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MQA is Vaporware


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25 minutes ago, kumakuma said:

 

From the man:

 

 

Perhaps driving Lyft is the 21st Century version of working at the Patent Office in Bern.

 

You must tell me your favorite coffee and coffee brewing method. I think I have almost every coffee maker known :D

Current:  Daphile on an AMD A10-9500 with 16 GB RAM

DAC - TEAC UD-501 DAC 

Pre-amp - Rotel RC-1590

Amplification - Benchmark AHB2 amplifier

Speakers - Revel M126Be with 2 REL 7/ti subwoofers

Cables - Tara Labs RSC Reference and Blue Jean Cable Balanced Interconnects

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13 minutes ago, MarkusBarkus said:

...you prefer the Kalita over the Hario dripper? I mean, while listening to non-MQA music in the morning. 😉

 

I haven't tried the Hario V60 yet.

 

My understanding is that good technique is needed to get optimal results while the Kalita is more forgiving.

 

I'm planning to pick up the copper version of the Wave 185 next time I'm in Japan:

 

 

kalita-wave-coffee-dripper-copper-wdc-185-japanese-taste-4_2048x.jpg

Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby
Edgy and dull and cut a six inch valley
Through the middle of my skull

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I have a vacuum pot, auto drip, an original 1930's stove top expresso maker, a press pot, and a few others.

 

My favorite coffee is from San Juan coffee roasters in Washington State - New Guinea “Arona” in our auto drip easy peasy and tasty :D

Current:  Daphile on an AMD A10-9500 with 16 GB RAM

DAC - TEAC UD-501 DAC 

Pre-amp - Rotel RC-1590

Amplification - Benchmark AHB2 amplifier

Speakers - Revel M126Be with 2 REL 7/ti subwoofers

Cables - Tara Labs RSC Reference and Blue Jean Cable Balanced Interconnects

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Just now, MarkusBarkus said:

...more like the beans the civets crap out.

 

Well, the cost is the same..... and the idea behind how it is made is also....

 

Sick Puking GIF by joonasjoonas - Find & Share on GIPHY

Current:  Daphile on an AMD A10-9500 with 16 GB RAM

DAC - TEAC UD-501 DAC 

Pre-amp - Rotel RC-1590

Amplification - Benchmark AHB2 amplifier

Speakers - Revel M126Be with 2 REL 7/ti subwoofers

Cables - Tara Labs RSC Reference and Blue Jean Cable Balanced Interconnects

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On further research, the MQA = decaf analogy seems apt as there is a company that owns the Swiss Water trademark and decaffeination process and charges a "toll" for removing the caffeine from beans:

 

https://www.swisswater.com

 

They even call it a toll:

 

Quote

We also decaffeinate coffee owned by our customers for a processing fee under toll arrangements (our “toll”business). The value of the coffee processed under toll arrangements does not form part of our inventory, our revenue or our cost of sales. Revenue from toll arrangements consists entirely of processing revenue. 

 

https://investor.swisswater.com/drive/uploads/2019/05/SWp-Q1-2019-MDA-clean-FINAL-2019-05-07.pdf

 

Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby
Edgy and dull and cut a six inch valley
Through the middle of my skull

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Funny these coffee analogies. My family had a coffee roasting company which still carries the name:

http://www.koffiesvandenpoel.be/

 

Ground coffee is like what the lossy format does to music: by already grinding (folding) the beans into a more dense powder, the taste is completely different, and the original taste from freshly grinded beans is never coming back. Ground coffee is for sure lossy: grinding coffee beans reduces their surface area, which causes the beans to lose their flavor more rapidly than they would if they were left as whole beans.

Designer of the 432 EVO music server and Linux specialist

Discoverer of the independent open source sox based mqa playback method with optional one cycle postringing.

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On 4/13/2021 at 1:46 PM, GoldenOne said:

That's what I thought too. And it certainly used to be the case. 

 

Unfortunately now though it seems that the 16/44 file is just the MQA file but without the client unfolding it. 

 

Its bitperfect to the 'masters' version and this was the case for any other track I've tried. 

Ive actually stopped my subscription because of this 

 

I pay tidal for lossless. If they no longer offer that for any track marked master, I don't want tidal. 

 

 

Ill double check with some other files that I know were definitely from 48/96khz masters as I can't imagine those would be the same

 

I think we are at cross purposes here. Just to be clear - on a TIDAL HiFi quality connection, ie, not a TIDAL Masters quality connection:

- selecting lossless CD resolution (16bit/44.1kHz) non-MQA tracks for streaming (unfortunately TIDAL are currently actively getting rid of those in favour of lossy MQA-CD ones, so not many left to select), TIDAL's online server provides those unscathed;

 

- selecting lossy MQA-CD (ie, MQA encoded to be distributed with a resolution of 16bit/44.1kHz.) tracks for streaming, TIDAL's online server provides those unscathed;

 

- selecting lossy hi-res MQA (ie, MQA encoded to be distributed with a resolution of either 24bit/44.1kHz or 24bit/48kHz) tracks for streaming, TIDAL's online server provides a corrupted bit depth reduced CD-res version of those tracks.

 

 

So the purpose of the TIDAL HiFi quality connection is not for providing lossless CD resolution non-MQA sourced tracks in place of any lossy MQA tracks that may have been selected, though TIDAL definitely don't make this clear. 

 

As far as I'm aware this has always been the case and is not something that's come about through a recent change as you appear to imply. Certainly I've read posts mentioning evidence of this going back at least 3 years, eg:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-5-0-v3-5-0-1-bubbleupnp-upnp-dlna-chromecast-control-point-and-renderer.1118891/page-649#post-74757085

 

 

Your observation of client software (Roon, presumably) not decoding to the MQA Core signal aka 'first unfold' (assuming any corruption permits this) or even flagging any of the MQA tracks coming through on the TIDAL HiFi quality connection only adds to the confusion.

We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.

-- Jo Cox

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20 hours ago, GoldenOne said:

I've made a long video exploring MQA using files I had published, in MQA, on Tidal.
 

 

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing. I can see MQA imploding in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Adam

 

PC: custom Roon server with Pink Faun Ultra OCXO USB card

Digital: Lampizator Horizon DAC

Amp: Dan D'Agostino Momentum Stereo

Speakers: Magcio M3

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I was on HiFiplus website this morning and now cannot get to their website. Anyone else having issues?

 

I am wondering if MQA had something to do with it...

Current:  Daphile on an AMD A10-9500 with 16 GB RAM

DAC - TEAC UD-501 DAC 

Pre-amp - Rotel RC-1590

Amplification - Benchmark AHB2 amplifier

Speakers - Revel M126Be with 2 REL 7/ti subwoofers

Cables - Tara Labs RSC Reference and Blue Jean Cable Balanced Interconnects

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This is what I get from going to hifiiplus .

Screenshot_20210416-142532_Chrome.jpg

Current:  Daphile on an AMD A10-9500 with 16 GB RAM

DAC - TEAC UD-501 DAC 

Pre-amp - Rotel RC-1590

Amplification - Benchmark AHB2 amplifier

Speakers - Revel M126Be with 2 REL 7/ti subwoofers

Cables - Tara Labs RSC Reference and Blue Jean Cable Balanced Interconnects

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Exactly, that is my point. Their whole website is down.

 

Now I am not a Conspiracy theorist but it seems to me, the discussion on that site about HDTracks not carrying MQA anymore might have hit them hard.

Current:  Daphile on an AMD A10-9500 with 16 GB RAM

DAC - TEAC UD-501 DAC 

Pre-amp - Rotel RC-1590

Amplification - Benchmark AHB2 amplifier

Speakers - Revel M126Be with 2 REL 7/ti subwoofers

Cables - Tara Labs RSC Reference and Blue Jean Cable Balanced Interconnects

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1 minute ago, DuckToller said:

image.png

 

Exactly. I was able to see it this morning and then whammo, it was gone.

Current:  Daphile on an AMD A10-9500 with 16 GB RAM

DAC - TEAC UD-501 DAC 

Pre-amp - Rotel RC-1590

Amplification - Benchmark AHB2 amplifier

Speakers - Revel M126Be with 2 REL 7/ti subwoofers

Cables - Tara Labs RSC Reference and Blue Jean Cable Balanced Interconnects

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