MQA Discussion

MQA did not strike me as if it would have been very much of a topic in the rooms I visited. Most of the playback came from CD or vinyl. But I was mostly focussing on high end amps and LS.

I am sure it was more of a topic in the mid-fi department.


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NUGS.NET OFFERS LIVE CONCERTS IN MQA
Music Fans Step Closer to the Original Performance

New York / London, 24 May 2017 – Nugs.net, the official home of live music for some of the largest touring artists in the world, is adopting MQA’s award-winning technology, to bring fans exclusive live concert recordings in master quality sound. Initially, concerts from GRAMMY Award-winning, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Metallica and Bruce Springsteen, are available to download in MQA. Other iconic acts, including Pearl Jam, Phish and Red Hot Chili Peppers, to name just a few, will follow, and later this year, nugs.net subscribers will have the option to stream concert recordings in MQA.

MQA’s technology delivers master quality audio in a file that is small enough to stream or download, and adoption of the technology across music services, record labels and playback partners continues to gain momentum. Nugs.netusers can download the MQA file and it will play back on any device.

Nugs.net’s service offers different tiers of downloads – MP3, Lossless, DSD, and HD-Audio – as well as a physical CD format. MQA appears as an additional option for HD-Audio downloads, alongside existing 24 bit FLAC and ALAC formats.

“Our pursuit of the highest fidelity in our listeners’ playback experience led us to MQA,” explained nugs.net founder and CEO Brad Serling. “We were intrigued when we first read about MQA and were thrilled with the results when the MQA folks first encoded some of our live recordings.”

Mike Jbara, MQA CEO, said, “Nugs.net connects with true music fans like nobody else. Live recordings amplify MQA's mission perfectly and we are very grateful for this exciting partnership. Watch this space!”

Metallica recently kicked off the North American leg of their WorldWired tour in Baltimore, and will be continuing to tour across the US and Canada throughout the summer. Each night’s performance will be released on LiveMetallica.com, the service nugs.net has run for Metallica since 2004. Additionally, recordings of every night Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band performed on the River Tour from 2016 and 2017 are available now for download in MQA at Live.BruceSpringsteen.net, alongside several releases from Springsteen’s legendary archives. This week Bruce released the 33-song epic tour finale from Helsinki in 2012, available now in MQA.

-Ends-

About nugs.net:
Founded in 1997 as a fan site for downloading live music, nugs.net has evolved into the leading source for official live music from some of the largest touring artists in the world. Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Phish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many other artists distribute recordings of every concert they play through nugs.net. Nugs.net’s platform includes downloads, CDs, webcasts, and subscription streaming services, delivering exclusive live content to millions of fans on a daily basis. Additionally, nugs.net founder Brad Serling hosts a weekly radio show on SiriusXM Jam On featuring the week in live music, cherry picked from the nugs.net catalog. The “nugs.netLive Stash” airs on MTV Live showcasing concert footage from previous nugs.tv broadcasts.

MQA Press Contacts
[email protected]
[email protected]

Press Site for MQA
URL: www.mqa.co.uk/press
 
I find the tone in this article interesting (saying this as a compliment).

I speculate this may be influenced by some heated arguments in CA forum in January and February.
 
just spent over 2 hours sampling MQA Masters through Tidal on the MQA equipped MSB Select II.

previous reports about this through the Select II were very positive.

my perception is provisionally quite mixed. I liked the MQA of Neil Young's Harvest a lot, which is where I started. I have a master tape of this one and a very good pressing, and it's a favorite of mine. I was impressed by this MQA master. most of these are 24-192, although the 'Stairway to Heaven' was 24-96 (likely contractual). the more I listened there is a 'processed' aspect to the sound that I started to pick up on like it's been run through a loudness contour and then had it's mids and bass boosted. but I did not stop to grab any regular files to compare. the net effect might be very positive, or it might be something that does not work on a system like mine where it's all laid bare.

I liked the list of music, and so made a play list and just set back and listened.

recalling my 5 hours with redbook yesterday, I'd say that was overall more impressive. but this is just a data point so far. I will revisit this later and do some deeper investigating. most of what I played was analog tape based, and that could be the issue. maybe native digital files might fare better......but I might not have listened to even one.

my intension here is not to throw cold water on MQA. but only that since the previous feedback was in contrast to my session I thought I should bring it up.

at the LA Show I had 2 positive demos of MQA; one in the Wilson room with Peter McGrath off a file on a Meridian dac, and another one from Vince in the MSB room on the Select II from a file. so I need to get deeper into this and discover what is doing what.
 
Mike Lavigne said:
the more I listened there is a 'processed' aspect to the sound that I started to pick up on like it's been run through a loudness contour and then had it's mids and bass boosted.
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Very interesting comments Mike.

I find that sound processing has a little bit of a mince meat effect on music: you can hack it apart and put it together again, but you'll never get the steak back.


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Kuoppis said:
Very interesting comments Mike.

I find that sound processing has a little bit of a mince meat effect on music: you can hack it apart and put it together again, but you'll never get the steak back.


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Amen. Do it right the first time & don't feck with it!
 
I couldn't agree more with you Mike. I had very similar experiences with MQA from the very first time I heard it. Some music sounded great; others were uninspiring. I've written about it but I think the variance in MQA I've experienced is caused by multiple matters. One is the source material used; it is as if the best sounding version of an album wasn't used as a source for conversion. There may also be inconsistencies in the conversion Engineer. Some albums get a personal touch; while I suspect that other's are done in batches. Consider how many thousands of albums Warner reportedly converted in the little time they had. My supposition is that they put all the albums mastered/digitized with the same "XYZ ADC" in a pile and ran them through a batch conversion. This would imply there is a Quality Control aspect at play. Finally, I can't help but wonder if MQA is better suited for some brands of ADC's than others in combination with specific source material. Some types of music don't impress me much when unfolded where other's do. Just as an example, I found drums to greatly benefit from MQA -- just listen to the drum "intro" in Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" on his MQA remastered "Face Value" at 03:40 into the song and compare that with any other non-MQA version.

Finally, I find MQA to be something that can be best appreciated when the song is the right song and all the right criteria align and when played back over a highly-resolving system. I don't get the statements like "it's going to bring HiFi to the masses". Or that it's going to improve crappy streaming services' quality to a much better baseline. It's still a niche product and it appears to be getting all the attention from the audiophiles, not the masses with new Android-based phones (which oddly don't have indigenous MQA decoding - still) So some of the initial premises of MQA are no longer being touted or seem relevant.
 
Application, application, application. Screw the guys with phones and earbuds, push this technology through for the people who actually care!
 
Unworthy said:
Application, application, application. Screw the guys with phones and earbuds, push this technology through for the people who actually care!
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That would be great but listeners like some of us who would purchase a MQA DAC or just want to spend $19.99 for the first half of MQA via Tidal to get to the Masters section, well the masses with the smart phones and ear buds out number us and I really don't think the large masses are going to shell out the cash or buy a MQA device to listen to MQA. One part of the Sprint deal was to get Tidal into their subscribers hands at a huge discount. "" We're providing our customers and anyone who signs up for Sprint a complimentary six-month trial of TIDAL HiFi so they can experience all the unique and exclusive content TIDAL has to offer.” "Once the trial is complete, customers can choose to keep the Tidal HiFi access for $19.99 a month, downgrade to Tidal Premium for $9.99 a month, or unsubscribe from the service." Time will tell what their subscribers will do.

The technology is there for those manufacturers that want to have their devices certified, gaining content that supports those Sprint subscribers well that's the BIG PICTURE for all of us. The technology I want to see, is a solid MQA software solution that will support all DACS.

Right now I'm waiting on LUMIN to complete their certification's so my D1 can handle a full unfold.
 
sharkmouth said:
Amen. Do it right the first time & don't feck with it!
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This is a problem, though, all too often it's not done right the first time. If MQA does improve the sound of some of these (relatively) poorly mastered albums, that's not necessarily a bad thing. If similar processing is applied to a well-recorded and well-mastered album, that might not be so good. This might be part of the explanation for the many mixed opinions posted.
 
You can't make silk purse out of a sowers ear. If the "Master" is sh!t on a stick, you get sh!t on a stick.

I've talked to Bob Katz extensively - for hours. Early A2D converters didn't allow compression or loudness beyond red, but they were limited to 16/44.1 and ACTUALLY measured WORSE (like 14/38).

Then we have the era of the loudness wars and compression abuse, coupled with garbage A2D converters.

What we MAY see MQA undoing is with some of the loudness/compression abuse because that is often done in Mastering and MQA does NOT allow for a post production mastering stage. What they determine as the final product at the engineering stage is what we SHOULD get at the DAC stage.

If you compare an Analog Productions vinyl pressing where Chad & Co, have gone back to the master tapes, worked with Bernie Grunman & Co. and you compare that to a processed digital version of 1980, 1990, 2000, whatever of the same recording, you would be digitally disgusted.

The saving grace is that we are FINALLY seeing good - damn good - A2D converters in studios from the likes of Merging Technologies and a petition against the loudness wars. So, there is hope. Where does MQA fit into this mix? If you believe in their filters, then adding back the missing spatial cues will help.


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