Obviousl MQA had no right to lie.
It wasn't just a lie. It was fraud through and through and not just Stuart fulfilling his childhood dream, but everybody associated with MQA and its promotion inclduing a couple of record labels and of course a couple of wholesale sell-out editors-in-chief. And from what I hear the fraudulent venture ain't dead yet.
I refer to the opinion of how it sounds. Many are of the opinion that it sounds like lossless. That may be true and based on fact. I have heard good mp3.
I too was referring to those who opined about MQA's sound. Make no mistake, if our collective listening skills were a bit more up to speed as we pretend them to be, the MQA idea probably never would have been conceived or at least never made it past the drawing board. IMO, anyway. IOW, I'd venture it was our naivete that provided the furtile soil for others to take advantage.
Bear in mind that it was not the high-end audio sonic performance-oriented enthusiasts who took the wind out of MQA's sails. We failed misereably and many of us even embraced MQA as superior. Rather, it was the science-minded, even the pseudo-science-minded measurement types that dove into the bowels of MQA and came back saying MQA was full of crap. All the while the supposedly performance-oriented music loving types were begging manufacturers to add MQA to their list of compatible formats. From my list of limited sources, many manufacturers wanted nothing to do with MQA because they were already convinced it was inferior. But it was either give the masses the MQA they were crying for or risk going out of business. So many mfg'ers caved.
There was a time when the Federal Trade Commission had teeth. They would have sanctioned such behavior.
There was a time when such types would have been prosecuted and incarcerated. But these are days of lawlessness and getting worse. Remember, this was no nickel and dime slight of hand. We're talking the entire music industry globallly is what they were seeking to monopolize. Ultimately, we're talking potentially Bernie Madoff type of amounts.
Regardless, we are to blame for this fiasco. For allowing ourselves to be such easy prey by not doing our homework or performing due diligence. Except maybe talk a big game.