MQA disappointing

Strange then that MQA files are not silent when I play them on any of my systems, even those that do not support MQA! I hear music, or at least an approximation thereof.

“100% lossy” - I think not!

lossy doesn’t mean silent
Lossy means you can NEVER reconstruct the original data.

Okay, prove me wrong:
Show me an MQA decoder that can reconstruct the original PCM bit perfect

Wow, thats pretty impressive. :+1:

:innocent:

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Well, probably not. Lossless compression has been around for a very long time.

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Correct. FLAC = Xiph.org

MQA is about the analog audio passing through a digital pipeline with no more damage than would be done by a few feet of air.

Yes, and the use in audio transmission was invented at Meridian, it was called MLP Meridian Lossless Packing and sold to Dolby as the basis for Dolby Tru HD.

MLP first surfaced in DVD-Audio discs in 2000. FLAC wasn’t introduced until January 2001.

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Thanks for admitting MQA is doing damage.
PCM is also going through “a digital pipeline” (in short : the internet) with no damage at all !

Also when using headphones we don’t want “a few feet of air”.

Still… mqa is lossy. No nonsense.

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You should watch that video as you will be surprised at Bobs answer to that point. No, I’m not going to tell you but I can assure you that no musical information is lost. Make of that what you will :joy:

Well… the notes are still there in mqa, and that’s about it. :smile:

It’s not what it sounded like when it was recorded. The higher frequencies are blurred/mangled.
Of course they are… because the more samples, the more analogue the sound waves become,
and all mqa are only 44/48 and then upsampled.

The whole point and reason behind MQA is that standard digital transmission does not sound the same as the analog input. MQA restored this with no more damage than a few feet of air.
My personal experience confirms this to me and their is no high res distortion.
All standard DAC’s are lossy and people choose DACs and cables etc to alter the sound (They call it tuning)
An MQA DAC can ensure the sound is the same as the source to the best level the rest of your replay system can deliver.
Again I say, Watch the video to hear this properly explained.

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2L titles on Qobuz are in fact MQA files. Qobuz doesn’t label them as such, but you can see this in the Signal Path when playing a 2L album.

I’ve confirmed this with 2L. 2L is fully pro MQA and only provides MQA files to streamers (you have to go through a third party to purchase non MQA 2L albums). Qobuz has said to me they do not support MQA, but they don’t have control over the files provided by the labels.

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MQA is made from PCM so from digital input ! :slight_smile: (*)
It is also a digital format, because it actually IS pcm.
The internet is digital, you stream it digital.

No it’s not, you have 50$ dacs and 5000$ dacs.
And if they want to deliver the same as the source, they should deliver the pcm because that IS the source of an mqa (see (*))

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All I can say is watch the video, then maybe, just maybe you will understand… Music is analog and MQA takes the Analog sound, the sound before the ADC as the reference for the output. Music is analog not PCM. ADC and DAC creates the distortions which MQA corrects.
The analogy is cleaning an old painting, The colours come out.
You may say, I like the patina of ageing, I don’t want the colours to come out… Well that’s ok, with MQA, just put the dirt back in. It’s up to the person behind the buttons, as always.

No I won’t watch the video… I watched it in 2017 and I noticed it’s still the same.

Impossible because MQA is made from a digital PCM

If you want a link with paintings :
I feel like Vincent van Gogh - after cutting of his ear - when listenig to mqa.

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Why are you here if you won’t remind yourself of something from all those years ago? Ever watched a film and then on re watching it found something you missed?
How do you even know you watched this video, this is not the normal presentation?
Still, the mind is like a parachute, and if it’s not open… well…

They just released from the (digital) vaults thousands of albums on the Columbia, Epic, RCA-Legacy, and even Warner/Rhino labels in 24/192 and 24/96… Some of the latter never before available in 24 bit PCM. Examples include Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Flying Burrito Bros., Joe Cocker, etc.

And of course Neil Young is also there - because he knows mqa sounds not as it was recorded.