MQA is Vaporware

[T.S. Gnu]

On 11/29/2021 at 11:59 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

Notice in the HiFi tier, it doesn’t scream LOSSLESS. It says HiFi Quality Sound.

Note the encircled weasel words that clearly indicate that it is NOT lossless:
2(ch)x16(bits/ch)x44.1(kHz)=1411kbps…not “up to,” but exactly that. 
Anything else encoded in addition to music data within that bitstream even at 1411kbs means that the audio is encoded at <16/44.1

[T.S. Gnu]

On 11/24/2021 at 1:34 AM, UkPhil said:

I see with the new Tidal marketing push they seem to be shifting the onus on quality streaming to the Hifi tier which is non MQA only a few months ago MQA was touted as the way to “hear your music as the artist intended” now it’s just good “ole” 16/44.1, the only issue here is how many files do they have that are not “red book” standard and are being modified from MQA versions as these are the only ones left on the platform. 

Note the inclusion of the weasel word “quality.” It does NOT say lossless sound; merely that it possesses the quality of lossless sound. It is reminiscent of referring to 320kbps MP3 as CD quality sound. A few complaints to the ASA would make for interesting times for Tidal in the UK. 

[T.S. Gnu]

On 11/29/2021 at 4:52 AM, KeenObserver said:

No start up scheme continues to lose money for seven years!

Cough…Theranos…cough

[T.S. Gnu]

On 12/1/2021 at 8:01 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

McNugget are perceptually chicken.

Indeed. They are <50% chicken, with a lot of filler. Analogies, anyone? Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from the food processing industry. 
 

I proposing renaming MQA to Beyond Hi-Res. Much like Beyond Meat, which is not meat, Beyond Hi-Res is not Hi-Res, and doesn’t contain anything bearing semblance to Hi-Res. Despite the lack of meat, people have a preference for Beyond Meat. So too for Beyond Hi-Res. After all, as the Austins and Atkinsons say, it’s all about taste and preference. 
 

Another suitable candidate could be the Impossible Bitstream.* They could also tout their environment-friendly cred because it uses half the energy since only half the resources would be used in transferring the…oh heck, they already do that. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 

 

*And, just in time, all hail the new Impossible Nuggets now available at Burger King. A lot of people like ‘em (as I too might), but none of them push the narrative that there’s chicken in them thar nuggets.

[T.S. Gnu]

On 6/10/2022 at 5:32 AM, GoldenOne said:

How in the hell have they come up with these figures??

You’re asking this question in seriousness about these same folks who came up with “numbers” dealing with "time-smearing” due to AD converters? People dealing with craniorectal inversion, a condition that these folks appear to be chronically suffering from, merely have to open their eyes to see these numbers. After all, that is where they appear to be pulling them out of. ( ಠ ͜ʖಠ) 

 

On 6/10/2022 at 5:39 AM, GoldenOne said:

But seriously at what point do claims like this cross the line of 'sketchy marketing' and actually break some rules.
These seem outrageously misleading

At the point when there was no evidence of M, or Q, or A involved in the process; let us also not forget that initially it was called MQA Lossless. These things that have been shown repeatedly by the likes of Brian Lucey, Neil Young and yourself. 

 

On 6/10/2022 at 5:41 AM, GoldenOne said:

https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html

The fact of the matter is that if people wish to actually accomplish something meaningful in the UK, there is a suitable two-pronged approach:

1) anyone subscribing to Tidal to file a complaint with the ASA under the scam section…because these shenanigans do mount to a scam. Also, anyone who has purchased a piece of hardware emblazoned with the letters MQA can rightly do tikewise. If there is a way to get a partial refund of the money spent, this would be a bonus. 
2) send in a complaint to the ASA with links to the Neil Young post (amongst numerous others), requested the revocation of the use of the MQA marque. 

Unfortunately, in the US, marketing can get away with just about anything because of Freeze Peach. However, all it takes is some idle lawyers who wish to fire off a class action suit against any and all entities that have sold something that clearly doesn’t do anything that it seems on the tin. If that does happen, it might be a good idea to invest in Orville Redenbacher, for then it be popcorn time. 

 

 

 

On 6/10/2022 at 8:25 AM, GoldenOne said:

I'm genuinely surprised MQA is still operating.
Their latest accounts show a £4,340,856 loss for 2020, and £4,176,743 for 2019.

Instead of Archimago increasing his carbon footprint by crunching the numbers, why not just take that +£4m and offset…more’n a few round trips from Manchester to London and London-Berlin. I’m sure that would be a better outcome than burning through it. For those interested in the actual good that’ll do, it’s just a click away.* NOTE: this would’ve still allowed them to piss away everything before 2020, and be the equivalent of 500,000 round flights from LON-BER and 900,000 round trips by car from London to Manchester. How’s that for going about saving the world, Bobby?

[T.S. Gnu]

Incidently, if I were British, I might’ve likely ended the last post with “Wanker” but I’m not, so I didn’t.