lucretius Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 10 hours ago, UkPhil said: Looking into the mQa fan page it’s seems to have been supplied to them directly, nothing in the press as yet which seems strange I call fake news. mQa is dead! Link to comment
Popular Post KeenObserver Posted July 29, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 29, 2021 After the repercussions they suffered after the Sony rootkit fiasco, I would think that Sony would be reluctant to institute a controversial scheme. I was affected (infected?) by the Sony rootkit trojan. Some of the statements given by the bigwigs at Sony made it sound like they thought music consumers were peons that needed to be punished, There was worldwide backlash and Sony sales dropped noticeably. I have not bought Sony products since being infected with the rootkit trojan. In the past I had spent big money on Sony TV's and other equipment. MikeyFresh, lucretius and r0dd3r5 1 2 Boycott Warner Boycott Tidal Boycott Roon Boycott Lenbrook Link to comment
Confused Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 Does anyone know if any new Sony Music / MQA content has actually appeared on Tidal? 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. Link to comment
bambadoo Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 Sony, the company that brought us this? Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 Yet more MQA weirdness. I subscribe to Tidal and Qobuz, Tidal is easier to create playlists I then transfer to Qobuz and they have some tracks I can't get on Qobuz. To consolidate the two streaming services and my local library I use Audirvana, which is where I noticed this behavior. Apparently Tidal is sending a track to my instance of Audirvana in 24/192 FLAC at which point Audirvana does whatever "unfolding" sorcery MQA dictates and outputs it to my dac at 24/96. This makes no sense at all, it certainly isn't saving any bandwidth (one of MQA's supposed benefits), I can play the same track on Qobuz at full 24/192, not use any more bandwidth and listen at a higher resolution. Here's a screenshot of what I'm writing about, for those not familiar with Audirvana the input format is on the bottom left and output is on the bottom right, I did the screenshot with the settings page displayed to demonstrate that I'm not setting anything to cause this behavior-it's all the fault of MQA and Tidal. Thankfully I never succumbed to the MQA madness and spent $$$ on decoding hardware! Edit: Brain fog typo 192 khz, not 196 Link to comment
lucretius Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 T 5 hours ago, OldHardwareTech said: Yet more MQA weirdness. I subscribe to Tidal and Qobuz, Tidal is easier to create playlists I then transfer to Qobuz and they have some tracks I can't get on Qobuz. To consolidate the two streaming services and my local library I use Audirvana, which is where I noticed this behavior. Apparently Tidal is sending a track to my instance of Audirvana in 24/192 FLAC at which point Audirvana does whatever "unfolding" sorcery MQA dictates and outputs it to my dac at 24/96. This makes no sense at all, it certainly isn't saving any bandwidth (one of MQA's supposed benefits), I can play the same track on Qobuz at full 24/192, not use any more bandwidth and listen at a higher resolution. Here's a screenshot of what I'm writing about, for those not familiar with Audirvana the input format is on the bottom left and output is on the bottom right, I did the screenshot with the settings page displayed to demonstrate that I'm not setting anything to cause this behavior-it's all the fault of MQA and Tidal. Thankfully I never succumbed to the MQA madness and spent $$$ on decoding hardware! Edit: Brain fog typo 192 khz, not 196 Tidal would send the MQA192 file to you at 24/48. The MQA core decoder built into Audirvana Studio can only do the first "unfold" of the MQA file and that is to 24/96. OldHardwareTech 1 mQa is dead! Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 2 minutes ago, lucretius said: T Tidal would send the MQA192 file to you at 24/48. The MQA core decoder built into Audirvana Studio can only do the first "unfold" of the MQA file and that is to 24/96. According to Audirvana it's receiving the file at 24/192, I noticed it because it usually shows receiving at 24/48 or 16/44. Regardless of the input format it decodes almost everything to 24/96 but it decodes some things at 24/88, The Styx album The Mission is an example of 24/88. Link to comment
lucretius Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 7 minutes ago, OldHardwareTech said: According to Audirvana it's receiving the file at 24/192, I noticed it because it usually shows receiving at 24/48 or 16/44. Regardless of the input format it decodes almost everything to 24/96 but it decodes some things at 24/88, The Styx album The Mission is an example of 24/88. If it is an MQA file, then Audirvana's report is incorrect. Let Damien know over at the Audirvana Community. OldHardwareTech 1 mQa is dead! Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 3 minutes ago, lucretius said: If it is an MQA file, then Audirvana's report is incorrect. That's definitely a possibility, Audirvana does have some bugs! lol. Here's a screenshot that's typical of what I usually see, Input at 16/44 out at 16/88. Link to comment
Popular Post The Computer Audiophile Posted July 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 30, 2021 Ah mQA, supposed to clear things up with its single deliverable and illuminating lights. I can’t think of a more obfuscated technology. Confused, happybob, UkPhil and 4 others 7 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Popular Post lucretius Posted July 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 30, 2021 1 minute ago, OldHardwareTech said: That's definitely a possibility, Audirvana does have some bugs! lol. Here's a screenshot that's typical of what I usually see, Input at 16/44 out at 16/88. That is an example of MQA-CD, i.e. 16 bit MQA. And although it looks like Audirvana is decoding this to 16/88.2, the original file contains no ultrasonic frequencies. This is an excellent example of fake hi-res. Currawong, MikeyFresh and OldHardwareTech 3 mQa is dead! Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 2 minutes ago, lucretius said: That is an example of MQA-CD, i.e. 16 bit MQA. And although it looks like Audirvana is decoding this to 16/88.2, the original file contains no ultrasonic frequencies. This is an excellent example of fake hi-res. Ok, that makes sense...if anything about MQA actually does. I agree with TCA, certainly nothing more obfuscated comes to mind. lucretius 1 Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 26 minutes ago, lucretius said: That is an example of MQA-CD, i.e. 16 bit MQA. And although it looks like Audirvana is decoding this to 16/88.2, the original file contains no ultrasonic frequencies. This is an excellent example of fake hi-res. Here's confirmation of exactly what you said. Absolutely nothing over 22.1 khz. I particularly like that it says "Bitdepth not HD". lol. lucretius 1 Link to comment
Abtr Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 15 hours ago, OldHardwareTech said: According to Audirvana it's receiving the file at 24/192, I noticed it because it usually shows receiving at 24/48 or 16/44. Regardless of the input format it decodes almost everything to 24/96 but it decodes some things at 24/88, The Styx album The Mission is an example of 24/88. The Styx album The Mission is (currently) not an mqa album on Tidal.. Current audio system Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 3 minutes ago, Abtr said: The Styx album The Mission is (currently) not an mqa album on Tidal.. On mine Tidal is showing 2 albums, one MQA and one not. Link to comment
Abtr Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 1 hour ago, OldHardwareTech said: On mine Tidal is showing 2 albums, one MQA and one not. Yep, sorry, both versions are available also in the Netherlands. OldHardwareTech 1 Current audio system Link to comment
Popular Post OldHardwareTech Posted July 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 30, 2021 Just now, Abtr said: Yep, sorry, both versions are available also in the Netherlands. No problem, my grandfather had a saying, "those who don't make mistakes don't do anything". I've certainly made my share! Teresa, Abtr and John Dyson 1 2 Link to comment
Popular Post Cebolla Posted July 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 30, 2021 On 7/29/2021 at 7:44 PM, Confused said: Does anyone know if any new Sony Music / MQA content has actually appeared on Tidal? As of 30/07/2021 13:30:15, 3931 MQA albums with their copyright notices containing "sony" are on TIDAL, the vast majority, 3885, having been added this month alone - so certainly looks like it's happening. Source: The most complete list of MQA albums so far found on Tidal - The Hitchhikers Guide To Meridian (meridianunplugged.com) Confused and UkPhil 2 We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us. -- Jo Cox Link to comment
Currawong Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 22 hours ago, OldHardwareTech said: According to Audirvana it's receiving the file at 24/192, I noticed it because it usually shows receiving at 24/48 or 16/44. Regardless of the input format it decodes almost everything to 24/96 but it decodes some things at 24/88, The Styx album The Mission is an example of 24/88. The original file, on Qobuz, will be 24/192. What happens on TIDAL is that the file is down-sampled (in effect) to 24/94, then "folded" using the MQA scheme, after some form of usually automated DSP processing (which, to me, sounds like the effects of a 3D plug-in, depending on the music type). However, the file is reported as being 24/192 by TIDAL, even though it is no longer. Depending on the DAC you use, it or Audirvana does the "first unfold" back to 24/96, then, if your DAC can "render" MQA, it up-samples it back to 24/192 using a form of minimum phase filter. OldHardwareTech 1 Link to comment
lucretius Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 On 7/29/2021 at 11:09 PM, OldHardwareTech said: Here's confirmation of exactly what you said. Absolutely nothing over 22.1 khz. I particularly like that it says "Bitdepth not HD". lol. I just checked a local MQA file with Audirvana 3.5 (which is supposed to have the MQA core decoder built in. Audirvana did not recognize the file as MQA -- treated it as an ordinary 24/48 file. I wonder if it is the same for Studio, when it comes to local MQA files (as opposed to streaming)? OldHardwareTech 1 mQa is dead! Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 5 minutes ago, lucretius said: I just checked a local MQA file with Audirvana 3.5 (which is supposed to have the MQA core decoder built in. Audirvana did not recognize the file as MQA -- treated it as an ordinary 24/48 file. I wonder if it is the same for Studio, when it comes to local MQA files (as opposed to streaming)? That's bizarre, I would have thought it would detect it. From what I know (which isn't much) MQA files can be used with players that don't have MQA decoding, they just ignores the MQA stuff, it sounds as if that's what's happening. I don't have any MQA files locally to test it with Studio and I have no interest in buying any but I'll see if I can download a free clip or test file of some sort. I seem to remember 2L posting something about free test files. I'll check and get back to you. Link to comment
Popular Post lucretius Posted July 31, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 31, 2021 12 minutes ago, lucretius said: I just checked a local MQA file with Audirvana 3.5 (which is supposed to have the MQA core decoder built in. Audirvana did not recognize the file as MQA -- treated it as an ordinary 24/48 file. I wonder if it is the same for Studio, when it comes to local MQA files (as opposed to streaming)? I found what the problem is with Audirvana 3.5. I renamed the music file from "01 Take It Easy.flac" to "01 Take It Easy.mqa.flac" (this is the name format used when purchasing MQA downloads). Now, Audirvana recognizes this as MQA. Quirky, Yet my less than $10 Android app recognizes either as MQA. MikeyFresh, OldHardwareTech and rex4539 3 mQa is dead! Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 2 minutes ago, lucretius said: I found what the problem is with Audirvana 3.5. I renamed the music file from "01 Take It Easy.flac" to "01 Take It Easy.mqa.flac" (this is the name format used when purchasing MQA downloads). Now, Audirvana recognizes this as MQA. Quirky, Yet my less than $10 Android app recognizes either as MQA. Thanks, that's good to know. The hacker in me now wants to know what'll happen if you add the ".mqa" to a file that isn't MQA. lol. I'll give it a try tomorrow, getting a bit late for me. Link to comment
lucretius Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 6 minutes ago, OldHardwareTech said: Thanks, that's good to know. The hacker in me now wants to know what'll happen if you add the ".mqa" to a file that isn't MQA. lol. I'll give it a try tomorrow, getting a bit late for me. Let me know how it turns out. Also, if you have a dropbox or something, I can send you an MQA file. OldHardwareTech 1 mQa is dead! Link to comment
OldHardwareTech Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 12 hours ago, lucretius said: Let me know how it turns out. Also, if you have a dropbox or something, I can send you an MQA file. They deleted my post, probably because I put that link in. No biggie, I saw that you got it before it was taken down. In my defense I was a bit groggy at the time and if I'd actually been alert I'd have IM'd it to you. Anyway, I downloaded the MQA file put it in a folder with a flac of Meatloaf's Alive that I had renamed to alive.mqa.flac and played them. Audirvana Studio did recognize the file you sent as MQA, and it didn't recognize the renamed copy of Alive as MQA but played it as straight HD flac. Lastly I renamed easy.mqa.flac to easy.flac and Audirvana Studio displayed and played it as HD but not MQA. So it can't determine a misnamed MQA file is MQA but it can determine a flac file misnamed as MQA isn't actually MQA. Odd, but certainly not the worst behavior it could have had. Here's what Audirvana Studio displayed: lucretius 1 Link to comment
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