As an engineer do I need to be able to play MQA just in case?

[bearcatsandor]

I'm earning my degree in audio engineering (at 50 years old) and I'm setting up a home studio space. I don't care for MQA from a political standpoint as I'm very much an open source zelot, but do I need a DAC that can handle it anyway?

What are the chances that a client would send me MQA stems to mix or master? Might this become common place?

I'm assuming that playback with my Linux setup would be challenging anyway, correct?

 

[Dunring]

You would work with the master, and then send it to Tidal where they do the encoding on their end. It wouldn't make a difference if you have a DAC that can play them back. It's up to the artist to hear the converted version and decide to list it on a place like Tidal or not.

 

[Music1969]

You would work with the master, and then send it to Tidal where they do the encoding on their end.

In many cases it is the distributor that does the encoding.

There are many ways to deliver MQA to Tidal directly now.

MQA is even found on Qobuz and Deezer and Apple Music btw - 2L recordings is one example but there are some others.

 

[fieldcar]

MQA stems

I don't think that will ever happen. No true software "unfolding" exists outside of roon, and it's a lossy codec that usually decodes without the MQA metadata as something odd like a degraded 12 bit pcm file. The format just sucks and no one uses it during production, mixing, and mastering. It's almost exclusively a playback only format for end users.

Stems are almost always wav or flac, but I've seen some people distribute in lossy formats like mp3 (for shame!).

What DAW are they teaching you on?

 

[bearcatsandor]

What DAW are they teaching you on?

Reaper and Logic Pro so far, but I prefer Ardour for my own work.

 

[fieldcar]

So I wouldn't likely trade mqa files or download them from a store,

You could take a sample, but it would ignore the MQA metadata that makes it a hi-rez audio file. So you would be left with something far worse than a digital purchase from qobuz, where you can get hi-rez FLAC files. I don't recall how to strip out the pcm side of the file, but you may just play/import the MQA file like a flac file as the base audio of MQA is flac for the first 12 bits of data.

I would need a DAC that can decode it if I want to listen to Tidal streams?

You can listen to music without the hardware, but they cripple it depending on how you listen. Raw files are 12 bit pcm, in tidal, it's back to some odd 16 bit lossy monster, and then hardware gets you the double and triple unfolding for supposed hi-rez audio. It's just BS. Switch to qobuz if you can. I have.

 

[bearcatsandor]

You could take a sample, but it would ignore the MQA metadata that makes it a hi-rez audio file. So you would be left with something far worse than a digital purchase from qobuz, where you can get hi-rez FLAC files. I don't recall how to strip out the pcm side of the file, but you may just play/import the MQA file like a flac file as the base audio of MQA is flac for the first 12 bits of data.


You can listen to music without the hardware, but they cripple it depending on how you listen. Raw files are 12 bit pcm, in tidal, it's back to some odd 16 bit lossy monster, and then hardware gets you the double and triple unfolding for supposed hi-rez audio. It's just BS. Switch to qobuz if you can. I have.

That's just ... assinine. Hey, enjoy the gormet chocolate cake you bought from our bakery. If you eat it just the way we tell you to it will taste just like a cake from a box-mix, but if you eat it with a fork instead of a spoon it will taste like soap. Am I understanding this?

Personally, I use Youtube music in the car or to listen before I buy which is good enough, and buy from HDTracks or something for listening at home. I value controlling my music tags and organization in my collection.

 

[fieldcar]

Am I understanding this?

Pretty much. There were a few good threads and videos on YouTube in regards to this. Search for: golden sound mqa

Personally, I use Youtube music in the car or to listen before I buy which is good enough, and buy from HDTracks or something for listening at home. I value controlling my music tags and organization in my collection.

Good. After a lot of the deserved criticism popped up, it's been a common pledge here at ASR to avoid MQA in every form, whether that's hardware or services like tidal.