MQA actually tested


I got a Tidal subscription a few months ago with the hope of streaming hi res music rather than continuing to buy WAAYY overpriced files from HD tracks and the like....and while the Tidal catalogue is great, some of the Master files just seemed a bit, well, not so masterful. So I decided to listen to Master files in Tidal (full unfold) and compare them to 24/96 min FLAC that I already own, and there wasn’t a single file I owned that did not sound better in clarity and extension than the “Master” file I was comparing it to on Tidal.

I had heard a lot of thoughts from different manufacturers about MQA and just put them down as interesting but not proven since none of them offered anything but their opinion...no testing etc.

then I came across this vid (. https://youtu.be/pRjsu9-Vznc ) last night from a guy who managed to actually test MQA on Tidal using files he created and had loaded onto Tidal. VERY interesting results. First real tests I have seen of MQA and I can now see why my FLAC sounds better to me.
Might have to check out alternatives.

ukthunderace

Showing 2 responses by guy-incognito

I happened to watch the same video just yesterday. It supports much of the negative rumblings surrounding MQA. The lack of transparency and the questionable marketing claims is pretty disturbing. I use Tidal and Qobuz currently but I typically prefer the hi-res Qobuz file over the Tidal Master when both are available. 
I don't think it's as black and white as everyone wants it to be. MQA is not lossless and the filtering adds distortion, I don't think anyone other than MQA would argue with that. That doesn't mean someone won't like the way it sounds.  The part that bothers me most with MQA is the marketing statements that don't align with reality and how they go out of the way to make it hard to test any marketing claims that are made. If MQA did what it said I don't see what harm there is in letting 3rd party testers validate that.

In regards to why companies are adding MQA support to devices I think Paul McGowan from PS Audio hit the nail on the head. Customers are asking for it. It's a business move. 

Like most things in this hobby, listen for yourself and decide what you like. I have a non MQA DAC and find that letting my Aurender do the first unfold on MQA tracks tends to sound pretty good to me. So that's how I listen to Tidal. Comparing that first unfold on Tidal to anything Hi-Res on Qobuz I find I tend to like the Qobuz offering better. So when available I always listen to the Qobuz Hi-Res version.