I just cancelled TIDAL. I couldn’t understand why it didn’t sound as good as my CDs. Then I learned about how they use lossy MQA files to generate their “master” tracks. Oh dear. I’m not financing this.
I tried Amazon Music but the app won’t recognize my system as HD compatible. Which is a fault in the app. The web-player does HD but it uses Windows’ mixer and tarnishes the quality.
I tried Deezer but its app cannot bypass Windows, thus tarnishing the sound quality. It generally feels badly designed.
Finally, I’ve installed Qobuz and it’s great, apart from the cost. It offers multiple output options including exclusive WASAPI and does not host MQA files. Nice.
I tried Amazon Music but the app won’t recognize my system as HD compatible. Which is a fault in the app. The web-player does HD but it uses Windows’ mixer and tarnishes the quality.
I tried Deezer but its app cannot bypass Windows, thus tarnishing the sound quality. It generally feels badly designed.
Finally, I’ve installed Qobuz and it’s great, apart from the cost. It offers multiple output options including exclusive WASAPI and does not host MQA files. Nice.
In Windows the best streaming sound might be via routing to another player eg Deezer > Virtual cable (free app) > Foobar (Record >Adv eg 24/96) > WASAPI Event (to bypass Windoze sound)
Even Qobuz with its excellent sound quality and direct WASAPI ability, still sounded appreciably better re-routed in my system. That was even before using Foobar DSP eg EQ/imaging/filters.
Tidal have unfortunately associated themselves with MQA. Seems like a bad business move. MQA is awful.