MQA is Vaporware

[PeterSt]

2 hours ago, Charles Hansen said:

[...][...][...]Peter Chattelin (Dutch retailer). and many more names I do not recognize.

 

Is MQA from Holland ?

[Shadders]

4 hours ago, Charles Hansen said:

 

Please see this post to understand my position:

 

https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/critics/messages/8/88367.html

Hi Charles,

I think that for audio, there is enough people making music as a hobby, small/medium enterprise, small label etc., that MQA will not be the only source of music, and the current standard will still prevail.

The issue will be that popular bands may only be available in MQA format.

Regards,

Shadders.

[PeterSt]

2 minutes ago, Shadders said:

The issue will be that popular bands may only be available in MQA format.

 

Interestingly I have none on my list. This is personal of course, but the youth which may have dozens on their list, will really not care because of the poor music (quality) to begin with.

[audiventory]

19 minutes ago, Shadders said:

I think that for audio, there is enough people making music as a hobby, small/medium enterprise, small label etc., that MQA will not be the only source of music, and the current standard will still prevail.

The issue will be that popular bands may only be available in MQA format.

 

Small label may use MQA if price to MQA license will allowable for produced volumes.

 

It may be need to support MQA-compatible devices as one of playback devices. Like labels provide PCM and DSD versions simultaneously.

 

But, looks like, in the future alternatives will exist too.

 

There was a time, when DRM-files (MQA is not DRM) was sold. But I don't know, who sell DRM-files now.

 

All depend on cunsumer demands and profitability.

 

 

[Shadders]

29 minutes ago, audiventory said:

 

Small label may use MQA if price to MQA license will allowable for produced volumes.

 

It may be need to support MQA-compatible devices as one of playback devices. Like labels provide PCM and DSD versions simultaneously.

 

But, looks like, in the future alternatives will exist too.

 

There was a time, when DRM-files (MQA is not DRM) was sold. But I don't know, who sell DRM-files now.

 

All depend on cunsumer demands and profitability.

 

Hi,

It depends. In the mid to late 70's, in the UK there were many small labels being created, and some of the bands became popular.

You spelt consumer wrong, may need a letter 't' in there.

The labels then did control everything, but soon learnt that artists realised that they were being ripped off, and hence the independent labels proliferated.

It just takes an underground youth movement to start, and we will have the same process again.

Old people could help here too.

Regards,

Shadders.

[mav52]

2 hours ago, PeterSt said:

 

Interestingly I have none on my list. This is personal of course, but the youth which may have dozens on their list, will really not care because of the poor music (quality) to begin with.

Not sure many will agree that "the youth" even care about music quality as most listen via their smartphones and ear buds much less paying to obtain a MQA format album either by streaming or download not to mention buying a device to obtain a fold unfold. I think the youth have other ideas in mind and MQA is not one of them. They are so wrapped up in mobility, education, trying to find or keep a job that $$ is front and center on their mind.  Most of the youth I know including my two , get all their satisfaction from itunes and amazon but most just rip and copy from their friends for free. 

[realhifi]

11 hours ago, fung0 said:

(This thread lately seems to be suffering from a rash of posters who insist on being deliberately obtuse and repetitive, as if that were clever somehow. I remind the many intelligent posters that replying to such trollish posts - in any way whatsoever - is always counterproductive. Of course, it's your blood pressure, and your time to waste...)

 

If you are referring to my fairly inoucous post about MQA in relation to Dolby cassettes I would Direct you to the title of this thread which unless I’m mistaken IS about MQA. So even though an in depth discussion about the benefits of a long forgotten noise reduction system for a long replaced/outdated playback format (all intelligently written of course) is entertaining it really has no more place here than my simple declaration of happiness in how far we have come in music playback in the home. 

[Samuel T Cogley]

8 hours ago, Charles Hansen said:

 

 Lee Scoggins (reviewer for Part-Time Audiophile)

 

Also a legendary Shunyata shill over at the Hoffman forums.  I've never seen sycophantic name dropping in "reviews" like this guy does.

[PeterSt]

26 minutes ago, mav52 said:

Not sure many will agree that "the youth" even care about music quality as most listen via their smartphones and ear buds

 

The modern music is so completely sh*t that it is very hard to imagine that any youngster can be interested in good quality music (which includes the recording process), that there's no space for them to investigate any MQA or Hires for that matter. The exception is our own son who is day in day out confronted with the music his dad plays, and so his repertoire is that of his father's youth; when he goes out for a trip and loads his phone with music it's Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and the like (and btw no Ray Brown's because no youth is catching that, while I sure do play such music 10% of the time).

I'm afraid that our son is no reference for reality.

 

More freakin' is that he has learned to listen the same way as I do (his mom learned it too), just because he is subject to it continuously. But if he has the opportunity to obtain a nice stereo, he says No to it. It has to fit in his pocket or something.

So no MQA for him, or at least not for the reason of SQ. In the end he won't care less. Loose running Audiophile.

[Shadders]

8 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

 

The modern music is so completely sh*t that it is very hard to imagine that any youngster can be interested in good quality music (which includes the recording process), that there's no space for them to investigate any MQA or Hires for that matter.

Hi PeterSt,

I would have to disagree, in that there are some very good bands still making music.

I never follow the charts in the UK, as the previous 15 years of reality TV for bands/singers/talent has ruined music. One person in particular should be held to account.

So i use Jools Holland as a way to get to hear new bands, Amazon UK "customers who bought this also bought that", or bands that continue to make music. Radio X (aka XFM) sometimes have some great bands being played.

If MQA is just an update to the mobile, and if streaming services push MQA over MP3, then we could have a de facto standard, whether we want it or not.

Regards,

Shadders.

[witchdoctor]

41 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

 

The modern music is so completely sh*t that it is very hard to imagine that any youngster can be interested in good quality music (which includes the recording process), that there's no space for them to investigate any MQA or Hires for that matter. The exception is our own son who is day in day out confronted with the music his dad plays, and so his repertoire is that of his father's youth; when he goes out for a trip and loads his phone with music it's Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and the like (and btw no Ray Brown's because no youth is catching that, while I sure do play such music 10% of the time).

I'm afraid that our son is no reference for reality.

 

More freakin' is that he has learned to listen the same way as I do (his mom learned it too), just because he is subject to it continuously. But if he has the opportunity to obtain a nice stereo, he says No to it. It has to fit in his pocket or something.

So no MQA for him, or at least not for the reason of SQ. In the end he won't care less. Loose running Audiophile.

This is just wrong. ALL modern music is completly sh-t? Like you have even listened to a tenth of it.
If you want evidence that "youngsters" want better SQ just look at headphone sales. "Beats", "JBL", "Skullcandy" etc all cost $$$ more than a pair of earbuds. Do you think they are wasting money on headphones to make a fashion statement?

As far as modern music the ears can't hear when the mind is closed. There is a LOT of good stuff if you try the "new releases" feature on Tidal, Spotify, etc. Try "global music" too. 
 

[Samuel T Cogley]

Agreed that there is decent new music out there, but you generally won't find it in the "popular" section of your favorite streaming service.  Pop music today is more formulaic than at any time I can remember.  Auto-tune and processed vocals seem to be the norm.  Hip hop seems to have been totally co-opted by the major labels now.  And I totally don't get the Rock God status of Jack White.

 

Spend some time on Bandcamp, try to explore outside of your genre comfort zone, and you might find some modern stuff you really like.

[witchdoctor]

3 hours ago, PeterSt said:

 

Interestingly I have none on my list. This is personal of course, but the youth which may have dozens on their list, will really not care because of the poor music (quality) to begin with.

I think poor "mastering" quality is more accurate. Too much level boosting is a problem.

[Samuel T Cogley]

6 minutes ago, witchdoctor said:

Do you think they are wasting money on headphones to make a fashion statement?

 

Absolutely, no doubt about it!!!

 

And even an audiophile company like Audeze tries to cash in on that:

 

[PeterSt]

48 minutes ago, Shadders said:

I would have to disagree, in that there are some very good bands still making music.

 

Shadders, I agree with you. But it is also not exactly what I was suggesting (OK, in between lines);

The modern music I refer too (and this includes the hiphop-like) is what the youth is confronted with 100% of the time. To make more clear what I mean, try to find something on today's charts which is not sang through a vocoder.

This is different from what exists and what we would be able to find. WE. Our kids don't have an opportunity to run into it, unless their fathers play it.

 

Here :

https://tidal.com/playlist/37926e8f-e1e0-4b49-bb07-46dbccc06de4 (Tasty Rap Songs)

https://tidal.com/playlist/9b11f41c-bfa9-48ec-84dd-3bafedbfb1b8 (Hip-Hop Tranquillo)

These are two Playlists on Tidal (created by Tidal) and each of the tracks (46 in total) represent a full album (mostly different albums). THIS is what Tidal thinks of the modern music and how someone in there is having a nice time creating such complete rubbish. But point is : try it. Try to survive to the 4th track of each. And this is in the charts ...

 

 

 

[witchdoctor]

2 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Absolutely, no doubt about it!!!

 

And even an audiophile company like Audeze tries to cash in on that:

 

 

I agree that there is an attempt to make them appear more fashionable but SQ is the prime motivator. 

[PeterSt]

7 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

Spend some time on Bandcamp, try to explore outside of your genre comfort zone, and you might find some modern stuff you really like.

 

+1

[Samuel T Cogley]

Just now, witchdoctor said:

I agree that there is an attempt to make them appear more fashionable but SQ is the prime motivator. 

 

Generally not with Beats, where fashion is the point.  Beats (Apple) now has a higher end to try to give themselves some audiophile cred.  Too little, too late.

[PeterSt]

15 minutes ago, witchdoctor said:

I think poor "mastering" quality is more accurate. Too much level boosting is a problem.

 

Mr Authority,  according to yourself 6dB is not (or was it 5 ?).

Don't get angry, I'm only kidding a bit about serious matters. You must be in another league. 

But I tell you without any authority : when I find an album which compresses 6dB worse than the average I set and which shows real time for any album (and which is a more compressed AC/DC - Dirty Deeds done Dirt Cheap), then I regard it super bad. Not by number, but by sound.

 

 

[witchdoctor]

13 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Generally not with Beats, where fashion is the point.  Beats (Apple) now has a higher end to try to give themselves some audiophile cred.  Too little, too late.

Look at their marketing page, they have a line of headphones that target niches
"Take Sound Seriously: is one of the taglines:

 

https://www.beatsbydre.com/headphones/pro

[Fokus]

13 minutes ago, witchdoctor said:

I agree that there is an attempt to make them appear more fashionable but SQ is the prime motivator. 

 

Beats, Skullcandy, and countless other new headphone brands have nothing to do with SQ.

They are selling based on looks, sorry, bassed on looks and marketing alone.

 

[witchdoctor]

1 minute ago, Fokus said:

 

Beats, Skullcandy, and countless other new headphone brands have nothing to do with SQ.

They are selling based on looks, sorry, bassed on looks and marketing alone.

 

Those brands are making the top 10 reviews based on looks??

http://www.toptenreviews.com/electronics/headphones/best-stereo-headphones/

[PeterSt]

So I just asked the real authority : the kids. This is the reality (and confirmed by elderly who follow the news (not me)) :

 

Kids (say 18yo) have more expensive headphones because they show off with it like fashion. Btw, the fashion thing is a decease like 600 euro shoes or an 800 euro coat. Sennheisers sound better, but they don't show off.

Our son for the life of him can not envision or imagine that any of his school mates have a clue about "SQ" as such, something he for sure has himself (as laid out in a previous post).

 

Today's modern world is, apart from being MQA'd, about i-Watches which fathers start to wear because the kids outclass them on it (not in this house).

 

Dream on ?

[chris6878]

Im new here. I have a few questions. 

Is there a way to purchase MQA albums or are they only streamed. 

 

Will MQA be embraced by all genres of music? Dancehall/rap/hip hop. I have a few SACD's and dvd audio titles before they faded away into obscurity they put out mostly classical folk and jazz. WHile I listen to jazz I would love to have a wider range of music. 

 

WIll this MQA process get less confusing ever? Right now from what ive read you need a million and one devices to unfold the MQA file. This process will never IMO catch on with the masses if they dont dumb it down. (if thats mqa's goal).  I just purchased a Mojo dac and I know it cant do the 1.5 trillion unfolds to get the best of MQA, so im hoping my PC and tidal will do some of the unfolding. I wish my zte axon 7 phone could unfold them but......tidal hasnt updated the app. 

 

Do yall really think MQA will last or will it become a audiophile only toy used by the few. 

[PeterSt]

4 minutes ago, chris6878 said:

Do yall really think MQA will last or will it become a audiophile only toy used by the few. 

 

I count 3 errors in this sentence.

 

(I can be serious too, but maybe not today)

 

PS: Welcome in this ... ehh ... manhole ? pitfall ?