I didn't see it coming (Tidal replacing albums with MQA only)

You will be missing quite a lot. Qobuz is not great for a lot of stuff, its the reason I still keep Tidal.

I just moved to Qobuz from Tidal because of the MQA move… Lost a about 25 albums of my 900ish. I have iTunes for my family (ease of use in Apple ecosystem), so I truly need listen those missing ones they are in Apple Music (obviously not hires though)

I really like the possibility to buy hires albums in Qobuz. :slight_smile:

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Can someone comment on how you actual “move” from Tidal to Qubuz.

Do you have to manually add all the records and songs in playlist? That sounds exhausting!

soundiiz.com will do it.

It’ll cost 5 dollars/pounds/euros etc… Well worth it…

https://www.tunemymusic.com was free for single move and moved my Tidal library to Qobuz in about 5 minutes. There is monthly fee if you want to keep both in sync, but one move was free. :slight_smile:

don’t forget to unsubscribe if you’re not going to keep using it! It’s a monthly fee.

Let us know how you get on, hope it is a success, but as you say, it’s easy to try and not a lot to lose cost wise.
Good luck!

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Uugghh… this is disappointing. I never bought into the mysterious black curtain of MQA and usually select red book. I have no option here as Qobuz has decided not to enter the market in Canada. Tidal should not remove standard red book.

Streaming and recommendation from Valence are fantastic in discovering new music. Too bad that I’m forced to use something I never wanted or asked for. I’m ever more grateful that I still curate a local library.

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Is that stated policy to phase out 44/16 at the expense of MQA , I hadn’t seen anything stated

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I don’t know about any stated policy.

But like the OP mentioned, I can see some recordings under VERSIONS that used to return a treasure trove for audiophiles. All versions including MQA, Red Book, even different masters; now only have an MQA file in it’s place.

I just want to add, I have nothing against MQA. Just wish they left the choice open for Red Book versions. Thanks.

I haven’t seen anything official from Tidal. But browsing the library it looks like it’s going hand-in-hand with the “millions of new MQA titles” being added.

I’ve been listening to tracks picked by Roon Radio for a few hours and have noted this more than a few times…signal path shows FLAC non-mqa but the album stats show MQA and versions tab only show MQA’d versions available.

I have my Tidal settings to Hifi and MQA core decoder set to No intentionally. Perhaps the plain flac version is still there just hidden.

I can replicate that behaviour too with streaming set to HiFi.

I would confirm with @danny and others though, because those MQA files are still in FLAC wrappers. Effectively you can put anything into a FLAC wrapper - a low bit rate mp3 - for example. The source file will still have undergone its MQA conversion, it’s just you’re playing what is basically a 15-bit lossy conversion in a FLAC wrapper.

So I don’t think you’re getting a Redbook stream by doing this, but would be happy to be corrected.

That thought crossed my mind but I think it will still show the MQA in the signal path when playing the truncated compatible 15-bit version. It’s a shame they’ve messed with this at all. MQA is ‘solution’ looking for a non-existent problem. It’s not 1994 any longer.

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I listen mainly to classical music, and there the problem seems not to be so much the preference of MQA streams over Red Book, but that there are still so many albums available only as AAC at 22.05. And it isn’t just old releases, but also albums from just a couple of years ago. There are album series (vol. 1, vol. 2, etc) where one or two volumes are available as Flac at 16/44.1, the rest only as AAC. In those cases I would certainly prefer to be able to stream as MQA instead of AAC, even if I don’t care for MQA nor use a DAC able to do proper MQA rendering.

The current mix of different formats and quality levels on Tidal is a big mess.

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My thoughts exactly. It’s a pain to see once simple 16bit 44.1kHz files being replaced with 16bit 44.1kHz MQA. Who really wants this? Who really benefits from this? Take something simple and make it complicated.

I’m surprised that there aren’t more subscribers upset about this.

I haven’t heard a MQA file that sounds worse than the 16/44 version.

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I’ve heard a number of them. The problems are in the upper frequencies. It sounds like an extra layer of processing that is not there in the CD version. A glare that wears on my listening stamina.

It’s not night and day but I’ve yet to find a MQA version I prefer over the same CD version. Sure a better mastering is a better mastering and that wins…

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“It sounds like an extra layer of processing that is not there in the CD version.”… I wonder why…

Source: https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/mqa-a-review-of-controversies-concerns-and-cautions-r701/?fbclid=IwAR0AtENMEs7PLyE05zTSlUHPZON90Df4vue2wbre57CzNbUTX--2hpP9tZE

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I know it’s subjective but even in 16 Bit 44.1KHz material Qobuz sounds like CD and Tidal like…something reprocessed, more sibilant. Qobuz sounds more natural and full bodied.
I’m now on the 30d free trial of Qobuz and will most likely switch, after using Tidal for 2 years.
I couldn’t care less for MQA, much less so if they will replace all redbook content with MQA, which I don’t even have a DAC for.

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