MQA Discussion

[James Tanner - Bryston]

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/7c470...kzSULV9hmCUWFY

[gbaby]

I wonder what kind of sound one would get if sonic holography was applied to a regular 96/24 file? Also, I wonder what MQA would do to a surround codec like Dolby Pro Logic Iix or Bryston' proprietary codec, the Stereo7 7.1? Regardless, I say MQA, hey hey, no way.

[Audioraven]

...and the MQA hate continues. Bob Carver's musings do not sway my opinions. After all, he thought his Apogee ripoff Amazing Loudspeakers were awesome (they were mediocre). Apogee's were waaayyy better. I'll remain open-minded about MQA unless I hear a sonic demonstration that proves it's garbage.

[moonhawk]

To my knowledge, Tidal is charging me the same they always did, and I'm getting all the MQA masters files.

[Formerly YB-2]

The scary part is MQA may 'win' in being forced on us. If it were clearly better than why all the licensing agreements? It would simply win by choice in the free-market. The possibility of having MQA forced on me in the future doesn't sit well.

[moonhawk]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

The scary part is MQA may 'win' in being forced on us. If it were clearly better than why all the licensing agreements? It would simply win by choice in the free-market. The possibility of having MQA forced on me in the future doesn't sit well.

Well, I can't disagree with that.

[moonhawk]

I wonder why the null test showed no difference if indeed MQA reduces a 24 bit file to a 13 bit file.

[Audioraven]

Originally Posted by moonhawk

I wonder why the null test showed no difference if indeed MQA reduces a 24 bit file to a 13 bit file.

An excellent question!

[moonhawk]

Originally Posted by Audioraven

An excellent question!

Here's another one: If the two files sound identical, isn't MQA doing at least a part of what it claims, by making a hi-res file into a more compact "streamable" form?

That's really the issue for me. Where I live the bandwidth is just not there, so if MQA can make hi-res files streamable on less than 10 MBPS, I'm not going to quibble about the numbers.

[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by moonhawk

I wonder why the null test showed no difference if indeed MQA reduces a 24 bit file to a 13 bit file.

Good question.
I read the article. Bob Carver is an opinionated fellow!

The -70dB observed null is consistent with 13 bits of dynamic range information.
Each bit adds 6 dB of dynamic range; 13 bits is 78 dB.
So the null shows that (at least) 12 bits are identical - in the files they chose to test.
So, this reported null is partial information (about 12-13 bits of information....)