With iOS 11, Apple has introduced native FLAC handling on it's devices.
According to industry insiders, this may signal the end of MQA.
Lossless streaming services currently keep both a FLAC and ALAC copy of an album on their servers.
Eliminating the need to store an ALAC copy would free up un-measurable server space.
The MQA big selling point to lossless streaming services was the savings in data storage.
Now these services can stream full, true lossless FLAC up to 24/19, and still save tons of money. (MQA only works
up to 24/96, anything beyond that is upsampled).
So, before you invest in an "MQA" ready DAC, you may want to reconsider, and buy
the best sounding DAC, as opposed to one that caters to marketing buzzwords.
According to industry insiders, this may signal the end of MQA.
Lossless streaming services currently keep both a FLAC and ALAC copy of an album on their servers.
Eliminating the need to store an ALAC copy would free up un-measurable server space.
The MQA big selling point to lossless streaming services was the savings in data storage.
Now these services can stream full, true lossless FLAC up to 24/19, and still save tons of money. (MQA only works
up to 24/96, anything beyond that is upsampled).
So, before you invest in an "MQA" ready DAC, you may want to reconsider, and buy
the best sounding DAC, as opposed to one that caters to marketing buzzwords.