MQA is Vaporware

[Digital Assassin]

10 minutes ago, Sal1950 said:

Yes, that would be my definition.

I think of things like original masters of live performances along the lines of AIX, Blues Coast, etc.

Not unfortunately things like remasters of 40 yo rock recordings that are so far from the real thing that no amount of dial twisting or remastering of the analog tape to 100X PCM or DSD is ever going to help.

Sadly that describes most every single bit of the music I really love. 

I have no idea what you mean by the above.

[Digital Assassin]

3 minutes ago, Sal1950 said:

Don't understand the confusion DA, Talking abut the difference between what we would refer to as a "purist" recording compared to the usual major label trash that has very little chance or ever sounding like real instruments playing in a real space.

So the question was more like does Qobuz contain a large catalog of audiophile labels/recordings that you won't find on the likes of Spotify and Tital?

"real instruments", "real space"..oh god, what pretentious dreck. You clearly don't know the first thing about rock and roll.

 

Enjoy tea time,

[Digital Assassin]

7 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

 

Isn't that the quality you get with Tidal? And if you can stream, why would you want to download? Seems pointless...

No that is not what you get with Tidal. You get either only Redbook, or lossy MQA,  a few thousand albums.

[Digital Assassin]

1 minute ago, Sal1950 said:

 

 

Man you guys can read so much into a simple question.

DA, your a funny guy, ha ha.

I simply wondered what soxr thought were the "real studiomasters" worth paying the extra money at Quobuz for? Since they exclude the MQA that Tidal offers, what?  Are these the specialist label offerings, or the high data rate files sold on HDTracks? ???

Real simple answer. the "real studiomasters" are the NON processed files that come out of the mastering studio, no POST proprietary DSP applied for a fee.

[Digital Assassin]

12 minutes ago, #Yoda# said:

 

Unfortunately not, because the entire Warner catalogue is not reliable. Most current MQA albums are simple conversions from an existing PCM master to MQA and not really "MQA-Authenticated", a black box for resellers and customers. 

In other words PCM masters are just run through an MQA Sausage Maker.  Exactly what we all expected.

 

What happened to the "white gloving" of all albums. I can tell you what the white glove was used for.

[Digital Assassin]

1 hour ago, #Yoda# said:

 

I think, nobody know if the streaming business model will ever be profitable for the providers, for most artists for sure not! 

 

For streaming providers it is an investment in an unknown future and most participants without a significant financial background will fail, especially when they address a small target group who still emphasize sound quality of their beloved music and perhaps perceiving an advantage of HiRes, MQA or even lossless streamed music.

 

If at all, MQA will only make sense as a streaming format, but even there it is gratuitous, IMHO. Customers with a high bandwidth access can easily stream original HiRes in 24/192, for those with insufficient internet infrastructure, MQA folded (compressed) files are still too much load.

 

The approach of OraStream looks quite sexy in this consideration but as we can see, Neil Young with the announced XStream service cannot find potent investors for his streaming project after PonoMusic failed unfortunately, IMO mainly because of the Pono promise and the foreseeable refusal by the labels. It is to be expected that HDtracks has issues to find investors as well, we will see. 

 

The labels don't want to sell their "crown jewels", the masters in high, or in best case the original resolution and format as reproducible FLAC/WAV/DSD files, finally. So MQA is a very welcome solution to solve this issue, even if there is no DRM mechanism implemented for now. When all the hype about MQA is obsolete one day, the labels can sell them a 2nd, 3rd time in real 24/96 and eventually again in 24/192 coated as remaster and perhaps for those who really think, they still can realize a difference, in DXD. 

 

As we can notice already, most new albums from major labels are released, if in HiRes, only in the minimum HiRes resolution 24/44.1 or 24/48. HDtracks and other vendors raised their prices for most new albums at any resolution significantly after a longer period of price reduction to nearly CD level. 

 

I wouldn't rely on the expertise of the American audio press very much in this case, most of them are trapped by their prior puff pieces about MQA. The European HiFi magazines in general have been much more cautious about the advantages of MQA. 

 

Highresaudio.com offers the very few reliable "MQA-Authenticated" albums as download and the demand seems to be extremely low, by the way.

HI Yoda:

 

I was under the impression that HRS completely cut ties with MQA.

[Digital Assassin]

2 hours ago, james45974 said:

Um, because the editor has become a groveling shill?

DING DING DING! BIngo!

[Digital Assassin]

3 hours ago, mcgillroy said:

Can anybody explain me the economic or other rationale of Stereophiles MQA unconditional endorsement?! Today another DAC review is up that sings the song of MQAs qualities.

 

More importantly even goes so far as to hit competing vendors for not including MQA:

 

"If you were contemplating the purchase of a new DAC, why would you not want it to include MQA processing?"

 

and

 

"Schiit's reference DAC would be my reference DAC—if only it had MQA"

 

etc, etc.

 

Audio reviews are audio reviews but this level of ignoring the wider discussion and including specific vitriol is astonishing. Why?!

We need to discuss the levels of absurdity this "review" reaches.

 

This is the second such piece of drivel that promotes MQA with the DAC in question a side note.

 

Secondly, did I miss it, but the only source he used for this MQA PR is an "MQA encoded CD"??????

 

Please if I missed it can someone point out and what sources were used???

 

Does the MyTek DAC process any file into MQA on the fly?????

 

Did I also miss any reference to Tidal?

 

I have never seen such a ill equipped "reviewer" and I have never seen a more coordinate shill job.

 

"DSD and high-resolution downloads never sound completely right or real to me. MQA does"

 

LOL! Lose the wig Herb..

[Digital Assassin]

8 hours ago, Charles Hansen said:

Hello All,

 

I think some very astute comments are being made that deserve a response from Sterophile and/or JA. As noted before he does not seem to participate in this forum, but he is almost always quite responsive to queries posted at:

 

https://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/etv.mpl?forum=critics

 

Each forum has different rules. The rules at The Audio Asylum are fairly simple - if one has any affiliation with the audio industry in any way, you agree to use your real name and disclose your affiliation.. Manufacturers are not allowed to reply to general questions (eg, "What CD player should I buy?") but can respond to specific questions about the equipment they manufacture (eg, "What is the power consumption of an Ayre CD player?"). Sign up is free and easy.

 

Cheers,

Charles Hansen

Can we ask questions like:

 

"Why are you publishing DISHONEST and disingenuous "reviews" masquerading as infomercials for MQA?"

 

"Are you being promised a piece of the pie if there is an acquisition?"

[Digital Assassin]

59 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

But not cryogenically treated?

no, but blessed by 7 virgins, and dusted with powder from crushed Martian rock.

[Digital Assassin]

I bet has Bob Stuart has a dedicated guest room in Harley's house.