MQA is Vaporware

[rickca]

Any strike off notice will be challenged by the company's creditors, so we're a long way from liquidation.

[Rt66indierock]

19 minutes ago, KeenObserver said:

 

Someone's manager posted a cryptic message on one of the sites and rumors started flying.

Has a first strike off notice, in fact, been published?

With all the rumors,  I would like to see hard facts.

It was posted on the Companies House site last week.

[KeenObserver]

6 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

It was posted on the Companies House site last week.

 

I'm having a hard time finding that.  I keep finding a company that was dissolved in 2016.

What name is it listed under on Companies House?

[Rt66indierock]

7 minutes ago, KeenObserver said:

 

I'm having a hard time finding that.  I keep finding a company that was dissolved in 2016.

What name is it listed under on Companies House?

Project Panther Bidco

[mansr]

4 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

Project Panther Bidco

What's the story behind that?

[Rt66indierock]

7 minutes ago, mansr said:

What's the story behind that?

Good question I’ll try and find out when get back from the LAOCAS annual gala.

[Archimago]

This?

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09368999/filing-history/MzI1MDU2NzEyMGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0

 

Happens frequently with this company it seems. Then they publish full accounts and the strike-off is cancelled (in January). Happened in late 2018 as well. Who know whether this will stick.

[KeenObserver]

Seems as though they were in the exact same position last year.

[kumakuma]

28 minutes ago, mansr said:

What's the story behind that?

 

It appears to be an entity created for the purpose of acquiring Tidal (Project Panther Bid Company).

 

Such entities are usually folded into the parent company after the acquisition has been completed but for whatever reason they've kept this company separate.

[KeenObserver]

Are Tidal's problems attributable to their embrace of MQA?  Well, at least partially?

[esldude]

56 minutes ago, KeenObserver said:

Are Tidal's problems attributable to their embrace of MQA?  Well, at least partially?

Just a casual civilian view, I'd say MQA has close to nothing to do with Tidal's problems.  It is more the very simple situation that people won't pay roughly double for lossless files when good lossy files are available for half as much.  Since we initially were talking CD lossless, the addition of supposedly higher resolution MQA has done nothing to help.  If lossless CD has no market value higher resolution has no market value either.  That along with Spotify being already established. 

[KeenObserver]

17 minutes ago, esldude said:

Just a casual civilian view, I'd say MQA has close to nothing to do with Tidal's problems.  It is more the very simple situation that people won't pay roughly double for lossless files when good lossy files are available for half as much.  Since we initially were talking CD lossless, the addition of supposedly higher resolution MQA has done nothing to help.  If lossless CD has no market value higher resolution has no market value either.  That along with Spotify being already established. 

 

Is the audiophile rarer today?  In the past we had AM and FM radio, 45's, and other forms of music.  Some people listened on tiny transistor radios.  And we had people listening to LP albums on exotic setups.  We even had people that listened to rare reel to reel tapes.

I think in the past that studios wanted the best possible reproduction, within the technologies of the day, for their music. Today I think many of the studios do not want you to have the best possible reproduction of their product ( hence, MQA ). I think that some of the smaller music houses, particularly the classical music houses, do want their customers to have the best possible reproduction.

When CD came out it was touted as perfect sound forever.  I'm sure there were people going: " Perfect sound forever! WAIT, WHAT? We can't give them perfect sound forever.  How are we going to sell it to them again in ten years"?

Here we have alluded to the fact that high end sound is a limited market.  Is it shrinking or growing?  Can a profit be made?

What is the future of high end sound?

[KeenObserver]

A thought occurred to me.  The closer we get to producing music perfectly, the more there are people that do want us to have it.

[Kal Rubinson]

1 hour ago, KeenObserver said:

A thought occurred to me.  The closer we get to producing music perfectly, the more there are people that do want us to have it.

Do or don't?

[Ralf11]

The closer we get to producing music perfectly, the more there are people that want to sell us snake oil

[esldude]

Just imagine we have a format known to be fully transparent and blameless under all possible conditions.  Imagine we had the gear to reproduce that with effective perfection for $100.  Imagine we had amplifiers that would do the same for $100.  All that is left is speakers/rooms/headphones as a differential in final sound quality.  Kills much of the industry unless that industry becomes one of the imagination.  There is some room for premium looks, UI etc.  

 

Now I wouldn't say we are at the point described above, but I think we are closer to it than the general idea pushed commercially in high end audio.  Where we are supposed to nervously figure out elaborate ways to connect two wires to something. Or try to lock music into a strange format with ephemeral advantages at best. 

[Archimago]

43 minutes ago, esldude said:

Just imagine we have a format known to be fully transparent and blameless under all possible conditions.  Imagine we had the gear to reproduce that with effective perfection for $100.  Imagine we had amplifiers that would do the same for $100.  All that is left is speakers/rooms/headphones as a differential in final sound quality.  Kills much of the industry unless that industry becomes one of the imagination.  There is some room for premium looks, UI etc.  

 

Now I wouldn't say we are at the point described above, but I think we are closer to it than the general idea pushed commercially in high end audio.  Where we are supposed to nervously figure out elaborate ways to connect two wires to something. Or try to lock music into a strange format with ephemeral advantages at best. 

 

Well said.

 

The idea that such blasphemous thoughts, that maybe inexpensive consumer level devices could be more than "good enough", potentially getting hold of a large percent of the audiophiles out there probably is the stuff of nightmares for some in the industry...

 

Very disturbing ideology indeed.

 

[Ralf11]

2 minutes ago, Archimago said:

 

Well said.

 

The idea that such blasphemous thoughts, that maybe inexpensive consumer level devices could be more than "good enough", potentially getting hold of a large percent of the audiophiles out there probably is the stuff of nightmares for some in the industry...

 

Very disturbing ideology indeed.

 

 

True.  I do have a hard time with the all DACs over $50 sound the same idea tho.

 

OTOH, I've never done a listening test with a $50 DAC...

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

The closer we get to producing music perfectly, the more there are people that want to sell us snake oil

I don’t believe there’s a correlation. 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, esldude said:

Just imagine we have a format known to be fully transparent and blameless under all possible conditions.  Imagine we had the gear to reproduce that with effective perfection for $100.  Imagine we had amplifiers that would do the same for $100.  All that is left is speakers/rooms/headphones as a differential in final sound quality.  Kills much of the industry unless that industry becomes one of the imagination.  There is some room for premium looks, UI etc.  

 

Now I wouldn't say we are at the point described above, but I think we are closer to it than the general idea pushed commercially in high end audio.  Where we are supposed to nervously figure out elaborate ways to connect two wires to something. Or try to lock music into a strange format with ephemeral advantages at best. 

 

1 hour ago, Archimago said:

 

Well said.

 

The idea that such blasphemous thoughts, that maybe inexpensive consumer level devices could be more than "good enough", potentially getting hold of a large percent of the audiophiles out there probably is the stuff of nightmares for some in the industry...

 

Very disturbing ideology indeed.

 

 

I believe you guys are looking through a narrow telescope focused on one aspect of the hobby. As you know, purchasing decisions for HiFi are just like those of all other consumer products. 
 

Look at cars. A Toyota Carolla is all anybody needs and is good enough. “Everybody” knows this, but luxury brands are doing just fine.
 

The top speed on MN highways is 70 mph. Yet, there’s a waiting list for cars that go 200 mph. 

[KeenObserver]

3 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Do or don't?

Don't Actually.

Thank you for pointing out that mistake.

[fas42]

20 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Look at cars. A Toyota Carolla is all anybody needs and is good enough. “Everybody” knows this, but luxury brands are doing just fine.
 

The top speed on MN highways is 70 mph. Yet, there’s a waiting list for cars that go 200 mph. 

 

And of course, there's always,

 

 

 

[crenca]

51 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

I believe you guys are looking through a narrow telescope focused on one aspect of the hobby. As you know, purchasing decisions for HiFi are just like those of all other consumer products. 
 

Look at cars. A Toyota Carolla is all anybody needs and is good enough. “Everybody” knows this, but luxury brands are doing just fine.
 

The top speed on MN highways is 70 mph. Yet, there’s a waiting list for cars that go 200 mph. 

 

 

I think there is a distinction that needs to be made between "High End" and "High Fidelity".  The former is the luxury market (encompassing the consumer & the suppliers) and the latter is what guys like esldude, Archimago, and myself are interested in.  No doubt for a host of reasons there is considerable overlap between these two, so much so that it at times is just about impossible to distinguish them.  Still, it's a crucial distinction.

 

I think Archi and esldude is on to something important:  We appear to be at the point, and probably have been for a while, that most in "the industry" are actually existentially threatened by High Fidelity, because they are so $dependant$ upon High End.  Stereophile, TAS, and many (most?) manufacturers are now really about High End, and (given the state of underlying audio tech) anti High Fidelity.

[The Computer Audiophile]

25 minutes ago, crenca said:

 

 

I think there is a distinction that needs to be made between "High End" and "High Fidelity".  The former is the luxury market (encompassing the consumer & the suppliers) and the latter is what guys like esldude, Archimago, and myself are interested in.  No doubt for a host of reasons there is considerable overlap between these two, so much so that it at times is just about impossible to distinguish them.  Still, it's a crucial distinction.

 

I think Archi and esldude is on to something important:  We appear to be at the point, and probably have been for a while, that most in "the industry" are actually existentially threatened by High Fidelity, because they are so $dependant$ upon High End.  Stereophile, TAS, and many (most?) manufacturers are now really about High End, and (given the state of underlying audio tech) anti High Fidelity.

Certainly could be the case. 

[Daccord]

[STC]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Look at cars. A Toyota Carolla is all anybody needs and is good enough. “Everybody” knows this, but luxury brands are doing just fine.
 

The top speed on MN highways is 70 mph. Yet, there’s a waiting list for cars that go 200 mph. 

But what would you do when a person insists that changing the spark plugs and tyres can make the car do 200mph? Do you point out or you should just allow him to enjoy what he is doing?  Kenny123 made a good point. 

 

I started this hobby like everyone else. Purchased power conditioners, exotic cables and equipments. I did hear the difference. I perceived better soundstage. It was real enough for me until you experience something else. 
 

We all are speaking from our POV. Truth in audio may not be compatible or comfortable when our joy is the hobby of audio reproduction as best as what we think is the right way.