Gearslutz thread

Hi Group,

I know we like bashing the 'slutz around here, but occasionally they get it right.

If you have the time, read through the discussion on MQA, a proposed high-definition streaming format that turns out to have some unexpected implications:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/mastering-forum/1171365-mqa-discussion-denver-rmaf.html

Jakob E.

Haven't paid attention to this but sounds like the major record labels are at it again like their 360 record deals.  Giant bag of worms!
What do you expect from lawyers.  Bunch of thieves and trolls.  There is a product called a cd and LP that have a high quality file you buy once and own it so to speak but I'm an old school guy.  What do I know.

about time to reinvent the wheel again... 

JR

JohnRoberts said:

about time to reinvent the wheel again... 

JR

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the new mp3

Cheers

Ian

learn something new every day.


"MQA stands for Master Quality Authenticated - an audio technology developed by Bob Stuart, co-founder of Meridian Audio. It's the technology that makes hi-res audio streaming a reality. "

Sounds like another way to take money for product people don't want or don't understand.....

Edit: cursory glance  seems to have audiophile companies as a proponent for it while pro audio companies as an opponent to it....  will delve into this further at a later time.

JohnRoberts said:

about time to reinvent the wheel again... 

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Naa, it's a bit more than that: From the discussion it seems probable that the "high-res" streaming format (which turns out to max out at 17bit/96KHz, thus the quote marks) is only the delivery container for a DRM format much like the CSS of dvd's.

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts

Jakob E.

gyraf said:

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
Jakob E.

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Beware of Geeks backed by lawyers ! ;D

as usual they are couple of years behind!
i first heard it in 2015

how can it be hi-res and lossy? About the best your going to get is lossless...

I'm a big fan of John Siau at Benchmark, here is what he had to say in June of last year

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/163302855-is-mqa-doa

(lots of good reading on the Benchmark app notes BTW).

People dont think twice about downloading several gig files to watch movies which are so attrocious  you'd never want to watch them again . Whats wrong with proper wav file downloads , the majority of mp3's will make your ears bleed at elevated listening levels ,even at low levels ear fatigue from the square waves makes it tedious to listen over the longer term.The whole internet 'revolution' seems to have shortened the attention span of the younger generation to that of a goldfish, the concept of an album doesnt really exist anymore ,its the first thirty seconds of a song then click,next.It isnt even a free choice ,youtube lines up what it wants you to listen to.The small struggling artist doesnt have a hope ,the dinosaurs with the back catalogues worth billions get top billing .

ruairioflaherty said:

I'm a big fan of John Siau at Benchmark, here is what he had to say in June of last year

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/163302855-is-mqa-doa

(lots of good reading on the Benchmark app notes BTW).

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brilliant.

Just read Ruari's link ,looks like another red herring from the marketing department .

Siau is a great old school engineer and I say that despite working in part for a competitor!  I spoke to him for maybe 30 minutes at  AES a few years and his responses to my (endless) questions were thoughtful, balanced and all based in sound engineering.

I haven't spent any time listening to MQA.

Sound on Sound had a write up last year. It’s now free.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mqa-time-domain-accuracy-digital-audio-quality

from the sound on sound article...

It is claimed that MQA does ‘no more harm’ to an audio signal than it would suffer in passing through a few metres of air,

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What?

That whole article seems very overworked. Can anyone here explain what kind of phase delay a converters lowpass filter has and if it matters at 22Khz? I thought converter technology has surpassed that problem with oversampling anyhow.

Oh and this...

That’s not because I wasn’t impressed with what I heard, but because I wasn’t sufficiently familiar either with the Meridian replay systems used to audition a variety of MQA recordings, or the source material itself, to form a totally confident opinion.

However, what I can say with confidence is that my initial impression of what I heard was of a generally more believable and realistic sound stage, with instruments and ensembles appearing more vibrant and genuinely three-dimensional in a way which exceeded anything I’ve heard with conventional hi-res audio on high-quality monitoring systems.

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dude says he cant form a totally confident opinion...then he "says with confidence"...

This really stinks...