MQA is Vaporware

[firedog]

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

 

There are reports all over the internet that people like it, not even counting the audio magazines or the relatively small number of people I have talked to. Individual people, I mean.  There are also reports that (individual) people don't like it.  

 

I am not sure how that is disputable unless you are thinking that implies a majority one way or another. I don't think there is enough information to make a generalization like that overall, only that MQA appears to be accepted by some number of people, and that number appears to be growing.  "Appears" being the key word here. More information and that appearance may change. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you make the stand alone statement "people like it", the understood and obvious meaning is that it's a generalization that most people - a majority - like it.
If you don't mean that, then you should use a qualifier like "some people" or "many people". Not trying to be pedantic, but there are reasons that you think you are (and are) misunderstood here. 

[Shadders]

6 hours ago, Paul R said:

The tech is very dodgy - that's unquestionable. People like it, also unquestionable. Why?

Hi,

Has been covered before :

http://fairhedon.com/2017/11/05/an-interview-with-mastering-engineer-brian-lucey/

 

"There’s also some harmonic distortion which some people could find pleasing,  If I want that distortion in the master I would’ve put it there in the first place. The results of MQA I would call fatal to the source material even as they are very subtle."

 

Regards,

Shadders.

[christopher3393]

"RHAPSODY INTERNATIONAL INC. ADDS MQA STUDIO QUALITY AUDIO TO ‘POWERED BY NAPSTER’ PLATFORM SERVICE"

 

https://www.mqa.co.uk/customer/news/post/napster-and-mqa?fbclid=IwAR0Sg3BmDcJYHheACSBfhsGpT5BA7gJMw-geYxDGaE7B7oNQ0_EfbRRmtM8

[lucretius]

50 minutes ago, christopher3393 said:

"RHAPSODY INTERNATIONAL INC. ADDS MQA STUDIO QUALITY AUDIO TO ‘POWERED BY NAPSTER’ PLATFORM SERVICE"

 

https://www.mqa.co.uk/customer/news/post/napster-and-mqa?fbclid=IwAR0Sg3BmDcJYHheACSBfhsGpT5BA7gJMw-geYxDGaE7B7oNQ0_EfbRRmtM8

 

Napster's Premier Plan is cheaper than Tidal's or Qobuz's top tier plan.

[mcgillroy]

Interesting. Anybody got some stats on how many subscribers they have? I wasn’t even aware that the Napster brand is still around.

[gdpr]

You can find market share numbers in this topic :

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/today-bob-stuart-launches-a-blog/69082/85

 

Dirk

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, ddetaey said:

You can find market share numbers in this topic :

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/today-bob-stuart-launches-a-blog/69082/85

 

Dirk

 

Without a source, date, etc... it's hard to take much from this chart.

 

[kumakuma]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Without a source, date, etc... it's hard to take much from this chart.

 

 

The chart was pulled from here:

 

https://thetrichordist.com/2019/01/29/2018-streaming-price-bible-per-stream-rates-drop-as-streaming-volume-grows-youtubes-value-gap-is-very-real/

 

 

[mcgillroy]

Very interesting article - thx for that!

[FredericV]

4 hours ago, christopher3393 said:

"RHAPSODY INTERNATIONAL INC. ADDS MQA STUDIO QUALITY AUDIO TO ‘POWERED BY NAPSTER’ PLATFORM SERVICE"

 

https://www.mqa.co.uk/customer/news/post/napster-and-mqa?fbclid=IwAR0Sg3BmDcJYHheACSBfhsGpT5BA7gJMw-geYxDGaE7B7oNQ0_EfbRRmtM8

Misleading, as MQA is not studio quality. It's not even an archival format, or format used to edit.

[The Computer Audiophile]

That's an interesting website. It's a claptrap and doing a disservice to artists in my view. Consumers have spoken. They want streaming and they will pay $10 per month or get it free. Complaining about streaming services is like the horse and buggy dealer complaining about Henry Ford. 

[Ralf11]

12 hours ago, Paul R said:

 

More deflection.

 

 

That is your entire purpose here as far as can be determined.

 

Do you have any facts or even just information to share on the topic?  

 

Say, something to back up your journal entries on the hundreds of jeepers you talked to in Cheyenne?  Or some info on how you used your mat expertise to generate a "conceptual diagram" with no axes on it?

[Rt66indierock]

6 hours ago, christopher3393 said:

"RHAPSODY INTERNATIONAL INC. ADDS MQA STUDIO QUALITY AUDIO TO ‘POWERED BY NAPSTER’ PLATFORM SERVICE"

 

https://www.mqa.co.uk/customer/news/post/napster-and-mqa?fbclid=IwAR0Sg3BmDcJYHheACSBfhsGpT5BA7gJMw-geYxDGaE7B7oNQ0_EfbRRmtM8

 

Thanks Christopher another nice press release but let’s look a little deeper to satisfy Chris C. Napster’s revenue 2016 $208,085,000, 2017 $172,391,000 and 2018 $143,844,000.  A nice steady decline in revenue. These numbers are from RealNetworks, Inc.’s Form 10-K.

 

RealNetworks just released their First Quarter 2019 Financial Results. Here are a couple of interesting points. They now own 84% of Napster. As of December 31, 2018, they carried Napster at zero value. Now that they have a controlling interest in Napster, they will consolidate Napster in their financial statements. This resulted in a one time gain in the first quarter of 2019 of $12,338,000 allowing them to report a small profit of $1,533,000 even though their operating loss was $10,904,000.

 

The real question is whether Napster will be any different from Deezer. Remember the September 2017 press release? Look on the Deezer website today, no MQA.

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Thanks Christopher another nice press release but let’s look a little deeper to satisfy Chris C. Napster’s revenue 2016 $208,085,000, 2017 $172,391,000 and 2018 $143,844,000.  A nice steady decline in revenue. These numbers are from RealNetworks, Inc.’s Form 10-K.

 

RealNetworks just released their First Quarter 2019 Financial Results. Here are a couple of interesting points. They now own 84% of Napster. As of December 31, 2018, they carried Napster at zero value. Now that they have a controlling interest in Napster, they will consolidate Napster in their financial statements. This resulted in a one time gain in the first quarter of 2019 of $12,338,000 allowing them to report a small profit of $1,533,000 even though their operating loss was $10,904,000.

 

The real question is whether Napster will be any different from Deezer. Remember the September 2017 press release? Look on the Deezer website today, no MQA.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the details. 

 

I can't wait to see all the people listening to Napster MQA on their Essential MQA mobile phones. Napster and Essential, two partnerships for the ages. 

[Paul R]

19 hours ago, Siltech817 said:

 

By you, and everyone sees this is your M.O.

 

The same has been asked of you, and then you just make shit up, while accusing others of exactly what you are practicing. An easy to follow pattern.

 

More personal attacks - no I don't make this shit up. For what possibly purpose would I do anything that would hurt the hobby?  

 

All that stupid shit?  It is in your own head. 

 

[Paul R]

18 hours ago, firedog said:

When you make the stand alone statement "people like it", the understood and obvious meaning is that it's a generalization that most people - a majority - like it.
If you don't mean that, then you should use a qualifier like "some people" or "many people". Not trying to be pedantic, but there are reasons that you think you are (and are) misunderstood here. 

 

Yep, thank you. 

 

 

[Paul R]

7 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

 

That is your entire purpose here as far as can be determined.

 

Do you have any facts or even just information to share on the topic?  

 

Say, something to back up your journal entries on the hundreds of jeepers you talked to in Cheyenne?  Or some info on how you used your mat expertise to generate a "conceptual diagram" with no axes on it?

 

What do you want?  A copy of my journal?  

 

No. Get one of your own.

 

As for a 30-second effort at an Excell chart, you are quite welcome to try and come up with something better. You have already goofed up three times in comments on that. I do not enjoy watching you hang yourself on your own petard, but since you insist... you have the floor. It will be interesting to see what you *think* it means since you refuse to listen when I tell you. Go for it hotshot. 

 

So, the relatively recent invasion of AS by people who failed on the gas bag forums is an "exciting" thing to see. Especially since they seem to have congregated into this topic. I guess this place is big enough to handle those poor people, and give everyone a chance to recover.  

 

[Paul R]

19 hours ago, Siltech817 said:

 

There is no market acceptance, and MQA means nothing to the wider world, nothing at all.

 

 

Seriously a false statement. 

 

19 hours ago, Siltech817 said:

Super questionable, unless you are referring to JA, RH, MF, AD, JVS et al. but they have an obvious conflict of interest.

 

Except, that they are all much better sources of information, and far more reliable sources of information than you. Nor are any of them perfect, and so far as I know, none of them claim to be. ML, maybe... you would have to ask him. 

 

 

[Ralf11]

paulie - Do you have any facts or even just information to share on the topic?  

 

Say, something to back up your journal entries on the hundreds of jeepers you talked to in Cheyenne?  ANYTHING???

 

Or some info on how you used your math expertise to generate a "conceptual diagram" with no axes on it?

 

or is just more gas bagging from you?

[Paul R]

1 hour ago, Ralf11 said:

paulie - Do you have any facts or even just information to share on the topic?  

 

Say, something to back up your journal entries on the hundreds of jeepers you talked to in Cheyenne?  ANYTHING???

 

Or some info on how you used your math expertise to generate a "conceptual diagram" with no axes on it?

 

or is just more gas bagging from you?

 

Sure - just go read the original post and maybe even the followups that answered your questions the first ten times.  (Hint - it does not say I talked with hundreds of people in Cheyenne) 

 

Go back and look at the diagram, see the axis/point descriptions included in the key. (Yes, they are there, have always been there, are part of the image, but you do have to read them.)  Or do you seriously want to tell me you cannot see the data points for Mr. Blue Line, Mr. Gold Line, and Mr. Grey Line? Or you think they represent real data? Or that the crack it is in answer to is invisible?  

 

Better to do that Raffie - rather than try to deflect the point. 

 

Which is a simple point- MQA is out there being attractive to people. Enough people that even an average guy like me runs into people that know about it and want to know more. Worse, MQA often sounds good. That is an essential point with audiophiles you know. The science may say it should sound terrible, but if it sounds good.... oh my!

 

Why are they winning hearts and minds?  

 

It is not the facts - those would discourage anyone. 

 

If they listened to those facts. 

 

Or could hear them over the hate-hate-hate talk here.

 

Or were not attracted by the fresh MQA marketing.  

 

I read but never participate in the gas bag forum. When they are talking facts, it is pretty good stuff. When they get into Arne's ideology nonsense, not so much.  

 

-Paul 

 

 

Oh, and by the way - please post your credentials certifying you have the right to run an inquisition, please. Just for the record.

[Paul R]

On 5/4/2019 at 4:27 AM, firedog said:

I didn't say you were lying. I just don't believe you talked to hundreds of audiophiles on the subject of MQA. Maybe "tens", and it seems like hundreds.
 I'm doubtful there are thousands and thousands of audiophiles total in the places you mentioned, which there would have to be for you to have just run into and talked to hundreds. And even for that you would have to make a concerted effort.
 

Are you telling me you have a journal listing every person you talk to everyday, and what you talked about?

 

Sorry, I missed this reply. 

 

Not exactly, but I do write down interesting conversations or ideas, and if I want to keep contact information on someone, it goes in there too. I also keep the equivalent of lab journals for just about every project.

 

 

[Ralf11]

for hundreds of people??

 

You clearly do not know what a lab notebook is, either

[MikeyFresh]

3 hours ago, Paul R said:

Nor are any of them perfect, and so far as I know none of them claim to be.

 

No one is perfect, and no one claimed they were or were not, however you skipped the part about their obvious conflict of interest Paul. That was the point being made there as I read it.

 

 

[MikeyFresh]

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

Why are they winning hearts and minds?  

 

They aren't, except those of the trade press, that despite your roving journal entries.

[Shadders]

5 hours ago, Paul R said:

Why are they winning hearts and minds?  

 

It is not the facts - those would discourage anyone. 

Hi,

I think this is an important point. Despite all the facts that MQA is a badly engineered audio system, people like it.

 

We should also note that audio enthusiasts hear differences in cables, hear differences in CD replay with the green little pen, hear differences with components that have special feet or damping material added etc.

 

So, do they like it because they like what they are hearing, or is the marketing machine telling them MQA is improved, removing the imperfections in the audio signal, which leads them to believe they hear a difference and like it ?

 

5 hours ago, Paul R said:

Or could hear them over the hate-hate-hate talk here.

There is no hate-hate-hate talk. People on this forum are proposing that the future of high resolution audio is based on confirmed and valid engineering principles, with open standards.

 

MQA is none of this.

 

Regards,

Shadders.