So, MQA R.I.P finally? Good. Useless thing, also expensive thing.
PS. Yep, MQA Limited = bankruptcy, so Tidal know that its sinking boat.
From 3 years ago -
MQA, evidently a lot of wasted effort for hardware/software developers that could have better been spent elsewhere.
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Kaboom. The last shoe dropped
But the recap of MQA is exciting:
As difficult as it is to believe here Robert Hurley in 2017 is comparing MQA to …Copernican revolution, a complete shift of paradigm in acoustic. https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/let-the-revolution-begin/
When supposedly reasonable people with credentials start behaving like clowns something is not right.
Then Archimago and @GoldenSound essentially demolished most of the MQA claims to technical superiority but the hype and lying did not stop. Record companies were supposedly batch encoding millions of tracks into Master Quality AUTHENTICATED, in batch of course. Blue light was appearing on many DACs. Roon invested a lot of money, from our subscriptions.
Great credit goes to smart people at Schiit, and all pro audio companies. They did not pay any attention to the entire circus, and continued making great, affordable audio equipment.
At the end it is a great illustration what happens if your business model is " we developed a great product, and we will make sure that you will have to use it", and you are not Google. And your product is not even better, is actually worse, than what has been available for free.
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In the more recent detailed filing they list the enquiries made, summarising:
Obviously this was before Tidal effectively pulled the rug on MQA. The interest mainly appears to be in SCL6 (wireless lossless for headphones), in particular from their launch partner PSB (part of NAD). If I want lossless headphones I’ll use a cable, don’t need a new codec. I thought Qualcomm were introducing lossless Bluetooth with their Snapdragon hardware.
It appears Reiner put in about €400k to fund the Administration. Meanwhile, the Administrators have burnt most of the cash, running the business at £500/$600 per hour. Can’t see this lasting long.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: What MQA are we listening to [2020-2023]
They are but from an audiophile perspective, it’s still not lossless:
“ Qualcomm told What Hi-Fi? that CD-quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) audio transmission is achieved between 1.1Mbps and 1.2Mbps (1,100 and 1,200kbps) with aptX Lossless.”
At least, that’s my understanding that you would need 1400 to guarantee a lossless transmission.
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I suspect that improved sound quality and reduced latency for wireless headphones is aimed more at the gaming community.
I have no idea if SCL6 is just a codec or requires your phone to have an MQA SCL6-enabled chip, just as you need the latest Qualcomm chip to get their quasi-lossless audio. To me is just seems like Bob Stuart once more asking the world to another one of his unnecessary platforms, just like DVD-A and MQA.
There is an article here suggesting only marginal theoretical improvements over AptX, dependent on many factors and needing new hardware.
I think the vast majority of punters/consumers are more-than-happy with the current range of BT CODEC’s. Do we really need another one?
A bit like the vast majority of consumers were more-than-happy with FLAC/AAC etc before MQA came along.
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Extremely few people use HD audio at all and lossless is also a small minority.
I bought a pair of Sony headphones in New Delhi Airport on Saturday, cost me £110, mainly for noise cancellation. Wireless and Alexa enabled. After a couple of movies and some podcasts, very pleased with them.
I have a good pair of planar headphones (MrSpeakers Aeon), can do mobile HD with my phone and a Chord Mojo, but I hardly ever bother.
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Looks like they see that new codec as their last item of real value. So, it is understandable the SCL6 is of some (imagined) value to them. They might try to build a new company around it.
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You don’t. That is the uncompressed rate of CD audio. With lossless compression, that will of course reduce. For example, FLAC is able to achieve compressions of about 60-70%, which translates to 850-1000Mbps.
Ah that makes sense, thanks for clarifying.
I thought one of the benefits was this was a software only codec and could be installed and upgraded via firmware for future updates and did not needing specific hardware.
I’ve actually bought files from a rather large and well respected online store of HD music which I noticed (long story) weren’t the recordings they should have been. When I pointed this out, I was refunded and the albums quietly withdrawn. Goodness knows how often this happens without anyone detecting it, though…
I’ve also bought albums, this time LPs from reputable labels, listened to them and thought they shouted sh*t, and then done research and discovered they were sourced from CD and dumped on vinyl.
Like MQA or not (and I do) provenance was a real problem even before AI.
As to the suggestion of security certificates, etc., I don’t think it’s so much that no one’s interested so much as the fact that most ordinary consumers and artists don’t have the vaguest idea how to go about such things.
I find it odd that so many have a huge issue with DRM also - surely artists deserve not to have their work ripped off?
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Yes, and if DRM would prevent that, it would be great. Unfortunately, all it does is add another encumbrance for regular uses, without actually preventing circumvention by the criminals. After all, the music has to be output at some point. Let’s also not forget the licensing fees the DRM controllers are raking in…
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Hello? No need to be curious, because I never spoke of (well, wrote about) sound quality. The supposed “sound quality” of MQA is irrelevant. Whether it sounds fantastic or not, this is an unproven claim, typical of audiophilia AND A DIFFERENT ISSUE. BUT BUT and this is a big BUT I am not even talking about that. Please re-read. My main beef against it is the erosion of consumer rights
“Just listen”… This is a standard response, emitted by default by defenders of the pointless “technology”… without reading, as you can see above…
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Can we please stay on topic here which is MQA development’s and not any perceived sound quality or grievances with Tidal et all.
Thank you.
the newly available on streaming Hyperion catalog appears to be available in MQA, although not marked as such.
This is quite a coup; Hyperion. But there really does seem to be an upsurge of MQA releases, including from DG with the Kathleen Battle and Karel Ancerl box sets being released in MQA, albeit 24/48 (though Qobuz versions are also same rate). That’s a lot of albums.
Plus classics from Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, and the Stones, plus great new releases from Alice Sara Ott, Blur etc.
Hopefully this is a sign of more to come.
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If you got the memo on MQA, it’s no sign; most probably just leftovers.
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