MQA

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Metal Forever

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MQA
« on: 15 Apr 2021, 08:21 pm »
Interesting article...

I published music on Tidal to test MQA - MQA Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRjsu9-Vznc

dB Cooper

Re: MQA
« Reply #1 on: 15 Apr 2021, 09:31 pm »
Watched this. Very interesting. The emperor has no clothes, but as long as the little blue light comes on, everybody's OK with it.

OTM

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Re: MQA
« Reply #2 on: 15 Apr 2021, 10:49 pm »
😂🤣

RDavidson

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Re: MQA
« Reply #3 on: 16 Apr 2021, 03:38 am »
 :flame: MQA

There was a lot of speculation when MQA was introduced that it was just a cash grab. Imagine if the inventor of the MP3 charged royalties for every recording to ever be encoded and distributed as such. That's all MQA was looking to do ; Make a closed loop system and establish a new, BS, standard that (hopefully) consumers would adopt and electronics manufacturers would also have to adopt. Thanks for sharing this video Metal Forever.

GSDaudio

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Re: MQA
« Reply #4 on: 16 Apr 2021, 11:56 am »
Fact based analysis proving what a lot of people suspected!!!   Kudos to the author(s)!

I have a Tidal subscription so I'm particularly upset.     

QOBUZ please come to Canada!!!


newzooreview

Re: MQA
« Reply #5 on: 16 Apr 2021, 12:25 pm »
The Subject of this thread should be revised to "MQA Fraud Exposed" with a sticky at the top linking to the meticulous and conclusive research presented in the Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRjsu9-Vznc

If MQA were just a cash grab it would be bad enough, but it also degrades the music, adds a DRM layer, and lies out of every orifice about all of it.

mav52

Re: MQA
« Reply #6 on: 16 Apr 2021, 02:33 pm »
Dumped Tidal the first of the month. MQA, cold take or leave it while using one of my Lumin's. I just enjoy Qobuz better and over the last 6 months a lot of my music has been added there.

NekoAudio

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Re: MQA
« Reply #7 on: 16 Apr 2021, 09:34 pm »
Imagine if the inventor of the MP3 charged royalties for every recording to ever be encoded and distributed as such.
The Fraunhofer Society who owns the MP3 codec did charge for MP3 encoders and decoders. Which is analogous to what Meridian does by licensing the MQA encoders and decoders. The MP3 patents expired in 2017, I think. But before then you needed to pay if they were going to make or distribute MP3 software, which big companies like Apple, Microsoft, or Creative did. Or you could tell your customers/users to download the software themselves, thus kicking the payment issue down the road.

Similarly, there is a patent-encumbered licensing fee required for MPEG-2, H.264, and H.265 which are used for DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray, and video streaming. AV1 is the industry's response to create an open and free (in terms of money) modern video codec for widespread general use. (The VP* series of video codecs are also open and free, but not widely adopted for various reasons.)

RDavidson

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Re: MQA
« Reply #8 on: 17 Apr 2021, 04:43 am »
Thanks for the correction. I always thought that the MP3 format was freeware (I likely read false info about it a long time ago), but it makes sense that somewhere along the line that consumers were paying for it somewhere, somehow. The decoders are found in nearly all electronic devices that can playback digital music files.

MP3 was always known to be what it is. It is lossy garbage. There was no hiding this. It was a means to an end and gave consumers convenience they didn't have before. At that time we didn't have so much storage space at out finger tips. Now we do. We have storage space everywhere, including in the cloud. Not only that, bandwidth is not really a problem either as the author of the video states. Basically, there's is no reason ANYONE should be listening to compressed formats anymore regardless of the "marketed" benefits. I like the fact that content providers, including Spotify, are shifting toward higher quality (maybe eventually lossless). It's about time! Don't let MQA take it away from us.

James Tanner

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Re: MQA
« Reply #9 on: 17 Apr 2021, 02:55 pm »
It's nice to see that evidence is coming out that supports Bryston's decision to not offer MQA from day one on any of our products.

james

NekoAudio

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Re: MQA
« Reply #10 on: 17 Apr 2021, 03:29 pm »
I always thought that the MP3 format was freeware (I likely read false info about it a long time ago), but it makes sense that somewhere along the line that consumers were paying for it somewhere, somehow. The decoders are found in nearly all electronic devices that can playback digital music files.
Perhaps because the Winamp player was free and then shareware, and I think that in the beginning you only needed to pay to license the encoder. But it was so long ago I don't have a good recollection of the exact details and timeline.

skunark

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Re: MQA
« Reply #11 on: 17 Apr 2021, 09:52 pm »
Great video and very clever to release songs through Tidal for the analysis.  I wonder if anyone will lawyer up here as it is very clear now that MQA claims are fraudulent.

Stereophile, Tidal, and others all had a hand in pushing this for MQA and curious if there were any kickbacks.


RDavidson

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Re: MQA
« Reply #12 on: 4 May 2021, 04:24 am »
Reviving this thread as I think it's important. We don't need MQA. It is nothing more than an attempt at proliferating a new, "better," format to replace mp3's. As the author states, why in this day and age would ANYONE truly need any kind of compression format, especially one that isn't as good as the creators claim? MQA serves no purpose except to control the market, both at the consumer level and at the gear manufacturer level. Who wants or needs that? Stick to known, longstanding, high res formats folks...unless you like the idea of the creators of MQA laughing their way to the bank for doing nothing beneficial for you nor the industry. :thumb:

jobiwon

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Re: MQA
« Reply #13 on: 5 May 2021, 04:58 pm »
At this point I am perfectly happy with Qobuz and their non MQA streams.  :wine:

rollo

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Re: MQA
« Reply #14 on: 5 May 2021, 08:11 pm »
It's nice to see that evidence is coming out that supports Bryston's decision to not offer MQA from day one on any of our products.

james



   Great call. Others as well.

charles

bjski

Re: MQA
« Reply #15 on: 5 May 2021, 08:17 pm »
At this point I am perfectly happy with Qobuz and their non MQA streams.  :wine:
:thumb:

zoom25

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Re: MQA
« Reply #16 on: 5 May 2021, 08:36 pm »
The rationale for MQA looked stupid when it came out a few years ago. It looks even worse now with every major streaming service either already having a lossless option or have announced a lossless option coming soon. 4K is the new standard for video release/streaming. Bandwidth wasn't an issue back then, it certainly isn't now, and it will only get better in the future. The reason for the existence of MQA will age worse and worse over time.

RDavidson

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Re: MQA
« Reply #17 on: 6 May 2021, 02:03 am »
The rationale for MQA looked stupid when it came out a few years ago. It looks even worse now with every major streaming service either already having a lossless option or have announced a lossless option coming soon. 4K is the new standard for video release/streaming. Bandwidth wasn't an issue back then, it certainly isn't now, and it will only get better in the future. The reason for the existence of MQA will age worse and worse over time.

Exactly. MP3's at least had a purpose back when bandwidth and storage were tiny fractions of what we have today. People thought MP3's sounded fine. Over time that has changed and people started paying attention. Finally, here we are and look at how long it has taken to move the needle to get general consumers away from an awful format! It's been like 20 years! If MQA gets a foothold the way MP3's did, it'll be the exact same problem being repeated (but with no logical purpose) and that's why this thread is important to keep circulating. Support Qobuz and others who do not support MQA format! :thumb:

Anonamemouse

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Re: MQA
« Reply #18 on: 6 May 2021, 06:50 am »
A very, very long thread on MQA here: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30381-mqa-is-vaporware/

A detailed thread from the creator of the video from the first post here: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/62690-i-published-music-on-tidal-to-test-mqa-mqa-deep-dive/

RDavidson

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Re: MQA
« Reply #19 on: 6 May 2021, 06:10 pm »
Wow! I only read a little bit of that thread. It's a bit messy, which is to be expected with any heated debate. But if you can weed out the facts from the multi-directional mud slinging, the thread can probably be reduced to 1 page....or just watch that video in the original post. :lol:

At any bit rate, it's good to see MQA being exposed as the scam it always was and word is spreading. Keep it up! :thumb: