24 posts were split to a new topic: MQA, 2L and Qobuz
Allowing customers to focus on this or that, except when it comes to MQA, is not about what is or is not “the most” requested, coding time, etc. Curating files based on tags is what Roon does - it’s a core competency and feature.
This is about privileging MQA for reasons that have yet to be stated.
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But that’s your view. Not the majority.
Not sure I follow. Is all the functionality in Roon base on “the majority”? How many folks use HQPlayer, or DSP? I suspect its a distinct minority. Roon is a veritable plethora of minority choice.
Why is a feature request - one that is already everywhere found in Roon, namely we be given a way to focus on 16/44 as opposed to MQA in Tidal, an issue at all?
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I think it really depends of the dac and equipment you are using. I feel MQA sounds better with some equipment and FLAC with others.
FLAC doesn’t have a sound, it’s a wrapper containing a music file which could be CD quality or MP3 and higher res.
MQA is a thing… So to compare, we need to know what file is in the FLAC wrapper. ie I prefer the sound of an an MQA file (Undecoded, First Unfold, Fully Decoded) over a CD file in FLAC.
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“FLAC doesn’t have a sound, it’s a wrapper containing a music file which could be CD quality or MP3 and higher res.”
This is right. Which leads us to a question: Do USB cables have a sound? Just Kidding!!! 
(really, its a joke - no derailing this thread with cable controversy!)
perhaps I should put this here as well
https://audiophilereview.com/cd-dac-digital/a-comparison-of-sacd-vs-mqa-in-physical-format.html
Thank you Danny… I’m certain that it was and probably is a most desired feature. I seem to remember endless articles and comments requesting MQA.
Appreciate Roon response to what, at one time, was the number one demanded feature.
I don’t care for MQA either, but can be turned off and makes no real difference to me. I have a six figure audio system and don’t have a MQA decoding DAC.
Some comments have an unnecessarily severe tone. This is not a political forum so no need.
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Search for the music you want. The format is clearly displayed on the album cover. Select the format you want all done.
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why all the extra clicks? why not just allow Roon to do what it does everywhere else? why is MQA privileged?
Does your mouse have a wheel? If not get one. That will save you the agony of all those clicks.
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I would not be problematic - if it was then ALL of Roon would be “problematic” because doing these sorts of things for the end user is Roons raison d’être. There is no significant development to be done. Again, Roon already does these things everywhere else. Now that streaming involves mp3, AAC, MQA (the big three lossy codecs),16/44, 24/44, 24/48, 24/88.2, 24/96, 24/176, 24/192, and DSD (edit: Qobuz streams DSD maybe? I am in America and its not live for me yet), Roon needs to allow us to curate our experience - again, this is what Roon does. Roon is not a front end to Pandora and Spotify, its part of the experience of the “audiophile” and “hi res” services of Tidal and Qobuz. The tagging from these companies is already there. The ‘development’ on Roon side to take advantage of the tagging is already there.
Now that I signed up for QoBuz hi res (i.e. “Studio”), I look up something like Blue Rodeo. I see that despite Qobuz having the actual 24/96 “Live at Massey Hall” Album, Roon still shows me the Tidal MQA version!
Why, exactly, is Roon privelaging MQA?
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Which album would you have come up first? And does it really matter? It looks like you were able to fight your way through the MQA barrier and find a couple of Qobuz versions.
Well, based on what Roon employees have said in the past, the highest ‘hi res’ version should come up first. That would mean that Qobuz real hi res of 24/96 should come up first.
Why would a Roon user expect (let alone actually encounter) an ‘MQA barrier’ at all? I mean, all of us (or most of us) have a lot of experience with the ‘JRiver barrier’, and the like, but Roon?
You bring up excellent points KenS! Is Roon looking backward?!?
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Nope, I think Roon is very much forward looking.