I think the best test is for the individual to go and listen themselves to the sound quality coming out of the speakers when they are comparing MQA to other Hi-Res test tracks using a fully MQA compatible streamer/dac, switch between the two and decide, which they prefer.
I have done this with a NAD C658, HiFi Rose 150B, Lumin P1 and Moon 780D when I was demoing to select a new streamer/dac switching between MQA and Qobuz Hi-Res using the same test tracks.
As said before sometimes I marginally preferred Qobuz and sometimes MQA and probably the difference was the mastering of the original source material and it was a personal preference, nothing more than that.
I very much doubt that in a blind test fairly comparing between MQA and Qobuz Hi-Res that people could consistently tell the difference between the two.
There maybe some people with exceptional hearing that could consistently tell the difference, however, the vast majority of people would probably not be able to tell the difference, however, I am happy to be proved wrong.
I will also add that any old Dac that plays MQA might sound inferior…if it is just a relatively cheap unit.
The Lumin P1 is a high end streamer/Dac. A few years back I remember a guy on this forum heard and bought a high end streamer/Dac from Meridian I believe. He got dragged across the coals too because he preferred it over an ND555 I think it was.
I forget his name now, but I recall looking up the unit he bought and it was over$20 k.
I am not a poster boy for MQA, but I now use Tidal as my only source for 99% of my listening.
Why bother buying, downloading, storing my own music, when Tidal sounds just as good.
I do have my own music on a hard drive that I can access with the P1, but never do anymore.
Yes, the Moon 390 does full MQA and I have used that machine. I also attended various MQA demos over the years and still remain unconvinced.
If people enjoy it, fine - but I prefer my music delivered in a lossless open source format without the need for proprietary and slightly mysterious folding, unfolding and tampering.
I find it very hard to believe that every album available in MQA has had a mastering engineer in any way involved in the production of the MQA version, despite what MQA would have us believe. For Tidal to do this for their entire back catalogue would probably keep every competent engineer on the planet busy for years. I’d be willing to bet that a fair bit of straight transcoding of FLACs has been going on.
I fully agree with you that the licensing and business model of MQA is wrong and also does not benefit the musical artists.
Hopefully Tidal will drop it when their agreement with MQA Ltd expires.
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