Apple, in rolling out OS 11, may be the beginning of the end for MQA

Al M.

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MQA New Release: Discover newly remastered version of Linda Ronstadt’s ground-breaking + Grammy Award-winning album Simple Dreams now on TIDAL Masters

From an Audiogon discussion on a Ronstadt song from another album, "What's New",

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/mqa-dac-or-not

Some of Tidal’s MQA versions are sonic stinkers, IME. I listened to the Tidal MQA version of Linda Ronstadt’s "What’s New" last night. Oh my, the glare on her voice. The non-vocal sound of the MQA mastering is very nice indeed. I then listened to the ordinary non-MQA Tidal version and Linda’s voice was much more pleasing to my ears. This title has been one of my long-time references for detecting glare and brightness with equipment/cables. The MQA version sounds like when the VTA on my tonearm is adjusted "too high" with the vinyl version.

I am tending to agree with some others, even those with full unfolding capability, that the superiority of Tidal MQA depends on the title and the quality of the remastering, but could it be that full unfolding somehow tames these gremlins and, if so, is it sufficient to warrant investing in MQA-capable equipment?

That person does not have equipment to fully unfold MQA, another one apparantly does, but agrees:

I can definitely concur about the song "what's new" by Linda Ronstadt,the vocals on the mqa version do have such a unpleasant glare but the music is ok.The regular non mqa version of this song is fine.

My direct stream does unfold mqa,but I'm a fairly new Tidal user and still discovering.

A fun comment from earlier in the discussion:

"MQA may be DOA"
 

spiritofmusic

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A fascinating irony
The majority, maybe even all, Apple streamed IPhone, and in car MP3, consumers of music, don't really care about the things we audiophiles care about, and now there is a "format" meant to bring "impvd" sound to the masses, that might not be an impvt, to the 99% who are not even remotely bothered by "impvd" SQ
The joke is not lost on me
 

BruceD

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A fun comment from earlier in the discussion:

"MQA may be DOA"


Maybe too early to write the requiem

I see DCS will launch their new Vivaldi One CD/SACD player with MQA Ready on Sept 29th in Norwich UK.

Do they know something we don't?--Interesting :)

Lets see what reports evolve

BruceD
 

Al M.

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Maybe too early to write the requiem

I see DCS will launch their new Vivaldi One CD/SACD player with MQA Ready on Sept 29th in Norwich UK.

Do they know something we don't?--Interesting :)

Yes, they know they have FOMO (fear of missing out).

They panic that all those crazed audiophiles will stop buying their gear of they don't support the latest and greatest 'unicorn' format.

There have been more discussions on the web about MQA than titles available ;)
 

rbbert

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I am of the belief by looking at all the available information, that the effect of the two MQA unfolds can be accomplished via software with any file. The MQA from start to finish is unnecessary, unless of course, there are other rationales behind the whole thing.

HDCD was "hacked", in 2003 I think (maybe later), and now anyone can software decode HDCD. Don't you think this would happen with MQA if Meridian allowed a full software decode?
 

microstrip

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Al M.

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Al M.

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DaveyF

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HDCD was "hacked", in 2003 I think (maybe later), and now anyone can software decode HDCD. Don't you think this would happen with MQA if Meridian allowed a full software decode?

Here's the thing of it, HDCD works great! It too may have been dismissed at the time as not worthy, but I can assure you, in my system it sounds way superior to the standard 16/44 disc. The distribution method seemed to have some similarity to the current MQA
plan.
 

KeithR

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Now it gets really silly. Did you read my previous post?

sure did - since we both can cherry pick, this is two posts up from your Ronstadt post:

"So far, I'm leaning toward liking MQA. I have a streamer/dac that does the MQA thing and so far results have been pretty good. What I have been listening to is the MQA on Tidal. And a lot of it sounds very good. Could these be nothing more than very good recordings or is MQA working its (subjective) magic? Time will tell. I for one, hope its the real deal as my results have been very encouraging to say the least."
 

Al M.

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sure did - since we both can cherry pick, this is two posts up from your Ronstadt post:

"So far, I'm leaning toward liking MQA. I have a streamer/dac that does the MQA thing and so far results have been pretty good. What I have been listening to is the MQA on Tidal. And a lot of it sounds very good. Could these be nothing more than very good recordings or is MQA working its (subjective) magic? Time will tell. I for one, hope its the real deal as my results have been very encouraging to say the least."

I was specifically reacting to a post about a Linda Ronstadt MQA release. Get it?
 

KeithR

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I was specifically reacting to a post about a Linda Ronstadt MQA release. Get it?

No you weren't - you even quoted "MQA is DOA" at the end of your post.

Like I said, agenda-driven. Some of us have open minds and ears - you're too lazy to even go hear what its about.
 

microstrip

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If you are so interested in names, didn't I provide a link??

What for? I does not add nothing to the debate.

But my question was on your purpose. The kind of music we both listen mainly will not be affected by MQA, we do not have experience with it in proper conditions. BTW, my interest is mainly because I was told that will get MQA very soon and the DCS people considered that it was worth implementing it. Will it be a nice surprise or a delusion? Only time will tell. And yes, it is mainly audiophile curiosity ...
 

Al M.

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Here's the thing of it, HDCD works great! It too may have been dismissed at the time as not worthy, but I can assure you, in my system it sounds way superior to the standard 16/44 disc. The distribution method seemed to have some similarity to the current MQA
plan.

The one HDCD that I like to listen to on my system and which sounded phenomenal on the Berkeley DAC, is the Janaki String Trio on Yarlung Records. I was afraid that the Yggy would render a sonically inferior version of it, but decoding it as just Redbook CD it extracts a sound that is just as good (timbral balance and resolution) as with the Berkeley DAC that decodes it as HDCD.

When several of the Boston group heard the full Vivaldi stack at Goodwin's, we had been extremely impressed by the rendition of the orchestral Reference Recordings discs (among others, those triangles!). I thought maybe this is due to them being HDCDs. Only later I discovered that the Vivaldi does not decode HDCD, but also reads the discs as Redbook format.
 

Al M.

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still-one

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Maybe too early to write the requiem

I see DCS will launch their new Vivaldi One CD/SACD player with MQA Ready on Sept 29th in Norwich UK.

Do they know something we don't?--Interesting :)

Lets see what reports evolve

BruceD

There is also a launch event for the Vivaldi One next Thursday the 28th at Paragon in Ann Arbor.
 

Al M.

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To follow up on my post above regarding the Vivaldi stack and Reference Recordings, see here for a similar experience (incl. triangle):

https://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-and-dcs-shine-music-lovers-sf

When I entered the room, Quick was playing a track from Reference Recordings' recent jazz release, Playing with Fire. The bass was tremendous, the sound of the triangle vibrating in space as close to the sound of the real thing as I've ever heard, and the color saturation of instruments so rich and full that I just wanted to wrap my arms and leashes around it and drag it back with me to our casa in East Oakland's barrio.

Being familiar with dCS gear, I immediately asked if John was upsampling to DSD. When he replied, "No, you are hearing straight 16/44.1 PCM without upsampling," I was stunned that Red Book CD (without HDCD decoding) could sound so good.
 

Lagonda

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The one HDCD that I like to listen to on my system and which sounded phenomenal on the Berkeley DAC, is the Janaki String Trio on Yarlung Records. I was afraid that the Yggy would render a sonically inferior version of it, but decoding it as just Redbook CD it extracts a sound that is just as good (timbral balance and resolution) as with the Berkeley DAC that decodes it as HDCD.

When several of the Boston group heard the full Vivaldi stack at Goodwin's, we had been extremely impressed by the rendition of the orchestral Reference Recordings discs (among others, those triangles!). I thought maybe this is due to them being HDCDs. Only later I discovered that the Vivaldi does not decode HDCD, but also reads the discs as Redbook format.

The converters used in studios to down - dither from high Rez to 16/44.1 / HDCD are much better than average studio gear, Pacific Microsonics converters are great sounding. Even the "regular " 16/44.1 version sounds good.
 

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