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In Reply to: RE: Mastersound (MQA) on Tidal streaming posted by TubeDriver on January 05, 2017 at 16:50:30
Sounds great. Re subscribed, listening to the doors self titled album now, this is great.
Follow Ups:
Tidal is not decoding MQA internally. The native MQA files are 24/96 or 24/88 without the lower bits which are used for the MQA high frequency
encoding
Here is a direct Quote from MQA"According to MQA's website, while Tidal is one of the select streaming services with MQA playback, you will still need a device or software with an MQA decoder in order to hear the songs in their full master-quality glory. Those without such devices can still hear the MQA-processed songs at a higher quality than CD. At press time, 14 companies offer devices capable of playing back MQA converted files in their richest form, including Pioneer and Technics."
Alan
Edits: 01/05/17
This makes sense. I am not getting whatever benefit is derived from having a MQA capable DAC but I am getting some resolution higher than 16/44.
I actually heard a couple pauses/drop outs at the start of some songs. This is something I have never had to deal with before since I am on 150GB/s Fios connection.
... otherwise digital streams out of Tidal would be redbook only.
When passthrough is DISENGAGED, meaning Tidal is decoding the stream, digital outputs from Tidal are 96/24. When passthrough is enabled, digital streams out of Tidal are redbook.
That is not correct. The stream from Tidal is the same as always. The additional information for the hi-rez is "folded" within the standard audio stream but can be "unfolded" by an MQA decoder. If you haven't got an MQA decoding DAC then that additional information is just ignored.
... it says so on the App itself :)
Are you on a Mac-in my tidal app under streaming tab I do not have all those options-only normal, hifi and masters-none of the other options on my Mac desktop app?
Go to the Ac listed below, click on the the little sprocket and you will see 3 options
1) exclusive access
2) disable volume
3) disable MQA software function
Apologies. I think that you are right. Also, Tidal seem to have announced at CES that their desktop app does the decoding.
thanks for that, I just cancelled tidal again after signing up yesterday. good to know, I'm not buying into MQA, especially for the very few albums they got there.
it did sound pretty good, but knowing this and the limited availability of albums, just not worth it IMHO.
Ther will be lots of MQA albums on Tidal. It just started and it is already increasing. Also please understand that Tidal is not decoding MQA
Go to the MQA site and they make it very clear that you need an outboard dac with a built in decoder
Alan
Ok, something may not be working as it should.I just compared a Master album on Tidal with a CD burned and replayed through JRMC21, Natalie Merchant's TigerLilly. The song "Seven Years" sounds completely different. The Tidal Master version has much more bass emphasis, this extends up though the vocals, it almost sounds blurred? Natalie Merchant sounds like she has a chest cold on the Tidal Master version.
I wonder if there is some initial "handshake" or flag in software thats alerts the DAC about resolution and pkayback setting? My DAC seems to be having a hard time, it makes a bunch of clicks (analogue relays) and then a high pitched whining noise but then plays normally. I have never seen this behavior before on standard 16/44 or hirez tracks.
Edit: I just checked and there are two version of this album available on Tidal. The Master version sounds very different from my ripped CD version. The normal HiFi (16/44) sounds MUCH more like my ripped CD version. So, the Master version is not replacing the 16/44 version, they are both still available on Tidal and the Master version sounds very different. I am not sure yet which I subjectively prefer (at least on this album)? Some of the other Master recordings sound good to me.
Edits: 01/06/17
Update, a quick comparison between the Master version and the normal Hifi version on Tidal has revealed that I prefer the old Hifi (16/44) version compared to the Master version. Bummer.
on a MQA Master version?
Anything like the normal 16/33.1 HiFi version?
OK I got the blue light working again on my Explorer2
I had to click on the "Use Exclusive Mode" settingWhat is srange is
that now the blue light comes on whether passthrough is on or off. Who knows
Alan
Got it. I think the sound is better even without an MQA DAC, so that is nice regardless of whatever I an listening to.
The sekection has orobably doubled again since this morning, it is rapidly growing. The current collection is a broad mix from hiphop to jazz, country, rock and classical.
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