Oh my Paul, that answer was given to the claim that you must hear MQA and cant get the file without MQA codec. Of course you get High Resolution from an MQA file, but streaming services don’t want to stream 192 kHz 24 Bit files without special codecs because they need too much bandwith for a mass service. And you know that even Youtube had to turn off 4k streaming because of limited availability of bandwith during corona times . There is NO censorship from MQA, just an offer to get up to 384 kHz 24 Bit files not bigger than a conventional 44/16 file. They have nothing to hide, but protect their property of a codec, which needed if not I recommend about 10 years and a lot of high level technicians and medical experts (psychoacousticians) to be ready. I did not say it cant be tested , but “the net” meanwhile knows that the tests of selfpromoted golden ear where flawed due to the nature of mqa , which is mainly about timing , not so much about frequency response. I hope you can distinguish between Authentication and DRM , if not I recommend the files at AES or MQA about it. My proof for endorsement are Bob Ludwig , Morten Lindberg, Bob Katz or similar guys with real awarded golden ears , and the amount of growth for MQA files in Tidals offer. If you dont like it, dont use it, but pls don’t spread rumours if you have not taen time to inform yourself.
Quite simple because of size. Not everybody in real world has a T1 connection, where size does not matter. Especially if our kids need the net for homeschooling. And dont think about 1 connection but about millions of users, and you could understand that here size matters.
Qobuz does
24/192 in stereo is about 1 MB/s, a trivial network load. And I don’t know about the UK, but in Germany even the lower mobile plan tiers typically exempt music streaming from monthly limits because it’s trivial, and that includes Qobuz. There may well be situations in which MQA’s compression may be helpful or required, but it’s less of an issue every year.
4K video is at least 15 MB/s or better 25, which is quite a difference. Even so, IIRC the Youtube and Netflix limitation lasted only for a short time at the beginning of the pandemic.
I dont think anyone still has T1 connections. And you will have a hard time feeding MQA down a T1 (it was a long time since I heard anyone talk about T1:s).
We are on the verge of 5G and today we have 4G/LTE which now is very low cost. I pay EUR 12/mon on top of my phone fee to have unlimited LTE that I use for HD video-streaming and audio. And some even give you media bandwidth for free,
You say “just an offer to get up to 384 kHz 24 Bit files not bigger than a conventional 44/16 file”. Now that is what I call lossy compression, if you call this High Resolution then you are doing a disservice to your friends in the MQA-community. At least if you mean using the same bandwidth as 44/16 which is what you are implying elsewhere. The bandwidth needed for true high res (192/24) is about the same as for a Netflix-stream, around 5MBit.
I also saw your and Bob Stuarts discussion on the magic “single” master. You are wrong because the difference between the masters is not about bitrate as you both seem to think. It is about content and context. I may have done only part-time duty in mastering but even I managed to squeeze in that much 
Not possible as many of the CD only titles on Tidal are now MQA encoded. I was gifted an ongoing ‘lifetime’ sub last year, and even I’m considering ponying up and switching back to Qobuz. Not only does Qobuz sound better, they aren’t in on the scam I consider MQA to be, regardless of the sound quality, which in most cases I find odd and fatiguing despite sounding more ‘hifi!’ to begin with.
There where a few networks toying with not including streaming in their budgets. But its not common place in the UK, besides in high saturation areas it’s hard to stream anything lossless, I’m in London area and even 256kb Tidal wouldn’t hold up on my commute to work, only Spotify was any good as it buffers so much more ahead than the rest. Speeds might be good in areas with low use count but it soon drops dramatically when you have high utilisation. I remember being an early adopter to 4g it was superfast for a while until all networks and phones got it and it dropped massively.
Of course the difference between MQA and not MQA is not about bitrate . And you are right , we talk about same bandwith. And since you know so much about MQA , you also know its about timing, correcting old converters and much more complex things. Its also not about how much you can squeeze into you master, but how to bring most of it to the analog part of your endusers equipment. I am just a passionate music lover, who spent some time as hifi reviewer, product manager in consumer/stage electronics and telecom. One who loves new technologies which do a better job for hifi performance than was available before it came to market.
Interesting, never had a problem with this in Berlin, using Qobuz on the mobile in full hi-res glory.
(In Germany, I have the lowest Vodafone monthly plan and unlimited music streaming is included (you can choose if the limitation shall be lifted for either music, video, gaming, etc. Or choose more than one for a flat fee of IIRC 5 euros)
But in any case, this is for mobile and the apps have settings to use e.g. mp3 on phone data connection. So yes, if someone wants hi-res while being mobile (or using an LTE-based uplink at home), MQA may well have an advantage.
But for the usual DSL internet connections and similar at home, there are few you will find that cannot handle a 1MB/s stream, and those will be unusable for most anything that consumers typically do.
I agree that this is the more interesting part about MQA, but it seems questionable how much is actually according to the stated goals, see the post I already linked further up:
Yes, I know about the converter correction (we had distortion correction on analog tape in the studio when I started so it is nothing new).
But todays studio environemt doesnt work that way. Some instruments are pure digital (no ADC used), there are differeent AD-converters in use on different tracks. I know producers that demand a certain old Apogee-converter just for vocals. And things like Avid Cloud are used more and more (where the session is shared over several recording sites). The AD-converter correction may have been nice in the 90’s but today … at the mastering stage you are lost when it comes to knowing what converters are used on which tracks.
I dont doubt you love music, we all do. But MQA and all its secrets and “trust me”:s. It doesnt roll anymore. Put a patent on it so you can publish details and allow tests. You could say Naim also have secrets and “trust me” but you can bring it home and listen and you can test in a lab and be sure their promises all work out.
I don’t think MQA is a scam, I mean, do you think Bob Stuart is in it for JUST the money since day 1 or the advancement of audio? This is the team that created MLP and DVD audio. For the record I do subscribe to Goldensounds reviews, as he delivers great reviews of products. Plus, I don’t anything wrong with parts of the audio community crying foul play where they see it. What I think is happening is that studios have bought into the whole thing and the way it packages as they don’t need tonnes of bandwidth to send the data and charge a premium for it regardless as to whether the encoding stuck to the original principles. This I see as an issue with the provenance requirement in MQA, where studio are releasing stuff that has none. There are plenty of artists and mastering engineerings that have come out in favour of MQA (check on youtube) regarding its ability to deliver their art as they intended. Which leaves with the dilemma of having to pick and choose stuff to get the experience as intended and live with stuff that’s out there which doesn’t have time smearing correction. (I have a Naim DAC so only listen to first unfold, its the full unfold that delivers the best results for sure - a mate has a full meridian system where as you can bet, its delivered impeccability)
Ok, ‘scam’ might be a bit heavy handed, so I’ll just call it ‘unnecessary.’ I have a full MQA DAC in the office (Matrix Mini-Pro 3) and even with it I find MQA to sound worse than a regular PCM. It can sound bigger! and more exciting! but at the expense of some tonality and subtlety, and I soon find it tiring. Perhaps Meridian, due to Bob Stuarts’s former provenance there, has the secret secret sauce.
I find myself at a bit of a cross roads on all this. Naim have not adopted/provided MQA (as others haven’t - Linn, Chord etc…) My Naim DAC as much as I love it, it lacks future proof inputs and outputs. For me to get a roon endpoint on it I’ve used a rasberry PI4 running ropieee USB out to a topping D10s with SPIDF out to the NDAC (upside of which its galvanically isolated and also gives a bit rate output on the screen). I have a better measuring power supply on the PI and now sounds pretty good for the money. Want I really want is to use any music format going with a service that provides the most which is the best quality for my system, and after testing, at the moment, that is with Qobuz.
They haven’t ruled out adding it as a Firmware update to the new generation streamers though, so maybe we will hopefully see it added asan option this year.
Can they do that? As I understand it, hardware changes would be needed; so I don’t see it happening.
Yes, they have said so a couple of times on the forum, it just requires a software update.
Software can give ‘first unfold’. Hardware - an MQA certified DAC - needed for full ‘unfold’. I believe you can get first unfold now by streaming via suitable third party software, including Audirvana or Roon, even to a Naim player.
As Mike says, full MQA support on Naim streamers is technically possible. However, they have openly said that they will support it only if they see enough customer demand to justify the effort and costs involved in developing their software and paying the license. Then there is the fact that required changes to the DSP could have a negative effect on sound quality on non-MQA material.
Even then if MQA Ltd, who have yet to turn a profit, goes bust it could all have been a waste of time, effort and money. So on balance I think Naim are probably justified in sitting on the fence for now.
I agree, Naim should avoid it for now. I personally hope MQA fails. It is a form of DRM.
I suppose Naim could get their DACs certified if they wanted, and once certified it would be a software update.
Definitely with Roon, don’t know about Audirvana