MQA is Vaporware

[Norton]

1 hour ago, Rocky Bennett said:

Hello All,

I am a long time lurker here but I just wanted to post this little bit of information. I am one of the guys that can be considered to be anti-MQA but I have found a particular album that might make it easy to compare a high rez file to the exact same mastering of an MQA file. Jethro Tull Heavy Horses just came out in 24/96 over at HDTracks

 

http://www.hdtracks.com/heavy-horses-steven-wilson-remix

 

and it is also available in MQA over at High Res Audio

 

https://www.highresaudio.com/en/album/view/hrwzp9/jethro-tull-heavy-horses-40th-anniversary-a-steven-wilson-stereo-remix

 

These are both the Steven Wilson re-mix (which I own in the beautiful box set that includes a nice 5.1 mix). Anybody that is interested can buy both versions and try this little audio test for themselfs.

 

(Sorry if this has been posted before.)

 

Rocky Bennett

 

Thanks for the heads up.  When I started playing with Tidal/MQA, Heavy Horses was one of the first albums I looked for, but was strangely absent from Tidal in any form at the time.  I'm currently travelling , but I can now see two Steve Wilson versions in the Tidal Ipad app, one labelled 96/24 PCM and one just labelled stereo (The  app doesn't seem to show Master labelling, so I presume what's labelled 96/24 is actually the MQA version, unless Tidal are now streaming mainstream 24/96)

 

Will definitely try out both when I get home.

 

There is also a third, 2003 remix version, showing.

[mcgillroy]

8 hours ago, adamdea said:

I can't even work out if it's ironic.

This article will directly affect and influence millions of you around the world - virtually all of you who have a digital signal anywhere in your home entertainment system (or professional A/V equipment). To be honestly candid, this is probably the most influential article ever published on digital (especially when all its installments are released and assembled together).

Difficult to tell. The bombastic tone and tin ear are soon accompanied on their long rambling quest by some very approximate technical explanations. Do they make it to the end? I have no idea.

Yep - I stopped reading after this sentence.

[The Computer Audiophile]

This is a good one. Compare a phone with a real DAC to the iPhone digital output and a $0.10 DAC built into the cable. 

 

The MQA express keeps rolling. 

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/lg-v30-hi-res-smartphone-mqa

[Rt66indierock]

10 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This is a good one. Compare a phone with a real DAC to the iPhone digital output and a $0.10 DAC built into the cable. 

 

The MQA express keeps rolling. 

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/lg-v30-hi-res-smartphone-mqa

 

Not to mention the mobile phone division of LG still lost money in the first quarter of 2018.

[rickca]

17 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This is a good one. Compare a phone with a real DAC to the iPhone digital output and a $0.10 DAC built into the cable. 

 

The MQA express keeps rolling. 

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/lg-v30-hi-res-smartphone-mqa

There's another thread on this topic here https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/39197-stereophile-review-of-lg-mqa-capable-phone/?tab=comments#comment-810869

 

[Brinkman Ship]

The MQA Clown Car is just about full! What drivel.

[Indydan]

22 minutes ago, Brinkman Ship said:

The MQA Clown Car is just about full! What drivel.

 

After this turd review from JVS, and the crap from Steven Stone earlier in the week, it is clear some people have no shame. 

 

I will be careful choosing my words. But at this point, shill does not seem like the right word. I have another word in mind... 

[Brinkman Ship]

2 minutes ago, Indydan said:

 

After this turd review from JVS, and the crap from Steven Stone earlier in the week, it is clear some people have no shame. 

 

I will be careful choosing my words. But at this point, shill does not seem like the right word. I have another word in mind... 

[Brinkman Ship]

There are so many laughable quotes...i love the part where he recruits neighbors and acquaintances to

"vouch" for MQA and the LG Phone as audiophile component.  That is a tired old tactic.

[Ralf11]

Scroggie seems to have abandoned us

[Dr Tone]

11 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Scroggie seems to have abandoned us

 

He’s busy setting up his new Alexia 2s he bought for MQA playback.  I kid not.

[Indydan]

As I recently rewatched the classic movie "Apocalypse now", I believe I found the solution for MQA...

 

 

 

 

[Rt66indierock]

1 hour ago, Indydan said:

As I recently rewatched the classic movie "Apocalypse now", I believe I found the solution for MQA...

 

 

 

 

 

I want MQA Ltd liquidated and the intellectual property not in the hands of the majority shareholder, the labels or Bob Staurt.

[rickca]

6 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

I want MQA Ltd liquidated and the intellectual property not in the hands of the majority shareholder, the labels or Bob Staurt.

Who would buy the IP?  What would they do with it?

[mansr]

4 minutes ago, rickca said:

What would they do with it?

Burn it, if they have any decency.

[Ralf11]

you could use it as the basis for a high quality automotive grease - something with high film strength

[Rt66indierock]

3 hours ago, rickca said:

Who would buy the IP?  What would they do with it?

 

Probably best to have the non-director employees who paid for their stock when others didn't. Just to remind them it was a foolish investment and don't do it again.

[FredericV]

On 4/25/2018 at 2:24 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

The MQA express keeps rolling.

Is the MQA train still rolling? I'm not convinced. Last year MQA had a list of new brands adopting MQA just before the Munich show. Now looking at the MQA facebook page, I only see announcements of releases in this lossy pseudo hires DRM format, and the LG review, and other reviews from key opinion makers (hired guns).

The biggest hifi show in the world, but this year no announcement about new partnerships TBA in Munich, which is one week to go?

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, FredericV said:

Is the MQA train still rolling? I'm not convinced. Last year MQA had a list of new brands adopting MQA just before the Munich show. Now looking at the MQA facebook page, I only see announcements of releases in this lossy pseudo hires DRM format, and the LG review, and other reviews from key opinion makers (hired guns).

The biggest hifi show in the world, but this year no announcement about new partnerships TBA in Munich, which is one week to go?

 

MQA's sights are set on much larger targets now. Think 10s of millions of users with each licensee.

 

 

[rickca]

4 minutes ago, FredericV said:

Is the MQA train still rolling?

When I hear that whistle blowin'
I hang my head and cry

 

Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues

 

[Brinkman Ship]

6 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

MQA's sights are set on much larger targets now. Think 10s of millions of users with each licensee.

 

 

it is clear yoy are implying that they are negotiating with one or more of the major streaming services...Spotify, etc.....

[Indydan]

2 hours ago, Brinkman Ship said:

it is clear yoy are implying that they are negotiating with one or more of the major streaming services...Spotify, etc.....

 

Or maybe more mobile phone companies like LG?

[FredericV]

5 hours ago, Brinkman Ship said:

it is clear yoy are implying that they are negotiating with one or more of the major streaming services...Spotify, etc.....

 

The typical consumer of these mass market streaming services does not care about sound quality, only convenience.

If sound quality was so important, we would see more Tidal users:

 

But it's not happening for obvious reasons:
 

Quote

Writing for USA Today's website, Micah Peters released a list of "3 reasons why Jay-Z's new Tidal streaming service is stupid". The article focused on points that the high fidelity, lossless audio quality model being promoted was "overestimat[ing] the average listener". Peters worried that most listeners do not have the required, advanced headphones to distinguish the difference between ordinary and high fidelity audio. The article also stated that the $20 price was simply not reasonable for the mass market

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_(service)

 

And those who really care, don't want lossy DRM'ed audio sold as the new studio format. They want real highres without restrictions, in the real native resolution, with freedom to do what they like with those files, and not some lossy derivate like MQA's 17/96 actual resolution + upsampling which only decodes on licensed devices.

[mansr]

7 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

MQA's sights are set on much larger targets now. Think 10s of millions of users with each licensee.

Good luck finding even 1 million users who care.

[Thuaveta]

52 minutes ago, mansr said:

Good luck finding even 1 million users who care.

 

If you don't give them the choice, they don't need to care.