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MQA is Vaporware


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4 hours ago, Confused said:

Indeed so.  It has the effect of giving the listener a kind of fuzzy relaxed feeling of well being, which in technical terms is known as "blurring".  In addition, the perception of time may become so distorted that an individual may become confused as to what actual domain he currently exists in, as the room seems to fold and unfold around him.  This may all sound a little alarming, and I apologise if it sounds too technical.

 

But this is all you need to know, if you use it to revisit one of your all time favorite rock albums from 1974, it is going to sound genuinely amazing.  So much more detail, clarity, slam, silence and soundstage improvement.

 

Introducing MQA, based on actual research into human neuroscience, Marijuana Quality Authenticated.

 

Marijuana Quality Authenticated guarantees that you hear the music exactly as the artist intended in the studio..  (as long as the artist was Bob Marley, Jerry Garcia, Willie Nelson, Snoop Dog or one or two others)

 

One top industry reviewer listening with MQA stated, "wow, this sounds amazing, and look at that blue light on the dac, its getting larger and moving, or is that just me?"  (then giggles a bit)

 

Don't throw Cannabis under the buss with mQa - I call it Muddled Quality Authenticated.

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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26 minutes ago, botrytis said:

Don't throw Cannabis under the buss with mQa - I call it Muddled Quality Authenticated.

No bus throwing from me, it is the birth of a new world.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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7 hours ago, Confused said:

No bus throwing from me, it is the birth of a new world.

 

Cannabis has been used over 2000 years, medically. mQa - well, I haven't heard a good use for it yet....

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 6/26/2021 at 9:07 AM, Confused said:

Introducing MQA, based on actual research into human neuroscience, Marijuana Quality Authenticated.

 

You may be onto something here, just saw this logo - clearly a joint inside the 'Q'!

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZqhezW-tlr6oB6Yk5FIxg5i7rHyIwlHojbg&usqp=CAU

 

But I'm slightly confused by that:

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRWVDfLJPhd4e5zARhXrfj92_6cW7qor2ZdeE1OtR6cd2GFLvg32CncS4-56tzwuHYYKRU&usqp=CAU

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I've just also seen this:

MQA.png?itok=WVfJhkM1

beside the fact that I can clearly see a gramophone symbol in this logo 9_9, I began to think - is it possible that 'MQA' had not been a registered trademark before the birth of MQA audio clan..

And if so maybe they use the abbreviation unlawfully, which could potentially have some quite serious consequences..;)

 

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11 hours ago, Mayfair said:

Excellent question. Does anyone know whether there is actually a non-MQA version of Nina Simone's Montreux Years?  

 

I understand from the label Metropolis that this album was "MQA encoded" (https://www.thisismetropolis.com/metropolis-masters-new-the-montreux-years-albums-from-iconic-artists/) but when I look it up on Qobuz (https://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/the-montreux-years-nina-simone/rzqyhgadfvukc) or HDtracks (https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/60d1feb7747d7a64003b775a) it shows as downloadable in 24-Bit 44.1 kHz or 16-Bit 44.1 kHz.  

 

An interview with the engineer who mastered it, Tony Cousins, is also featured on MQA's website. (https://www.mqa.co.uk/newsroom/news/montreux-jazz-festival-mqa-releases-on-bmg). 

 

If this album was encoded in MQA, and there are apparently LP(?????) and "CD" (if the term "CD" can be applied to non-Redbook)  versions of it in MQA, is there really an authentic non-MQA version for download in 24-bit/16-bit 44.1 kHz FLAC (i.e., *not* MQA in an FLAC container)?  And if not, I wonder why Qobuz and HDTracks are not identifying it as MQA?  

 

 

Located this image off Amazon UK,  it seems to state that its an MQA CD ? 

Untitled.png

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14 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

I've just also seen this:

MQA.png?itok=WVfJhkM1

beside the fact that I can clearly see a gramophone symbol in this logo 9_9, I began to think - is it possible that 'MQA' had not been a registered trademark before the birth of MQA audio clan..

And if so maybe they use the abbreviation unlawfully, which could potentially have some quite serious consequences..;)

 

Whilst it looks like a gramophone, I suspect it symbolises blue light on a miners hard hat.  Maybe it lights up when he stumbles across purest gold?

 

As for the MQA LP, I am truly flabbergasted.  Maybe in this case it is Marijuana Quality Authenticated, it would make far more sense than actual MQA.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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@Confusedare these more like it? 😁

20210129_142912.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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17 hours ago, Mayfair said:

Excellent question. Does anyone know whether there is actually a non-MQA version of Nina Simone's Montreux Years?  

 

I understand from the label Metropolis that this album was "MQA encoded" (https://www.thisismetropolis.com/metropolis-masters-new-the-montreux-years-albums-from-iconic-artists/) but when I look it up on Qobuz (https://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/the-montreux-years-nina-simone/rzqyhgadfvukc) or HDtracks (https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/60d1feb7747d7a64003b775a) it shows as downloadable in 24-Bit 44.1 kHz or 16-Bit 44.1 kHz.  

 

An interview with the engineer who mastered it, Tony Cousins, is also featured on MQA's website. (https://www.mqa.co.uk/newsroom/news/montreux-jazz-festival-mqa-releases-on-bmg). 

 

If this album was encoded in MQA, and there are apparently LP(?????) and "CD" (if the term "CD" can be applied to non-Redbook)  versions of it in MQA, is there really an authentic non-MQA version for download in 24-bit/16-bit 44.1 kHz FLAC (i.e., *not* MQA in an FLAC container)?  And if not, I wonder why Qobuz and HDTracks are not identifying it as MQA?  

 

I hope one of our tech sluths can figure out of the Qobuz and HDT files are MQA-free. 
 

This is a release I was really looking forward to…

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5 hours ago, JoshM said:

 

I hope one of our tech sluths can figure out of the Qobuz and HDT files are MQA-free. 
 

This is a release I was really looking forward to…

I was looking forward to Nina Simone: The Montreux Years, too.  Because of what I think is its uncertain provenance and uncertain authenticity as a unMQA-ed FLAC download, (who said MQA is irony-proof?), I looked elsewhere and discovered that Qobuz has the July 1976 Montreux concert (plus a couple of bonus highlights from her July 1987 Montreux concert) as a 16-bit 44.1 kHz download released in 2011. 

https://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/live-at-montreux-1976-nina-simone/yfu4dl6vmqw4a

 

So I bought it.  It's not only a great concert, it also sounds great IMHO.

 

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I have to wonder what the current status of MQA is.  It seems in recent times that more and more people are realizing that MQA is a useless scheme to extract monetary gain from the music consumer without providing any benefit to the music consumer.

Does MQA, in conjunction with the studios that have shares in MQA, think that they can still ram this abomination down the throats of the music consumer?

Boycott Warner

Boycott Tidal

Boycott Roon

Boycott Lenbrook

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