MQA is Vaporware

[MikeyFresh]

20 minutes ago, Lee Scoggins said:

Steve, it's clear you are an idiot and an asshole.  Welcome to my ignore list.

 

Thats not clear at all, not to me anyway. 

 

You on the other hand? Mmm...yes, all evidence points squarely in that direction.

[MikeyFresh]

5 hours ago, Paul R said:

Look at the post where the number of banned people was glorified, like a score card.

 

I like that post quite a bit, both now, and in the past when other MQA shills were banned. 

[MikeyFresh]

3 hours ago, Paul R said:

Absolutely - and without a doubt that is a great loss for CA and a definite win for the pro-MQA side. It makes us all look unreasonable, childish, and foolish. 

 

I know you are not going to even consider the possibility that the above opinion is flawed, but it is.

[MikeyFresh]

3 hours ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

Scoggins no longer shills (whatever his motivation) here for MQA.  That's a win.

 

+1 on that, I can't imagine any other valid summation.

[MikeyFresh]

2 hours ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

Keeping track of name calling?  I'd love to see that list.  I think the worst thing I've ever called Lee is a shill.

 

Exactly, I've followed this thread and seem to have completely missed this supposed name calling. Either that or it doesn't exist.

[MikeyFresh]

2 hours ago, christopher3393 said:

That was my point.

 

Just as @Samuel T Cogley's point was he'd love to see your list, and my point was that it doesn't exist.

[MikeyFresh]

1 hour ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

Hmmm. A review from Paul Miller's mag of the Naim streamer..

 

NO mention of lack of MQA decoding...no mention of MQA interesting contrast to Mr. Dudley.

 

Could be more of an editorial decision as opposed to the whim of any given writer, and if so, might we start to see a slow change/backpedal pivot beginning with the July Stereophile issue?

[MikeyFresh]

4 hours ago, Paul R said:

But that is making one heck of an unfounded assumption - that music will only be available in MQA format and nothing else.

 

Your assertion to the contrary is just as unfounded, you simply don't know that will be the case.

 

4 hours ago, Paul R said:

SACD is dead, and everyone buys there high-resolution music online now.

 

Absolutely false, I still buy SACDs to this day and many of them are recently released reissues, both from the likes of Mobile Fidelity and Analogue Productions, and as well as both Sony and Warner Japan, not to mention various smaller labels. Is that a niche? Sure it is, I'm not sure SACD was ever anything but a niche, but to say that "everyone" buys their high resolution music online now is incorrect.

 

4 hours ago, Paul R said:

Mostly, MQA will probably die on its own, without any help from us. 

 

But that's no reason not to push hard for that to happen sooner than later, I'll try to help that along as best I can, and it doesn't matter whether or not you think it's a life or death situation, nor one that has any real impact on someone's wallet. You aren't the arbiter of such things, everyone's wallet is different.

[MikeyFresh]

14 minutes ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

..Cept...Art Dudley did mention it..and it ain't in no spec sheet...hmmm

 

That was rather the whole point being made then, that Stereophile went out of their way to mention the lack of MQA decoding as a supposed deficit both in the specs and again in the listening, while the U.K. review (properly) makes no mention of MQA at all.

 

Seems especially suspect given the writer then magically prefers the 24/48 MQA version of a track to a 24/96 PCM version despite no actual MQA decoding taking place on the former, not even the first unfold, as that file was played from a USB thumb drive. Ridiculous (or possibly the intentional selection of a track whose 24/96 mastering is not great).

 

 

[MikeyFresh]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Most are contractors writing for many other outlets (not a bad thing).

 

Except that the article that has sparked this recent conversation here was written by a Stereophile employee.

[MikeyFresh]

21 minutes ago, mav52 said:

...lost all credibility right there.  Dudley broke out the MQA pom poms and away he went.  As a reader of Stereophile for many many many years, I just don't see it any other way. Another MQA PLUG from this magazine.

 

My take as well, and I too have been a reader (not hater) of Stereophile for many many many years. I like Art Dudley.

 

If this is in fact editor driven as it so blatantly appears to be, I suspect a soft-pivot/silent backpedal beginning with the July issue (or sometime shortly thereafter) is forthcoming.

[MikeyFresh]

48 minutes ago, John_Atkinson said:

I gave Art the thumb drive with various MQA and Non-MQA files on it some years ago when I wanted Stereophile's team of reviewers to do comparisons between decoded MQA files and the original hi-rez versions.

 

Yes but now some years later, and those comparisons are still being made in the context of a product review in which the piece of gear does not even do the first unfold.

 

Neither the writer nor you as editor thought it out of place to start waxing poetic about the MQA encoded versions of those tracks, even when the playback unit doesn't so much as do the first unfold? There is no way to spin that one. How are potential buyers of the Naim piece not done a disservice there, doesn't that sidetrack into MQA flattery do both the reader and Naim a disservice?

 

Art has been a Naim fan over the years, I can't imagine he'd have been in favor of this obvious ding attempt at their streamer product, that's one reason among many I suspect it to be an editorial thing. "Some years" later I'd expect the editor to find MQA track comparisons using that same thumb drive (issued years ago for entirely different purposes) to be superfluous in the context of a current product review involving a unit that does not decode MQA.

 

If I were Naim I would certainly make this point in my Manufacturer's Response, and unlike the non-combative responses to you here, I'd fully expect Naim to be rightfully combative about that.

 

 

[MikeyFresh]

26 minutes ago, beetlemania said:

I suspect the slide will accelerate under Jim Austin. I intend to watch that unfold as a former subscriber.

 

I would hope (but not necessarily expect) the opposite, this is a chance at a clean slate of sorts, perhaps Paul Miller recognizes that despite JA's claims of more business as usual.

[MikeyFresh]

7 hours ago, Paul R said:

Saying "I liked this track better in the MQA version " is like opening a key to WWIII- 

 

Once again you overgeneralize and lump everyone and everything anti-MQA all together in your pontificating.

 

It has been stated numerous times in this thread and elsewhere that there is every possibility someone might prefer an MQA version of any given album for various reasons, not the least of which would be a different mastering, or even the utilization of a different tape source altogether. Or maybe they just prefer distortion.

 

I fail to see how that sparks any "WW III" scenario.

[MikeyFresh]

34 minutes ago, Dr Tone said:

If you continually promote MQA and ignore facts this is what you get:

 

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2019/04/01/lee-scoggins-international-editor/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

 

That's an April Fools' Day joke if I ever saw one.

[MikeyFresh]

45 minutes ago, Ski Bum said:

 I guess that the White Album wasn't important enough to merit the full MQA Studio treatment (wink).

 

Hands down winner for post of the day!

 

30 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

Maybe the people processing it messed up. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

You mean it was supposed to receive the white glove treatment, but instead someone put it through the hamburger batch processor in the cloud, and Lee's snazzy "machine learning" didn't yield a perfectly de-blurred sonic result with all of the ADC's flaws now fully compensated for?

[MikeyFresh]

1 hour ago, FredericV said:

The latest MQA shill has arrived.

 

I think so too, however I welcomed him with a post of the day nomination just to spare everyone from the now obligatory diatribe by Paul, in which angry lynch mobs quickly start WW III at a mere sniff of MQA championing.

[MikeyFresh]

7 minutes ago, Paul R said:

It is 2019, people go to jail for that kind of stuff in companies now.  

 

Based on your take the criminal investigation of Tidal for faked streaming counts and non-payment of royalties to artists can now be swiftly concluded then?

 

Not one company out there is misstating their financials, and company officers with a personal financial interest in the company's reported results are not inclined to take any liberties according to you?

[MikeyFresh]

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

Do you always have so much trouble responding to someone else without trying to belittle them? Or is that a tactic you picked up from some of the overblown egos here? Careful, if you prick them they explode... 

 

Careful, you've just described yourself very well.

 

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

For the record, I don't consider myself a "Legend in my own time"

 

Neither does anyone else, but you misquoted the OP in your reply, he said legend in your own mind, which is a different thing altogether.

 

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

MQA is not the threat that Steve or some of the others are making it.

 

Again, we'd love to know what brand of crystal ball you are using to arrive at these dead-on accurate assessments.

 

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

They are doing that for their own aggrandizement and amusement.

 

Pot calling the kettle black.

[MikeyFresh]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

To the surprise of nobody, certain people were as pompous and abrasive as ever. I was told by people they’d never be on a panel or present with them again. 

 

Probably safe to say that Jbara is no pro at corporate governance, and Forsythe reacted poorly to his credentials being questioned?

 

[MikeyFresh]

16 minutes ago, kumakuma said:

So you don't see the irony of a company that's lost money for years providing advice on how to make money to other businesses?

 

I certainly do, it's a great example of irony:

• a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.

If not ironic, then perhaps peculiar is an apt description?

[MikeyFresh]

8 hours ago, Tintinabulum said:

Bring back CA.

 

You are obviously just a troll. Welcome to my ignored members list.

[MikeyFresh]

8 minutes ago, firedog said:

And BTW, this is being written by someone who's auditioned Meridian speaker systems and considered buying them. 

 

I too have auditioned their DSP-driven active loudspeakers, as early as 2004, along with the flagship 800 Series CD/DVD-Audio player. Sadly, that dealer in northern NJ experienced financial difficulties and ultimately went out of business not many years later, though that had more to do with the great recession than anything else.

 

Both the speakers and disc player were very impressive (though not remotely inexpensive). I'm no Meridian gear hater at all, though I still clearly see the irony in that tweet.

[MikeyFresh]

30 minutes ago, mcgillroy said:

MQA just let the world know that vinyl mastering is on their list of possible revenue sources. 

 

I wonder what kind of revenue MQA will book on licensing a 500 unit Limited Edition obscure LP title? Something tells me it won't go too far in repaying the £5 million "loan" Reinet gave them last year to stay afloat.

 

Brinkmann must be desperate for attention in their market niche.

[MikeyFresh]

44 minutes ago, mcgillroy said:

Forget the viability of their numbers for now. This is strategic communication by MQA. And it’s exactly this why Reinet keeps them afloat.

 

Well said, though Swiss investment bankers won't continue to throw good money after bad indefinitely.