaded Qubuz to compare with TIDAL. Qubuz hi rez vs. TIDAL MQA. Sometimes Qubuz sounds maybe a tad better, most of the time TIDAL MQA sounds better. Qubuz is $5 more per month than TIDAL. Qubuz hi rez albums that are available are quite nearly similar to the MQA offering on TIDAL. Why should I ever choose Qubuz over TIDAL? Anyone see anything that I'm not seeing? Opinions as to which is preferable.

 

[Dannemand]

So I downloaded Qubuz to compare with TIDAL. Qubuz hi rez vs. TIDAL MQA. Sometimes Qubuz sounds maybe a tad better, most of the time TIDAL MQA sounds better. Qubuz is $5 more per month than TIDAL. Qubuz hi rez albums that are available are quite nearly similar to the MQA offering on TIDAL. Why should I ever choose Qubuz over TIDAL? Anyone see anything that I'm not seeing? Opinions as to which is preferable.

Thank you for that useful comparison. So no need for me to wonder if the grass might be greener on the Qobuz side. At least for now.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

This is what I’m seeing in the Roon app on my iPad mini.

Looks good to me except I am not familiar with that app and I would turn off sample rate conversion. I hate Roon. I realize I'm in the minority, but I hate Roon like other people hate MQA.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

So I downloaded Qubuz to compare with TIDAL. Qubuz hi rez vs. TIDAL MQA. Sometimes Qubuz sounds maybe a tad better, most of the time TIDAL MQA sounds better. Qubuz is $5 more per month than TIDAL. Qubuz hi rez albums that are available are quite nearly similar to the MQA offering on TIDAL. Why should I ever choose Qubuz over TIDAL? Anyone see anything that I'm not seeing? Opinions as to which is preferable.

Here Quboz is about 2X the price of Tidal hifi. Well, that's technically not true since Quboz is not offered here. But if I compare the UK price to Tidal hifi in Czech Republic it is.

I don't think anybody has sound quality issues with either service. Tidal user interface is terrible, Windows app is crap. Haven't used Quboz so I don't know. I think it mostly comes down to the catalogs. If you find one of them has most of the music you want get the cheaper one.