MQA is Vaporware

[Ran]

4 minutes ago, PeterV said:

7288 albums and counting.....:-)  not bad for 'vaporware'.....!...http://www.meridianunplugged.com/downloads/MQA_List.csv

 

Thanks for the list. I will now know which albums to avoid on Tidal.

[Ran]

5 minutes ago, Lee Scoggins said:

Do you have any suggestions?

 

Speak with Mike @ Schiit, Mark @ AIX, John @ Benchmark, Bruno @ Mola-Mola and finally, you can reach out to mansr here at CA.

 

Good luck!

 

[Ran]

10 minutes ago, neo_vino said:

Yep, happy is my middle name.

 

I have a really candid question to MQA detractors: What are the current alternatives to "more than CD quality" streaming formats?

 

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/plans/music-streaming-subscription

[Ran]

1 hour ago, knickerhawk said:

 

Have you heard what the cost will be for the Sublime subscription with HiRes streaming when it becomes available in the US? Based on the UK pricing, it looks like it will be considerably more expensive than Tidal.

 

It is not the same product.

[Ran]

2 hours ago, Brinkman Ship said:

So if take at face value all of the information above is correct, why have I not read about any of this in Stereophile or The Absolute Sound, or DAR, or Audiostream?

 

Because these magazines report on what they are given by the industry. There is no investigative journalism, technical research or perspective. Because of that, you as the reader has to take things as face value. If you need the education, do the research yourself or use forums like CA. Bear in mind that most of these magazines lack real understanding of digital technologies, computer audio, math and algorithms.  

[Ran]

13 minutes ago, John_Atkinson said:

 

Er, https://www.stereophile.com/content/mqa-tested-part-2-fold

https://www.stereophile.com/content/more-mqa

https://www.stereophile.com/content/mqa-some-claims-examined

 

Perhaps you missed these articles?

 

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile

 

These articles are from the last two months and came to be after Stereophile got criticism from industry people and the community. What I did not miss was you going gaga over MQA ("birth of a new world"). Here is a reminder:

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/ive-heard-future-streaming-meridians-mqa

 

That was December 2014. It took around 3 years for Stereophile to produce something close to being consider serious. 

[Ran]

27 minutes ago, Shadders said:

Hi,

I thought MQA was presented to the AES and no one in the AES applied due diligence as the engineers on this site have. They just endorsed the system.

 

Given this, i do not see the AES as a professional organisation. More of a club for people presenting ideas, good and bad, true or false.

 

If the MQA paper had been presented to the IEEE or IET - it will have been severely criticised for what it is.

 

Regards,

Shadders.

 

You will be surprised how many papers are submitted. AES members can view these papers as is. It is not a place to validate, comment or reanalyze the paper. I haven't seen any endorsement by the AES to anything MQA. Besides the paper by Stuart / Craven and the recent McGill study, there is nothing about MQA being published.

[Ran]

8 hours ago, Lee Scoggins said:

What becomes problematic is when more recent albums are done in "midrez" Pro Tools which many industry people have stupidly adopted out of laziness/deafness.  Some supposed hirez files are just upsamples on these shitty masters.

 

No. There is nothing wrong with Pro Tools. It's how you use it.

[Ran]

2 hours ago, Em2016 said:

@The Computer Audiophile an interesting chat here with Roon's Rob Darling...

 

Listen from 45mins... he says all the streaming services will have a high quality streaming tier and "it will end up being up being MQA..."

 

https://www.audiostream.com/content/rob-darling-roon-labs-audiostream-podcast-no6

 

 

 

Closed, proprietary, end to end, ecosystem, control, restrictions, etc.. I guess MQA model works for Roon as well. 

[Ran]

53 minutes ago, Lee Scoggins said:

Listen to Rob Darling's talk with Rafe at Audiostream below from about 45 minutes in.  He feels that there will be a premium tier for streaming services.  He thinks it will be MQA because you need it for a phone.  He admits Roon is stuck in his house.  He thinks Roon may come to the phone.

 

I think he is in agreement with my prior statements here that a premium tier service is needed from a business standpoint.  That is MQA's best chance to make progress.  I also believe it is the artists' best chance at getting better paid.

 

 

Roon has a lot in common with MQA. I am not surprised that the guy feels like MQA should be supported (mobile or otherwise).

[Ran]

When Bob says the "analog sound in the air" you know he is about to sell you something.

[Ran]

Decca Records drank the kool-aid. Now with MQA CDs:

 

https://shop.decca.com/British-Jazz-Explosion/*/The-Complete-Fontana-Albums-1961-1969/66FO00000Y7

[Ran]

3 hours ago, new_media said:

 

Of course no mention of the fact that you don't get full CD resolution from a regular CD player. I will never buy an MQA CD.

 

Is there a stock reply I can use to complain about this? Did anyone send a compliant to a label before?

[Ran]

1 minute ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

Note "perceptual smear" is a a term fully pulled out of thin air.

 

You must have "smear" so you can later "de-blur" it 😉

[Ran]

3 hours ago, John_Atkinson said:

I see no reason why my postings have to held to a different standard from me than those from others?

 

@John_Atkinson

 

You are (were) the editor of an influential magazine. Some audiophile will swear by the words which you print. Because of such, you have a responsibility toward your readers to uphold the highest standards when it comes to the content published. You went overboard with MQA, created a buzz within the community which led to demand for MQA by audiophiles. Not once, there was any serious technical insight into MQA and the various claims made by the company. When various people found many holes in MQA and came forward with a serious technical explanation (basically doing your work) you chose to bury your head in the sand. That is the major reason why members here hold you to a different standard. I hope you realize it.

[Ran]

8 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

We need Bandcamp integration in Aurender, Roon, etc...

 

You can use BubbleUPnP on Android to play music (lossy...) from Bandcamp.

[Ran]

10 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

The hobby is about whatever consumers want it to be about

 

Most consumers have no clue what they want. They are fed fantasy stories by the magazines. MQA is a great example of that.

[Ran]

14 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Sure, but that's a science project that no end user will undertake just to see if the authentication light will still illuminate.

 

Still does not justify providing erroneous information to the end user.

[Ran]

2 minutes ago, KeenObserver said:

Is there any theoretical value to using MQA to broadcast an athletic event?

Sure. It will guarantee that the broadcast will be exactly like the athletes intended 😉

[Ran]

"Why I stopped reading audio magazines" should have its own topic 🙂

[Ran]

Another poor choice with false advertising. MQA CD - https://lalalandrecords.com/swarm-the-limited-edition-2-cd-set/

[Ran]

1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

It really blows my mind that audiophiles are onboard with MQA

 

Is there anything audiophile are not onboard with?

[Ran]

Anyone familiar?

 

 

[Ran]

It's official:

 

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-music-announces-spatial-audio-and-lossless-audio/

[Ran]

3 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Roon users in Canada only have Tidal as an option for streaming.

 

The non Roon users in Canada use Deezer HiFi, Apple music, Amazon music and some even Qobuz.