MQA Sounds Really Good!

[somebodyelse]

How would one go about comparing the same master as you state? If I understand correctly (haven't cared enough to dive deep in the nuances of MQA) MQA in of itself is a remaster.

We can't because the encoding process is part of the secret sauce. We have to rely on someone with an investment in MQA to do it for us, and take it on trust that they haven't altered the mix. Something like the samples at 2l.no

 

[Mtbf]

You're comparing two different masterings, whether MQA is involved or not.

Of course. It ought to be a different mastering, since it’s called MQA, isn’t it? The rest is humbug.

https://www.xivero.com/de/hypothesi...per-technical-analysis-of-mqa-by-mqa-limited/
http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=6109
http://archimago.blogspot.com/2019/09/musings-democritization-doublethink-mqa.html

 

[Soniclife]

since I don't have an MQA HW decoder, and Roon does a half decoding / first unfold, it's half MQA?

No, it's 99.9% full MQA, the only thing you miss is their chosen upsampler.

 

[BillG]

MQA has always come across to me as a solution looking for a non-existent problem

The only explanation I've seen for the format that makes any sense is its supposed ability to delivery high resolution content in a smaller package than normal - that's useful for streaming as it reduces costs. "Supposed" being the keyword here as I've not investigated enough to know if that's true - I'm sure someone else, though...

 

[restorer-john]

Just tell me. What relevance does MQA have to this 1968 analog recording?

 

[watchnerd]

No, it's 99.9% full MQA, the only thing you miss is their chosen upsampler.

The last 0.1% being ultrasonic?

 

[scott wurcer]

"Supposed" being the keyword here as I've not investigated enough to know if that's true - I'm sure someone else, though...

My take is that the whole MQA thing is set up so any independent performance comparison is not possible, I thought science involved independently verifiable results I guess they don't subscribe.

 

[watchnerd]

Just tell me. What relevance does MQA have to this 1968 analog recording?

View attachment 36763

Don't blame me, man, I'm just the user, not the drug pusher....

 

[Mtbf]

I once saw an interview with the Finnish engineer that invented SMS messaging. He hadn’t bothered to protect his invention, but he admitted that the thought had crossed his mind more than once what it would have ment if he had protected his invention, and would have got for instance only 1c per SMS message. At that moment in time I think the number of SMS messages worldwide was 400 million per day, or something like that.

Bob must have seen that same interview, and must have thought: I can do better than that. And he did. And we all buy it.

 

[watchnerd]

Just tell me. What relevance does MQA have to this 1968 analog recording?

View attachment 36763

Also unclear is if they used the prior digital masters as the source (likely) or went all the way back to the analog masters (less likely, if they even still exist).

 

[watchnerd]

And we all buy it.

We do?

You must be new here.....

@Sal1950 walks around with anti-MQA slogans in his sig on everything he posts.

 

[watchnerd]

My take is that the whole MQA thing is set up so any independent performance comparison is not possible, I thought science involved independently verifiable results I guess they don't subscribe.

I think you can get access to all the necessary goodies if you sign their NDA and pay the licensing fee....

So you can do a comparison, you just can't talk about it.

 

[Soniclife]

The last 0.1% being ultrasonic?

The difference between your chosen upsample method, and their special one. It's the 24/96 unfolded version getting upsampled, so how confident that any chosen method is going to sound different?

 

[Soniclife]

Also unclear is if they used the prior digital masters as the source (likely) or went all the way back to the analog masters (less likely, if they even still exist).

If you cannot find boasting about going back to the original masters for this it didn't happen. Probably for the best, what state would those tapes be in now.

 

[Soniclife]

My take is that the whole MQA thing is set up so any independent performance comparison is not possible, I thought science involved independently verifiable results I guess they don't subscribe.

What's in it for them if they allowed independent testing? Beyond complete debunking of their story that is.

 

[Thomas savage]

We need to decriminalise the use of MQA..

 

[Mtbf]

We do?

You must be new here.....

Well, you bought it, didn’t you?

 

[Thomas savage]

We do?

You must be new here.....

@Sal1950 walks around with anti-MQA slogans in his sig on everything he posts.

Sal has commission special toilet paper, one sides got MQA written on it, the other side has a picture of Bob Stuart.. decisions decisions...

 

[restorer-john]

@Sal1950 walks around with anti-MQA slogans in his sig on everything he posts.

Good on him. I'd wear an Anti-MQA T-shirt.

 

[restorer-john]

Sal has commission special toilet paper, one sides got MQA written on it, the other side has a picture of Bob Stewart Stuart

It's recycled toilet paper- mulched up and repackaged as something new again. Trouble is, you just don't know where it's been and what happened to it before you got it.

No thanks.