I cam across this today, posted by Peter Veth who runs the MQA group on Facebook
6 Likes
While I personally don’t use MQA I thought this was interesting today.
The full statement from MQA reads as follows:
“Following the recent positive reception to MQA’s latest technology (SCL6), there has been increased international interest in buying MQA Ltd. At the same time, MQA’s main financial backer is seeking an exit. In order to be in the best position to pursue market opportunities and expedite this process, the company has undergone a restructuring initiative, which includes entering into administration and is comparable to Chapter 11 in the US.”
"During this process, MQA continues to trade as usual alongside its partners.
“We won’t be commenting further while negotiations take place.”
1 Like
It is great to hear someone talk about the music, and give insight into why some of us liked what MQA could offer.
I think ‘zing’ is a very good word for what MQA can sound like in the right circumstances, plus I also found it usually more tuneful. and more ‘immediate’.
Sadly, in my view, many discussions had a chilling effect that perhaps prevented a personal engagement that could reveal what MQA could offer.
I had rather hoped that there could have been some development of the innovations, and perhaps that is what SCL6 may achieve. And certainly much more ‘white glove’ activity would have been welcome.
But on the whole MQA has afforded me much musical pleasure, for whatever reason, and I hope that continues.
5 Likes
Here are some descriptions of the Administration process that have had less of the MQA marketing budget spent on them:
2 Likes
With MQA filing for bankruptcy what the hell are we going to do with all our MQA enabled gear? The labels must feel discussed at being talked into converting their music with the support libale to disappear?
Keep them as long as Tidal does not yet give you the Hi-Res version equivalence of the MQA albums you like (if any), or if you have any MQA files or MQA CD rips.
MQA decoders do not phone home, they will continue to work.
1 Like
They are not; they are in administration. See the posts above. This doesn’t mean MQA will end nor that existing MQA media can no longer be used. We will have to wait and see what happens.
4 Likes
It has been good for business, in other places, to fuel a ‘discussion’ that MQA will fail, for at least 6 years.
Yet few acknowledge that, for example, Qobuz, of whom I have been a customer for over 10 years, was in a similar situation in 2015.
I imagine many more companies have come close; it is clearly not easy for achieve success when the competition is Apple or Amazon etc. I really hope the new service from Presto stands a fighting chance.
On the ground, Tidal have released their typical new MQA releases today, as have High Res Audio, including one, intriguingly, from Natalie Merchant: Keep the Courage.
What was very good last week is still very good today.
4 Likes
It’s not really useful to conflate two very different companies with very different products though, even if they loosely fall under the banner of “audio”. I could point to any number of companies who fell into administration and didn’t make it back, but it would also be a meaningless comparison.
Of course, but isn’t it heartening that some companies do make changes, perhaps get the investment they deserve and then flourish? I would not assume every investor is capable of supporting an innovative product, not by any means.
Glass half-full stuff.
1 Like
according to What Hifi Tidal is going high res FLAC for Hifi Plus subscribers soon…
few also realize how tiny Qobuz is compared to Tidal.
Not that Tidal is massive, but it’s much, much bigger in terms of subscribers. w/o the French government, Qobuz could not survive.
also, I’ve been a Qobuz subscriber since before Roon existed.
I suspect that, if Tidal does move ahead with streaming hi-res FLAC, Qobuz could be in trouble. That and the fact that Q still isn’t available lots of places.
Should be in Canada in May I hope. I was lucky enough to get it through vpn a number of years ago. Would be nice not to feel guilty. Tidal still has more Prog and luckily most is not MQA.
Reminds me of hdcd. There is now a plug-in in dbpoweramp that allows you to rip the hdcd in its full quality to a 24bit flac file so you don’t need a special dac to play it. At least this is the full quality.
Unfortunately, even with software, it appears the best quality we will ever get out of mqa without an mqa dac is the first unfold.
Yes, I know it’s coming here but they’ve missed the boat for me - and if/when Tidal goes to hi-res FLAC streaming they’ve really got no USP. I’m very happy with Tidal, and I have more music in my combined library that I have any hope of listening to! MQA sounds great in my system, and I couldn’t care less about all the politics surrounding it.
3 Likes
Did you ever get that plugin to actually work? I could never get it to do anything, so just ran Cue Tools on FLACs dbPoweramp generated.
FWIW, those HDCD decoders decode some of HDCD information, but not all of it, as I recall.
It might not be relevant to you, but i buy a lot of downloads from Qobuz store. The prices are nearly reasonable, and often comes with liner notes and good metadata. That’s not my experience from other DL retailers.
And, i don’t like renting my music obviously, and want it to be available offline and independently of any software supplier.
4 Likes
I have a few solutions, mainly Squeeze/UPnP/OpenHome based. Also some Bluesound and Sonos units.
All share the same library though.