MQA Discussion

[nfreemer]

Originally Posted by James Tanner - Bryston

Hi

We contacted MQA a few months ago and at this point it looks like a software change - its just a filter like Tidal is using and also ROON is saying they may implement it in their software as well which means anyone with our BDP can use these programs to listen to MQA.

But as I said before MQA to be fully valid has to be implimented at the Mastering end (recording studios have to switch over) as well as the playback end. The filter at the playback end is a half-way point.

james

James

It is my understanding Tidal played through the BDP-2 applications will not show Masters albums. Is this correct? I am a BDP-2 owner and cannot see those "Masters" in the app. Yes I am A Hi Fi subscriber. By the way, Tidal does sound quite good using the BDP-2 and I would welcome MQA if it really takes it to the next level.

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Originally Posted by nfreemer

James

It is my understanding Tidal played through the BDP-2 applications will not show Masters albums. Is this correct? I am a BDP-2 owner and cannot see those "Masters" in the app. Yes I am A Hi Fi subscriber. By the way, Tidal does sound quite good using the BDP-2 and I would welcome MQA if it really takes it to the next level.

HI

Correct - currently Master is only available on a Windows or MAC operating system. We hope Linux is next.

james

[nfreemer]

Thanks for confirming.

[doggiehowser]

Originally Posted by James Tanner - Bryston

HI

Correct - currently Master is only available on a Windows or MAC operating system. We hope Linux is next.

james

BlueSound and Roon are working on their own software solution to play MQA.

[trponhunter]

blue sound has mqa as of today

[audio bill]

True that Bluesound products already support MQA certified decoding. He may be referring to them modifying their software to be able to identify and allow selection of MQA files directly, rather than having to mark them as favorites on the Tidal desktop app listed under Masters.

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by audio bill

True that Bluesound products already support MQA certified decoding. He may be referring to them modifying their software to be able to identify and allow selection of MQA files directly, rather than having to mark them as favorites on the Tidal desktop app listed under Masters.

There is work to do on Tidal's end too. There are currently an additional ~1000 MQA titles on Tidal that are not listed under Masters. Some of these are region specific too.

[audio bill]

Originally Posted by Still-One

There is work to do on Tidal's end too. There are currently and an additional ~1000 MQA titles on Tidal that are not listed under Masters. Some of these are region specific too.

Agreed entirely! Tidal needs to make the MQA albums searchable, as well as adding a visual indicator to their album art to clearly identify MQA albums.

[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by Mike-48

There are a few things that I (and others) find objectionable about MQA, no matter if it might sound a little better on some material.

- MQA is a proprietary codec with licensing fees to one organization
- No real controlled trials with same mastering, etc.
- No openly published explanation of *exactly* what it does
- It seems a parallel to HDCD, which by now is very difficult, if not impossible, to decode for most people. Do we really need another codec that may be discontinued?
- MQA provides no possibility to get a fully decoded digital stream for DSP before DAC.


I can see why streaming companies like it. But for those who want to build a music library, it's full of pitfalls.

+1. Good post

Out of technical curiosity, I read through the various hardware and filtering patent applications, various (seemingly all subjective) reviews, Benchmark's objections to MQA, and the nice measurement piece by Archimago Musing's (cited earlier in this thread).

I agree with the above as well as James Tanner - stick with the native format, at least for the home digital library. I get the streaming idea, but it seems like a lot of overhead.

[morfeeus]

Isn't MQA really about capturing the original studio recording, heard by the producer/artist intended for their final product.

Before being subjected to the "mastering stage", which has brought us all the issues we so hated about the cd/digital age. Being corrupted, deblurred, or smeared through bad timing issues, created from the quality of each studio utilizing various digital processing components, dictating how bad the consumer end product or recordings that we've heard.

That being. MQA will understandably be bringing the truth corrected , for an original recording being exceptionally good or not.

Depending on an end users playback system, the more fidelity capabilities, the more studio nuances in detail will be heard. Much more than ever before. Beyond DSD and 24 bit presently.