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Worse than that: If it's really like entropy -- then it must always increase, eh?Cynicism is like entropy. It can never be reduced, only redistributed.
In total, yes, but not necessarily uniformly.Worse than that: If it's really like entropy -- then it must always increase, eh?
This is from page 2 of Keith Howard's 2006 article in Stereophile in your link. It showed a complete misunderstanding on the sampling theory (i.e. how band-limiting works). Try band-limit an impulse to 22.05 kHz, and look at it in an oscilloscope. (Or look at the impulse response of an anti-alias filter.) When sampled, it will not give you only one single pulse. When you have only one single pulse in the digital samples, it means and it is the sinc waveform.
"Quality" is a subjective thing. And application is clearly music, not test signals.
Wait, what? What is the point of this site again? Because I sure as hell thought it was objective measurement of the quality of audio equipment to weed out snakeoil in the audio industry. Should I just go start reading $2000 power cable reviews if subjectivity is what matters, not objective measurements of marketing claims? Because that is the exact line that power cable selling scam artists use to justify their products
Quality' is...
For formally-trained engineers, “quality“ is a set of metrics capturing how a product meets its requirements. Like in “quality control” or “quality assurance”. And those metrics can be, eg, performance, reliability or longevity; but they are always tied to a set of predefined, pre-agreed (!) “requirements”.
Thank you for answering, interesting. I'm using 'lowpass filters' to leave aside those judgments, a bit premature before clearing some issues first.It is true that filter implementations measure differently in the audible band.
The answer is to master in HD-Audio, high bitrate and bit-depth. Then optionally deliver at 44.1.
If HD-Audio sound better leave it alone.
Don't lower the sample rate, lower the dynamic range, apply a poor digital filter, and turn on a little blue light.
Many audiophiles chose different filters, SOX and such, who is MQA to limit this choice, especially, when their filter measures poorly.
Slow filters are not phase coherent so it is a bit rich to force the very problem, MQA proports to fix.
I am sorry, there is sufficient evidence that conclude, the MQA is predatory and lies to make money.
Pointing to other truths does not lend veracity to their huckstering.
If Audiophiles are access to both an MQA (down-sampled master) and the actual HD-Audio master, which one would they chose?
For an answer, I went to HDTracks, I found 3 tracks that seem to be samples.
This sometimes offers multiple resolutions and different price points, but for some reason MQA is not one.
- Rich
MQA may start with an digital HD master and serious people are not buying their improvement.- Masters in HD-audio. That's right, I agree, and I understand that's exactly what they do when processing historical analog masters. When original masters are already in digital HD, MQA does a different process (although they say better results are achieved from analog).
This is mostly false. A LPCM of FLAC lossless file has a sample rate.- They don't lower the sample rate, they just package it with (only the) significant information captured at oversampling stored under the noise floor of the first 44 or 48K (that's why by definition a orthodox "lossyness" test is flawed, since it is trying to compare pears with apples: two completely different noise-floor bands, among other things). When you unfold the file, you restore that higher sample rate. Generally 96K o to 192K, I've been listening some of 352K.
- About lowering the dynamic range: in fact they use something that resemble (or perhaps is) a variable bit depth of progressive lower bitrate the higher the frequency. I tried to explain the reason in previous posts: at higher frequencies music has much lower amplitudes (Meridian shows this in sets of statistic analysis of real music, although the same could be inferred from the amplitude patterns of harmonics of every instrument). If you still use 24bit there, you are wasting storage space (that space is instead used for the folds mentioned before) . The fact that the square wave test of GoldenEar shows those big ripples anomalities confirm this reduced bitdepth in highs almost to perfection; otherwise, the only other possible explanation would be a disastrous frequency response, that I doubt any professional audio engineer would do.
Unless, of course, your signal is full of white noise, square waves, etc, that, with very few exceptions, has no resemblance with real music which was the initial premise. Again, two other reasons why those tests are flawed: a) not intended (at least in the automated process for file uploads that GoldenEar used -surely studio processing is more sophisticated-) to process information outside the threshold of music; b) that space (probably void in PCM) is instead replaced with info from upper folds that were not in the same place in the input file. No way, then, you can match the input and output trying to find "losslessness" in them.
- Why an MQA instead of a plain HD audio file? Because the first one is compact enough to be streamed easily (we may question if in 2021 this is still necessary, but that's another problem). And because MQA has processed the HD file for a much better impulse response. John Atkinson has just posted a link of a Stereophile article about this. There are some other explanations about the differences of a MQA file and a plain HD file of the same sampling that can be found in MQA papers and articles, but I don't understand them well enough to talk about.
Clearly mostly false, since multi-track recordings may not be using the same encoding.Efficient modern coding with a clearer sound than normal digital using matching deblur technology in the encoder and decoder.
I'd hate to fill my landfills with wasted data. There are cases where 44.1/16 have been MQA encoded creating wrong-sized data.The ability to transmit the full gamut of high-resolution sound with no wastage of data, that is, in a smaller right-sized stream.
This is a key feature? I am not sure this is even a coherent statement.A flexible and consumer-friendly ‘last mile’ architecture for listening at home or on the go.
Neil Young does not agree. He demanded that Tidal remove his work precisely because they had altered his masters.Authentication – an MQA light or indicator to confirm that the listener has the exact result intended; that the audio had not been modified on the journey to the listener.
This little blue light indicated that up to 70% of the file is intact.Provenance – the additional Blue light indicator is very helpful for artists, engineers and labels to confirm that the sound uses the highest quality source available.
DMS (from Abyss headphones) seems to imply that Amir has changed his tune on this topic because the MQA bashing negatively impacts the companies that (allegedly) pay him.
sore behinds from getting their poorly measuring headphones measured well.DMS (from Abyss headphones) seems to imply that Amir has changed his tune on this topic because the MQA bashing negatively impacts the companies that (allegedly) pay him.
DMS (from Abyss headphones) seems to imply that Amir has changed his tune on this topic because the MQA bashing negatively impacts the companies that (allegedly) pay him.
I liked satellite radio when I'm on the road,didn't have to look for stations every 30 miles,just set it and forget it.