[iFi audio]

Okie thanks! I was a bit confused whether it was good or not but and i guess i will stay in tidal!

The best way would be to have a listen and find out for yourself

 

[GoldenSound]

Part 2 is now up:

 

[Brava210]

I have used Tidal for years, I have never liked the pushing of certain artists for example
Jay Z, Beyonce being top of the "New" Album list for at least 18 months?, how is that possible.
Now a lot of my favourite albums have been tagged - Master- and ruined the sound.
Amazon, Apple are now at least half the price I cannot see it surviving especially with the MESS that is MQA.

 

[ubs28]

Tidal is going to be extinct soon. Qobuz was not really something to worry about despite offering real lossless audio as they were priced too high (Tidal was kind to offer big discounts, so I never paid full price for Tidal) and was more difficult to find music on.

But now Apple is also going to offer lossless audio at a much lower price. Tidal is done for with their crappy MQA.

MQA is just for making money, not for sound quality and that is what is going to be the downfall of Tidal with other players joining the market now.

 

[Signal2Noise]

…I have never liked the pushing of certain artists for example
Jay Z, Beyonce being top of the "New" Album list for at least 18 months?, how is that possible.
...

Erm…because Jay-Z is/was a majority stake holder of Tidal and now is member of their board of directors. And Beyoncé is Jay-Z’s wife. Tidal is his platform to promote their music. #1 reason why I never subscribed.

 

[ClieOS]

MQA = Monetized Quasi-scientific Abomination

 

[Brava210]

I was being Sarcastic, I know he owns a majority share, it just makes a mockery of the Tidal Top Album listing

 

[RagnarL]

MQA is great if your device can do full mqa unfolding, I have both Tidal and Qobuz in my Astell Kern Spkm gold and Shanling m8 and Cambridge audio at home and mqa files do sound really nice, not worse than hi res from qobuz but save me much more memory on the memory cards of my daps.

 

[Brava210]

MQA is great if your device can do full mqa unfolding, I have both Tidal and Qobuz in my Astell Kern Spkm gold and Shanling m8 and Cambridge audio at home and mqa files do sound really nice, not worse than hi res from qobuz but save me much more memory on the memory cards of my daps.

I think the mqa files are just louder/padded out to sound better.
The album's I know intimately that have now had the Master stamp are now louder and squidgy.

 

[JES]

... squidgy.

I had to look this word up lol

 

[RagnarL]

MQA or HI RES, who cares? here you can find a popular video from the audio experts saying that hi res music is a trickery and actually people fail A/B tests when listening to 16/44 and 24/192 and somites even mp3 files.

 

[mammal]

MQA or HI RES, who cares? here you can find a popular video from the audio experts saying that hi res music is a trickery and actually people fail A/B tests when listening to 16/44 and 24/192 and somites even mp3 files.

I think part of the issue people have with MQA is their marketing claims. The lack of transparency I guess. Also, I can only assume that your DAC has the licence fee priced in, increasing the cost of the unit. I for one don't care much, as I fail the basic mp3 vs flac test. But I understand others who are unhappy too.

 

[Signal2Noise]

I buy high-res 24-bit albums on occasion because I like seeing the “HR” and/or gold dot stamp on various device displays.

 

[Left Channel]

<Media>

MQA or HI RES, who cares? here you can find a popular video from the audio experts saying that hi res music is a trickery and actually people fail A/B tests when listening to 16/44 and 24/192 and somites even mp3 files.

And here's an academic study that shows some people can't hear any difference, while others can. Among those who can, many are able to describe it only in emotional terms.

http://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/~mas03dm/papers/SoundQuality_WilliamsonSouthMullensiefen_ICMPC2014.pdf

I can hear it well, but I'm jealous of those who can't. Because their wallets stay thicker.

 

[BobSmith8901]

FWIW if anyone wasn't aware, it was reported back in March that Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey bought a majority stake in Tidal. It's Dorsey's Square that is buying the majority stake. Sounds like Tidal will probably survive for the foreseeable future with his cash war chest.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/04/square-acquiring-a-majority-stake-in-jay-zs-tidal.html