MQA is Vaporware

[jcbenten]

Deleted...

[jcbenten]

The problem with MQA is even if  the "protection" is hacked...what are you left with?  Frankly there is enough music out there that is non-MQA that I can go without purchasing anything new.  

[jcbenten]

On 9/11/2019 at 10:58 PM, lucretius said:

 

It looks like Sony has made a firmware update to their top-of-the-line Walkman so it can do MQA:

https://www.sony.com/electronics/walkman/nw-wm1z.  I'm wondering how much "bloom" this model has? 😁

 

(I bet $900 for the NW-ZX507 is looking like a bargain now.  😀)

 

Apparently, Sony is introducing a couple of other streaming walkmans (no mention of MQA):

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/339210

https://www.maxim.com/gear/sony-releases-2-new-versions-of-the-walkman-2019-9

Thanks....think I will stick with my ZX2 and ZX1...sound great and no updates in years...

[jcbenten]

I started but neither contributor has a personality.  When the one on the left started on South Africa mis-using/stealing his Copyright for Audioholics I bailed.  The ASR comment was much more informative and a good read.

[jcbenten]

13 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

..., I’d bet the farm that the vast majority aren’t interested in another layer in the process (MQA) that nobody has asked for, other than MQA. 

...

 

I would venture to guess that Record Labels (or some anyway) dipped their toes in MQA to see if a DRM scheme would be acceptable.  I would say that their "efforts" were half-assed at best.

[jcbenten]

33 minutes ago, crenca said:

 

As the @The Computer Audiophilepointed out multiple times if the labels had chosen to release only in MQA, then it would have been successful. Were there efforts "half-assed" due to their own internal circumstances/incompetence, or did they assess that the market push back would have been too much?

I am guessing but waiting to see if the MQA could be hacked.  @Mansr, @Archimago, and others pretty much did it pretty quick.

[jcbenten]

1 hour ago, Fast and Bulbous said:

...

 

Lastly, in an overlong thread, MQA is a donkey smuggler. If that story is not familiar, a one minute read of this http://www.jasonelliot.com/About.html will make it clear.

What's the donkey? Looks like DRM to me as it has done since day one. Who benefits from that? The labels. 

 

...

 

 

 

This is the most important point and should be the driving issue against MQA.

 

Seems to me that anyone who has spent significant money on playback equipment would be fighting MQA tooth and nail...because if MQA takes over...how much one's equipment is relevant?  What if the labels really castrate the music and MQA is needed for a "reasonable" listen?  And as long as I am writing Dark Fantasy, what if passive speakers need to have a signal return to the amp signifying MQA compliance?  Sure someone will figure out how to hack all this...but better not to go there...

 

Note: I do own two MQA compliant portable DACs from iFi...contemplating sending them back to iFi...

[jcbenten]

Just now, DuckToller said:

Why not just change the firmware back to non-MQA standard firmware (5.20 limoncello)
https://ifi-audio.com/firmware/unified-firmware-for-various-products/
saves a lot of money for freight ... ;-)

I have...and I have the xDSD set up in my home system...but it is the principle...

[jcbenten]

16 hours ago, KeenObserver said:

Lightly dismissing DRM is misleading.

 

I think DRM is the underlying purpose of MQA.

Absolutely agree...all the unfolding, upsampling, and other propaganda is handwaving to hide the DRM facet of the technology.  A win for the labels, a win for BS and his cohorts in licensing fees, and a big loss for consumers in added costs and availability.

[jcbenten]

14 hours ago, Archimago said:

 

...

 

Madrona Digital distributes for many brands I believe, so who knows if MQA capability is present in some of the lineup and whether this affects his thinking. Anyone know which brands the company deals in?

 

Harman is the big one...anything that falls under that umbrella.  He mentions it for every product he reviews that is distributed by Harman (JBL, etc..).

[jcbenten]

5 minutes ago, firedog said:

I don't really see why it is a big deal. He explicitly mentions he is a dealer in every such review. So any reader is free to interpret the resulting review in light of that. There have been cases where he has unfavorably reviewed a Harman product. 

No different than lots of reviewers who get "long term" loans of equipment or free or accommodation pricing. They generally never mention it in their reviews, which is worse, IMO.

I do not think it is a big deal....I was only responding to the question of what Madrona distributes...

[jcbenten]

"Authenticated" means the DRM triggers are in place...has nothing to do with the provenance of the music.  IMO.

[jcbenten]

For a group that controls their music to the extent that Pink Floyd does, I find it appalling that they put an MQA version out. 

[jcbenten]

18 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

If I had to guess, I'd say the band has no clue and the label was under contract with mQa to put out its entire catalog in mQa. 

The hi-rez is published under Pink Floyd Records.  As much as they both pontificate on the audio quality and the work they do to re-master, I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Gilmour or Mr. Waters do not have total control of the distribution.... But I have been wrong previously and will almost certainly be wrong at some point in the future.  And in the end I really do not know much about distribution...

 

[jcbenten]

Does come with a hologram printed on the shirt?  One angle is mp3 and move slightly and it become MQA??

[jcbenten]

13 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

I wonder which manufacturer will be the first to advertise their lack of MQA as loudly as others advertise they have it.

Schiit, Ayre, Linn, maybe a couple of others, mentioned loud and clear just after MQA release that they were not interested.  No follow ups that I have read.

[jcbenten]

If MQA is a "Vision"...I think corrective lenses are required...

[jcbenten]

1 hour ago, RichardSF said:

Canadian company Lenbrook (owner of Bluesound, NAD Electronics and PSB Speakers) has acquired MQA.

https://lenbrook.com/lenbrook-extends-leadership-in-hi-res-audio-with-mqa-acquisition/

Maybe they will use it for internal wireless systems...

[jcbenten]

4 hours ago, vortecjr said:

...If the code was made open source who knows what might come of it. 

Why? What redeeming value is MQA?  Maybe the BT algorithm?  I do not know much about that...

 

IMO MQA is a vehicle for DRM for the Labels and income stream for the MQA investors...everything else is whitewash.

[jcbenten]

13 hours ago, MikeyFresh said:

 

C'mon man, this is probably the full white glove treatment at 10 bucks a track, completely deblured and everything (better than lossless).

Probably going to add that 5th & 6th fold so they can claim String Theory in the algorithm...

 

[jcbenten]

22 minutes ago, bogi said:

 

Given their results in the audio area, to protect our Universe I would disallow them to enter the String Theory area. This would be the probable result:

 

"The Folded Geometry of the Universe came about as a direct result of two questions related to the language of origami. What is the natural language of origami or, how does nature use and apply origami or folding? And the artistic practical inquiry into programming fold patterns in new ways. The answer to the first question kept recurring, that nature uses origami, at all scales to structure expansion and contraction through four dimensional (space (3) and time (1)) to afford time and space based contraction."
 

 

NICE!!  I completely neglected the non-2 dimensions.... Coming next is MQA ATMOS in in 6-D!!

 

I can hardly wait!