[boxster233]

That's correct. I do not have that. and I'm on tidal HiFi

I have tidal top tier family plan and no masters for Pink Floyd for me in u.s.

 

[rkw]

Do you have a hifi membership? Do you have a DAC that shows the kind of info I mentioned above? It would be interesting to see what kind of bitstream you're getting.

Same as @trueno84 and @boxster233, I have a HiFi subscription and no Pink Floyd albums are MQA. I am in the US. It is possible that Tidal may be streaming a different version in the Czech Republic. Contracts with the record labels are separate for each country.

 

[PortableMusic]

Same as @trueno84 and @boxster233, I have a HiFi subscription and no Pink Floyd albums are MQA. I am in the US. It is possible that Tidal may be streaming a different version in the Czech Republic. Contracts with the record labels are separate for each country.

Unfortunately, ditto for me: US here as well and also not one single Pink Floyd album is MQA. Bummer.

why, Tidal, why?

this has got to be one of the best groups with great master tapes to begin with that ought to go MQA!

the albums were often engineered by Alan Parsons!!!

 

[MrWalkman]

I don't see any problem here. 16/44 is a valid MQA format and is a 16/44 FLAC file with MQA encoding. The Tidal desktop app recognizes the file as MQA and does the first unfold to 88.2 kHz. If I turn on the Passthrough MQA option, it plays at 44.1. This is consistent with how it's supposed to work. There are MQA Redbook CDs sold in Japan that play like a standard audio CD but decodes if the stream is sent to an MQA DAC.

This is also part of the controversy. Some people want the original 16/44 and don't trust the quality of encoding hi-res to 16/44.

Actually MQA files should have the default state as 24/44/48 and not 16 bit, so there is definitely an issue here.

While playing the MQA files for that album, there is no unfolding being done to 96 or any other frequency. Instead, it's being played at 16/44/48. Also, again, MQA is made to compress high frequencies, but Hi-Res files are 24 bit, not 16 bit, so again, there is something wrong here.

Regarding CD quality, as I said, just change the Tidal quality from Settings, to "HiFi". Master means that Master quality is available, but you can change the quality you want to use, and voila - HiFi will play at CD quality.

 

[rkw]

Actually MQA files should have the default state as 24/44/48 and not 16 bit, so there is definitely an issue here.

16-bit/44.1 is a valid MQA format. It is the format used on MQA Redbook audio CDs sold in Japan.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/mqa-encoded-cds-yes
Essentially Warner is using MQA-CD tracks saved as FLAC files, for online streaming. Unsurprisingly, MQA-CDs never became popular.
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/44726-mqa-cd-dead-in-the-water/

While playing the MQA files for that album, there is no unfolding being done to 96 or any other frequency.

When I play the album on the desktop Tidal app, the software unfolds it to 88 as indicated by my DAC. Does the desktop app not do this for you?
If I turn on the Passthrough MQA option, it plays at 44.
All of this would be expected for a 16/44 MQA file.

 

[iliketohideincloset]

That's correct. I do not have that. and I'm on tidal HiFi

Did you try using Tidal through a VPN with a location in Europe? I will check later if I can set mine to your location...

Edit: Just set my VPN to Singapore and still Pink Floyd is only available as Masters for me..

 

[MrWalkman]

Did you try using Tidal through a VPN with a location in Europe? I will check later if I can set mine to your location...

Edit: Just set my VPN to Singapore and still Pink Floyd is only available as Masters for me..

It's like on Netflix - there's the country you're accessing the content from, and the country of the account.

 

[iliketohideincloset]

It's like on Netflix - there's the country you're accessing the content from, and the country of the account.

Yes. It seems like it is bound to the country you registered from and your payment comes from I guess.

 

[trueno84]

Yes. It seems like it is bound to the country you registered from and your payment comes from I guess.

I tried buddy, it's bound to the country I'm registered in.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Actually MQA files should have the default state as 24/44/48 and not 16 bit, so there is definitely an issue here.

There are many 24/48 MQA files lately but at the beginning most of the were 16/44.1. And now many new 16/44.1 MQA are being added.

Regarding CD quality, as I said, just change the Tidal quality from Settings, to "HiFi". Master means that Master quality is available, but you can change the quality you want to use, and voila - HiFi will play at CD quality.

That's what I thought but it's not true. Tidal is streaming MQA *even* when you select Hifi. If a Master is available for that album and you play it at Hifi, you get a 16/44.1 MQA bitstream whether you select MQA external DAC or not.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

That's not really possible. For example, for a 24/96, everything above 48 kHz gets compressed with the MQA algorythm, so you what remains for non-MQA devices is the 24/48.

The 24/48 can't be "unfolded" to 16/48, as an unfold means expanding something, not packing it.

There has to be something else. Can you link or quote the post with the issue?

I think it's upthread from here, can't find it at the moment.

16/44.1, not 48.

However, my Brooklyn shows exactly what comes in and goes out so the facts are not in question. I just have no idea why they do this.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I can see the unfold in Audirvana I guess. On the left is the source and on the right whats played. Thats why my headphone amp/cad shows it is playing hi-res...

Thanks, that's a little hard to understand as in why somebody has a 16/88.2 master, but oh well. Anyway, that is an example of a 16/44.1 datastream for MQA

 

[UntilThen]

As soon as some one started “arguing”, I would just “smile” and say “you are right”

Anyways, debating with an open mind is always healthy, arguing is not.

 

[rkw]

Thanks, that's a little hard to understand as in why somebody has a 16/88.2 master, but oh well.

Audirvana has done the first unfold to 88.2 in software. The master may be higher resolution (a multiple of 44.1). An MQA decoding DAC will take a 16/44.1 file and expand it to the master resolution, up to 352.8. So, 44.1 decoded to 352.8... understandably some people are skeptical.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Audirvana has done the first unfold to 88.2 in software. The master may be higher resolution (a multiple of 44.1). An MQA decoding DAC will take a 16/44.1 file and expand it to the master resolution, up to 352.8. So, 44.1 decoded to 352.8... understandably some people are skeptical.

That wasn't what I found odd. My question was who would use a 16 bit master at 88 KHz? I would have thought they should have used 24 bit depth.