RMAF 2017 Impressions

Discussion in 'The Meeting Place' started by Scott Kramer, Oct 6, 2017.

  1. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    Yes, you are missing that there is an exponential opportunity for profit. ;)
     
  2. monacelli

    monacelli Friend

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    Based on my experience listening to MQA content in Tidal, I think this is spot on. The lossy compression technology is basically worthless in my view. So the key "innovation" that remains is non-shitty digital mastering. I'm all for that, and have no idea how the music industry has gone so far afield in this area. But should listeners and manufacturers be beholden to MQA/Meridian for the privilege of decoding/listening to non-shitty masters? No, that's effectively DRM. These twats are trying to create the audio equivalent of the Juicero.

    Aside: If you're a Tidal subscriber, pull up Ry Cooder's album "A Meeting By The River" (non-MQA). It was recorded using Tim de Paravinci gear and sounds incredible.
     
  3. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    I already have hi res versions on all the GD albums. I just wanted to hear something in MQA format.

    Guys, Thad suggested "even if it gives some benefit". The value proposition is higher res at redbook sized files. If MQA can provide a better sound than redbook with the same file size then there is likely a market for that. I'm not saying it does; I'm just saying what it proports to do.

    None of us believe marketing bullshit, so I wanted to try for myself. I downloaded the album and listened and it sound fine. No odd artifacts, but nothing special. I'm also not a big fan of hi res in general as redbook is perfectly fine for me. I just wanted to play. I just have a Bifrost Multibit DAC, so the decoding was software. My conclusion is Meh.

    As for the little bit of hyperbole in my previous comment? Well there has NEVER been hyperbole here or anywhere else on the internet! :)

    If anyone want to try a file, let me know in a PM and we can work it out. I don't think we need to bash MQA here anymore. We all agree the format has not been proven to add any value.
     
  4. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    I thought... what next, audiophool cables? Funny, continued reading...
    Yeah.
     
  5. nithhoggr

    nithhoggr Author of the best selling novel Digital Jesus

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    Storage is only going to keep getting cheaper and more plentiful, and internet faster and more reliable. There was a time when keeping a library of 16/44.1 FLAC was an expensive and unwieldy undertaking...nowadays, it's mostly a non-issue, even in portables. Really, the only application I see for MQA right now is streaming hi-res content (which is indeed probably its most popular use, with Tidal and all), but even then it's only a matter of time before hi-res FLAC streaming becomes practical. MQA just seems like it's really reinventing the wheel for really marginal benefits to consumers.
     
  6. ThePianoMan

    ThePianoMan Facebook Friend

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    oof ouch owie, my files


    In all seriousness, go read the patent for MQA. You ok with remote shut off, or forced updates or the other crazy stuff (yes really) Meridian is allowed to force onto MQA hardware?

    And if that doesn't bother you, I happen to know a major independent studio who was 'offered MQA' masters of their archives, and the process was pretty much the biggest violation of their studio you can imagine.

    It's not just us MQA effects - in fact we're actually not the ones who stand to lose a whole lot at all. Manufacturers and studios? They have good reason to hate (or love) MQA.

    Funny thing, the owner of the studio (which does mostly hip hop and soul music) mentioned that he tried making a few moe audiophile masters, so many people complained that they werent mastered and mixed like typical crappy hip-hop (insanely boosted low mids, 6khz and 10khz) that he doesnt even bother with it any more (gotta keep the lights on, and unfortunately, in most genres, audiophile friendly mixes/masters don't sell)
     
  7. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    I think that (maybe not you) people forget that FLAC is compressed. No, not lossy, but compressed, as in a whole heap smaller than WAV files.

    I think JJ, one of the pioneers of MP3, said something to the effect that the transparency or otherwise of high-bit-rate lossy MP3 files was not even an issue any longer, because... FLAC.

    Anyway... RMAF. Something I'd love to go to if I was on that continent...


    PS EDIT: a dim brain cells seems to recall reading something about one of the other, more recent, free, audio-optimised compression algorithms having some some stuff built in for streaming. Could it have been OPUS?
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2017
  8. Tyll Hertsens

    Tyll Hertsens Grandpappy of the hobby - Special Friend

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    You guys will enjoy the screen shot frame selected for this video.



    For the record, I do enjoy interacting with Jude.
     
  9. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    I seem to remember listening to Tidal's MQA version of Talking Heads Remain in Light and it was not good.
     
  10. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Old man @jexby in the background probably forgot where he was at and got lost. :)
     
  11. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    LOL! Jude does not seem that enthusiastic about the trade show. Sort of jittery through out actually.

    Interesting, he did win all the good shit out of that Headwize contest.
     
  12. monacelli

    monacelli Friend

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    So much respect for how you started the conversation: "You've got this amazing measurement system now. [...] You, personally, are you having fun with it?"

    It's like George Carlin starting off a set by putting the offensive/uncomfortable stuff on the table immediately. Nice of Jude to give credit where credit is due later in the video.
     
  13. Metro

    Metro Friend

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    I confused here. I thought MQA is supposed to be a way to compress hi-res to lower res (and decode back to hi-res during playback). So, what does does it mean that a hi-res recording (FLAC 24-bit 192kHz) is MQA?
     
  14. AllanMarcus

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    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Quality_Authenticated
     
  15. Metro

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    That doesn't answer my question. Wikipedia says the end result of MQA encoding is 44 kHz data. "FLAC 24-bit 192kHz MQA" doesn't make sense to me — being hi-res, that would be before MQA encoding is applied, so how would a hi-res FLAC be described as MQA? It only makes sense to me if it was a 16/44 FLAC that was MQA encoded from a 24/192 master.
     
  16. Galm

    Galm Still looking for Little Red Riding Hood

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    It's worse. MQA basically compresses a say 192KHz file down and then brings it back up again when it's played. But it's lossy compression so some data is gone.

    Hence a native 24 bit 192KHz file is superior as the original data is all still there. The difference is it's larger.

    @AllanMarcus below. I wasn't trying say anything personal about MQA... I just stated what it was because he was still asking. May help other lurkers too. I'm also very tired of this.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2017
  17. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    "MQA-encoded content can be carried via any lossless file format such as FLAC or ALAC; hence, it can be played back on systems either with or without an MQA decoder. "
    For more information, find an MQA discussion thread.

    Look, I'm not a fan on MQA, but of course a lossless version is better. The point of MQA is that it's proports to be compression algorithm that offers significant compression and near original sound. As many have pointed out, that is probably only useful for the streaming use case.

    Man, can we stop talking about MQA now?
     
  18. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    Listened to this album tonight. Very nice! Seems like I've heard some other nicely recorded stuff from cooder.

    Re: Juicero - seems to be this trend I'm seeing for sponsored posts on Facebook: little known smaller company puts up ad for something fairly commonplace but touting its quality over comparative products and the price is obscene. Example: pretty standard looking pair of gym shorts for $60. My standard comment on these ads is, "Don't be the Juicero of gym shorts/shoes/etc."
     
  19. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    Whenever I see Jude wearing a backpack, he reminds me of a 6th grader on the first day of school waiting for the bus.
     
  20. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    Au contraire, I believe he knew exactly where he was. A cunning stunt.
     

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