MQA is Vaporware

[John_Atkinson]

2 minutes ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

Given your full endorsement of MQA, I would have to ask, why not?

 

Lack of time to negotiate with streaming companies. Now that I am retired and have less daily stress -  I was working >80-hour weeks without a break the past couple of years as Stereophile's editor in chief -  this is one of the things on my to-do list.

 

John Atkinson

Technical Editor, Stereophile

Owner, Stereophile Recordings

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

Just now, John_Atkinson said:

 

Lack of time to negotiate with streaming companies. Now that I am retired and have less daily stress -  I was working >80-hour weeks without a break the past couple of years as Stereophile's editor in chief -  this is one of the things on my to-do list.

 

John Atkinson

Technical Editor, Stereophile

Owner, Stereophile Recordings

Understood. 👍

[daverich4]

3 hours ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

That may be, but they also know what FEAR is. You can smell the stench of it. Unlike say, Schiit, Naim, Linn, Benchmark, Bryston, Playback Designs, McIntosh, Ayre, Exogal, Sonore, and many, many many more. 

 

I assume you’re saying that all these companies have decided not to include MQA decoding in their products but I’m not aware of Sonore selling anything where that would come up. 

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

2 minutes ago, daverich4 said:

 

I assume you’re saying that all these companies have decided not to include MQA decoding in their products but I’m not aware of Sonore selling anything where that would come up. 

They were going to do incorporate MQA decoding in their O/S, and possibly in the hardware. This was a big topic. They threw in the towel due to the negative buzz. I followed it carefully. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

39 minutes ago, james45974 said:

Thanks John, I guess I'm not really sure of the value of MQA authentication then.  I'm sorry if this is getting very basic, I thought I understood the general idea of MQA, but what does "Authentication" actually mean?  Isn't there some sort of "authentication" going on with any master and subsequent vinyl pressing, CD, or streaming file already?

Authentication is for a nonexistent issue of someone changing the files before they get to the customer. 

 

I asked BS about this in an original MQA panel. 

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

11 minutes ago, daverich4 said:

 

I assume you’re saying that all these companies have decided not to include MQA decoding in their products but I’m not aware of Sonore selling anything where that would come up. 

vortecjr

"Here are some of the issues:

 

1. HD Track was suppose to offer MQA streaming and now they are not.

2. Roon will have decoding soon.

3. A+ already has MQA decoding.

4. No way to use Tidal masters direct.

5. Add to these a few more issues like contacts, fees, and all the negativity.

 

From a practical perspective we can arrange to upsample all 44.1k and 48k content to 96k and call it a day. This solution will work with any content and not just MQA content.

 

Finally, there are no issues between us and MQA...they have been very cool with us."

 

 

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

8 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Authentication is for a nonexistent issue of someone changing the files before they get to the customer. 

 

I asked BS about this in an original MQA panel. 

...wait...I thought it was spun as way to impress the customer that the files were "what the artist intended".....🤩

 

you know...direct from there studio?

[daverich4]

2 minutes ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

vortecjr

"Here are some of the issues:

 

1. HD Track was suppose to offer MQA streaming and now they are not.

2. Roon will have decoding soon.

3. A+ already has MQA decoding.

4. No way to use Tidal masters direct.

5. Add to these a few more issues like contacts, fees, and all the negativity.

 

From a practical perspective we can arrange to upsample all 44.1k and 48k content to 96k and call it a day. This solution will work with any content and not just MQA content.

 

Finally, there are no issues between us and MQA...they have been very cool with us."

 

 

 

Thanks, I remember those discussions now. 

[Thuaveta]

43 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Authentication is for a nonexistent issue of someone changing the files before they get to the customer. 

 

 

Nonexistent issue ?

 

What about that someone !

 

 

And those, right there ?

 

[#Yoda#]

I've spend the whole day today at the Munich HighEnd show, attended a lot of presentations with MQA capable systems, but never noticed any mention of MQA nor any audio demonstration during my presence. I think, that is telling enough.

[Ralf11]

I doubt that these small audiophile businesses know their potential customer base very well at all.  For one thing, they are too small to do any market research.

[mansr]

5 hours ago, james45974 said:

When you play MQA through Tidal for instance is there any kind of tag that shows who "authenticated" the files?

No, there is no such information. The stream format doesn't allow for it.

[#Yoda#]

4 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

I doubt that these small audiophile businesses know their potential customer base very well at all.  For one thing, they are too small to do any market research.

Indeed, some of them are doing market research. My impression from contacts with this business is that they usually know their "real" customer base quite well and do not have any illusions about the "potential" market. Most of them expect a challenging future. 

[vortecjr]

2 hours ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

They were going to do incorporate MQA decoding in their O/S, and possibly in the hardware. This was a big topic. They threw in the towel due to the negative buzz. I followed it carefully. 

No. We didn't "through in the towel" per say...the work is done and it's working fine. We just changed our mines because while we were working on it the landscape changed. The main issues as mentioned above were Roon, A+, Tidal, and HD Tracks. The other main issue was the contacts and fees (yuck). From my perspective they should give it to us for free and just charge the content providers since in affect we would be helping them promote it. I said, "all the negativity" to give a bone to the cause:) You guys may not want it or like it, but a lot of people do and I still gets emails about it. 

[asdf1000]

4 hours ago, Rt66indierock said:

Among other things I went to their forum typed MQA and sorted by most current. Then I looked at what Paul is talking about servo woofers and his book. That servo woofers cause audiophiles angst is just a bonus in my eyes.

 

Why are so many of your posts in riddles... I imagine you are trying to find something specific?

 

Can you be clear and specific please and I can try to help...

[Rt66indierock]

11 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

Why are so many of your posts in riddles... I imagine you are asking to be spoon fed something here?

 

Can you be clear and specific please and I can try to help...

 

Answer my PM

[asdf1000]

1 minute ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Answer my PM

 

Will do, a bit later today.

[Rt66indierock]

39 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

No. We didn't "through in the towel" per say...the work is done and it's working fine. We just changed our mines because while we were working on it the landscape changed. The main issues as mentioned above were Roon, A+, Tidal, and HD Tracks. The other main issue was the contacts and fees (yuck). From my perspective they should give it to us for free and just charge the content providers since in affect we would be helping them promote it. I said, "all the negativity" to give a bone to the cause:) You guys may not want it or like it, but a lot of people do and I still gets emails about it. 

 

MQA Ltd's business model is based on fees on hardware. Its right in the financial statements. They are using the Dolby model.

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, #Yoda# said:

I've spend the whole day today at the Munich HighEnd show, attended a lot of presentations with MQA capable systems, but never noticed any mention of MQA nor any audio demonstration during my presence. I think, that is telling enough.

Did you attempt to attend a live MQA stream in any of the rooms? 

 

It didn’t work in several rooms. 

[#Yoda#]

No, I didn't, because meanwhile I do not consider any special MQA event in my HighEnd show schedule. I attended frequently to  "MQA Live stream" events during the past HighEnd shows and in my perception, they are complete nonsense. They cannot show in any way the fortunes of an audio streaming format. I can  stream real HiRes from Qobuz.com or Highresaudio.com in 24/192 anytime with my home systems smoothly. I've visited the Brinkmann Audio, dCS, EMMLabs, Esoteric and Mark Levinson listening rooms, but before 3.30 pm when "this exclusive performance with Ana an Jaspar, and relay the studio sound in all its glory in real time" happened. Wasted time, IMO.

I would prefer a one to one comparison of a live performance with real instruments or voices and the playback afterwards with audio equipment, like I could experienced formerly at HighEnd show events with e.g. B&M or Avantgarde Acoustic.

[The Computer Audiophile]

6 minutes ago, #Yoda# said:

No, I didn't, because meanwhile I do not consider any special MQA event in my HighEnd show schedule. I attended frequently to  "MQA Live stream" events during the past HighEnd shows and in my perception, they are complete nonsense. They cannot show in any way the fortunes of an audio streaming format. I can  stream real HiRes from Qobuz.com or Highresaudio.com in 24/192 anytime with my home systems smoothly. I've visited the Brinkmann Audio, dCS, EMMLabs, Esoteric and Mark Levinson listening rooms, but before 3.30 pm when "this exclusive performance with Ana an Jaspar, and relay the studio sound in all its glory in real time" happened. Wasted time, IMO. 

Agree. 

 

I visited EMM and dCS today and the stream didn’t work for either of them. 

[Thuaveta]

 

19 minutes ago, #Yoda# said:

I can  stream real HiRes from Qobuz.com or Highresaudio.com in 24/192 anytime with my home systems smoothly.

 

So much this. How stupid do MQA think people are for them to assume people wouldn't understand this ?

 

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

It didn’t work in several rooms. 

 

Just wait until they spin it as "You see ? Even Chris Connaker's finally come around and is publicly admitting that in the real world, bandwidth is a problem".

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, Thuaveta said:

Just wait until they spin it as "You see ? Even Chris Connaker's finally come around and is publicly admitting that in the real world, bandwidth is a problem".

Ha!

 

meanwhile the 24/192 Qobuz streams continued to work just fine. 

[#Yoda#]

6 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Ha!

 

meanwhile the 24/192 Qobuz streams continued to work just fine. 

If it is really 24/192 and not upsampled 😉

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

2 hours ago, vortecjr said:

No. We didn't "through in the towel" per say...the work is done and it's working fine. We just changed our mines because while we were working on it the landscape changed. The main issues as mentioned above were Roon, A+, Tidal, and HD Tracks. The other main issue was the contacts and fees (yuck). From my perspective they should give it to us for free and just charge the content providers since in affect we would be helping them promote it. I said, "all the negativity" to give a bone to the cause:) You guys may not want it or like it, but a lot of people do and I still gets emails about it. 

I never said you did not put in the effort, and that no significant work had been done, but what I am missing here...you threw in the towel, pulled the ripped cord, for what ever reason... I think that is a perfectly accurate description. I am not sure why are trying to soften your own words quoted above.

 

BTW, if you continue to get user requests, it is absolutely your prerogative as the business owner to change your mind and offer MQA. It is also the perogative of consumers to skip your product. But you have to do what is best for your company. 

 

Whether you believe in the "technology" and I used that term loosely, is another question.