MQA is Vaporware

[The Computer Audiophile]

20 minutes ago, Fx Studio said:

 

All the talk of the day, but when I post another version of the demo no one can answer which is better.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eh5gqnkmW8tcoI0u2O_EHl04FhIM1KAi/view?usp=sharing

 

And where are YOUR demos?  

Again, no one can produce any evidence - just talk.

 

All you have is Golden Sounds totally flawed "test".

GS should have gone into an MQA equipped studio and laid down a new track and asked for it to be output in MQA and FLAC then loaded both and compared them - that would have been a proper test. Instead he had no clue and didn't input any data for the ADC which is essential for a full studio MQA, and that's only one of many flaws.

 

To finish off though, I will predict one thing - MQA WILL BE AROUND A LOT LONGER THAN YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO BE....

 

💩 💉 ....⏱.... 🚑 ＝ 💀.… ⚰️   🏆       Bye Bye

Sincerely, The Onion. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

15 hours ago, Fx Studio said:

MQA WILL BE AROUND A LOT LONGER THAN YOU GUYS

We best get our affairs in order because MQA has been given its last rites. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

14 minutes ago, loop7 said:

I'm curious about one year and five years from now. 

 

Will reviewers still play stored MQA files even though those tracks me be unavailable to most listeners?

Those who talked about it as the greatest thing ever, will create a market for old mQa products and pirated recordings and endlessly talk about how great it was during the salad days of mQa. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

11 minutes ago, Fx Studio said:

 

The recently made ones level 3 (not-batch processed) can be played as FLAC on any device - but additionally can be unfolded for the full MQA sound using a player (with a MQA DAC) running an application like Uapp with the MQA extension. Then the sound is quite different with deeper bass and time smearing correction of the vocals.

Stop just making stuff up. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, Fx Studio said:

 

John Williams – The Baroque Album (1988) - As I have made quite clear before MQA works badly on those old tracks made up to a Level 1 or 2 those are just rubbish and shouldn't be listen to. At best the software that's used to create them is only taking a guess at the ADC's that were originally used. Only a post 2020 MQA Studio Master Track is worth listening to.

Keep digging that hole. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

11 minutes ago, Fx Studio said:

I said the same thing for 2 years - and its in the first thing I said here!

 

But really it should be obvious that the software can't apply correction when the data it requires is unknown.

You've been digging for two years? Don't you get tired of being the only person in the world on this high horse?

[The Computer Audiophile]

27 minutes ago, Shadorne said:

I remember Computer Audiophile was one of the very first to question the dogma of MQA. Rocky Mountain Audiofest, if I recall. I watched the video with MQA executive crew sitting at the back shooting from the peanut gallery. Certainly CA was one of very few in the audio rag/social media fan club to ask critical questions - everyone else who depended on advertising revenues seemed to be cheering MQA on, as they do for most everything.

 

To this day I have deep respect for @The Computer Audiophile! All those years ago , it took Cojones and you Sir deserve ALL the credit, as you stood to lose the most and yet there you were playing hardball and asking tough questions!!!

I had help from many people in this community, to provide me pros and cons of the technology and help me understand it much better than I could in my own. I owe them a huge thanks. 
 

I really wanted to love MQA. If it delivered on its promise, we all would’ve been so thrilled. 
 

The most surprising thing for me after I went through the RMAF experience, was how many manufacturers and engineers contacted me to say thanks. They had to walk the party line in public because their jobs depended on it.
 

In a way, my job depended on me being honest and saying what I thought to be right. Only dead fish swim with the current. I can’t follow the herd, especially if that herd is going over a cliff.
 

I will always have open comment sections and let anyone call me out for anything. I not only couldn’t sleep if I followed the mQa herd, but I would’ve never heard the end of it from this wonderful community. 
 

In the big picture, I was just the talking head at RMAF and online, repeating what you all educated me about here. For that I thank YOU!

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Fx Studio said:

 

 

So what I said before is exactly correct to what was on there website in 2016, but inaccessible from 2017.

 

 

 

Read it on the internet. It must be true. 
 

- Abe Lincoln 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi @Fx Studio, when was this plugin created?

[The Computer Audiophile]

5 minutes ago, Fx Studio said:

For example it may be possible to cherry pick the time smearing correction

That doesn’t exist. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, Fx Studio said:

 

Let me do some more digging - see if I can find a copy of that plugin software......  and I'll get back to you in time.

As far as I know, the plug-in stopped working long ago because it was never updated. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, Fx Studio said:

 

It was updated cira 2020/ 21 as confirmed by MQA - and independently the improvement can be heard in EDM music created directly from the DAW after 20/21.

Do you believe anything the mQa company says, after it’s track record thus far?

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, James lee said:

Sarcasm?

No, I know who created it. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

5 hours ago, bambadoo said:

those most dependent on pimping new tech, the audiophile press

Not sure which audiophile press you pay attention to, but I’d say most are pimping the oldest available tech, talking about dragging a needle through dead dinosaurs spinning around in a circle. They avoid most new tech like the plague. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

This was my guess after reading the mQa documents a couple months ago, but I couldn’t figure out why. I still can’t figure out why, but that’s ok. 
 

 

 

 

PICKERING, ONTARIO, CANADA, SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 – Lenbrook Corp., a diversified, privately-owned Canadian enterprise with activities in brand development, technology, and distribution in both residential and commercial audio and the communication sectors, has acquired the assets of MQA, a UK-based industry leader in high-resolution audio encoding.

This acquisition enriches Lenbrook's intellectual property portfolio with an assortment of significant patents and introduces two prominent audio codecs – MQA and SCL6. This merger further solidifies Lenbrook's commitment to excellence and innovation in the evolving landscape of audio technology.

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Fx Studio said:

the artist-first origins of MQA

😳

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

There must be more to the acquisition than meets the eye. Without a source of content, who would license MQA? Even if they loved it, if people can’t get the content, they don’t need a DAC that supports it. 
 

SCL6 seems cool, but the uphill battle is getting mobile phone operating systems and manufacturers to support it. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Fx Studio said:

Obviously, congratulating yourselves on burying MQA might have been a little premature

Where do you see people getting MQA encoded content, now that Tidal is getting rid of it?

[The Computer Audiophile]

59 minutes ago, RichardSF said:

I don't see any future for SCL6. Even a powerhouse like Qualcomm didn't get far with adoption of more advanced versions of their aptX codec. Meanwhile, Bluetooth standards are evolving and products will be moving in the direction of Bluetooth LE Audio and the LC3 codec.

I don't see Apple licensing it either

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, rn701 said:

I've seen some uninformed speculation that Lenbrook might start an MQA streaming service. That would be perfect. It would quarantine MQA to the few hundred people who like it and keep it away from the general population. 

I believe Lenbrook has the MQA only version of Radio Paradise.

[The Computer Audiophile]

If I had to guess why Lenbrook purchased MQA, I’d say it will develop its own ecosystem for wireless speakers and headphones using SCL6. Headphones is an uphill battle because phones won’t support it. Home theater is an easy one because its processors and speakers can contain transmitter and receiver for SCL6. If they use the upper bandwidth limit of the tech, it could be cool. 
 

DTS Play-Fi just announced something similar. 

https://restechtoday.com/dts-play-fi-adds-12-channel-wireless-home-theater-audio-expansion/

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, loop7 said:

I would be surprised if Spotify finally licensed MQA.

Me too. I know they watched the performance of the MQA executives at RMAF on YouTube.

[The Computer Audiophile]

All this talk about how great MQA is and its altruistic origins is like Hostess selling Twinkies as a health food. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

37 minutes ago, Fx Studio said:

No one here can tell me which sounds better the FLAC or the MQA ?

You sure you phrased that question correctly?

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, GregWormald said:

If the MQA process was so undeniably better than any other transmission/reproduction process why didn't the music industry immediately rush in and rescue the company, rather than just buying the corpse? And why did such a solid gold process need rescuing in the first place?

Come on, don’t ruin it for those with an MQA victim complex.