MQA is Vaporware

[rickca]

24 minutes ago, Lee Scoggins said:

The Cheskys have a solid record of innovation in music and some street smarts in business.

So what's the business plan ... to steal customers away from TIDAL?  What will differentiate their streaming service?

[rickca]

17 minutes ago, Indydan said:

 

Are you a member of the private MQA Facebook group?

That group must have a training video with talking points, objection handling techniques, etc.  The members are immediately recognizable on forums.  It's like the Stepford Wives.

 

So what motivates these guys?  I'm skeptical they just really like MQA.

 

 

[rickca]

11 minutes ago, Indydan said:

MQA has a troll army that would make Vladimir Poutine envious! 

I assume you know his last name is Putin.

 

Poutine is a delicious French-Canadian dish from my home and native land.

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

[rickca]

2 minutes ago, Indydan said:

 

Major brain cramp on my part! Yes, I am from QC, so I know what poutine is. I had one yesterday! 

Hopefully Vladimir will find it amusing.  You may want to stay away from Moscow for a bit.

[rickca]

I live in a condo.  My next door neighbor is drop dead gorgeous.  Her name is Luna.  Luna is a one year old purebred yellow labrador.  She is as hyperactive as a golden retriever, but apparently she settles right down when I play Debussy.  So Luna is an audiophile.  Luna is still undecided about MQA.

[rickca]

Apparently, Alexa likes Budweiser beer.  With discriminating taste like that, maybe she likes MQA too.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/15/16892306/alexa-amazon-opinion-movies-music-tv-shows-beer

[rickca]

These are compelling points, aren't they?

 

1.  You don't understand the math.

2.  You don't have good enough listening skills.  You lack experience.

3.  More research is required.  Kind of like climate change.

 

Straight out of the MQA playbook.

 

MQA will increase the availability of music while degrading the experience.

[rickca]

1 hour ago, Lee Scoggins said:

The Cheskys are millionaires.

I swear the world better prepare for when I'm a billionaire.

[rickca]

6 minutes ago, Dr Tone said:

The MQA decoder provides an optional up-sampler for PCM to simplify implementation and to enable a smooth, clean, click-free user experience. The reason this is offered is that the implementer may not know if the incoming stream is MQA and so the decoder is used to detect MQA and to provide a seamless switch to the usually higher output rate. By using Upsample Always, the user-experience is guaranteed to be accurate from the first sample of an MQA song and also to be free of clicks and pops if the user skips within a song or if there are cross-fades between songs.

So @vortecjr is this why the ultraRendu upsamples non--MQA files when MQA unfolding is enabled?  When I asked previously why you do this, you simply said 'it works better that way'.

[rickca]

42 minutes ago, Fair Hedon said:

Easy solution..make sure MQA unfolding is not engaged. It never will be on my unit if I decide to upgrade the firmware.

Yes, I've already said that I would do that.  I don't want my non-MQA files upsampled with an unknown filter.  

[rickca]

14 minutes ago, Confused said:

Reading all this I keep remembering that word.....

 

Elegant.

LOL.  I guess that's why @Lee Scoggins said he finds the business model elegant.  He doesn't want to talk about how MQA actually works, because he's still researching that.

[rickca]

24 minutes ago, FredericV said:

 

There is no win-win:

1. MQA decoder active with always upsample (like Mytek): redbook also goes through those leaky filters with aliasing
2. MQA decoder active with switching sample rates when enough MQA data has been found to start decoding: gaps/delays/clicks/lost parts

So the customer always loses, unless he turns off MQA decoding.

So some vendors just do a quick and dirty implementation and upsample non-MQA files when MQA decoding is enabled.  Then they tell you 'it works better that way'.

[rickca]

11 minutes ago, Lee Scoggins said:

Please stop taking things out of context. This was in response to Agitator claiming that he cannot hear differences between cables.

Once you get more experience with better cables, you will change your tune about the impact they can have on sound.

You pulled exactly the same stuff here on CA with @Shadders, and you brought it up, not him.

[rickca]

2 minutes ago, 4est said:

Regardless, can we please not dilute this with cable discussions. They really have nothing to do with MQA and it is just a diversion.

Sure, no problem.  I agree cables are irrelevant to a discussion about MQA.  That was my whole point.

[rickca]

He can stay over there until he comes up with something original and creative to add to the discussion.

[rickca]

Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua have expressed interest in joining the Facebook group.  Google it.

PS:  It's just a joke.

[rickca]

I suppose Lee figures everyone will now want to read his future articles.  That's one of the reasons he sticks around.

[rickca]

17 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Based on your posts, your registered email address (mqatruth@<domain>.com), and the fact you're obscuring your physical location pretty well (IP addresses from all over the world, just in the last few hours), I'm quite suspicious of you. It appears you have an agenda and/or something to hide. 

Good work, Chris!  Very quick detective work.

[rickca]

2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Speaking of dCS, I have a Rossini right now and I can confirm that what nobody thought was possible is most certainly possible. When I play MQA music, I can select any of the dCS filters that I wish. The user isn't forced to use the MQA filter. But, I don't know of any other DACs, outside of dCS, on which this is possible.

So dCS got MQA to throw in the towel on enforcing MQA filters?  What does dCS do with the filter selection information in the MQA stream if you are not using the MQA filters?  Are you saying that Berkeley did not do what dCS has done?

 

This makes a mockery of the whole MQA end-to-end story unless I misunderstand something.

 

What sounds best to you with MQA material?  One of the dCS filters or the MQA filters?

[rickca]

Well, now it's a little clearer that dCS did not buy into the MQA end-to-end story.  So with your Berkeley Alpha Reference Series 2, you have to use the MQA filter with MQA material?

[rickca]

16 minutes ago, miguelito said:

This is a bit puzzling to me... How can one streaming service hemorrage money while others not so much?

Spotify is losing money big time.   Their IPO filing says

We have incurred significant operating losses in the past, and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to be profitable, or to generate positive cash flow on a sustained basis.  In addition, our revenue growth rate may decline.

 

Spotify generated revenue of €4.09 billion last year, up from €2.95 billion the year prior, for growth of 39%. The company’s losses, however, more than doubled, reaching €1.24 billion in 2017 versus €539 million in 2016. 

 

 

[rickca]

@miguelito I agree that Spotify's infrastructure and management costs probably aren't linear with user growth, but streaming activity certainly is and royalties are their biggest cost.

[rickca]

16 minutes ago, Brinkman Ship said:

Atkinson helping "birth" MQA was strictly about creating new advertising revenue..nothing else.

The industry was so thrilled at the prospect of re-energizing sales that they glossed over the technical merits of MQA and didn't pause to question whether anybody really wanted it.  

[rickca]

1 minute ago, Brinkman Ship said:

That may be the understatement of the year! But yes, exactly.

I leave overstatement to the audiophile press.

[rickca]

4 hours ago, mcgillroy said:

MQA will end up as a chapter in marketing textbooks - as an example of the consequences of underestimating your audience.

The only thing the industry really cares about is money.  So if Stereophile experiences a decline in readership due to loss of credibility ... followed by a decline in advertising rates/volumes ... then they will care.  In the meantime, controversy is good because it generates demand ... people want to read articles about MQA.  I hope MQA is the New Coke of the audio industry.