MQA is Vaporware

[Confused]

24 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

I don’t hate it at all. I just think the sound quality of vinyl is vastly overstated when almost all recordings originate on a hard drive. I also think the resurgence is a fad. That’s all. 

Yes, it did seam a very strange thing to actually hate.  We all have our preferences but hate is a very strong word to use in this context I think.

[crenca]

23 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

I think Bob Stuart counted on the ability to push nontechnical audiophiles toward his product. I don't think he realized until the middle of 2017 that there were too many technical types to stop. And the press is wondering where did we all come from?

 

10 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

The press is hierarchical. I think many members of the press saw it as a way to advance up a level or two. After all  most of them have day jobs in many cases good ones or are professionals.

 

Interesting insights.  I wonder if the audio trade show circuit might not skew the industries opinion of their customer base?  I think they might believe that they are making and impression on the attendees more than they are.

 

It is clear that the trade publications and industry underestimated the technical knowledge of their consumers to a very significant degree.  Even someone like Jim Austin thought he was going to hand wave "post-shannon" and the like and it was just going to be accepted.  Robert Harley thought he could write about MQA in the same vein as a the Enlightenment and scientific revolutions!?!  

 

I am struck most by their sheer naivete.  They are still (still, how many years is it?) grappling with the digital revolution in music.  They don't know the difference between a piece of software and a strand of copper cable.  They are reinforced by an "Old Guard" customer base that don't know the difference either, and who show up at audio shows to be spooned fed complete and utter nonsense.

[The Computer Audiophile]

13 minutes ago, Confused said:

Yes, it did seam a very strange thing to actually hate.  We all have our preferences but hate is a very strong word to use in this context I think.

Yeah, life delivers enough challenges to us and our time is too valuable to waste brainwaves on hating a vinyl resurgence. 

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

I am not saying there cannot be other motivations but I wonder how much the audio press got behind MQA simply because it was topical and breathed life into an otherwise flagging high end audiophile world. Heralding it as some kind of paradigm shift, disingenuous or not, certainly garners attention and boosts subscriptions and website hits. DSD and High Rez files probably served that purpose back in the day but that day has passed. Similarly, the resurgence of vinyl or yet another new cable etc probably has become passe, all a bit of a yawn.

 

Stirring up interest in a new technology is bound to attract it's critics. However this is not necessarily a bad thing for the media. As Oscar Wilde said " The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."  As is often said, "there's no such thing as bad publicity"..... until it backfires and kills you - then there is no such thing as bad publicity except if its your obituary!

 

It will be interesting to see whether this whole polarizing MQA topic, its strong criticism here on CA or elsewhere, will ultimately be good or bad for MQA, be good or bad for the old guard audio press.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just thought of something. 

 

When MQA first came out Bob touted the fact that it gave the music industry a single deliverable (one file). 

 

At at the same time Bob said, don’t worry we won’t take away your standard PCM. 

 

Hmmmmmm. 

[james45974]

26 minutes ago, crenca said:

I am struck most by their sheer naivete.  They are still (still, how many years is it?) grappling with the digital revolution in music.  They don't know the difference between a piece of software and a strand of copper cable.  They are reinforced by an "Old Guard" customer base that don't know the difference either, and who show up at audio shows to be spooned fed complete and utter nonsense. 

Maybe some of the old guard show go to a headphone meet, that seems to be where all the action is lately!

 

going to shows full of 6 digit equipment seems to have all the fun and alure of the early dinner at Applebee's, with the same crowd.

[Rt66indierock]

Just now, The Computer Audiophile said:

Just thought of something. 

 

When MQA first came out Bob touted the fact that it gave the music industry a single deliverable (one file). 

 

At at the same time Bob said, don’t worry we won’t take away your standard PCM. 

 

Hmmmmmm. 

 

Only a couple of problems.

 

First to play song it must be legal to distribute that song to the user. That means at least two copies to cover the world some times more a lot more. 

 

Second if the industry had one file that could be used for everything from Mp3 streaming to hi-res  why sell anything else?

 

I have always considered the legal red tape of music distribution to be one of the large issues confronting MQA Ltd.

[skikirkwood]

2 hours ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Don the best we can hope for is for journalists to walk away from MQA. Let me tell you about a concept called “talent acquisition.” This is where journalists are paid to mention products in the stories they write. It is prevalent in tech and financial reporting. The Huffington Post has fairly elaborate procedures in place to stop it they say. I say they did a pretty good job of slowing it down but it is a pervasive practice.

 

 

 

 

Have you ever noticed every "review" in Audiostream by Steve Plaskin has a huge number of mentions of Synergistic Research and Shunyata Research products.

 

Quote

The Asus laptop was plugged into a Shunyata Research Hydra DPC-6 v2 distribution center to firewall the noise generated by this computer from contaminating my AC line.

The Asus was placed on a Synergistic Research Tranquility Base UEF grounded with the Synergistic Research High Definition Ground Cable / Grounding Block as was the computer. A G-Technology 24 TB G|RAID Thunderbolt 3 / USB 3.1 drive was connected to the Asus that stores my audio files. The G|RAID Thunderbolt drive was powered by an HDPlex 200w linear power supply plugged into a Shunyata Denali 6000T power conditioner. The G|RAID Thunderbolt drive and its HDPlex power supply were placed on a Synergistic Research Tranquility Base.

The C5+ was plugged into a Shunyata Triton v3 with a Shunyata Sigma NR AC cord.

 

1

 

[Rt66indierock]

Just now, skikirkwood said:

 

Have you ever noticed every "review" in Audiostream by Steve Plaskin has a huge number of mentions of Synergistic Research and Shunyata Research products.

 

 

 

Exactly what I'm talking about. I'll have a comment or two about Synergistic Research in my T.H.E. Show report.

[rickca]

7 minutes ago, skikirkwood said:

Have you ever noticed every "review" in Audiostream by Steve Plaskin has a huge number of mentions of Synergistic Research and Shunyata Research products.

I suppose he has these products on long term loan in exchange for using them in his reviews. 

[Rt66indierock]

20 minutes ago, james45974 said:

Maybe some of the old guard show go to a headphone meet, that seems to be where all the action is lately!

 

going to shows full of 6 digit equipment seems to have all the fun and alure of the early dinner at Applebee's, with the same crowd.

 

More like  Applebee's in Sun City Arizona on any Saturday when even the old people are rocking out three miles down Highway 60 in a dive bar.

[Jud]

40 minutes ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

I am not saying there cannot be other motivations but I wonder how much the audio press got behind MQA simply because it was topical and breathed life into an otherwise flagging high end audiophile world. Heralding it as some kind of paradigm shift, disingenuous or not, certainly garners attention and boosts subscriptions and website hits. DSD and High Rez files probably served that purpose back in the day but that day has passed. Similarly, the resurgence of vinyl or yet another new cable etc probably has become passe, all a bit of a yawn.

 

Stirring up interest in a new technology is bound to attract it's critics. However this is not necessarily a bad thing for the media. As Oscar Wilde said " The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."  As is often said, "there's no such thing as bad publicity"..... until it backfires and kills you - then there is no such thing as bad publicity except if its your obituary!

 

It will be interesting to see whether this whole polarizing MQA topic, its strong criticism here on CA or elsewhere, will ultimately be good or bad for MQA, be good or bad for the old guard audio press.

 

If they tried writing actual, you know, reviews, that might help too. I’ve long since lost interest in the mags except for music tips, and recall with fond nostalgia when TAS accepted no advertising and Harry Pearson wielded an acid pen.  Technically informed staff might help as well.  Imagine a car reviewer to whom gear ratios were a thing of mystery.  

[rickca]

2 hours ago, Rt66indierock said:

Let me tell you about a concept called “talent acquisition.” This is where journalists are paid to mention products in the stories they write.

Except you run into a problem when your talent has blown their credibility.

 

There's also the product placement idea in film and TV.  A manufacturer pays the producer to prominently display their product in a scene.  The luxury goods companies also give samples to celebrities so magazines will publish pictures of your favorite star with your handbag or whatever. 

 

It's all looking for the halo effect of associating a product with somebody cool.  Under Armor recently released The Rock shoes ... sold out in 30 minutes.  So product endorsements are big business and I guess talent acquisition is a similar concept.

[Brinkman Ship]

For the record, i do not believe Stereophile writers are paid to mention products ("product placements").

I don't think John Atkinson would allow it. TAS..it is possible..but only with certain writers.  But still unlikely. I don't think audio manufacturers would really need to do this. Providing the products for long term loan is sufficient enough incentive to get them mentioned.

[skikirkwood]

14 minutes ago, rickca said:

Except you run into a problem when your talent has blown their credibility.

 

There's also the product placement idea in film and TV.  A manufacturer pays the producer to prominently display their product in a scene.  The luxury goods companies also give samples to celebrities so magazines will publish pictures of your favorite star with your handbag or whatever. 

 

It's all looking for the halo effect of associating a product with somebody cool.  Under Armor recently released The Rock shoes ... sold out in 30 minutes.  So product endorsements are big business and I guess talent acquisition is a similar concept.

 

I worked at Silicon Graphics when the movie Jurassic Park was released.  There's a scene where they zoom into the SGI logo on a workstation.  We always talked about the PR value of that one scene to our business.

 

While we didn't pay the movie producers for that scene, we did send an engineer onsite during the movie production to create some custom software for a few of their scenes, and this was the payback!

[crenca]

49 minutes ago, skikirkwood said:

 

Have you ever noticed every "review" in Audiostream by Steve Plaskin has a huge number of mentions of Synergistic Research and Shunyata Research products.

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

40 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

If they tried writing actual, you know, reviews, that might help too. I’ve long since lost interest in the mags except for music tips, and recall with fond nostalgia when TAS accepted no advertising and Harry Pearson wielded an acid pen.  Technically informed staff might help as well.  Imagine a car reviewer to whom gear ratios were a thing of mystery.  

 

I think they were in their heyday in the 90's. Since that time I have not looked at them unless a link comes up in a google search. I will read all reviews available about potential purchases usually to find if there was something bad I had missed when auditioning the product even tho I realize its not in a reviewer's interest to trash products.

[crenca]

1 hour ago, Jud said:

 Technically informed staff might help as well.  Imagine a car reviewer to whom gear ratios were a thing of mystery.  

 

I have noticed a real slide in the technical knowledge of the those (exceptions exist of course) who review cars for the big print magazines (i.e. MotorTrend, Road & Track, etc.).  They are also shifting their emphasis into a more surface level "buyers guide" mode where the technical performance is no longer as prominent.   I am noticing more gaffe then I used to - guys going on about supercharging when the car is turbocharged and the like.  That said, I have also noticed that wrenching and car performance is not as interesting and younger buyers are interested in other things (like the tech inside, etc.).  So in cars customer tech knowledge is lessening, the opposite of what is happening in audio I think...

[Rt66indierock]

11 minutes ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

 

I think they were in their heyday in the 90's. Since that time I have not looked at them unless a link comes up in a google search. I will read all reviews available about potential purchases usually to find if there was something bad I had missed when auditioning the product even tho I realize its not in a reviewer's interest to trash products.

 

Let's remember the good times in the nineties when there was no The Absolute Sound. 

[esldude]

13 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Let's remember the good times in the nineties when there was no The Absolute Sound. 

They were around before the 90s. Like from 1970s.

[Rt66indierock]

6 minutes ago, esldude said:

They were around before the 90s. Like from 1970s.

 

They were around since 1973 until the mid nineties then they went broke and an original subscriber bailed TAS out about 1998.

 

[Brinkman Ship]

15 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

They were around since 1973 until the mid nineties then they went broke and an original subscriber bailed TAS out about 1998.

 

Do thy actually turn a profit now, or is it a vanity business at this point?

[Rt66indierock]

7 minutes ago, Brinkman Ship said:

Do thy actually turn a profit now, or is it a vanity business at this point?

 

I can't imagine with such a low subscriber count, about 20,000 that they can make much money. As John Atkinson is fond of saying we are larger than all the other English language audio publications combined. And look what happened to them.

[Brinkman Ship]

1 minute ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

I can't imagine with such a low subscriber count, about 20,000 that they can make much money. As John Atkinson is fond of saying we are larger than all the other English language audio publications combined. And look what happened to them.

good points...as they do have ads, there must be some income...maybe enough to over expenses?

[Brinkman Ship]

here is another regular consumer report on MQA sound quality and comparisons to hirez.

 

https://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=pcaudio&m=171601

 

no jaws dropped, no new worlds birthed, no scientific revolutions....