MQA is Vaporware

[Skirmash]

This might be the best news I have heard all week!

 

That said, isn't there a possibility that this is just a plan to stop the current financial hemorrhaging and maybe sell the IP to the next nefarious group that wants to exploit the audiophile community?

 

Would Tidal themselves consider purchasing it? They have sunk significant effort into making MQA a point of difference!

[Indydan]

I feel bad for the people who will lose their jobs.

 

But, I dance on MQA's grave!

 

https://www.creditman.co.uk/company-notices/company/09123512

[bambadoo]

LOL!!!

 

[Iving]

55 minutes ago, Archimago said:

So, this is what (likely) "the end" looks like.

 

Hmmm, I wonder what Peter Veth and the Facebook group thinks about all this? Are they pissed off and blaming nay sayers? Or will he and the Facebook group just go silent because nobody's paying to promote any more?

 

Likewise, will those magazine reviews that hype up MQA content suddenly stop talking about it? Or would they continue and lament the demise of this amazing "format" that deblurred music with a sense of nostalgia about how great it was and how Bob Stuart should have been allowed to deliver audiophiles into the Promised Land?

 

Let's see how many "true believers" there really are. Will be interesting to see the price of MQA devices perhaps also drop since there will be little value to be had say between the Topping D90SE and D90LE. Will the Asian manufacturers continue to use the MQA logo on their devices?

 

Then there's the potential fallout with TIDAL. Will they continue to pursue MQA "Master" streaming or might they consider joining everyone else with superior lossless ALAC/FLAC/etc. if they still want to remain in the hi-res game?

 

Looks like we still have some interesting things to talk about and observe before getting back to the usual audiophile debates like cables. ;-)

 

This is Britain. Whether domestic or otherwise, remaining investor rats will desert the sinking ship ... and alternative speculators will (or properly should) fear the tarring of the same brush. Rupert must have parachuted fearing the sunk cost fallacy of just another penny. Enough hand wringing already. Press and media devotees will cross over to common sense as fast as rats up the metaphorical drainpipe. They cannot tolerate being on the losing side - where then their credibility with the spendthrift public? I feel sorry for the consumers whose hearts were won over and/or who bought blue-light hardware. Their wounds will want the healing afforded by time. What a Pig's Ear. All confined to the dustbin of history asap hopefully. I don't care to be proven right or wrong over due course. My remarks are excusably visionary.

[Archimago]

59 minutes ago, bambadoo said:

LOL!!!

 

 

Way to go.

Looks like he's trying to take the ol' "Keep up the brave face, and ride off into the sunset with a smile." routine.

[sphinxsix]

5 minutes ago, Archimago said:

 

Way to go.

Looks like he's trying to take the ol' "Keep up the brave face, and ride off into the sunset with a smile." routine.

 

Just like MQA itself.

 

"Following the recent positive reception to MQA’s latest technology (SCL6), there has been increased international interest in buying MQA Ltd. At the same time, MQA’s main financial backer is seeking an exit. In order to be in the best position to pursue market opportunities and expedite this process, the company has undergone a restructuring initiative, which includes entering into administration and is comparable to Chapter 11 in the US.

During this process, MQA continues to trade as usual alongside its partners.

We won't be commenting further while negotiations take place."

 

[Allan F]

10 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

"We won't be commenting further while negotiations take place."

 

But perhaps you will let people know when you are going out of business due to the failure to find a new financial backer..

[yahooboy]

23 minutes ago, Archimago said:

 

Way to go.

Looks like he's trying to take the ol' "Keep up the brave face, and ride off into the sunset with a smile." routine.

Someone should get the man some help, denial can be dangerous

[Iving]

24 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

"Following the recent positive reception to MQA’s latest technology (SCL6), there has been increased international interest in buying MQA Ltd. At the same time, MQA’s main financial backer is seeking an exit. In order to be in the best position to pursue market opportunities and expedite this process, the company has undergone a restructuring initiative, which includes entering into administration and is comparable to Chapter 11 in the US.

During this process, MQA continues to trade as usual alongside its partners.

We won't be commenting further while negotiations take place."

 

Also according to What Hi-Fi wrt SCL6:

 

Up until recently, there has been a significant quality bottleneck, particularly when it comes to Bluetooth performance ... SCL6 is a way of packaging a file for transmission ... You need a source (say, a smartphone) and receiver (wireless headphones, for example) compatible with the codec ... MQA is in talks with a number of potential partners, including phone companies ... don’t be surprised to see announcements of SCL6-compatible products later in the year.

 

1. OK so SCL6 has legs?

 

2. It's not MQA as we know it (aided and abetted quasi-DRM and associated hardware leverage over impressionable consumers). A win as far as I'm concerned. MQA as such will be forgotten.

[FredericV]

25 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

At the same time, MQA’s main financial backer is seeking an exit.

Why is the main financial backer seeking an exit?

[sphinxsix]

9 minutes ago, FredericV said:

Why is the main financial backer seeking an exit?

 

I guess he's already made enough money on MQA.

 

[bogi]

 

On 4/1/2023 at 8:35 PM, KeenObserver said:

In their most recent financial posting MQA Ltd stated that they would need to secure further funding by the end of Q1 2023 in order to continue as a going concern.

Now it is officially confirmed that MQA is lossy.

 

 

[Iving]

In case of any interest, a revealing contextual account of SCL6 for Audio Pros (scroll down to Editor's Desk):

 

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Audio-Voice-414--The-Case-of-the-SCL6-Scalable-Codec--How-Much-Do-You-Want-Hi-Res-Audio-.html?soid=1104292817535&aid=6aJSuNESaAs

[GoldenOne]

Good riddance

[The Computer Audiophile]

On a flight home from San Francisco, after taking some time off for my daughter’s spring break, and before Axpona and Munich. 
 

Anything going on lately 😳

[kumakuma]

7 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

On a flight home from San Francisco, after taking some time off for my daughter’s spring break, and before Axpona and Munich. 
 

Anything going on lately 😳

 

[Allan F]

19 minutes ago, kumakuma said:

 

 

Or:

 

 

[JoeWhip]

It is a good thing Peter Veth wasn’t in the Heaven’s Gate cult. The MQA one isn ‘t quite as bad.

[Allan F]

1 hour ago, FredericV said:

Why is the main financial backer seeking an exit?

 

Anthony Edward Rupert of South Africa who resigned as a Director of MQA on March 17.

[botrytis]

https://www.whathifi.com/news/mqa-is-going-into-administration

 

Even in the pro-mqa press.....

[Currawong]

1 hour ago, Iving said:

don’t be surprised to see announcements of SCL6-compatible products later in the year.

Given that MQA had to pay manufacturers, in some cases, to implement it at all (since anyone with a brain who looked at the tech behind MQA knew it was BS) I'd be very surprised if it appears anywhere, ever.

[Jud]

3 hours ago, bambadoo said:

LOL!!!

 

 

"May you live in interesting times," eh?

[Jud]

2 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

there has been increased international interest in buying MQA Ltd.

 

Perhaps the valuation is now so cheap someone might bite. You'd then do the bankruptcy thing to leave fewer financial liabilities that a buyer would have to be responsible for.

[Kimo]

1 minute ago, Jud said:

 

Perhaps the valuation is now so cheap someone might bite. You'd then do the bankruptcy thing to leave fewer financial liabilities that a buyer would have to be responsible for.

 

Maybe that Lee guy will buy it now that he has the time?

[sphinxsix]

1 minute ago, Jud said:

 

Perhaps the valuation is now so cheap someone might bite. You'd then do the bankruptcy thing to leave fewer financial liabilities that a buyer would have to be responsible for.

 

I'll buy it for $1!

And will say - keep the change!