https://www.whathifi.com/news/mqa-is-going-into-administration
I guess Dr. AIX was correct.
I guess Dr. AIX was correct.
MQA goes into reorganization.
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jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Maybe Neil Young will put in an offer
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Is there LIFE AFTER PONO, Jeffie?
Two things Neil Young and I have in common: grungy voices and playing with trains.
Mr. Afternoon
Mixing Engineer & Artist
What a glorious week it's been...
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For a GREAT format which if properly 'finessed' could have rendered the 16/44.1 RBCD OBSOLETE!
Even the RBCD has come a long ways since its inception with improvements in DACS, disc formulations, jitter, etc. but it does take time!
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Klaus Rosenthal
Rock Believer
A good friday, indeed.
Mr. Afternoon
Mixing Engineer & Artist
It could have rendered the RBCD obsolete if Meridian were transparent about what the codec actually is and didn't lock it down behind DRM from the start...
For a GREAT format which if properly 'finessed' could have rendered the 16/44.1 RBCD OBSOLETE!
Even the RBCD has come a long ways since its inception with improvements in DACS, disc formulations, jitter, etc. but it does take time!
I'm not disputing that there are no audible sonic advantages, there probably is, but having grown up with lossless audio, I personally have a strong bias against lossy codecs (and lossy audio masquerading as lossless audio) and companies that aren't 100% transparent with what you're getting.
Well, I'm fine with normal anti-piracy DRM, but like, the extra hoops you have to go through to get the full benefit out of MQA isn't for me.
Also, why should we settle for RBCDs anymore! HELL I'LL TAKE A DUALDISC AT THIS POINT. But give me that sweet lossless 24/48 or 24/96! AND SURROUND SOUND! At least we're seeing an uptick in SACD/Blu-ray/DVD-Audio Releases this year.
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As I said, Jack, in time with a little bit of finessing, MQA might have better served the audiophile community but the question arises, do we REALLY need another audio format which requires an outboard decoder? And I do believe Meridian was working on a method to address the surround issue [after all Meridian was the inventor of MLP DVD 5.1 which to this day I still admire greatly].
The probably 300~400+ MQA discs which were manufactured by UMG and Warner Japan and Hong Kong's EVOSOUND and the extraordinary BMG Montreux LIVE series did produce some wondrous sonics but again they were meticulously crafted and presumably original master tapes were supplied so it was no wonder to my ears they sounded so tactile! As I posted before in other threads XRCD 24/32 RBCDs over the years have likewise been extraordinarily remastered from analogue/digital masters and produce SOTA sonics along with the use in some instances [First Impression Music] of 99.9% pure silver for disc replication so in effect with a lotta love the CD can sound as good as some lossless SACD/DVD~A stereo discs with the 'right' front end playback equipment.
Perhaps one day some enterprising audio geek will get it right and the RBCD which has been with us since the very early 80's will be retired like the cassette, 8 track, Open Reel [3 34 ips killed that format] and even that WAY COOL vinyl revival ....... Only time will tell!
And your question: do we REALLY need RBCD in any form .... tell that to the literally millions of CD player owners still buying them as they have no interest in streaming or upgrading to lossless SACD/DVD~Audio or even BD~A as believe it or NOT millions of people still do not even own a BD player ..... and they're still commercially manufacturing DVD movies by the THOUSANDS!!!!!!!
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The hearing gets harder the older you get.
I can stream 320 mp3s and thats fine.
Next life I will buy only hires absolute editions….til I‘m 10 y old. After that….the sound of my phone will be enough as my child demonstrates every day to me.
I can stream 320 mp3s and thats fine.
Next life I will buy only hires absolute editions….til I‘m 10 y old. After that….the sound of my phone will be enough as my child demonstrates every day to me.
Owen Smith
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Exactly, they should have been open and transparent about what it does. Instead they went for "trust us, it's great but you wouldn't understand why and the methods you are using to test it are invalid". Even if that statement is correct it's derogatory to say that to experienced audio engineers and isn't how you get them to endorse your product.
MQA seemed to me to be a solution to a problem that didn't exist!
there was little appetite for it 5 years ago and in an age where Lossless streaming is de rigeur there's surely next to none!?
barfle
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Although the town I live in is called Meridian, I didn’t bother with spending the money to decode MQA files. As I understand the technology (and it’s far from knowledge about it), they took higher than RBCD files and compressed only the bits that were outside of the spec, so the original RBCD data played normally. If you had the hardware to decode the extra bits, that was extra.
I have Mark Waldrep’s book, and he spent an awful lot of space pretty much condemning MQA, although he used MLP on his DVD-As. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen companies loss their asses over some solution to a non-problem, including a couple I worked for.
I have Mark Waldrep’s book, and he spent an awful lot of space pretty much condemning MQA, although he used MLP on his DVD-As. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen companies loss their asses over some solution to a non-problem, including a couple I worked for.
I think that by the time MQA came out both bandwidth for streaming and storage memory were essentially non issues. Ralphie points out the essential point of the argument which also applies somewhat to the vinyl vs. CD argument. Namely it is the mastering that makes the sound. RBCDs are quite good enough to reveal sloppy mastering techniques. (and so is vinyl)
The very first time I read about MQA it raised my hackles. It was clear to me that they wanted to insert themselves between the music producers and the music consumers and skim part of the revenue stream. You would have to pay for the MQA logo to appear on your playback gear, (also on your recording and mastering gear if you do that stuff) pay again to have your discs, streaming or mastering have the logo , and pay for each instance on the actual music.
And what you get seemed to me from the get go to be a nothing sandwich. Folding up data requires calculation to unfold it which also is very available now.
A quintessential solution way too late for the problem but actually trying to intercept a BIGGA FORTUNA in the big music data (and MONYA) stream.
If they had succeeded in their dreams I am sure that someone would have managed to hack them because there are always folks who regard this sort of thing as a challenge. SACDs (which are just DVDs with some special coding and DSD) and even Blu Rays (which are encrypted) have all been successfully and easily hacked. But the DRM protection was one of the things they dangled in front of the music producers , to try and get them on board.
I do not believe in software "black boxes" being forced down peoples throats. I do not attach anything to my stereo unless I have at least a rudimentary understanding of how it works and what it does. None of that was forthcoming from the MQA folks. Meridien had a good history but changed their direction with this project. I have tried to keep the MQA logo off of my equipment and also my discs.
The very first time I read about MQA it raised my hackles. It was clear to me that they wanted to insert themselves between the music producers and the music consumers and skim part of the revenue stream. You would have to pay for the MQA logo to appear on your playback gear, (also on your recording and mastering gear if you do that stuff) pay again to have your discs, streaming or mastering have the logo , and pay for each instance on the actual music.
And what you get seemed to me from the get go to be a nothing sandwich. Folding up data requires calculation to unfold it which also is very available now.
A quintessential solution way too late for the problem but actually trying to intercept a BIGGA FORTUNA in the big music data (and MONYA) stream.
If they had succeeded in their dreams I am sure that someone would have managed to hack them because there are always folks who regard this sort of thing as a challenge. SACDs (which are just DVDs with some special coding and DSD) and even Blu Rays (which are encrypted) have all been successfully and easily hacked. But the DRM protection was one of the things they dangled in front of the music producers , to try and get them on board.
I do not believe in software "black boxes" being forced down peoples throats. I do not attach anything to my stereo unless I have at least a rudimentary understanding of how it works and what it does. None of that was forthcoming from the MQA folks. Meridien had a good history but changed their direction with this project. I have tried to keep the MQA logo off of my equipment and also my discs.
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barfle
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I have a couple of free downloads that appear to have beem MQA encoded, although they are 96/24 FLACs. They sound fine, of course, but so do a lot of my CDs, and even many of my MP3s.
I think a lot of people, including those who consider themselves to be audiophiles, didn’t see the need for the expense, especially given how cheap uncompressed bits are these days.
I think a lot of people, including those who consider themselves to be audiophiles, didn’t see the need for the expense, especially given how cheap uncompressed bits are these days.
And all of it still with the sh!t brickwalled out of it! Right?
I find this article helpful for this conversation.
https://www.whathifi.com/advice/mqa-audio-what-it-how-can-you-get-it
I jumped on the MQA bandwagon, mostly because I am a gearhead and fascinated about advancements in audio.
My personal experience:
I purchased all of the Montreux MQA series and many MQA discs from CDJapan.
The key is the player. I purchased the Luxman D-30X which plays only RBCD and MQA discs. It also has a downloadable player where you can grab files from your NAS and play. One thing I was very excited about is the Luxman unfolds and plays the MQA files in MQA.
I also purchased an MQA Dragonfly from AudioQuest to listen to Tidal from my phone, etc.
I have the desktop version of Tidal at my work place.
As Ralphie has said, the MQA discs get off to a good start as they are remixed/remastered from original tape sources, so they do sound real good just as a RBCD and a bit better when unfolded completely as MQA.
The downside: Expensive for the gear. It sounds really good, but not mind blowing surround good. I would love to find a way to listen to MQA in the car, but have not found an option for that, and not trying to.
Most of the MQA discs available from Japan where previous SACD's anyway, so not a reason for me to replace a SHM SACD with a MQA, I don't feel I would hear or appreciate a sound difference, the money would not be worth it.
With all the niche discs that are out there for us, not for the masses, if someone was to ask me my opinion, I would say the best in todays market would be a Blu Ray version of whatever. DVD and SACD, still OK for us as audiophiles, but they don't reach the masses.
MQA still an even smaller niche market, been there, done that and MQA is definitely not the final answer, whereas Blu Ray might be.
https://www.whathifi.com/advice/mqa-audio-what-it-how-can-you-get-it
I jumped on the MQA bandwagon, mostly because I am a gearhead and fascinated about advancements in audio.
My personal experience:
I purchased all of the Montreux MQA series and many MQA discs from CDJapan.
The key is the player. I purchased the Luxman D-30X which plays only RBCD and MQA discs. It also has a downloadable player where you can grab files from your NAS and play. One thing I was very excited about is the Luxman unfolds and plays the MQA files in MQA.
I also purchased an MQA Dragonfly from AudioQuest to listen to Tidal from my phone, etc.
I have the desktop version of Tidal at my work place.
As Ralphie has said, the MQA discs get off to a good start as they are remixed/remastered from original tape sources, so they do sound real good just as a RBCD and a bit better when unfolded completely as MQA.
The downside: Expensive for the gear. It sounds really good, but not mind blowing surround good. I would love to find a way to listen to MQA in the car, but have not found an option for that, and not trying to.
Most of the MQA discs available from Japan where previous SACD's anyway, so not a reason for me to replace a SHM SACD with a MQA, I don't feel I would hear or appreciate a sound difference, the money would not be worth it.
With all the niche discs that are out there for us, not for the masses, if someone was to ask me my opinion, I would say the best in todays market would be a Blu Ray version of whatever. DVD and SACD, still OK for us as audiophiles, but they don't reach the masses.
MQA still an even smaller niche market, been there, done that and MQA is definitely not the final answer, whereas Blu Ray might be.
Good...
There is a big thread on the subject at Audio Science Review which has a lot of interesting links on the subject if someone wants to "dig deeper".
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...hapter-11-in-the-us.43633/page-8#post-1549940This thread linked to a Stereophile article on the subject which was pretty interesting. Also various financial articles on things.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...hapter-11-in-the-us.43633/page-8#post-1549940This thread linked to a Stereophile article on the subject which was pretty interesting. Also various financial articles on things.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
It was nothing but a snake-oil type money grab from the beginning.
Design a processing that makes extremely minor change in sound, claim it makes an improvement
that removes 'deblur-shit" from the original recording and get tons of folks to believe it.
It was nothing but a snake-oil type money grab from the beginning.
Design a processing that makes extremely minor change in sound, claim it makes an improvement
that removes 'deblur-shit" from the original recording and get tons of folks to believe it.
