Competition is a powerful instinctual drive in human nature. Plus “vs” sells stadium tickets.
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Qobuz vs Tidal hi-res soundoff 2019!!
- Thread starter Lossless
- Start date
Competition is a powerful instinctual drive in human nature. Plus “vs” sells stadium tickets.
Where is your scientific proof that you cannot get higher bit rates with MQA? Tidal has MQA Authenticated bit depths of 24bits and I have found Tidal songs via Roon with a sampling frequency of 384 kHz.
BTW a single 8 min song streamed in uncompressed FLAC at 24bits/384kHz would take over 1GB of data with a bit rate of 18,432 kbps. That's more bandwidth than 4K video streaming and more than what most Internet service providers are capable of reliably delivering. Storage is a whole other issue; 80 songs at that bit rate would NOT fit in most computers 1 terabyte hard drive.
Your comments are not factual; Rather they reflect your extreme prejudicial attitude towards Tidal's ownership, with your hypothetical rants of MQA being your excuse to hate on the service provider.
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It would seem that mastering engineer Brian Lucey's comments are spot on:
It’s definitely a lossy codec, that was clear. And like Mastered for iTunes or any reduction scheme the losses are in critically important areas. Where as mastered for iTunes is harmonically cold and loses some low volume/low end information, actually altering the groove to make everything sound like a nerdy white wedding band, MQA brightens the high-mids in the Mid section while thinning the low-mids on the Sides. There’s also some harmonic distortion which some people could find pleasing, If I want that distortion in the master I would’ve put it there in the first place. The results of MQA I would call fatal to the source material even as they are very subtle. MQA has been targeting the weakest players in our world, the audiophiles.
As for me, I retired Tidal after nearly two years and prefer Qobuz. It replicates what I hear with the many lossless high resolution 24 bit (true master) downloads I have.
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You continue to ignore facts. Read the Meridian patent which is found in the link I provided in post #12. Figures sourced from that very document:
"This 24-bit input is immediately reduced to 17 bits using noise shaped dither..."
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I quoted it in my first post. It's the statement you introduced in your original post which became an invitation for commentary.
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DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
Of course. No objection to the competition -- it sounds like fun -- but attempting a byte-size (pun intended) explanation of MQA begs for controversy.Competition is a powerful instinctual drive in human nature. Plus “vs” sells stadium tickets.
True
Just as a point of reference, what MQA enabled DAC do you use? I don't seem to find one in your Nov 2018 member system post.
olson_jr
Lunatic Member
Thank you for doing that. Tidal seems to have become more responsive recently. Not only fixing things but sending surveys after.
Thought I was the only one.
olson_jr
Lunatic Member
CKDC
Super Member
I am confused.
I use Tidal and like it. But, it is not without issue.
I kind of sort of understand why one might not like MQA. But, I have a choice of listening to an MQA album or not. (I have not heard anything offensive in the MQA tracks through a Bluesound Node 2. They tend to sound different but, to me, certainly not lesser.If you don’t like MQA, fine. Choose the other option.
Should we be discussing non MQA from Tidal versus what Qobuz offers?
I use Tidal and like it. But, it is not without issue.
I kind of sort of understand why one might not like MQA. But, I have a choice of listening to an MQA album or not. (I have not heard anything offensive in the MQA tracks through a Bluesound Node 2. They tend to sound different but, to me, certainly not lesser.If you don’t like MQA, fine. Choose the other option.
Should we be discussing non MQA from Tidal versus what Qobuz offers?
We are discussing Hi-Res 24bit/96kHz or greater music sound quality between the two providers. There could be a thread started about 16bit/44.1kHz for discussion of CD quality sound between the two providers comparing apples to apples.
I just have a hard time listening to 16bit/44.1kHz after listening to Hi-Res 24bit/192kHz all day, so that CD quality discussion never crossed my mind. It would be a very good idea to compare those to see if there is a difference in CD quality audio from the two providers.
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I no longer have a Tidal subscription (dropped it in favor of Deezer), but I signed up for Qobuz Studio a few days ago. My impression so far is that Qobuz sounds better than either Tidal or Deezer through my Bluesound Node 2/Benchmark DAC3 setup. And not a single dropout so far, which was a frequent problem with Tidal in evening prime time.
DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
I noticed you edited it yesterday, but it's still courting controversy. I'd suggest this, which invites participation but avoids unnecessarily pressing any buttons:
We now have two great hi-res streaming providers that offer 24bit/192kHz. Both services have their differences in layout, pricing, royalties, owners, codecs etc..., but the only difference I wanna discuss here is SOUND QUALITY.
What hi-res streaming service do YOU feel sounds better and how did you come to your conclusion?
Qobuz vs Tidal hi-res sound-off 2019!!
What hi-res streaming service do YOU feel sounds better and how did you come to your conclusion?
Qobuz vs Tidal hi-res sound-off 2019!!
rode2rouen
Dyslexics Untie!
I know nothing of streaming music.
What do these services charge on a per song basis?
Rex
What do these services charge on a per song basis?
Rex
They both have a monthly charge for unlimited music listening .
That’s a question that you’ll have to answer for yourself. Both Tidal and Qobuz have a 30 day free trials to evaluate their services. I would suggest going with the Hi-Fi trial on Tidal and STUDIO trial on Qobuz because that’s their highest fidelity package for the best possible sound quality.
I like Tidal MASTERS That’s only MY preference. Others may have different streaming service provider preferences. You’re best just to try both and judge for yourself.
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