Tidal may it easy for me. They give a 40% military discount.
Tidal MQA vs Qobuz hi-res
My brief experience.. for posterity.
Comparing Tidal MQA to Qobuz hi-res, you -will- hear degredation/loss in the high frequencies (violins in an orchestra etc) on MQA... assuming you have reasonably resolving equipment. For me, that’s Macbook USB to a $150 Audio Engine D1 DAC going to a $600 used Parasound A23 going to used $600 Kef LS50’s, $100 Transparent speaker cables and cheap USB and RCA cables.
The Audio Engine is surprisingly good for it’s price BTW. Over the years, trying different DACs in audio stores when I had an opportunity, I feel like you’d need to spend close to $1,000 to get something significantly better.
The A23 and LS50’s are really good too for today’s used prices. New, they would’ve been $2,500 a few years go
Comparing Tidal MQA to Qobuz hi-res, you -will- hear degredation/loss in the high frequencies (violins in an orchestra etc) on MQA... assuming you have reasonably resolving equipment. For me, that’s Macbook USB to a $150 Audio Engine D1 DAC going to a $600 used Parasound A23 going to used $600 Kef LS50’s, $100 Transparent speaker cables and cheap USB and RCA cables.
The Audio Engine is surprisingly good for it’s price BTW. Over the years, trying different DACs in audio stores when I had an opportunity, I feel like you’d need to spend close to $1,000 to get something significantly better.
The A23 and LS50’s are really good too for today’s used prices. New, they would’ve been $2,500 a few years go
- ...
- 41 posts total
A good reason to stay with a high-def streaming service is to support them. If you can afford it you can even use more than one (I don't use any, yet). I don't think Tidal has started making profits. Not sure about Qobuz. Amazon can of course afford to lose money for years but may give up if they don't reach some target they have set for themselves. This was from last year. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2019/12/09/jay-zs-return-to-spotify-could... |
I'm in the camp that I like Tidal and MQA...so much so I haven't listened to a record or reel to reel in sometime. Of course some of that is convenience too, I often doze while I listen to music and don't want to have to rise to flip records or swap around tape. For what it's worth my system for listening is Roon (Tidal): UltraRendu Modwright Oppo 205 with power supply Primaluna Dialogue Preamp Primaluna Dialogue Amps with KT 150 tubes Goldenear Reference Speakers Acoustic Zen interconnects and speaker cables |
- 41 posts total