Will Roon ever be supporting MQA? [Answered - Now Live Roon 1.5]

James - same experience here with my teenage kids who are used Spotify and Sonos bluetooth systems- recently my daughter was going through Roon remote and was checking out the albums on Tidal - she went to the “Masters” and my Hi Res content that I have on my server - then she said can I stream this on Spotify and get my own system - I think if MQA or like Hi Res formats is streaming friendly I can see this just the start of better things to come in audio

Technically - I am not competent to debate with you on this. I accept that your position with respect to the technical aspects which accords with others on this forum.

My point here is more about this format sparking consumer interest on streaming platforms - I am happy to back an alternative streaming friendly format as long as it makes consumers aware of the benefits of Hi Res and quality recordings. We all benefit if MQA sparks other engineers to provide a cheaper / better alternative for streaming - perhaps the likes of you can pitch to Apple a “MQA Killer” alternative :grinning:

Apple doesn’t need anything special, if they start streaming any real lossless format, it’s game over for MQA. Apple doesn’t like being pigeon holed into some 3rd party format that requires them to pay someone else fees.

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Agreed. I hope the MQA killer is not Low Res streaming because no one can beat the Apple’s marketing machine and record companies need Apple as their key distribution platform. Here’s to hoping they adopt a format which is Hi Res and streaming friendly - I suspect Apple is in no hurry to enter this space as their profit margins and focus is elsewhere.

That patent application was abandoned, as you can see by visiting the actual patent database (not Google). The link is in the article referenced by @MusicFidelity above, in the latest Stereophile.

Jim Austin

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I don’t see how format would spark consumer interest on streaming platforms. How many people know/care that Spotify uses free Vorbis codec for streaming? Or that Apple Music uses AAC? It is certainly everything else that sparks the interest, not the technical details like the codec in question.

It sparks engineers to provide more expensive alternative for streaming…

I don’t think Apple needs to be pitched for anything… :slight_smile:

Their choice of streaming hi-res is driven by everything else except underlying technology. Needed technology for streaming hi-res has been around for long time.

Even bandwidth hasn’t been a problem for a while, as for example Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and many others have shown. For fun, compare monthly price of Netflix with montly price of streaming music services and reflect that with the bandwidth consumption! With the bandwidth used to stream hi-res video on these services, we could stream hi-res 5.1 channel audio!

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Only the 1% (us). The other 99% don’t care, as you hint.

They seem to be doing ok :grin:

Part of the issue with the younger generations appreciating good sound is that “good sound” has evolved with brickwalling. When I bi-amped my speakers I got to another level of sound quality – not saying some night and day snake oil tweak, but definitely a noticeable difference – and one thing I have noticed is that totally brickwalled recordings don’t benefit nearly as much from that increased detail.

So, point is, there needs to be a source of popular music that isn’t just higher resolution, but is actually engineered to take advantage of quality systems, rather than engineered for the least common denominator. That’s more than an MQA remaster, though, that would likely require a remix!

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Did somebody need a remix? I know just who to call. Problem solved.

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I wholeheartedly agree with your position / much more of a broader issue rather than narrowing our debate on the merits of MQA.

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But what does any of that have to do with MQA in Roon?

Nothing , my point was more about we need to have a broader debate about hi res streaming format that is accessible to MP3 generation.

The reason these debates happen and invariably broaden the scope of MQA and Roon discussions is that were they in their own thread they would have an audience of people critical of MQA and no one else. That is why they happen here and disrupt discussions that have a narrower scope!

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Broader context is of relevance for a informed MQA viewpoint either from a technical (hats off to those who have sound engineering background) perspective or users like me who are early adopters of a format like MQA are hopeful that this format will trigger interest in hi res recordings or a better format than MQA that is streaming friendly and commercially viable

For me if we can get the MP3 generation market like my kids (who only stream either video or audio) can also understand the value of audiophile quality recordings. The latter as James pointed out here is the challenge - I see MQA opening the door for more to come either format wise or focus on quality recordings. MQA got a boost with Tidal streaming the form, great job done by the patent holders - just need Spotify or Apple to bring to the market a hi res streaming format - I don’t care whether it is MQA or not - I want to see more focus on audio as has been the case with video like 4K streaming lead to people by 4K OlED monitors.

And for listeners like us, MQA won’t really achieve its potential with brickwalled recordings.

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James / a peep into the future in video https://www.linius.com - I see more development like this in audio

The difference between us is you trust the corporations and I don’t. I assume they will screw me to make more money if they can. Those same patent ideas will be resurrected (possibly in another form) if MQA succeeds. The economic logic of a monopoly type position in music production and distribution would make it inevitable.

You think something along the lines of, “what’s good for the industry (meaning big corporations) is what’s good for consumers”. I don’t.

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Wow, that’s some MQA quality marketing hype! Definitely a bright future for streaming media if these claims come true!

Agreed. I think you do have to take it corporation by corporation, but certainly, for most, it’s all about the profits. Definitely with the big record companies.

As far as I want, all streaming and downloads are to be lossless and DRM free. Lossless means you are confident that you are getting directly from the pristine masters and nothing else. DRM free is one is not tied up to end to end process; forcing people to upgrade or buy new devices.

Enjoy your music now; Hi-Res streaming/downloads are already here and many of us are already appreciate all of this!