JVS Cheerleads an MQA CD..Sis Boom Bah!

[realhifi]

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?

[realhifi]

1 hour ago, Brinkman Ship said:

Nah, you would have seen it while trolling the MQA threads.

Nope. Only reason MQA keeps popping up on my radar is folks keep posting about it. I sure don’t go searching for articles on it. 

[realhifi]

1 minute ago, Brinkman Ship said:

Right. Thanks for the laugh. You sure spend a lot time opening every thread...

To be honest much of it has become entertainment and my post was pretty sincere about directing me to that recording. 

[realhifi]

36 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I just removed the posts. 

What about the posters?

[realhifi]

3 hours ago, Brinkman Ship said:

It is actually a worthwhile listen. The 24/96 download is excellent.

I’ll definately check it out. 

(The Tidal MQA version of course...?)

[realhifi]

12 minutes ago, Brinkman Ship said:

I can safely say we have all had enough of the pseudo moderating done by you and a few other busy bodies. Chris is doing great.

 

Do you have any comments about the MQA CD? Otherwise MYOB. Same goes for your pal.

Pretty thin skin there. It was a totally innocent question and wasn’t directed to you. 

I think an MQA cd doesn’t make sense as they can barely fit a simple 16/44 file on the silly discs anyway. 

[realhifi]

4 hours ago, mcgillroy said:

Stereophile is making MQA–clickbaiting an artform. Give Atkinson a black belt, reputation be dammed, MQA drives eyeballs

I just received this months copies of both Absolute Sound and Stereophile and try as I might I couldn’t see one mention of MQA on either their covers or their contents pages. 

 

[realhifi]

28 minutes ago, mav52 said:

Did you intentionally covered up the right corner.  Front cover bottom right  MQA and an article page 51 by Austin

Nope. Mine has a label spot and as yiu can see, no MQA mention. I was merely covering my name and address.

 

[realhifi]

Just now, Spacehound said:

And ass.

 

Was it not in the contents pages you claimed to look at?

My mistake there!  You know, not all of us are conniving and trying desperately to make a point. Some of us are just honest normal folk. 

[realhifi]

1 minute ago, mansr said:

Still bloody disingenuous of you to post this. You know, as do we all, that there are MQA articles in that issue.

? it’s a mistake. I simply don’t have some big agenda as some of you may think. Good lord the paranoia from this site is really hard to ignore. 

[realhifi]

1 minute ago, mav52 said:

 

 

 Just put a smiley face on it and be done and just call it a missed attempt at some early morning humor. .

It was not an attempt at humor. I made an honest mistake about the contents. It would have been a pretty good joke though....?

[realhifi]

4 minutes ago, Spacehound said:

So your post was garbage then?

How many ways should I apologize for missing the pg 51 article in the contents in Stereophile?  As many as the apologies I’ve gotten from people saying I covered up the cover disengeuously?  

[realhifi]

3 minutes ago, mansr said:

I find it hard to believe that you "missed" it when you've been so busy posting in the thread here discussing that very article. I'll accept, however, that you may have been unaware of the news stand cover with an MQA highlight in the corner you covered.

Soooooo.......you’re calling me a liar?  

[realhifi]

6 minutes ago, Spacehound said:

Well you have posted on that very article,

I have.  I have read it online and just received the print version of the magazine and to be honest was distracted by other articles in it and (stupidly) missed it in the contents section.  Now, I've said it a number of times so I don't think it needs said again that I flat out missed it.

Your contention isn't that I'm blind for missing it (I somewhat could accept that) but that I am a liar.  That's not cool my friend. 

[realhifi]

19 minutes ago, Brinkman Ship said:

Dude, I feel for you...you stepped in a huge pile..and even I must say, these guys were rough, they had their way with you.

 

I can see why you were confused, MQA is part of the fabric of Stereophile now, and you just expect to see a large MQA logo on every cover.

Lol!  If that's a huge pile then I'm pretty sure I can handle it!  I'm not cool with insinuations that I'm a liar though and I can't imagine anyone on this forum would either.  It's called common decency.

[realhifi]

1 minute ago, Spacehound said:

So you've reduced it to 'insinuations' now? That's a start.

 

Perhaps  you will get to "I  myself insinuated  I was a liar" soon rather than throw 'threats' about "anyone else on this forum" around.

No, I think I'll stick with what people wrote.  As far as threats, I hardly see my comment as a threat. 

[realhifi]

1 minute ago, Brinkman Ship said:

Understood, I actually think you posted without thinking. I don't think you were lying.

Happens to the best of us.

[realhifi]

4 hours ago, Spacehound said:

I know that. It's why I pointed it out.

My whole point in that post (in which I erroneously missed THE article on MQA) was that there was a wealth of information to be found in the major audio publications on Hi-Fi, music and the Hi-Fi industry which absolutely dwarfed any MQA mentions. 

[realhifi]

33 minutes ago, mav52 said:

 

Lol!  Yes, he is one of my heroes. 

[realhifi]

4 hours ago, Brinkman Ship said:

We have entered an era where the bigger the charlatan they are, the more they think they are masters of the universe and voices of authority.