I am not missing the point. I think my point is actually very clear. And Qobuz are fixing that problem. Once they know what MQA they have on their books let’s see what tier they put it in. I think you may be pre-judging the whole situation. Give Qobuz time to sort it and see what’s what when they have done. Incorrectly identified stuff isn’t that uncommon, but I don’t remember so much angst about it happening on Tidal.
Given time Qobuz will make changes and make their position clear.
The ‘up to’ is the point. They can’t supply what isn’t offerd. They are a portal. Just a first world problem to get over.
Sounds like there’s a problem with their ‘portal’ which I strongly agreed.
Simon-
Probably they should check everything.
They are actually a small operation (Qobuz US has 4 employees) and don’t. They specifically said they had no tools for automatically identifying MQA. They didn’t see a need to check for MQA because they didn’t order it and never thought they’d be blindsided by a provider.
The only software I know of that exists to identify MQA was written by the hobbyist known as “mansr” who posts at some of the forums. He offered Qobuz his code for free.
It appears Qobuz’ solution is to make agreements with the providers that they have to tag or label anything that is MQA.
Any content delivery service worth it’s salt should be implementing quality control of some sort on the materials to ensure it meets their own specifications as suppliers balls up all the time regardless of size. Qobuz is a premium service this should be a given it should not be the consumer finding this out.
MQA’s are better than regular hi-res 24 bit 88/96/174/192 downloads? No. The same? No. Worse? Yes.
End of topic.
I expect only a few subscribers across their customer base are bothered at all. Most probably don’t stream 2L and those that do most will like MQA as it is the format of choice from the producers.
Just my thoughts, no stats available 
That is an impossibly high bar. It means even Roon fails that test as does just about any software or app. What defines a premium provider is how they deal with problems.
@danny2 this is proven to be a global issue. The number of US employees is irrelevant.
And the problem here is people characterise MQA files as some sort of aberration or fault. In this case they are simply FLAC files that will pass any quality control check for FLAC. What is being proposed is testing every single file to confirm it has no MQA content and identifying it if it has. It wasn’t so long ago Roon itself wasn’t able to identify MQA and display that fact on the icon. It seems to me Qobuz have run into a similar issue and are going through the same pain Roon did.
I don’t think it is a big deal b/c 2L is a tiny fraction of the catalog. The “CD” files in question are probably max a few dozen albums, some of which also are available in actual hi res.
Roon and Qobuz are in a different situation, as Roon implemented the “first unfold” in it’s software, something Qobuz says it isn’t doing. So Qobuz needs an alternate way to identify MQA.
Just a minor correction: in almost all cases, the choice of using MQA is a record company choice, not the choice of the musical artists, producers, or engineers who made the album. 2L is an atypical exception, as it is a tiny label where the producers and engineers are the record company.
Qobuz says it isn’t doing ? Qobuz is a very small structure and probably does not have the resources to implement MQA, just see the status of the Carplay application and the database. In addition, their criterion for existing on the market is HiRes streaming, which does not prevent the broadcast of remastering of old recordings which in any case do not have the real sound information of the HiRes.
Anything more than their “Premium” lossy tier would be less than honest. Qobuz is supporting MQA. They don’t have to stream it - they can explain their market hi res strategy and refuse to accept MQA.
I am sorry but this is not theoretical.
I have album Magnificat in my library on Qobuz and Tiidal. I designated Qobuz version (192/24) as primary https://open.qobuz.com/album/7041888519621. When I checked the path I found MQA decoding in the path, and my DAC was using 88.2. Then I removed the Tidal version from Tidal favorites and restarted Roon core.
I did not see the Tidal version anymore in Roon, but to my surprise the sound path did not change, it was MQA in it, and the DAC was using 88.2.
Then I opened Quobuz player and played it there: my DAC was showing 192/24. I checked with different DAC (Xonar), the same results.
There are only two options here and I am pretty open minded:
So which one it is? Can you also explain how a user can completely disable MQA support for a zone.
I edited this note with correction: I added other 192/24 album from Qobuz, it plays 192/24.
So I take back the second option and offer my apology. I am very happy with Roon and would be a difficult decision for me if the option 2 was true.
Still do not know why the Magnificat album is played with MQA in the path where it should not be. But it could be peculiarity of this particular CD.
As has been said, the 2L Label is supplying material in MQA-CD format to the streaming services:
This has apparently come as a surprise to Qobuz who thought the material was standard hi-res and marked it as such (192/24). The Roon software is able to see that it is MQA, and kicks in the appropriate unfolding.
From what Danny has said, it would appear that Qobuz and Roon Labs are in discussion about how to deal with the issue.
Also Morten Lindberg who produces the 2L music, has, as I understand it, decided that MQA is the best sound. That is an artistic decision.
When I play that album using Qobuz’s program, I only get 44.1/16 even though it is marked as 24/192.
2L decided to go MQA according to the CEO and all they are releasing to streaming services is MQA. This also may apply to current and future pressed CDs. Since, they have taken down their own storefront, you can find legacy non-MQA high definition files for sale at HDTracks, ProStudioMasters. Not sure how long those will last.
The signal path playback in Roon is telling you the truth of the actual file. Everything else is just labeling. I have found a couple of files sold to me as PCM flac that are actually unmarked MQA files.
Stupid question but are you using a DAC that supports 192/24? Because I checked with two DACs and the Qobuz version plays as it should in Qobuz player.
I’m using a DAC which supports 32/384. But, it could be due to regional differences and Qobuz is just behind the curve in labeling its web pages.
Morten Lindberg has NOT decided that MQA is the best sound. 2L is still selling native DXD & DSD albums. Only for streaming he is delivering MQA-CD in stead of Red book CD.
Without informing anybody and make it visible in one way or another.
Dirk
To quote the great man we have this
. “When I listen to 2L recordings that have received the MQA treatment, the experience activates strong emotional sonic triggers within me. For me, MQA brings back the magic!” says Morten.
Again, he can do and like what he wants but he is withholding deliberately important information to potential customers.
Not a great man in my book ( and I refrain to write how I call somebody like him when I meet face to face)
Dirk