• CEPro_logo_blue-new
  • TOPICS
      • News
        • People & Places
        • Product Briefs
      • Projects
      • Events
      • Control
        • Central Vac
        • Energy/Power
        • HVAC/IAQ
        • Interfaces/Devices
        • Lighting
        • Motorized Shades
        • Whole House Systems
      • Audio/Video
        • Audio/Video
        • AV Accessories
        • AV Racks
        • Cabling
        • Displays
        • Furniture
        • Headphones
        • Home Theater
        • Media
        • Mounts/Lifts
        • Multiroom AV
        • Projectors/Screens
        • Speakers/Subwoofers
        • Wireless AV
      • Security
        • Access Control
        • Alarms/Sensors
        • Services/Platforms
        • Surveillance/Cameras
      • Business Support
        • Associations/Buying Groups
        • Cell Phone Boosters
        • Distributors/Reps
        • Operations
        • Recurring Revenue
        • Research
        • Sales/Marketing
        • Software Services
        • Tools/Testers
      • Networking
        • Cellular
        • Devices/Equipment
        • Wireless
        • Wired/Installation
      • Markets
        • Builders
        • Commercial
        • Design
        • Europe
        • Outdoors
        • Resimercial
        • Wellness
      • CE Pro Hub Pages
        • Bose
        • Savant
        • Inside Sound United
  • PRODUCTS
  • RESOURCES
    • Reports/Downloads
    • Buyer’s Guide
    • Webcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Integrator Jobs
    • Digital Edition
    • CE Pro-iQ
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • CEDIA SHOW UPDATES
    • CEPRO PRINT EDITION
    • CEPRO DIGITAL EDITION
    • CEPRO NEWSLETTERS
  • DISCOVER
    • CEDIA Expo
      • September 29 – October 1
        Dallas, TX
      • VISIT SITE
    • KBIS
      • February 8 – 10
        Orlando, FL
      • VISIT SITE
    • Total Tech Summit
      • October 26 – 28
        Orlando, FL
      • VISIT SITE
    • Commercial Integrator
      • VISIT SITE
    • Security Sales
      • VISIT SITE
    • Tech Decisions
      • VISIT SITE
    • Campus Safety
      • VISIT SITE
    • Design Well
      • VISIT SITE
    • KBB Online
      • VISIT SITE
    • AV-iQ
      • VISIT SITE
    • CE Pro-iQ
      • VISIT SITE
  • Search
  • TOPICS
    • News
      • People & Places
      • Product Briefs
    • Projects
    • Events
    • Control
      • Central Vac
      • Energy/Power
      • HVAC/IAQ
      • Interfaces/Devices
      • Lighting
      • Motorized Shades
      • Whole House Systems
    • Audio/Video
      • Audio/Video
      • AV Accessories
      • AV Racks
      • Cabling
      • Displays
      • Furniture
      • Headphones
      • Home Theater
      • Media
      • Mounts/Lifts
      • Multiroom AV
      • Projectors/Screens
      • Speakers/Subwoofers
      • Wireless AV
    • Security
      • Access Control
      • Alarms/Sensors
      • Services/Platforms
      • Surveillance/Cameras
    • Business Support
      • Associations/Buying Groups
      • Cell Phone Boosters
      • Distributors/Reps
      • Operations
      • Recurring Revenue
      • Research
      • Sales/Marketing
      • Software Services
      • Tools/Testers
    • Networking
      • Cellular
      • Devices/Equipment
      • Wireless
      • Wired/Installation
    • Markets
      • Builders
      • Commercial
      • Design
      • Europe
      • Outdoors
      • Resimercial
      • Wellness
    • CE Pro Hub Pages
      • Savant
      • Bose
      • Inside Sound United
  • PRODUCTS
  • RESOURCES
    • Reports/Downloads
    • Buyer’s Guide
    • Webcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Integrator Jobs
    • Digital Edition
    • CE Pro-IQ
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • CEPRO PRINT EDITION
    • CEPRO DIGITAL EDITION
    • CEPRO NEWSLETTERS
    • CEDIA SHOW UPDATES
  • DISCOVER
    • Cedia Expo
      VISIT SITE
    • Commercial Integrator
      VISIT SITE
    • Security Sales
      VISIT SITE
    • Tech Decisions
      VISIT SITE
    • Campus Safety
      VISIT SITE
    • Design Well
      VISIT SITE
    • Total Tech Summit
      VISIT SITE
    • KBB Online
      VISIT SITE
    • AV-iQ
    • CE Pro-iQ
M
POPULAR SEARCHES
News
Projects
Control
Audio Video
Security
Business Support
Markets
SUBSCRIBE CEDIA EXPO CEPro-iQ
Amplifiers/Receivers | News | Speakers/Subwoofers | Videos
August 9, 2018

Can Millennials Distinguish Between High-Res MQA Audio and Apple Music Streaming?

The latest CE Pro Millennial Listening Challenge calls into question whether MQA is the new MP3?
Robert Archer  

In the latest CE Pro Millennial Challenge, a trio of Millennials were easily able to discern the differences between streaming content and MQA high-resolution audio content.

View the slideshow
Article:
Amplifiers/Receivers | News | Speakers/Subwoofers | Videos
August 9, 2018

Can Millennials Distinguish Between High-Res MQA Audio and Apple Music Streaming?

It may be a small sample size, but based on the results, there is no question that Millennials want to embrace the benefits of high-resolution audio.

Recently the staff of CE Pro conducted the latest CE Pro Millennial Listening Challenge, this time squaring off streaming content from Apple Music against the high-resolution audio available from TIDAL via its use of the MQA format.  

In this round of blind testing EH Media Millennials Adam Forziati, web editor, Dan Wilkins, sales and marketing administrator, and Matt Wagner, marketing assistant, compared tracks from Rush, Metallica, Black Sabbath and Drake.

Using an Onkyo A/V receiver, along with Skywalker Saga in-wall loudspeakers, an Apple MacBook Air and an iFi Audio Nano iDSD BL digital-to-analog (DAC), which provided us with MQA compatibility to reproduce the MQA encoded tracks, we played a total of eight tracks at an average SPL of 75dB.

Before listening to the MQA high-resolution and streaming media from TIDAL and Apple Music, Forziati said that he’d heard high-resolution audio in passing a couple of times, and he expects the differences to be minor.

Looking ahead, he says he is interested in learning more about high-resolution audio because, “iTunes won’t be around forever, and as we think about the future of our music libraries, I think it is important to consider just where and how you want to hold onto digital files that mean a lot to you.”

He adds there is an opportunity for MQA and high-resolution audio to gain acceptance with younger music consumers that are serious about their music.

“I think my fellow Millennials who collect music—who view listening to it as more than just a passing activity—will be interested in higher resolution files,” estimates Forziati.

Related: Millennial Blind Listening Challenge: CDs vs. Streaming

“Otherwise, they probably won’t be interested, though this observation is not generation specific. Anyone of any age group who does not typically listen to music in a particularly engaged way won’t likely be interested in high-resolution files.”

Is MQA the new MP3?

Following the comparisons of the tracks, the trio of Millennials was impressed with the differences between formats.

While not scoring perfectly, Wagner, and Wilkins did correctly name six of the eight tracks. Wagner noted that he failed to identify the first track Rush’s YYZ correctly, but learning from the listening experience he and Wilkins went on to correctly name the MQA tracks from Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Drake.

Each member of the Millennial listening panel said the differences between low-resolution streams and high-resolution content from TIDAL were apparent. 

“I think MQA could become, and I would like it to become, the new MP3—if the format remains free-to-use and doesn't involve extra purchases.”

— Adam Forziati, Web Editor, Commercial Integrator

“Now that I have kind of heard the difference between MQA and the streaming , I think I definitely would look into it because—just hearing the guitar coming through—it is just so different, [it is] so much more captivating,” Wilkins comments.

More CE Pro Millennial Listening Challenge: CE Pro Millennial Blind Music Challenge: CD vs. Vinyl

After comparing the two formats, the participants say they would consider purchasing MQA-compatible files—so long as the investment isn't too steep. 

“I would definitely go out to see if a lot of the music I listen to was on MQA,” adds Wagner.

“It’s a much more enjoyable listening experience. It is something I wouldn’t have noticed before, but I think now I’m going to start to notice the quality of the music a lot more, and I am going to want to have a nicer listening experience going forward.”

Forziati says he's hooked on MQA after hearing it for the first time.

“The difference between MQA and standard streaming was pretty remarkable,” he says. “I think MQA could become, and I would like it to become, the new MP3—if the format remains free-to-use and doesn't involve extra purchases.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Archer
Follow
Robert Archer:
Bob is an audio enthusiast who has written about consumer electronics for various publications within Massachusetts before joining the staff of CE Pro in 2000. Bob is THX Level I certified, and he's also taken classes from the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) and Home Acoustics Alliance (HAA). Bob has also served as the technology editor for CE Pro's sister publication Commercial Integrator. In his personal time beyond his family, he's studied guitar and music theory at Sarrin Music Studios in Wakefield, Mass., and he also studies Kyokushin karate at 5 Dragons and Brazilian jiu-jitsu at Binda Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
View Robert Archer's complete profile

ARTICLE TOPICS

Amplifiers/Receivers • News • Speakers/Subwoofers • Videos

ARTICLE TAGS

Apple • Millennials • MQA • Onkyo • Skywalker • TIDAL

SHARE

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share On Linkedin
Share On Whatsapp
Share Via Email
Copy URL
← Previous Article Next Article →
Article Audio/VideoCommercialControlDesignEventsISELightingMarketsOutdoorsPress ReleasesProductsResimercialWellnessWhole-House Systems

KSCAPE RAIL Lighting/Audio Solution to Debut at ISE 2023

KSCAPE notes that its new model of RAIL integrates Casambi for the ultimate ‘plug-and-play’ light audio system solution.
Article Business SupportNewsSoftware/Services

Portal API Integrates with iPoint

Portal.io opens its API to other business management software solutions, and announces its first integration is with iPoint.
Article Audio/VideoCommercialControlDesignEventsISELightingMarketsOutdoorsPress ReleasesProductsResimercialWellnessWhole-House Systems

KSCAPE RAIL Lighting/Audio Solution to Debut at ISE 2023

KSCAPE notes that its new model of RAIL integrates Casambi for the ultimate ‘plug-and-play’ light audio system solution.
Article Audio/VideoDesignLightingMotorized ShadesProjectors/ScreensSpeakers/Subwoofers

Technology Has Become an Interior Design Statement All Its Own

From LED light fixtures to loudspeakers to shades, access control and keypads, to solutions used as ways to conceal technology, design was on everyone’s minds at the recent CEDIA Expo in Dallas.

SHOW NEWSLETTER

Sign Up

CE Pro

Subscribe Sign Up

Content Types

News
Products
Projects
Companies
Downloads
Webcasts
Podcasts
Events

Specials

IntegratorJobs
CEDIA EXPO
CE Pro 100
CE Pro Summit
Awards Programs

Company Info

About
Contact Us
Customer Service
Media Solutions & Advertising

Subscribe

Magazine
Newsletters
Digital Edition

Connect

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
RSS Feed

Categories

AUDIO/VIDEO
AV Accessories
AV Racks
Amplifiers/Receivers
Cabling
Displays
Furniture
Mounts/Lifts
Multiroom AV
Projector Screens
Speakers/Subwoofers
Wireless AV
CONTROL
Central Vac
Energy/Power
Interfaces/Devices
HVAC/IAQ
Lighting
Motorized Shades
Whole-House Systems
NETWORKING
Cellular
Devices/Equipment
Wireless
Wiring/Installation
SECURITY
Access Control
Alarms/Sensors
Services/Platforms
Surveillance Cameras
BUSINESS SUPPORT
Associations/Buying Groups
Distributors/Reps
Operations
Recurring Revenue
Research
Sales/Marketing
Software/Services
Tools/Testers
MARKETS
Builders
Commercial
Design
Europe
Outdoors
Wellness
FOLLOW US ON
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow

© 2023 Emerald X, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

  • ABOUT
  • CAREERS
  • TERMS OF USE
  • PRIVACY POLICY