RichardSF

@athegn Great you that you were able make a full copy of the SD card. To ensure compatibility, I recommend that you initialize the new SD card by formatting it on your phone (instead of formatting it on the computer). For example, on a Samsung phone open: Settings > Device care > Storage > Advanced > SD card > Format Other brands should have a similar procedure. Then eject it and put it on your computer to copy files.

It should work, if you are able to make a complete copy of the SD card and use it on the same phone. However, you said that the SD card is faulty and it might not be possible to read for making a copy. It would depend on which parts of the file system have been damaged. It is worth trying to see if it works. In the worst case it is not recoverable and you'll need re-download the files.

I haven't received the email from Qobuz. I wonder if they are only sending it out to people who have purchased an album from the Qobuz download store that is impacted. I've only purchased a couple of albums from Qobuz. If those albums aren't being removed from Qobuz in October, there would be no reason to send me a warning about it.

I'm in the US and haven't received such an email. I looked around and found a thread on the Qobuz Club forum: https://club.qobuz.com/c/ideas/qobuz-changes. So far, people from France, Germany and Canada (@wdw) reported receiving the email, but not (yet) US or UK. This was the email text posted on the thread: Jane, an admin on Qobuz Club replied with this:

Bamboo isn't a good material for cutting boards anyway. May as well get them out of your kitchen and use them for your audio system. https://www.seriouseats.com/are-bamboo-cutting-boards-good-7511304

@David Craff Can you check on the status of the classical music label Exton at Qobuz? Exton albums were previously on all the major streaming services including Qobuz, but suddenly disappeared for a few years. It looked as though Exton had pulled out of streaming altogether. Recently, Exton albums have reappeared on streaming services. Tidal, Spotify, Apple, YouTube Music and Amazon now have several hundred Exton albums for streaming (fewer than previously, but perhaps Exton is still ramping up). But not on Qobuz. A search for the record label Exton displays only 3 albums. Here's an example of an album that is available to stream on Tidal, Spotify, Apple, YouTube Music and Amazon, but not Qobuz. Mahler Symphony No. 1 by the Pittsburgh Symphony with conductor Manfred Honeck, on the Exton label. Please check on why this and other Exton albums are missing on Qobuz.

I do not hear clicks between tracks when playing this album from the Qobuz app on Mac, or through Roon. See if you still hear clicks when you play it on the Qobuz app on desktop or mobile. Roon identifies this album as having mixed track formats. It sees track 3, 6, and 7 as 96/24 and all of the other eight tracks as 44.1/16. Do you hear a click between every track, or only when the format changes? If only when the format changes, then your DAC might be producing a click when it changes format.

Qobuz Connect (beta) was demoed on a video last month on the Qobuz Club website: https://club.qobuz.com/c/qobuz-news/qobuz-club-exclusive-preview-of-qobuz-connect-in-beta-version Qobuz Club is an online community (discussions, articles, news) sponsored by Qobuz. A sign-up is required, separate from your Qobuz streaming account. I rarely visit because the layout makes it hard to scan for active topics that might interest me. At least they are making progress. The other half of it is that Qobuz Connect needs to be implemented on the endpoint you want to use.

"High" is CD quality. "Max" is hi-res (whether FLAC or MQA).

It is called Stjarna and was first mentioned by Jason Stoddard near the end of his 2023 year-end report. His latest status updates were last month, here and here (the topic under discussion at the time was whether Stjarna should have a mono mode switch).

Schiit is not at all a "digital company". They have been selling their $149 Mani phono preamp for a long time (now in its 2nd iteration), along with a modular phono input card that can be fitted into their headphone and integrated amps. They are also currently working on a tube phono preamp. Schiit even designed and sold their own turntable (the Sol, now discontinued). https://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-sol-turntable The UMG watermark in streaming music caused a vibrato-like effect on piano sustained notes. It was truly awful and ruined entire albums. Thankfully, UMG discontinued applying their watermark.

I'm confused about that person's post. He refers to an ECM online store, which I presume is this: https://ecmrecords.com/shop/. However, it is a store for physical media only (CD and vinyl), not for purchasing download files, and I don't believe that ECM ever sold MQA-CD discs.

That was a curious paragraph explaining that lossless is better, but not saying that MQA is lossless. Some context about that article... it is in the blog section of the Audioengine website (a maker of popular desktop powered speakers). Audioengine does sell a low-end streamer device, but their business doesn't seem to have a direct connection with Lenbrook (might even be considered a competitor in some ways). They are either repeating something from MQA Labs, or the author was hoodwinked into thinking that the new streaming service will be lossless.

Do they actually have anything in MQA? I did a few quick searches and nothing came up, but I don't know which albums might be likely candidates.

@David Craff posted an update last month. It isn't coming as quickly as you'd like, but they are working on it.