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JVS Cheerleads an MQA CD..Sis Boom Bah!


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JVS:

 

"Now that I've heard the MQA-encoded FLAC files courtesy of Nonesuch (owned by "Big Three Major" Warner Music), I can attest that there's every reason in the world to hear this disc in the best-sounding format available to you.

 

Switch to MQA (mastered by Robert C. Ludwig in Portland, ME), and everything opens up. The more realistic vibrancy, color, and body of the instruments themselves, and their markedly increased, natural-sounding resonant interaction with the hall are impossible to miss, even through headphones.

 

 

(and more realistic and convincing with MQA),"

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/first-major-label-mqa-cd-steve-reich-nonsesuch#z5AS5hHCcmXMga26.99

 

________________________________________

 

He makes a very misleading statement above, trying to imply that standard download was mastered one place,

and the "special" MQA versionwas done by Bob Ludwig. I have the 24/96 download, and it comes with a digital booklet, and Ludwig is listed as the only mastering engineer.

 

I will compare.  But in the meantime, go out and buy this  CD, and don't forget your MQA DAC!!! Run along!

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Speaking of Bob Ludwig, here is a "lecture" he gave in Nov. 2017:

 

Link includes downloads of his presentation in Power Point and Apple Key Note:

 

Starting at around slide 37, there is huge MQA sales job, mumbo jumbo

about time domain and blurring.

 

Then two, to show how "MQA works", two articles listed..guess the sources...have fun.

 

http://www.gatewaymastering.com/bob-ludwigs-parsons-audio-expo-2017-lecture/

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1 hour ago, Brinkman Ship said:

JVS:

 

"The Nonesuch Records CD Steve Reich: Pulse / Quartet arrived with its sonic bonus unheralded. With no MQA designation on the album cover or disc, few would have known of its MQA provenance had not posts appeared on Facebook that, when inserted in a player capable of decoding MQA, it can deliver high-resolution MQA.

 

Now that I've heard the MQA-encoded FLAC files courtesy of Nonesuch (owned by "Big Three Major" Warner Music), I can attest that there's every reason in the world to hear this disc in the best-sounding format available to you. The "Masters"/MQA version can also be streamed on Tidal or, I believe, downloaded in some countries other than the US from highresaudio.com.) (The MQA files are 24/48 MQA.FLAC, and unfold to 24/96.) The non-MQA hi-rez version can be downloaded from HDTracks and Acoustic Sounds.

 

When played as 24/96 FLAC without MQA, the sound is extremely clear and direct. While well-suited to conveying the complex, shifting patterns that are central to Reich's music, the music sounds somewhat dry and studio-bound. (I can't resist noting the irony of a recording that was made at Air Studios, Lyndhurst Hall, London, and mixed by John Kilgore in New York, sounding dry and airless.) Switch to MQA (mastered by Robert C. Ludwig in Portland, ME), and everything opens up. The more realistic vibrancy, color, and body of the instruments themselves, and their markedly increased, natural-sounding resonant interaction with the hall are impossible to miss, even through headphones.

 

The opening "Fast" movement—the longest of the three at 6:46— abounds with energy. Melody and rhythm keep morphing as they engage in a constant percussive dance of sorts whose glowing resonances, almost Gamelan-like (and more realistic and convincing with MQA), are filled with surprising rhythmic stops and starts. The middle "Slow" movement sounds particularly compelling with MQA, the luminous, sustained sounds of vibes suspended uncannily in three-dimensional space in a manner that evokes, in a curious sort of way, Debussy's Mélisande, who moved through life with an air of untouchable, suspended mystery."

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/first-major-label-mqa-cd-steve-reich-nonsesuch#z5AS5hHCcmXMga26.99

 

________________________________________

 

He makes a very misleading statement above, trying to imply that standard download was mastered one place,

and the "special" MQA versionwas done by Bob Ludwig. I have the 24/96 download, and it comes with a digital booklet, and Ludwig is listed as the only mastering engineer.

 

I will compare.  But in the meantime, go out and buy this  CD, and don't forget your MQA DAC!!! Run along!

Thanks for the heads up on this!  I wouldn't have known about it without your bringing it to my attention.  Are you SURE you're not working for MQA?

David

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12 minutes ago, mansr said:

I really would like to get my hands on a track or two ripped from an MQA CD.

 

 

According to Stereophile the FIRST MQA CD will not be available until March:

 

On March 17, Japanese label Ottava will release the first MQA recording on compact disc, A. Piazzolla by Strings and Oboe. Recorded by the UNAMAS Piazzolla Septet, whose videos you can view online, the short disc was mastered by the Tokyo-based label's CEO, Mick Sawaguchi. The recording is also available for download.
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/mqa-encoded-cds-yes#qSb2o2FXeTrGDSg0.99

In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake ~ Sayre's Law

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9 minutes ago, NOMBEDES said:

According to Stereophile the FIRST MQA CD will not be available until March:

 

On March 17, Japanese label Ottava will release the first MQA recording on compact disc, A. Piazzolla by Strings and Oboe. Recorded by the UNAMAS Piazzolla Septet, whose videos you can view online, the short disc was mastered by the Tokyo-based label's CEO, Mick Sawaguchi. The recording is also available for download.
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/mqa-encoded-cds-yes#qSb2o2FXeTrGDSg0.99

That was a year ago, March 2017.

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I was going to post this, but the OP beat me to it.  A review like this and the entire MQA controversy underscores the subjectivity involved in this activity/hobby.  My personal take is MQA is producing euphonic colorations.  A secondary question is what is the role of frequencies outside the range of human hearing on our perception of music playback?

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1 hour ago, Spacehound said:

The  MQA version is "about17"/48 not 24/48 so he lied. 

How can a CD, MQA or otherwise, be ANYTHING ELSE than 16/44? 

NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock 

SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono 

Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo

Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono

Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul

system pics

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32 minutes ago, Brinkman Ship said:

Yes, I thought you were referring to the "unfolded" track. 

There's nothing to unfold unless you're using a lower bit depth for the 0-22KHz frequency range. 

 

Shall we call it by what it is please? M-eQ-A !!!  Jezus, what bull...

NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock 

SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono 

Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo

Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono

Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul

system pics

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