And how much $ of your Tidal subscription is going to mqa you think? nothing? come on…
Tell me what software is there available that’s FREEWARE that can do the first unfold?
Haven’t seen any, and haven’t seen free code for it neither.
Right, I’m off down my car dealer. I don’t use the flappy paddle with the auto box, I don’t use my mirrors, back seats, brakes rarely, I put it in park so no need for the handbrake, headrests are useless. I think they should take all that back and pay me to own it.
Now I can’t wait to start on my unused bits of my amplifier that Iv paid for!
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No mqa is like a trailer welded to the car you are planning to buy.
You don’t want it but it’s there.
And when you buy a car you know what you are paying for…
how many users of roon actually know they pay extra for mqa unfolding???
I get MQA for the same price as everyone gets CD quality. There is no premium for MQA with Tidal.
dCS provided the update to MQA to all of its owners for free
So Zero, Nada, Zip, Zilth. No upgrade charge for many of us.
You’re looking at the horse from the wrong end.
Everyone who wants CD quality is subsidising mqa for everyone else. It’s an inherent charge whether you want mqa or not.
As for the dcs part, you’ve paid for it as part of the product purchase.
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No, dCs did not offer MQA when I purchased the unit. dCS absorbed the cost to provide the update for Vivaldi owners.
Turn it however you like. Currently no-one pays additional for MQA via Tidal.
Everyone using any software or app doing the 1st unfold is paying mqa.
The license fee for doing the first unfold is included in the subscription price.
If it was free, then the code to do that first unfold would be freely available
and it could and probably would also be implemented in standard O.S. audio players
like Media player for Windows. It is not… why is that?
Because it would mean Windows has to pay to mqa for every Windows license they sell.
This is so obvious yet some don’t seem to get it that mqa is just a money train.
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When you can identify where we are paying additional (above CD quality) for MQA with Tidal, get back to me. Currently you are just postulating.
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Do you also get it that you are paying buried licensing fees for the AAC codec that Tidal makes available, even if Roon doesn’t directly implement the decoder?
Really, how dare anyone develop software and expect anyone to pay for it?
There are a good many implementations in Roon, Tidal, and Qobuz I’ll never use. Do I get to demand that the pro-rated development costs for those all be subtracted out of my fee, and a tailored minimalist fee be offered uniquely to me for what I happen to use?
That’s not likely true for Roon, they backdoor the codec via ffmpeg. This avoids the license cost that codec “manufacturers” are liable for.
I’ve developed FOSS software for years and I’m not broke yet.
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I know, and agree, it’s why I said Roon doesn’t directly implement (or pay for) the decoder. They expect it to reside on your PC or server OS.
But there’s no fee, however deep you dig. A lot of the ffmpeg devs got paid to develop it as part of their day jobs, but to scratch a shared itch.
Tidal will be paying, indirectly, for encoding fees. Their files are supplied by the labels or indie artists, and will have had to be encoded as part of production costs.
Again, not if they don’t manufacturer a codec. Why would they with all that working source code lying around? It’s all on the AAC FAQ page
An AAC patent license is needed by manufacturers or developers of end-user encoder and/or decoder products.
If you want a CD, you buy a player. If you want Roon, you buy a core etc… why should an MQA DAC capability be free?
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You can step it back another stage and say that the encoder used in production was more expensive by x dollars because licensing was paid for. The MPEG system isn’t free either, nor should it be.
The FAQ says “An AAC patent license is needed by manufacturers or developers of end-user encoder and/or decoder products.”
This cost has been negligible for me, I have paid licence cost for many things I don’t need or use in a similar way, as has everybody else who ever bought anything…
Would you believe it, I know people who paid for cruise control in their car and don’t use it 
That’s because it’s an MQA supporters group. People who enjoy and support MQA. A group who do not want the mindless negativity expressed on forums, often by people who don’t listen to MQA and in all reality haven’t a clue, just an axe to grind.
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It also says
No licenses or payments are required for a user to stream or distribute content in AAC format
Do read the full FAQ. The fees an outrageous 15K if you’ve a turn over of > 1 million, 1K otherwise.
What license? What makes you think Tidal doesn’t just use a FOSS codec from source and have done with it for free. Or would you pay a fee to reinvent a wheel?
After all that clear information so easily found for AAC, I thought I’d try a similar exercise for MQA. Guess what I found, nothing. When you can’t see a price tag it’s usually pricey, and I’ll bet there’s nothing one off about it.
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I was talking about the first unfold by software. There is NO dac needed for that.
So what are you talking about? You just put random words in my mouth.