MQA Discussion

So any thoughts about a top-10 list of albums you'd like to see in MQA? Heck, I might be interested if a studio would release some albums that they would not have released in hi-rez otherwise. For example, Weezer's Red album would be great to hear in hi-rez (or if MQA would release a version in hi-rez). It sounds to me like the studios haven't released some of their prized possessions in hi-rez and DSD for fear of pirating, and who knows what else. Maybe if they would release those albums we all love in MQA it would generate some interest.
 
lallygagger said:
Interested in doing what I just outlined?

I am not worried about album availability. I am sure that will be coming down the pike before too long.
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You should be. They have been talking about having a bunch of releases on the market for over 2 years. I'm waiting to see if they start releasing music that we all know and love.
 
mep said:
You should be. They have been talking about having a bunch of releases on the market for over 2 years. I'm waiting to see if they start releasing music that we all know and love.
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I have faith in this development. Of course I realize that my faith might be misplaced. :D
 
The licensing agreements are very complicated according to the folks at Meridian I've spoken with. This takes time.


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Mike said:
The licensing agreements are very complicated according to the folks at Meridian I've spoken with. This takes time.


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Like I said, I could be wrong but I have faith that this technology will be viable. Ultimately this depends on how much MQA files end up costing more than it will on its ultimate sound quality. But if it is reasonably priced the for the ''average music loving joe'' any improvement in sound will be better than MP3.

And If it doesn't quite live up to the SQ hype (ie. better than the resolutions we have now) we (audiophiles) will still buy it... so long as it is at least as good as high res PCM and/or DSD. We will buy it because of the reduced file size which will make for better storage and for faster downloading.

With all the labels and manufacturers that are coming on board, I can't see how it can fail.
 
Mike said:
n with.The licensing agreements are very complicated according to the folks at Meridian I've spoke This takes time.


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Interesting. When you make claims that you are reaching back to the day when the music was originally recorded and the recording engineer/musicians are nodding their heads and "authenticating" the provenance of the recording and Meridian is correcting for faults in the original converters used, that could get real complicated. Also easier to pull off if it's new music being recorded vice music where original band members are dead and so are the engineers that were present at the original recording. Pretty much tells you they are dealing with strictly digital masters vice converting tape over to MQA.
 
mep said:
Interesting. When you make claims that you are reaching back to the day when the music was originally recorded and the recording engineer/musicians are nodding their heads and "authenticating" the provenance of the recording and Meridian is correcting for faults in the original converters used, that could get real complicated. Also easier to pull off if it's new music being recorded vice music where original band members are dead and so are the engineers that were present at the original recording. Pretty much tells you they are dealing with strictly digital masters vice converting tape over to MQA.
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Mark, that's the one thing I asked "are we only talking about digital masters?" They said "no, we are going back to the tape in many cases because the A-D was not done as well as it could have." My response? "Yah, no kidding!" But what condition are some of these tapes in?

But let's face it Mark, there is probably more misinformation than information surround MQA today.
 
You said you're in Italy, right? What kind of Internet speed do you get there?

Where FIOS and other high speed connectivity exists in the US, file size is not that big of a deal. Just take a look at hard drive costs too (3 TB for under $100, and 6TB drives for under $300). It's not unusual to get 50mbps Internet for under $75/month.

With those costs I don't see file size as an issue. Maybe in terms of cell phone streaming, but even those plans are getting better. Unlimited plans are starting to roll out more commonly.

That is only the US though and certainly not everywhere. Rural locations here don't get those kinds of speeds, but storage costs are universal.


lallygagger said:
Like I said, I could be wrong but I have faith that this technology will be viable. Ultimately this depends on how much MQA files end up costing more than it will on its ultimate sound quality. But if it is reasonably priced the for the ''average music loving joe'' any improvement in sound will be better than MP3.

And If it doesn't quite live up to the SQ hype (ie. better than the resolutions we have now) we (audiophiles) will still buy it... so long as it is at least as good as high res PCM and/or DSD. We will buy it because of the reduced file size which will make for better storage and for faster downloading.

With all the labels and manufacturers that are coming on board, I can't see how it can fail.
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radioactive said:
You said you're in Italy, right? What kind of Internet speed do you get there?

Where FIOS and other high speed connectivity exists in the US, file size is not that big of a deal. Just take a look at hard drive costs too (3 TB for under $100, and 6TB drives for under $300). It's not unusual to get 50mbps Internet for under $75/month.

With those costs I don't see file size as an issue. Maybe in terms of cell phone streaming, but even those plans are getting better. Unlimited plans are starting to roll out more commonly.

That is only the US though and certainly not everywhere. Rural locations here don't get those kinds of speeds, but storage costs are universal.
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I guess my Internet speed is ok. I can't compare it to what is available here. Usually a very high res file can take about an hour to download.

Is that slow with respect to what you have?

Storage cost a little more, I think. I have two 4 terabyte HDs and they are not full yet so I haven't checked out prices for well over a year.
 
Mike said:
Mark, that's the one thing I asked "are we only talking about digital masters?" They said "no, we are going back to the tape in many cases because the A-D was not done as well as it could have." My response? "Yah, no kidding!" But what condition are some of these tapes in?

But let's face it Mark, there is probably more misinformation than information surround MQA today.
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Yes, we surely will not know anything for sure until we have tested it out for ourselves (re: the last sentence in your motto.) What we are doing here is essentially speculating. But it is fun, isn't it?
 
At my speed, a hi-rez (24-192) file takes about 40 seconds so yes, you're just a bit slower ;) I can see why you would want something like MQA if you can't get good connectivity.

lallygagger said:
I guess my Internet speed is ok. I can't compare it to what is available here. Usually a very high res file can take about an hour to download.

Is that slow with respect to what you have?

Storage cost a little more, I think. I have two 4 terabyte HDs and they are not full yet so I haven't checked out prices for well over a year.
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File size is orders of magnitude more important for a streaming music service provider such as Tidal than to end users, because bandwidth and storage costs should be significant for them. I speculate Tidal to be the single most important source of MQA content, assuming they manage to launch it before too late.
 
still-one said:
I guess you don't pay much attention to this and other forums. Several of us stream some of our music through our main systems. In fact my two channel room and and occasionally via our whole home system are the only place I ever use Tidal. Additionally there are many on these sites who stream Spotify, Rhapsody, or Pandora via SonoS connected to their main systems. Audiophiles in general don't use these as their main source, but streaming is not just for the MP3 crowd as you suggest.

The difference between playing the same tracks off a server in your home or streamed via Tidal is very small and even if you could identify which is better in a A/B test, it is unlikely you could tell which was which if you were asked just walking into a room.

You keep railing against MQA when none of us are trying to get you to use it. For many of us it is just an another HQ alternative to Hi-Rez or DSD files.
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+1, Jim.
 
I believe MQA will get traction not thru well heeled audiophiles on forums like this, but by the next generation who streams tidal and wants more than apple iPhone/earbud quality. When the MQA takes ordinary listening and transforms (not thru $10-20k dacs but via mainstream equipment), that's when it will become ubiquitous. We are arguing on a different level that what will drive its commercial viability. My 2 cents.
 
still-one said:
You keep railing against MQA when none of us are trying to get you to use it. For many of us it is just an another HQ alternative to Hi-Rez or DSD files.
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j2020 said:
+1, Jim.
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At the risk of taking this thread once again off track:
While it is true that a lot of interesting factual information had been presented on this thread, we have also, it seems to me, managed to fill up 20 pages with a lot of speculative debating about the viability of MQA. But it has been a fun debate. Radioactive's thoughts and opinions, imo, have been an important force in driving this fun debate forward. Debates need opposing points of view. I also think some of his thoughts are very valid.
I personally would like to see that anyone's ideas be encouraged no matter how much they diverge from the thinking of other participants as long as they don't totally derail the thread for the original topic.

By way of explanation as to why I find this important enough to comment on it here, I offer this:
On another audio forum I was totally shut down because I had a point of view that did not conform to the mainstream thinking of the other participants. I felt that the topic under discussion was extremely important due the potential ramifications for other people (both the people they were discussing and also ''newbies'' to planet ''Audiophilia'') so I stuck to my guns.
I stayed on the topic but the others in that thread (all of which were long time forum members) gave themselves readily over to personal attacks, name calling and ridicule. This forum even has a system for ''labeling'' the participants and I was labeled a ''troll looking for attention.'' That was put on my profile and appeared to the left of every post I wrote. Needless to say, I wiped the dust of that forum off my feet and I will never return to it again.
To be fair I will add here that the forum moderators eventually shut down the thread and I later looked at that thread and discovered that label had been removed from my profile. But the damage had been done.
I am not going to mention the name of that forum here, but if anyone is interested in knowing more they are welcome to send me a personal message.

I read forum threads quite a bit and I get a lot from them. But I very rarely actually participate. That was the first time I had tried at length to do so and as you can see it wasn't a very pleasant experience.
But then I discovered AudioShark. I have participated before on this forum and it has always been pleasant.
I don't think that I have participated on any other thread so much at length as I have on this one. I have enjoyed communicating with you guys. I find you all to be welcoming and open minded. And I thank you for that.

That said, I would like to add that after reading j2020's explanation for his reaction (and Radioactive's comments that provoked it) I understood why he felt that way. Radioactive, it seems did strike the first blow (in this thread, anyway) and for all I know this rancor may extend much further into the past.

I am not naive. I know that human nature is human nature. I'm just saying....

j2020, you mentioned earlier that you were given leeway by Mike and Jim to talk about the 808v6. In the interest of knowing how things work on this forum, I am wondering why you needed permission to do so. I wanted to ask you about this earlier, but then i forgot.
 
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