MQA disappointing

MQA Ltd has publicly stated there goal of being the only source for redbook and greater content. It doesn’t matter if they haven’t achieved it yet.

PS) I don’t listen to it and I will always want the option to get new music without it.

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It’s simple for you then, isn’t it. Just DON’T listen to it! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

And you have that choice. Subscribe to Qobuz, or buy your non-MQA music. Simples!

MQA sounds amazing on my – fully MQA compatible – system as do normal and HiRes FLACs too.

Very happy to be able to stream MQA from Tidal Hifi through Roon :clap:t2:

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OK, sure I forgot the world domination thing. Sometimes I’m quite literal but I think you maybe overstating things just a tad, we may be years away from compulsory MQA listening for all. But who knows…

I do and so will I, but I rather think that’s a given. After all, we have the CMA don’t we. [moderated]

I had to ‘Google’ CMA :face_with_monocle:
I’ve heard that the latest Bond movie plot has been leaked on the internet. It turns out that Elliot Carver is back with his new secret weapon for world domination: MQA :money_mouth_face:

Through all this I’ve learn a huge amount about MQA and I can see why people are frustrated etc (although I’m not convinced they wanted it to work anyway). So it’s clearly not as good as I thought and it may be mildly evil (but not a fraction of a percentage of how evil the Digital cartel boys are or certain world “leaders”). I’ve learned lots, so thank you.

I still like the sound and will seek it out.

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The music business looks at their decline since their peak in late 90’s and yes, piracy or “file sharing” is what they blame in part. The corp management certainly tells their investors this every chance they get. I was talking to one of the principles of Mytek Digital at RMAF 2017 about MQA (I forget his name), and we were going back and forth about the pros and cons. At some point I pointed out that what MQA was really about was a way the industry’s self perception and need to do something, anything about piracy. He confirmed that to him and the industry it was the number one problem. I said that piracy was not the source of their decline, that it at most it is a minor contributor, and I then pulled out my cell phone and said “this is the source of your decline - screens, and the resulting changing habits and thus vauling of your product by the consumer”. At this point he got visibly irritated, and went on an anti-piracy rant. It was irrational.

I relate all this because I learned then that to the insider culture of the music biz, MQA or something like it is very high on their priority list. It’s DRM or bust for them…

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Biggest problem is a decline in great music and musicianship!

Think back to 1975. 10CC I’m not in Love, Pink Floyd Wish you were here, Queen Bohemian Rhapsody, Bowie Fame, Elton John Captain Fantastic…all compelling stuff. No wonder the industry boomed. There is little to nothing compelling out there today. Mostly fluff. Why buy disposable music…

Go Greta Van Fleet!!! Please help to bring back real music and musicianship!

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You got the insider culture of the music biz from a Mytek engineer?

DRM is irrelevant.

MQA sounds great.

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DRM is very relevant.
No matter how you feel about the SQ of DRM, the main ‘sell’ to the big multinational record companies is undoubtedly DRM. I think that’s why MQA has managed to recruit the big majors they have - DRM.
Do you really think they’ve partnered with MQA out of the goodness of their hearts, to provide the consumer with better SQ??
I personally like the SQ MQA provides. But I’m equallly realistic to realise that it’s in the majors’ interests to adopt MQA, and not necessarily for our benefit.

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I agree with everything you’ve said. Well put! :sunglasses:

Whilst I’m ‘with you’ there, you’re definitely showing your age. As am I :disappointed_relieved:
Unfortunately, the days of multi-million selling vinyl albums are now gone. I wish they weren’t!

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A decline in musicianship, which I agree with you is a real thing, correlates again with the rise of screens and what people do with their leisure time. Those 1960’s and 1970’s popular musicians were raised in a culture where playing a real musical instrument in the home, often with other family and friends (say, around a piano) was much more common than it is now. People gather around their screens today, and families have “movie night” instead of listening/playing actual music.

As a season ticket holder of my local symphony, I look around the crowd and see that the average age is 80 going on 120…

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Totally agree.
The demise of music ‘consumption’/listening goes hand-in-hand with the rise of smart phones and tablets, all vying for attention.
Record companies are completely deluded if they think that file sharing is killing music in this day and age. It’s TV-on-demand, and all those other distractions.

I am still discovering new music to me, however, increasingly I am going backwards to the roots of rock n roll and blues. Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon and the like. The quality of musicianship is great. One thing that all these old cats understood was the use of the canvas - what you don’t play is as important as what you do play - no need to fill up every inch of canvas. The modern level of technical musicianship is absolutely incredible (look at thrash metal drummers) but most are often missing this intangible ingredient. Space.

This is perhaps the greatest example

https://youtu.be/e9BLw4W5KU8

I completely agree with this and it’s the reason I am so supportive of the live music we host and subsequently get to experience.
Those qualities are still out there, live and well but you have to find them. Once you do though, it’s a revelation.
We record our shows, with consent, and those live recordings properly mixed, often far exceed the album versions for enjoyment. You get to the heart of the music and the energy of the event.

Here is an example of what I mean. Also where else are you going to find Carter Sampson and BJ Baartmans playing together but at live shows.

P.S. BJ now plays with Mathews Southern Comfort and he is a genius on guitar… less is more

I’ll give you folks a “decline in cultural significance” of music, but “decline in musicianship” I’d feel is inaccurate on top of being reactionary.

There’s some awesome stuff being done with electronics (people like Nicolas Jaar and Nils Frahm come to mind, so does Carsten Nicolaï, and so do many others), there’s rather good rock (Radiohead anyone ? Muse ? Mogwai ? Jack White ? Grohl and the Foos ?), historical knowledge has progressed quite a bit when it comes to classical (Ton Koopman, Gardiner…), technique is not only progressing thanks to youtube, but so is the spread of music: yes, there was serious major investment behind her, but you still had a 16 year old from New Zealand top the charts in a dozen countries a few years ago. To top that off, because shows have become so vital to the business, the quality of production there has gone up quite a bit.

Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to go see Bowie and Mercury and Pink Floyd and Led Zep and Cobain and Morrison and The Beatles. I’d love to live in a world where all the greats are alive, and at their peak. I tear up a little bit when I hear stuff from when I was younger, and that I know I’ll never hear live again. I also don’t think it’s healthy to live in the past, and demand of the people performing now that they be all the greats put together. Florence Welch puts on a hell of a show - go see her. Go see Muse if you want histrionics, they’re pretty awesome live, much better than U2’s been in years. Classical ? No, we don’t have Menuhin anymore, but no matter how great he was (and he truly was great), he probably was no Michael Rabin and no Heifetz, and we still have Schlomo Mintz, Christian Tetzlaff is in his prime, and so on, and so forth. The wheel turns. The world changes. And other than enjoy it, and try to make sure there’s something left to pass onto the next generation there isn’t much we can do about it.

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Not really. dCS created their own filters for MQA.