On an interview, Bob Stuart talked about the cost of data rates for mobile, and while some people might not worry about that, he said that for a hypothetical guy in Japan, the cost was a big deal. First, let's set aside that data rates are constantly rising, while competition increases and cost for a given data rate drops. While the amount of data to be stream remains constant for a given format. In other words, any such issue with the guy in Japan would be maybe a year away from being irrelevant.
Even without that, he was basically saying that we needed to turn audio production, players, licensing and oversight, to a private entity. Because, apparently, it's too sad that the guy in Japan can only afford 16-bit 44.1k streaming, yet wants something closer to 24-bit 96k...
while listening on a mobile device
(and realistically, probably on earbuds while on a subway train).
Once you realize what an incredibly bad argument there is for the marginal compression aspect, you have to wonder why not just stream 24-bit 96k, if that's perceived to be better than 44.1k. So, the next argument must be that it's better than linear PCM, and in particular better than 24/96. The problem there was that all the available material (AFAIK) was transcoded from existing linear PCM. So, if MQA had a magic sauce that made linear PCM better, why not just build
that technology in a player, and skip streaming MQA? Well, less money for MQA. Now, I realize that the full MQA experience would be more end to end—including content production. But, they never argued "we admit it doesn't do much now, but some day, just you wait!" The bottom line is that even if it isn't outright snake oil, they certainly made poor arguments why we needed that level of intrusion from a licensing entity. And they never offered scientific proof that it was a noticeable improvement, much less one that was worth the level of intrusion and the cost over time.
I never thought it had much of a chance, but it was still comforting to read of its demise this morning.
MQA reminded me of those videos promoting Pono, where professional musicians sat in Neil Young's car, then exited claiming it was the best audio experience they'd ever heard in their lives. People who record in the most expensive studios in the world.