MQA is Vaporware

[MikeyFresh]

I'm hoping Lenbrook's CES 2024 dance card is relatively void of interested parties. I don't see why other manufacturers would want to help Bluesound/NAD/PSB in any way, and with TIDAL's pivot to hi-res FLAC, why anyone would spend time and money doing any further integration of MQA in their products.

[MikeyFresh]

4 hours ago, Stereo said:

 

 

I'd like to think that's just due to limited resources/lousy financial conditions at TIDAL, as well as the reliance on the record labels to provide replacement files, TIDAL is at their mercy with that and can't dictate what happens or exactly when.

 

If there were to be an uncooperative record label I'd expect that to be Warner Music Group, though none of the big 3 are likely to be easy to work with. 

[MikeyFresh]

5 minutes ago, Stereo said:

I’ll take Stupid People for $100 Alex.

 

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

[MikeyFresh]

8 hours ago, bambadoo said:

Wasn´t it a service like this earlier also?

 

https://blog.masterchannel.ai/mqa/

 

They have later removed that "MQA tier" of course but the blog remains. 

 

Yes I was thinking the same thing, this was offered previously by exactly one studio in Norway, who seems to have removed all mention of it on their main site/pricing, it only survives as that one blog entry.

[MikeyFresh]

6 hours ago, bambadoo said:

New Tidal tiers

https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/23008953804945-Upcoming-Changes-to-TIDAL-Subscriptions?

 

Not a word about you know what

 

That certainly appears to be TIDAL's farewell to MQA.

[MikeyFresh]

1 hour ago, bobbmd said:

Come on Chris close this ridiculous minusha it’s a dead subject MQA is DEAD who cares anymore?? We all know that enjoy TIDAL now it is NORMAL/ Acceptable plus much less expensive 

 

At various points in this thread it has been said that if you are tired of this topic, then please just ignore it. Demanding that the thread be closed before we can actually stick a fork in MQA is strange, if you don't care about the topic anymore then just move on from the thread instead of plead to have it closed.

 

If the recent TIDAL price tier change is what it appears to be, then we can most likely stick a fork in MQA sooner than later, unless of course Jbara/Lenbrook actually found a new dance partner at CES.

[MikeyFresh]

2 hours ago, bogi said:

Not sure if he will find it perceptually lossless.

 

Certainly not better than lossless™, there hi-res FLAC will surely fall short. 🤔 🤪🤢🤮

[MikeyFresh]

1 hour ago, loop7 said:

I am 100% certain this has been answered prior and I apologize for adding chaff to the thread.

 

MQA streams on TIDAL may be available indefinitely in some cases, correct?

 

I was streaming this via a Lenbrook product and noticed it was MQA.

 

 

Correct, TIDAL have never officially said they are dropping MQA, though they have said they will prioritize hi-res FLAC over MQA as the file served. To a large extent this will then depend on what the record label for any particular album title has supplied them.

[MikeyFresh]

14 minutes ago, firedog said:

Well, I can think of a few writers -and one in particular - who seemed to make a point of writing about MQA files in EVERY review, without exception.

 

Absolutely no question this was the case, very easy to see, in fact it would have been difficult to miss that this was happening. A few of those writers were pretty much wearing it on their sleeve so to speak. That behavior was evident at a glance, multiple mentions of MQA in every review.

[MikeyFresh]

14 hours ago, ARQuint said:

I'm pretty sure we're thinking of the same guy.

 

I'm pretty sure too.

 

14 hours ago, ARQuint said:

For as long as the issue's been out there, some audiophiles have maintained that a reviewer not savaging MQA was as guilty as being a zealous proponent.

 

Some perhaps, but not all. Most of us just find issue with the trade press' steadfast denial that there was ever anything wrong with MQA, either as a business model designed to enact license "toll" fees thus raising costs to consumers, or the fact that the publications have to this day ignored the technical facts surrounding MQA's supposed sonic efficacy and in so doing, tried very hard to simply deflect and shift the discussion to one of online incivility, online anonymity, and other things meaningless to the real issues at hand. 

 

14 hours ago, ARQuint said:

I don't think that's fair because an audio publication ought to be able to define what its role is.

 

Yes but it is clear the role you are describing in terms of serving the readers is at this point secondary to the role in serving the advertisers. That is precisely where the trade press gushing over MQA doesn't smell good at all.

 

14 hours ago, ARQuint said:

For some reason, most audiophiles have been able to say something like "If you don't think $5000 interconnects make a difference, if you feel that a Vibratron is bullshit, don't buy them" and that's the end of the discussion. Hostilities have been avoided.

 

I am in that camp, and I don't begrudge or ridicule anyone who does like expensive cables or vibration control.

 

14 hours ago, ARQuint said:

Chris has told us about his friendship with Peter McGrath. I've had a close relationship with him myself. I would have loved to been a fly on the wall on that dreary Minnesota afternoon when MQA came up in discussion. I bet it was civil, I bet it was respectful. Two well-informed and experienced individuals expressed opposing ideas (I assume) and no one stomped out in a huff. Face to face, we can be pretty decent to one another.

 

I bet it was civil and I also think most of the discourse here has been too, even though not face to face. It is unfair and inaccurate for the trade press, the MQA cadre, or it's devoted fan boys to have portrayed otherwise, a pathetic attempt at changing the narrative.