These are the major players? That is really funny. I am convinced that most non-audiophiles has never heard even one of these names.
Sony or Yamaha sells more devices in one day then all these ‘major players’ together in a whole year.
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OT, but I was shocked to learn that Linn, one of the most recognisable HiFi manufacturers in Britain, has an annual turnover of £15m.
These are tiny, tiny companies.
By and large, I have been a supporter of Tidal’s use of ‘hi-res’ MQA because I have found that on my systems (and to my ears) this ‘hi-res’ content has by and large sounded ‘better’ than the equivalent 16bit content.
I have never claimed that hi-res MQA sounds better than the equivalent ‘standard’ hi-res content on Qobuz, only that from the limited testing I have carried out (using hi-res albums I have purchased from Qobuz over the years) it sounds to me to be at least almost as good as the Qobuz content when fully unfolded by my Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ or partially unfolded by Roon for my Linn Klimax DS/1.
My reason for subscribing to Tidal rather than Qobuz had very little to do with MQA and indeed did not even major on the ultimate sound quality of the respective services. Rather it was the fact that Tidal offered a very ‘good’ quality sound (‘good’ enough and specifically better than that of Spotify) coupled with a decent catalogue of music that mirrored my music tastes more so than that of Qobuz.
However, I have to admit to being more than a little concerned about Tidal’s apparent recent strategy of removing much of its standard 16bit/44,1. I really don’t understand their motive behind this, and I too may jump ship at some point in the future. Not yet, but I will continue to monitor the availability of content in Qobuz’s catalogue against my own personal Roon music library.
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Funny, that bit about the major players… I’m not seeing Sound United (Denon, Marantz,…) or Yamaha jumping on the MQA bandwagon at this time.
It’s always interesting to watch established companies get side swiped by emerging technologies they decided to ignore.
Kodak, did this with digital photography and there are many more examples that I cannot bring to mind just now, but you get the point.
Let’s see how this pans out I suppose…
It’s also interesting to take stock of all the will-change-the-world-forever technology that has been and gone like VHS/Betamax, laserdisc, SACD, hybrid CD, DVD and even Blu Ray.
Vinyl has never gone away and is real high definition audio. mp3 rules the world and MQA is not going to become Spotify’s streaming format any time soon AFAIK.
Frankly I don’t give a monkey’s as long as I get good quality, which Tidal isn’t giving me anymore.
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Couldn’t you just buy the CDs? Is this all about Tidal / streaming really? Tidal may not last/may turn into something else. It’s unlikely all CDs will be MQA.
Do you really have to read all of the thread to participate? That’s going to limit things somewhat.
Why is this infuriating and trite? Why not?
Yes, this thread is! If you like it or not.
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Yes - he could!
Unfortunately that isn’t really a valid option. The choice for him (and others who feel the same way) is between an almost unlimited supply of streaming content vs the small number of CDs that he could buy for the same cost. The only really valid options are to live with a streaming service that sounds less good (to him) than before, or move to another streaming platform.
Moving might well be a valid option, and I’m sure that some people will, but to him and others it’s not an attractive option if the alternative services are not available in his location, or if items in his music library are not available in the alternative platform.
I have largely been a supporter of Tidal and MQA where MQA has been used to provide ‘higher than 16bit’ resolution content. However, I’m not in favour of Tidal getting rid of the bulk of existing standard 16bit/44.1 content. I really can’t understand this decision from any perspective whatsoever, marketing or otherwise.
I don’t see how this move can be spun in a positive way at all.
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Why can’t we all do it? I don’t think Tidal and also MQA would be very pleased
According to one report, streaming subscriptions as of Q1 2000 were:
Spotify: 128 million
Apple Music: 72 million
Amazon Music: 56 million
Tencent Music: 44 million
Google Play / YouTube Music: 24 million
Deezer: 8 million
Pandora: 4 million
Others: 64 million
Among “others,” Tidal claims 3 million subscribers, or about 0.7% of all streaming subscribers. (Qobuz said in 2019 they had 200,000 subscribers. Could not find recent figures, but if you assume 100% growth in the past year that’s 400,000, or about 0.1%.)
So 99.3% of music streaming subscribers do not have access or listen to MQA. In fact, 97% don’t even seem to care about CD quality lossless streaming.
So basically MQA is a rounding error in the marketplace. It will not be the differentiator that drives Tidal to overcome Spotify.
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For those who use Roon who are mostly audiophiles (otherwise why be on this site) do consider those as major players in digital products. Sony, Yamaha , Bose and Spotify are all much, much bigger players and better known but not usually considered audiophile grade, whether fair or not.
With all the unscientific stuff I read in some of these threads, I hope nobody ever call me an audiophile (and I be on this site but not for audiophoolery). And what is ‘audiophile grade’? Things like the hifi fuses or audiophile Wifi cables?
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Just my poor 2p
It’s all a bit academic if you live outside of EU or US , plus a few others.
South Africa is too small a market to worry qobuz, so for quality it’s Tidal or nothing , if all this talk of Tidal selling out has an impact on Tidal then what
The main reason I maintain my local library. To me also it would bring Roon membership into focus
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Wondering if Tidal will still be in bed with Roon once Tidal has a cash infusion.
Indeed, but it’s more likely a management change and a market direction that will ensue. Why would anyone buy Tidal if not to go after the “bog boys” on a quality ticket
Am I right it the “big boys” don’t do Hi Res ?
I was more concerned with the poster.
My bet, the vast majority of streaming customers from any service are smart-phone users. Who do not care about “hifi” service a single bit. In my family, my wife streams to iPhone, my daughter streams to iPhone, my son streams to iPhone… Neither cares about hi-res. I stream to iPhone a lot too, and try hard to convince myself that there is some SQ difference between myEarMen Sparrow or Dragonfly Cobalt vs phone’s/adapter’s DAC… Bottom line, from streaming companies’ sales, the “audiophile” stationary setups - with our “MQA Tidal vs hi-res Qobuz wars” - are as impactful as PC Twitter users vs mobile. IMHO.