MQA is Vaporware

[WAM]

Hello Knickerhawk,

 

Just read your post about the A/B-testing. Was this a fair A/B; ic, did you use the same dac/same quality interlinks for the MQA files and the little silver disc?

 

About ECM: they still favor vinyl or cd for the best sq (I concur, to be honest).

 

But nice to read you like your new listening experience (that's what it's all about, isn't it?).

 

 

[WAM]

Hello Knickerhawk,

 

I just read your post about the A/B testing. If I am correct, you did not use the silver disc, but you used cd-quality files. That's not the same. It's a fairy tale that cd and redbook-flac are equal in sq. For some reason, the cd-transport makes a (big) difference.

 

I misunderstood you, please correct me  (English is not my first language).

 

Happy Listening,

 

WAM

[WAM]

Fair enough. But you make a mistake. A silver disc is not " stone age" . A streamer does not beat a cd-transport. Do not fool yourselves, nothing obsolete about cd's.

 

But let's not spoil this thread with a discs vs files discussion, I just wanted to know how you did your testing. 

 

Enjoy your music. 

[WAM]

   57 minutes ago,  mansr said: 

 I'd like to know how they got Jim Morrison to sign off on it.

 

This exactly the reason I did not trust MQA from the beginning. I lack the technical knowledge  most of you have, but if something is too good to be true...

[WAM]

Although M.L. is not the ringmaster anymore, Audiostream is still very much a " Hail Bob" thingy... 

 

 

 

[WAM]

Hello Chris, did not see your topic, sorry.

[WAM]

Quote

20 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Has anyone run into a dealer who has an opinion on MQA other than agreeing with what the old guard has told them?

 

 

Yup. I visit two dealers regularly. The first dealer is very much an analog guy. He told me: " nobody asks for it" . Digital audio is not his core business, but it is telling. His knowledge on mqa is pretty much non existing, and he is fine with that.

 

The second dealer is specialized in digital audio. His customers ask for it. He takes a neutral stance, and tells them it is not necessary. He is selling the more expensive stuff. I get the feeling that, if someone is buying " higher end" digital hifi, they want mqa, because it is available (and not  because it sounds so good). They just do not want to miss out, in case... (let's pray it does not happen).

 

[WAM]

12 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

Wouldn't it be more fun to politely ask questions they can't answer?

 

Why ask? MQA LTD never answered any question, why should they do it now? Their strategy is to ignore questions they do not like. And to ridicule people who dare to ask. 

 

 

 

[WAM]

Got mail from Bluesound:

 

Experience live music at home like never before.

With nugs.net now available with BluOS, you can browse and listen to over 30,000 hours of live concert recordings from artists like Pearl Jam, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Beck and dozens more. Hi-Fi subscribers of nugs.net will be able to enjoy their favorite concerts on Bluesound in lossless FLAC, with many of the concerts also encoded and available in MQA^® for the best possible listening experience.

 

What a pity I do not use a Bluesound product anymore ...😎

[WAM]

You may be right, I got the email yesterday.

[WAM]

1 hour ago, rando said:

Rapha was pretty great until they sold it to Walmart!

 

You did some A-B-testing " before" and "after"?

 

> I'm in the market for a new pair of bibs (Isidore is also tempting) 😌.

 

Back on topic. I'm also in the market for a dac/headphone-amp. First RoE: no MQA. Shortlist, but open to alternatives: UR SH, Luxman DA 250. Someone an other suggestion?

 

 

 

[WAM]

13 minutes ago, John_Atkinson said:

To be serious, I was recently told by a retailer that he is seeing MQA evolve from push marketing to pull marketing, ie, he now has would-be customers who ask if a DAC they are thinking of buying decodes MQA.

 

Correct 😎. I want to know if a dac ' does' MQA when I am the market for (again)  another toy. MQA-dac's are a no-go. I do not even want to take the risk a dac ruins my flac's (I am a technical noob, better safe than sorry). And I do not use Tidal. Why should I pay for something hardly no one uses? There's hardly content, there is only smoke.

 

What I do not understand, that a reviewer I respect, and whose review were/are certainly valuable for me, does not reject MQA. I am not talking about sq...

 

 

[WAM]

Yup, that's what dealers are telling me. Only people looking for high end mention it (fomo, I think. Perhaps that's the reason manufacturers are doing/offering MQA).

 

What I hear, is that people are moving away from Tidal and opting for Qobuz. Goodby to the " what the artist.... blabla...".

[WAM]

15 minutes ago, Doug Schneider said:

Instead, I want to bring up something I believe is critical that is potentially very destructive regarding MQA and most people are not talking about -- the implementation of the MQA filter as the sole playback filter for all files.

 

And this is the very reason I do not buy MQA-capable dac's. Just do not want to take the risk (I am not smart enough to understand the technicalities, so better safe than sorry...)..

[WAM]

8 minutes ago, KeenObserver said:

Seems like the discussion continues to go in a circle. Tested and proven issues with MQA are responded to with obfuscation and misdirection.

When talk turns to the value ( cost, actually) of MQA to the music consumer, MQA promoters point out Bigfoot.

It is tiresome responding to the same BS over and over again.  But that is probably the point.

 

Makes me think of W.C. Fields:

 

“If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”

(sorry guys, couldn't resist 😎)

[WAM]

On 2/25/2020 at 9:58 AM, FredericV said:

I did order a new DAC yesterday to complement my current R2R dac which we take to every show. It is said to be even better than my old DAC, at half the price, so I blindly invested in it as I know the designer who now works for a new company, and the sound difference was confirmed by 2 reviewers.

 

You are talking about the Sonnet Morpheus?

[WAM]

2 hours ago, FredericV said:

When we check the facts, not much of the magic remains.

 

There wasn't any magic in the first place... Their claims were too good to be true/too ridiculous from the beginning. 

[WAM]

1 hour ago, ARQuint said:

As you've found out in short order, anyone with anything the least bit positive to say about MQA, or even an open-minded inquisitiveness, is either dumb, gullible, too inexperienced with such matters, or somehow in on the scam

 

As far as I am concerned, ... 

 

No, let me be sensible, no comments...

 

When I am in an benig mood, MQA is a solution for a problem that does not exist. When I am my usual cynical self, I call it a fraud. Open your eyes ARQ, MQA is a 21-century Ponzi-scheme.

[WAM]

I sincerely hope you are wrong, but I am afraid you are right..

[WAM]

From the Auralic forum. Lively discussion going on there.

 

[WAM]

3 minutes ago, JoeWhip said:

Long time Mac user. I never use ALAC, just WAV, FLAC and AIFF. Most of my files and all of my rips are AIFF, Apple’s version of WAV.

 

Moi aussi. 

[WAM]

I saw this on Analog Planet:

 

Monty Alexander’s The Montreux Years Showcases Master Jamaican Pianist in a Modern Light on a Compelling, Deluxe MQA-Mastered 180g 2LP Set

 

If you like MQA, soit. But why should you want MQA-mastered vinyl? I don't get it. 

[WAM]

What’s Qobuz doing.. from their magazine, their review of a Lux D-07x…

 

Plus, there are now high-resolution versions of the CD, such as SACD and MQA-CD

[WAM]

12 hours ago, KeenObserver said:

A MQA-CD is NOT a high-resolution version of a CD.

I know. 

[WAM]

33 minutes ago, ECL said:

Fifth, to claim that ALMOST LOSSLESS is the same as LOSSY is a disingenuous argument

 

Euhh.. I do not follow you.. Like a wise man said to a woman: "you are pregnant are you are not pregnant, you are not a little bit pregnant" .