MQA is Vaporware

[John Dyson]

1 hour ago, KeenObserver said:

A less than amusing thought occurred to me.  We are on a site where the participants are seeking to improve playback to the most infinitely tiny detail.

And we have studios that want us to buy crippled music.

I will continue to support and buy music from music houses that strive to put out the best quality music reproduction possible.

We *have* been purchasing crippled music ever since CDs came out...  That was the motivation for the vinyl 'crazies' not being so crazy -- the mastering done on the digital material was defective relative to vinyl... How often?  Apparently most ot the time on pop music.

MQA is basically another layer of being screwed -- imagine this (really!!!)  undecoded DolbyA being EQed, then hyper compressed, then MQA encoded...

 

John

 

[KeenObserver]

I have many,many cd's. Some of them are absolutely terrible.  I also have others that are outstanding.  When cd's came out there were people throwing anything they could find on CD and pushed them out the door.  There were other people that understood the medium and knew how to make quality recordings.

I believe that if cd is pushed to the limits of its capabilities, it can produce outstanding results.

 

By the way, I briefly listened to your recordings on this computer, which uses its onboard sound.  Caveats apply.  The RIAA filtered recordings did sound a little less harsh.  When I have time I will listen more intently.  Thanks.

[John Dyson]

1 hour ago, KeenObserver said:

I have many,many cd's. Some of them are absolutely terrible.  I also have others that are outstanding.  When cd's came out there were people throwing anything they could find on CD and pushed them out the door.  There were other people that understood the medium and knew how to make quality recordings.

I believe that if cd is pushed to the limits of its capabilities, it can produce outstanding results.

 

By the way, I briefly listened to your recordings on this computer, which uses its onboard sound.  Caveats apply.  The RIAA filtered recordings did sound a little less harsh.  When I have time I will listen more intently.  Thanks.

I 100% admit that some CDs were produced correctly.  It was/is a mishmash -- even premium stuff messed up.  'I've got the music in me' from Sheffield Labs esp egregious.  However, my data could be biased because I mostly listen to pop.   Listen to my *decoded' copies of the HDtracks download of Carpenter's singles -- the DolbyA encoding is continuing to happen!!! For the highest quality,, the Olivia Newton John recordings from the 48 singles from EMI also had to be decoded.   (BTW, I might have to 'disappear' the demos soon because of a bunch of music reviews that I am sharing soon.)   Sorry about them being mp3, I removed the flacs for space.  However, undecoded DolbyA is MUCH worse than anything that 256k+ mp3 can do:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/90pdyi084bofje7/AACrdifmkZfKfPUJRprWwYdGa?dl=0

 

 

 

Oddly (I have mentioned this before):  "Shake it Off' by Taylor Swift decodes very cleanly -- can even hear what they use for the background special effects.  In that case, they probably used one of those DolbyA encoding emulators for enhancment (not the same as for noise reduction.)

 

John

 

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

5 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I have to give kudos to HRA for the honesty and information provided to customers. Very well done. 

I also see that PSM has added an additional layer of "information" on their MQA titles..on the pull down menu, if you select MQA,

it says 24/48 or 24/44.1-"SOURCE"...24/96 etc. 

[Rt66indierock]

On 11/20/2019 at 5:12 PM, crenca said:

 

Ah, now this makes sense.  Roon was/is/will not able to convince the 99% (Amazon, Spotify, Apple, Pandora, etc.) to give them the time of day, so Danny/COO has decided his future lies in convincing the 1% (i.e. "audiophiles") that Tidal and Qobuz (he inexplicably argues that Qobuz is on board with MQA) and thus MQA are crucial to their musical enjoyment.

 

I would call this desperation, but it's just another day in Audiophiledom.

 

Danny seems to fail to grasp what I wrote in my preliminary post about MQA. If it was any good Apple would have crushed Bob Stuart like a bug. The model is Consumer Apple Artist. Everybody else  between the artist and consumer should be looking over their shoulder.

[Rt66indierock]

6 hours ago, KeenObserver said:

The questions I have are:

 Is MQA Ltd a going concern?  Have they received further finance?

 

Is the MQA cabal capable of imposing MQA on the music industry?

 

I know there are people vehemently opposed to MQA.  They know what MQA is and what it is doing. But I believe there is a large mass of people out there who are blithely unaware of what MQA really is or believe the MQA BS.  They would blindly go forth paying out of their pocket to have MQA screw them.

I honestly fear for the future of quality music.  It is in the interest of the majors to put out a crippled recording.  This allows them to hold out the carrot in front of the music consumer that there is always a better version.

It seems the vast majority of music consumers are satisfied with MP3 quality music, and thus would be satisfied with MQA.

 

It is amazing how few people know or care about any resolution above CD quality. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

It is amazing how few people know or care about any resolution above CD quality. 

If MQA is forced upon them, they won't even care. That's scarier to me than anything. 

[Rt66indierock]

19 hours ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

What ever happened to 7digital shutting down? I just checked and they still have current releases in hires, also still no MQA.

 

Still limping along the stock can't fall much further, closing in in a 52 week low.

[Rt66indierock]

18 hours ago, Daccord said:

 

Unfortunately, almost all the new releases on Prostudiomasters are available as MQA downloads. And in some cases, the MQA version is significantly more expensive than the 96/24 FLAC

 

If anyone actually visited the site it would be a problem.  But they don't.

[Rt66indierock]

8 hours ago, ds58 said:

 

I want nothing

I want nothing

I want no quid pro quo!

 

(The Ramones version in MQA is glorious... like a veil has been lifted)

 

Using the term "veil has been lifted" puts you on the wrong side of the bell curve. With some good company in the audio press.

[Rt66indierock]

10 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

If MQA is forced upon them, they won't even care. That's scarier to me than anything. 

 

The people have spoken and $10.00 a month it is. Easily serviced by existing offerings Mp3 and AAC. We have heard nothing about Amazon HD subscriber numbers so I wonder about hi-res as a market.

 

[crenca]

On 11/21/2019 at 5:11 PM, Cebolla said:

 

If Roon's TIDAL "HiFi" audio quality setting is anything like that of all other third party TIDAL supporting software (eg BubbleUPnP, Logitech Media Server, etc), the actual (MQA containing) FLAC file track being received from TIDAL's online server is always at 16bit/44.1kHz - as indicated by the Source on the Signal Path popup. The 24 bit value mentioned under the album art was probably catalogued from the "MQA Masters" setting and displayed by mistake.

 

@Cebolla, it's the opposite I believe.  The "Source" is indicating meta data/catalogue data/database data, and the "Signal Path" is Roon's actual software analysis displaying what the encoding of the file really is.  It is in the "Signal Path" that consumers discovered 2L was sending "MQA CD" files to Qobuz.  

[Cebolla]

1 hour ago, crenca said:

 

@Cebolla, it's the opposite I believe.  The "Source" is indicating meta data/catalogue data/database data, and the "Signal Path" is Roon's actual software analysis displaying what the encoding of the file really is.  It is in the "Signal Path" that consumers discovered 2L was sending "MQA CD" files to Qobuz.  

 

It was the "Source" line in the Roon Signal Path pics posted in the "Qobuz streaming MQA CD's?" thread that indicated they were taken from suspected MQA CD FLAC file tracks, ie, displaying "FLAC 44.1kHz 16 bit 2ch, MQA". For example:

 

 

In other words, exactly the same as the pic you've posted - so similarly it too looks like an MQA CD track!

[Currawong]

Posted as much on Roon's forums, but this whole provenance thing -- well, how hard would it be for labels to checksum files and set up a server with an API? Of course, that would assume that their real interest was actually serving their end-customers.... 

[mansr]

1 hour ago, Currawong said:

Posted as much on Roon's forums, but this whole provenance thing -- well, how hard would it be for labels to checksum files and set up a server with an API? Of course, that would assume that their real interest was actually serving their end-customers.... 

The FLAC format already has an extensible metadata format. It would be trivial to put an RSA signature of the audio data there and publish the public key on the label's website.

[KeenObserver]

MQA's resolutions have posted.

 

From my reading of it ( and I am not an expert on UK law) MQA Ltd is issuing new stock and the original preemptions  don't apply.  In other words, stock can be issued without regard for a parties right of first refusal?  If someone with knowledge of UK company law could enlighten us on this matter, it would be appreciated.

 

My fear is that MQA Ltd, and the studios that are vested in it, are going to try and use their influence to ram MQA down the throat of the music industry.

[Rt66indierock]

2 hours ago, KeenObserver said:

MQA's resolutions have posted.

 

From my reading of it ( and I am not an expert on UK law) MQA Ltd is issuing new stock and the original preemptions  don't apply.  In other words, stock can be issued without regard for a parties right of first refusal?  If someone with knowledge of UK company law could enlighten us on this matter, it would be appreciated.

 

My fear is that MQA Ltd, and the studios that are vested in it, are going to try and use their influence to ram MQA down the throat of the music industry.

 

I looked at the resolutions and put them in the category of playing around with capital and having fun with warrants. MQA Ltd's influence? Wouldn't people actually have to visit the website?

 

As for trying to ram MQA down the throat of the music industry, they have been trying with little success.  Can you imagine anyone from MQA Ltd trucking up to Sand Point Idaho an talking with Forssell Technologies? I can't because they have nothing to offer a company that makes my favorite professional ADC, DAC  and ADC/DAC.  

[KeenObserver]

What I am looking at is the fact that without an injection of money they will not be able to continue.  They indicated that they are a "going concern" because they expected to secure further funding by the end of November.  Have they in fact secured further funding?

If so, then MQA still poses a threat to the music consumer.

 

When MQA is truly dead and buried we can breathe a sigh of relief.

[KeenObserver]

My (probably inadequate) understanding of pre-emptive rights is that its purpose is to protect the share holders from having their stake diluted.  They have first option.  If they are eliminating that and issuing new securities it makes me think that someone is being squeezed and someone is increasing their stake.

[KeenObserver]

Looking at their performance since inception,  It strikes me that no financial institution would "lend" MQA further funding. It strikes me that MQA would have to issue securities to bolster their funding.

I may not understand this correctly, but that is how it strikes me.

[Rt66indierock]

1 hour ago, KeenObserver said:

What I am looking at is the fact that without an injection of money they will not be able to continue.  They indicated that they are a "going concern" because they expected to secure further funding by the end of November.  Have they in fact secured further funding?

If so, then MQA still poses a threat to the music consumer.

 

When MQA is truly dead and buried we can breathe a sigh of relief.

 

Probably they have secured more funding but it doesn't change the fact they have a revenue problem.

[Rt66indierock]

1 hour ago, KeenObserver said:

My (probably inadequate) understanding of pre-emptive rights is that its purpose is to protect the share holders from having their stake diluted.  They have first option.  If they are eliminating that and issuing new securities it makes me think that someone is being squeezed and someone is increasing their stake.

 

I'm looking at the shareholder list now, I don't see any I'd mind being squeezed.

[Rt66indierock]

1 hour ago, KeenObserver said:

Looking at their performance since inception,  It strikes me that no financial institution would "lend" MQA further funding. It strikes me that MQA would have to issue securities to bolster their funding.

I may not understand this correctly, but that is how it strikes me.

 

This may all come down to what Reinet Investments thinks of their investment. They are the only ones who put in real money. The labels only contributed services.

[KeenObserver]

Does Reinet see a golden future for MQA?

[Rt66indierock]

15 minutes ago, KeenObserver said:

Does Reinet see a golden future for MQA?

 

They were convinced to invest in the idea of MQA. But at some point a start up stops being a start up and I think we are at that point. My MQA timeline shows a meeting with Craig Kallman of Atlantic Records in late 2011. 

 

Danny Dulia, Roon Labs COO noted MQA vision is not complete a week ago. Think about that after at least eight years there isn't a fully formed vision of MQA.