That’s what I am saying. But there are MQA files that are shown at 44.1 after decoding in MQA player. Here’s an Audirvana example (Audirvana shows the unfolded sample rate):
Yes, that’s fine. Some MQA is 44kHz.
As I said earlier that bares nothing to what the DAC is doing for rendering as it’s a black box that doesn’t feed back to software . That is only Audirvana reporting the ORFs which is 44.1 for that file/album. Roon does the same but my DAP as it has a system sample rate display will show the actual rate the DAC is rendering at.
MQA doesn’t unfold then downscale, every MQA unfolds to 2x regardless of the ORFs it’s built in to the MQA core decoder to do so. It’s then not going to downsample back to 44.1 it just carries on. If you have an app that does the MQA decode and a non MQA DAC you always get 88.2 or 96/24 for any MQA file.
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What saddens me is the different quality of the albums… especially the highRes files. There are quite a few recordings that sound better on CD than HiRes files when streaming. Not a rule, but too often for my taste in music (metal).
Yeah, I’ve never ran into that problem. This seems more like urban legend to me ie <1%.
A high res version may be technically ‘better’, but whether you prefer it (which is what most people mean when they say ‘better quality’) is a different question; the answer will depend on mastering as well as expectation and preference.
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I have to come to quite like the way the light changes on my Chord DAC even if it is fugly. At no point has that or the sound of the music prompted me to address what different resolutions sound like and whether I have a particular preference. I start and end with whether I like the music of not. Some albums light the DAC up green and sound terrific. Moondance by Van Morrison springs to mind. Some albums light the DAC up green and sound thin and unengaging. King of America by The Costello Show springs to mind.
Discussions about x versus are always entertaining and sometimes enlightening. For me though the OP needs to decide which they prefer rather than what anyone else thinks. There also needs to be some understanding that what Qobuz or Tidal sound like is as much dictated by kit and room as the quirks of resolution etc.
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I mean better SQ when I say better.
Okey doke. How do you define sound quality?
Something sounds better or it doesn’t. If you like poor recordings that’s great but it seems futile to argue the exception here when it comes to high res masters.
Well, that’s sort of the point. There’s no direct correlation between what you prefer (‘sounds better’) and technically ‘better’.
A point that exists in the realm of one minus alpha and doesn’t really matter to the larger discussion.
Perhaps, but I think your definition is a bit circular.
Not at all.
In an earlier post i said i found no difference in sound quality comparing Tidal to Qobuz, which is a bit of a broad statement so i thought i would provide the detail supporting this statement.
Obviously sound quality to me is what i prefered listening to more in the comparisons.
Ive listened to Qobuz back to back against Tidal using a set playlist comparing cd quality against cd quality and hi-res quality against hi-res quality where possible, using the following MQA enabled streamer/dacs - NAD C658, Hifi Rose 150B, Lumin P1 and Moon 780D all connected to very high quality amps and speakers using high quality cables.
My listening experience is that sometimes I prefered the Tidal versions and other times the Qobuz versions and there was no consistancy in Tidal having more songs sounding better than Qobuz or vice versa.
I think its all a bit nitpicking to say one is better than the other, they both sounded very good to me and I think it all really comes down to personal preference of what sounds better.
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Stretching things a bit but do all the Tidal and Qobuz users really find the SQ better than Spotify Premium? I have tried all configurations and I don’t! I would love to hear the improvement - I am now listening to Native Qobuz via the Naim app on my ND5XS2, so not using MConnect or Casting and after hours of listening it is impossible to discern any improvement over Spotify. Nobody who’s listened can hear an improvement. How can this be?
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Well I do. And I “only” have a 1st gen streamer. Tidal is so much better than Spotify, I honestly cannot imagine anyone not being able to hear the difference on a system as good as yours.
It depends on what you are judging. But Spotify have something appealing going on soundwise. I sold my DSM on new years eve (not only because I was drunk, there were other reasons :-)) and currently I am slumming it with a BorderPatrol DAC and the old Naim 72 and Spotify sounds better than usual.
It would be interesting if Spotify enabled lossless but right now they seem busy with audiobooks, podcasts and other projects.
I would happily pay for Qobuz (free month at the moment) if I could hear an improvement. I cancelled the Tidal subscription for the same reason. No friends or family hear a difference. I thought that my set up was somehow wrong but I don’t see how it can be. Sometimes while listening closely to Qobuz I think I hear a difference - maybe a slightly different tone or note or a new instrument, but repeating the track on Spotify reveals the same. I am trying so hard to detect improvements because how can Qobuz Flac 192 kHz 24-bit sound the same as Spotify 320 mbps? Don’t get me wrong, Spotify sounds really good on my system. I was hoping for more
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I have both Spotify (family use it and I use it in the car) and Qobuz (for hi-fi system and personal use). I made some comparisons when I first got Qobuz and struggled to hear a difference between Spotify (320) and Qobuz (hi-res). If Spotify moved to cd-quality I would probably ditch Qobuz and be content with that. At the moment the psychological jump from 320 to hi-res keeps me holding onto Qobuz, even if I struggle to reliably hear a difference.
My googling of the subject suggests vert few people can discern between cd-quality and hi-res, but that 320 quality is a more noticeable. If you have good hearing and a decent system you might be able to tell the difference. To my hears the difference is tiny and I’m suspicious of anyone that claims otherwise!
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