Popular Post The Computer Audiophile Posted October 21, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 21, 2021 Same price for a version that will be unplayable in the way it was designed. Even if people love mQa, it makes no sense to pay for the mQa version because it will go away someday (soon?). Perhaps those are the people who love to re-purchase their libraries for a new format. lucretius and bogi 2 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
jcbenten Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 For a group that controls their music to the extent that Pink Floyd does, I find it appalling that they put an MQA version out. QNAP TS453Pro w/QLMS->Netgear Switch->Netgear RAX43 Router->Ethernet (50 ft)->Netgear switch->SBTouch ->SABAJ A10d->Linn Majik-IL (preamp)->Linn 2250->Linn Keilidh; Control Points: iPeng (iPad Air & iPhone); Also: Rega P3-24 w/ DV 10x5; OPPO 103; PC Playback: Foobar2000 & JRiver; Portable: iPhone 12 ProMax & Radio Paradise or NAS streaming; Sony NWZ ZX2 w/ PHA-3; SMSL IQ, Fiio Q5, iFi Nano iDSD BL; Garage: Edifier S1000DB Active Speakers Link to comment
Popular Post The Computer Audiophile Posted October 21, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 21, 2021 1 minute ago, jcbenten said: For a group that controls their music to the extent that Pink Floyd does, I find it appalling that they put an MQA version out. If I had to guess, I'd say the band has no clue and the label was under contract with mQa to put out its entire catalog in mQa. John Dyson, lucretius and dmackta 2 1 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
jcbenten Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 18 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said: If I had to guess, I'd say the band has no clue and the label was under contract with mQa to put out its entire catalog in mQa. The hi-rez is published under Pink Floyd Records. As much as they both pontificate on the audio quality and the work they do to re-master, I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Gilmour or Mr. Waters do not have total control of the distribution.... But I have been wrong previously and will almost certainly be wrong at some point in the future. And in the end I really do not know much about distribution... QNAP TS453Pro w/QLMS->Netgear Switch->Netgear RAX43 Router->Ethernet (50 ft)->Netgear switch->SBTouch ->SABAJ A10d->Linn Majik-IL (preamp)->Linn 2250->Linn Keilidh; Control Points: iPeng (iPad Air & iPhone); Also: Rega P3-24 w/ DV 10x5; OPPO 103; PC Playback: Foobar2000 & JRiver; Portable: iPhone 12 ProMax & Radio Paradise or NAS streaming; Sony NWZ ZX2 w/ PHA-3; SMSL IQ, Fiio Q5, iFi Nano iDSD BL; Garage: Edifier S1000DB Active Speakers Link to comment
ralphfcooke Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Does this mean that we now ostensibly have two copies that come from the same master? If so can we now make technical comparisons and see what differences there actually are? Link to comment
firedog Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 2 hours ago, ralphfcooke said: Does this mean that we now ostensibly have two copies that come from the same master? If so can we now make technical comparisons and see what differences there actually are? Ostensibly. But that's one of the issues with MQA - it's so "authenticated" that you can't know what master it came from. No guarantee it's the same one. Main listening (small home office): Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments. Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three . Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup. Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. All absolute statements about audio are false Link to comment
Rexp Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 4 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said: If I had to guess, I'd say the band has no clue and the label was under contract with mQa to put out its entire catalog in mQa. This topic was one of my 'ignored topics', I can see it again now, have you removed this option? Link to comment
Popular Post The Computer Audiophile Posted October 22, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 22, 2021 6 minutes ago, Rexp said: This topic was one of my 'ignored topics', I can see it again now, have you removed this option? Temporarily while I debug another issue. AnotherSpin and Rexp 2 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Popular Post lucretius Posted October 22, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 22, 2021 15 hours ago, Archimago said: Maybe then they'll make a few bucks on mQa from those who still drink the Kool-Aid... And that's assuming mQa is at least the 24/48 data, not worse-than-CD quality 16/44.1 "MQA-CD" of course. The mQa version should be priced less than the MP3 version, which I assume is also "perceptually lossless" but doesn't require mQa licensed software or hardware for playback. That mQa tax hidden in the software and hardware should, at the very least, contribute towards reduced prices for mQa music. maxijazz and MikeyFresh 2 mQa is dead! Link to comment
lucretius Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 In a logical world, brand loyalty has a lot to do with how well a company delivers on it's basic, promises. Since mQa ltd. fails to deliver, I must conclude that mQA fans are irrational. Rabid fanboyism appears to be their defense mechanism. I am left to wonder how far this irrationality has spilled over into other areas. mQa is dead! Link to comment
Popular Post FredericV Posted October 22, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 22, 2021 What a big mess these double standards, and not even from the same master - but both MQA? He shows a video where his MQA DAC is jumping in between samplerates within the same album ... probably this is what the artist intended, as the blue MQA dot is active 🤣 I wonder if the FLAC version also has different sample rates between the tracks from The Wall, which used to be one my favorite albums in the 90's. I even went to the Pink Floyd concert in Belgium, which had surround effects! They were years ahead. Used to be a big fan at the time. Yes indeed: https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/archives/pink-floyd-quad-concert-desks-to-be-auctioned UkPhil and bogi 1 1 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. Link to comment
UkPhil Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 2 hours ago, FredericV said: What a big mess these double standards, and not even from the same master - but both MQA? He shows a video where his MQA DAC is jumping in between samplerates within the same album ... probably this is what the artist intended, as the blue MQA dot is active 🤣 I wonder if the FLAC version also has different sample rates between the tracks from The Wall, which used to be one my favorite albums in the 90's. I even went to the Pink Floyd concert in Belgium, which had surround effects! They were years ahead. Used to be a big fan at the time. Yes indeed: https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/archives/pink-floyd-quad-concert-desks-to-be-auctioned I believe the European release by Warners has effected both MQA and FLAC PCM the error is clearly noticeable on Qobuz and Amazon in the UK too, what a mess and a bit of embarrassment for such a high profile bands hi res releases. Dark Side Of The Moon allegedly has mixed sample rates too giving rise to bad segues when the DAC switches between them Link to comment
MikeyFresh Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 1 hour ago, UkPhil said: I believe the European release by Warners This is a Warner release in Europe? I thought this was EMI/Harvest/Capitol worldwide ever since the rights that Sony/Columbia once held in various regions expired in 2000. The 1997 Sony remastering was then used by EMI until 2011, when the current reissue was remastered. 1 hour ago, UkPhil said: both MQA and FLAC PCM the error is clearly noticeable on Qobuz and Amazon in the UK too, what a mess and a bit of embarrassment for such a high profile bands hi res releases. I'm not seeing any of that on the Qobuz release in the U.S. That one plays absolutely perfectly at 24/96 with no hiccups or glitches. Additionally, these all show as Pink Floyd Records releases in the U.S. My only real question there was why is The Wall at 24/96, when it seems the rest of the catalog was done at 24/192, and I'm not hearing that those are clearly just upsampled. Even if they were upsampled, the question would then be why they didn't also offer The Wall at an upsampled 24/192 as well. Lastly, I see on the U.S. HDtracks download store as well as the U.S. Qobuz download store that The Wall is available only in 24/96 for hi-res download. Boycott HDtracks Boycott Lenbrook Boycott Warner Music Group Link to comment
MikeyFresh Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 One clarification, in the U.S. The Dark Side Of The Moon is also only available as 24/96, not a commentary on quality, just that it too like The Wall seemingly wasn't done in 24/192 as with the rest of the catalog. Boycott HDtracks Boycott Lenbrook Boycott Warner Music Group Link to comment
bogi Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Maybe the mission of mQa Corp. is to diminish sound quality, otherwise next releases of old recordings could not be better. They need something - either propaganda or sound quality improvement - that people buy the same content again. i7 11850H + RTX A2000 Win11 HQPlayer ► Topping HS02 ► 2x iFi iSilencer ► SMSL D300 ► DIY headamp DHA1 ► HiFiMan HE-500 Link to comment
UkPhil Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 7 hours ago, MikeyFresh said: This is a Warner release in Europe? I thought this was EMI/Harvest/Capitol worldwide ever since the rights that Sony/Columbia once held in various regions expired in 2000. The 1997 Sony remastering was then used by EMI until 2011, when the current reissue was remastered. I'm not seeing any of that on the Qobuz release in the U.S. That one plays absolutely perfectly at 24/96 with no hiccups or glitches. Additionally, these all show as Pink Floyd Records releases in the U.S. My only real question there was why is The Wall at 24/96, when it seems the rest of the catalog was done at 24/192, and I'm not hearing that those are clearly just upsampled. Even if they were upsampled, the question would then be why they didn't also offer The Wall at an upsampled 24/192 as well. Lastly, I see on the U.S. HDtracks download store as well as the U.S. Qobuz download store that The Wall is available only in 24/96 for hi-res download. I believe Sony are distributing for other countries and I have been made aware that those versions are ok it seems it’s a Warner issue in Europe but Tidal seems to have got a clean version for all territories though which is the puzzling part MikeyFresh 1 Link to comment
Popular Post Confused Posted October 25, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 25, 2021 fas42 and cookieman 2 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
Popular Post FredericV Posted October 29, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 29, 2021 As the numbers do matter, this needs a fact check: It's obvious that the MQA opinion makers do not actually study MQA in great detail, as they would already have discovered it cannot fully encode certain instruments due to it's internal 96 kHz decimation (which limits it to 48 kHz in the analog domain), just by merely studying ALL of MQA's own research: To recap, from MQA's own spectrum plots not copied in marketing, it clearly shows there's content outside of the encoding triangle, content above 48 kHz. MQA cannot encode what is outside of the blue rectangle: Usual marketing copy pic, showing signals which are closer to MQA's internal limitations: It cannot fully encode cymbals, harpsichords and music boxes like these: Therefore claims such as "the number don't matter at all" and the usual picture of the encoding triangle, are misleading. MikeyFresh, Nikhil, troubleahead and 2 others 4 1 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. Link to comment
FredericV Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 When you work for _ _ _ these are probably the perks of the job ;) Looking at how much time he is spending defending MQA in virtually every corner of the internet, his employer must allow very long breaks ;) 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. Link to comment
Popular Post Archimago Posted November 2, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted November 2, 2021 2 hours ago, FredericV said: When you work for _ _ _ these are probably the perks of the job ;) Looking at how much time he is spending defending MQA in virtually every corner of the internet, his employer must allow very long breaks ;) Yeah, for sure, just reading how Veth responds in threads like this from earlier this year: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/comparison-of-pcm-and-mqa/149787/269 indicates this guy must be a company salesman. I mean, seriously, the way he talks about mQa and pulls out links to company papers, and speaks as if he's authoritatively in-the-know about the "3 folds and unfolds" I find hard to imagine to be comments coming out of the mouth of an independent audiophile! Of course, he might just be highly delusional, but even delusional people are more believable ;-). I'm thinking being an mQa salesman must be a rather lonely, meaningless, soul-destroying job these days. At least one can listen to music and watch videos "on the job", which is nice... MikeyFresh, bogi and UkPhil 1 2 Archimago's Musings: A "more objective" take for the Rational Audiophile. Beyond mere fidelity, into immersion and realism. R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press. Link to comment
Currawong Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 On 10/23/2021 at 7:59 AM, MikeyFresh said: My only real question there was why is The Wall at 24/96, when it seems the rest of the catalog was done at 24/192, and I'm not hearing that those are clearly just upsampled. Even if they were upsampled, the question would then be why they didn't also offer The Wall at an upsampled 24/192 as well. It's somewhat of a moot point, as anything off tapes isn't going to have any meaningful high-res content, and regardless, many, if not most ADCs output a lot of noise above 48 khz, ie: the 96 kHz file limit. On 11/3/2021 at 7:55 AM, Archimago said: Yeah, for sure, just reading how Veth responds in threads like this from earlier this year: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/comparison-of-pcm-and-mqa/149787/269 indicates this guy must be a company salesman. I mean, seriously, the way he talks about mQa and pulls out links to company papers, and speaks as if he's authoritatively in-the-know about the "3 folds and unfolds" I find hard to imagine to be comments coming out of the mouth of an independent audiophile! Of course, he might just be highly delusional, but even delusional people are more believable ;-). I'm thinking being an mQa salesman must be a rather lonely, meaningless, soul-destroying job these days. At least one can listen to music and watch videos "on the job", which is nice... A quick search of LinkedIn shows that he is indeed, a sales manager. Link to comment
mfsoa Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 TAS has no problem getting 24/384 MQA. What's wrong with you guys?! 😉 MikeyFresh 1 Link to comment
Stereo Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Mqa hits the road. Hope it (MQA) gets in an accident and dies (run over /crushed by Qobuz!!) https://mashable.com/article/tesla-tidal Link to comment
Popular Post The Computer Audiophile Posted November 5, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted November 5, 2021 Nice to see the new 2L email blast talks about every format except mQa. yahooboy, MikeyFresh and Archimago 1 2 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Popular Post MikeyFresh Posted November 5, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted November 5, 2021 A recent "Spotify vs. TIDAL" article appearing in Android Authority stated this: "Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) promises high-resolution (96kHz/24bit) audio delivered via FLAC or WAV file. Any media labeled as MQA under Tidal means that the artist directly authenticated it." True or false? UkPhil and DuckToller 2 Boycott HDtracks Boycott Lenbrook Boycott Warner Music Group Link to comment
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