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MQA files for bankruptcy protection

Discussion in 'Music and Recordings' started by elwappo99, Apr 7, 2023.

?

Will you hold onto your unobtanium MQA gear once MQA is discontinued?

  1. Yes, in time people will appreciate the brilliance of MQA

    10 vote(s)
    11.0%

  2. No, hifi audio peaked at the 1920s Victrola

    81 vote(s)
    89.0%
Page 2 of 7
  1. Yethal

    Yethal Facebook Friend

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    Let us not forget the initial marketing claims of correcting for imperfections of the recording chain which magically vanished from their website once Tidal started batch processing existing files to MQA.
     
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    Yethal, Apr 8, 2023
    #21
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    7hh45t.gif
     
    purr1n, Apr 8, 2023
    #22
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    And for MQA to be "unfolded" "correctly", forced minimize phase filter on the DAC*. Bob Stuart, as they say in the UK, is a wanker. If he were truly smart, he would have developed an adaptive codec for Bluetooth and wireless, instead of trying to insert a proprietary codec for streaming. This is like those programmers who insert code to steal fractions of a cent from every bank transaction. Pretty damn evil considering that MQA does lossy compression at barely higher compression ratios compared to FLAC.

    *And the false arguments with pre-ringing being bad, minimum phase keeping the signal more intact, and other techo-babble bullshit etc. https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...d-post-effin-ringing-and-shit-like-that.2627/
     
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    Last edited: Apr 8, 2023
    purr1n, Apr 8, 2023
    #23
  4. imackler

    imackler Key Lime Pie Infected Aberdeen Wings Spy

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    I'm surprised that the poll was not a 100% Yes Vote. Like this comment, I thought the poll was sarcastic.
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2023
    imackler, Apr 8, 2023
    #24
  5. Empyah

    Empyah Facebook Friend

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    The votes could be sarcastic too.

    But it is nice to see that people CAN change the world for the better and be a good influence against greed driven evil. Kudos GoldenOne and Team SBAF! :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2023
    Empyah, Apr 8, 2023
    #25
  6. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    And MQA goes bankrupt? ? ? ?:(

    But seriously, I think that a lot of people, without sufficient technical knowledge but some interest in audio, were turned off by a fundamental dishonesty and almost coercive nature of the MQA business model. But I think that overall their impact was seriously detrimental. Roon, for example, wasted thousands of development hours that could be spent on improving their product.
     
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    wormcycle, Apr 8, 2023
    #26
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Many others too. Fear of missing out. Manufacturers listening too much to their customers via polls or anecdotes: "I want MQA" or "MQA is a necessity". I wish more would have more sense or experience like Jason who has worked in marketing and advertising. Sometimes customers don't know what they really want - and it's important to stick with your guns. The thing is that we've all seen this before: DSD, SACD, HDVD, HDCD, Betamax, etc.

    Anyway, I'm loving it. Willing to beat this dead horse even more.
     
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    purr1n, Apr 8, 2023
    #27
  8. rfernand

    rfernand Almost "Made"

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    More Roon! (and Apple Music opening its APIs so Roon can manage our subscription there!)
     
    rfernand, Apr 8, 2023
    #28
  9. Yethal

    Yethal Facebook Friend

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    Paul McGowan of PS Audio in one of his videos said the only reason he added MQA support to his products was because the customers demanded it as the next thing on the buzzword checklist
     
    Yethal, Apr 8, 2023
    #29
  10. roshambo123

    roshambo123 Friend

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    I use Tidal but stopped using ther MQA tier awhile ago.

    I am not sure of the number of people who would quit Tidal over the loss of MQA, especially if they provided a premium tier of high quality in its place.
     
    roshambo123, Apr 8, 2023
    #30
  11. Xen

    Xen Friend

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    Na-na-na, Na-na-na hey hey hey goodbye!

    Good riddance
     
    Xen, Apr 8, 2023
    #31
  12. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Couldn't we have a sensible, balanced, poll? eg...

    1. MQA was always nonsense

    2. MQA is still bullshit

    3. f**k off MQA

    4. Bye Bye Bob


    Meridian Audio still exists, so he has something else to do. I know nothing about it other than, when I last looked (20 years) it was a niche, high-price Brit hifi brand, with a sound some thought was good and others didn't.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2023
    Thad E Ginathom, Apr 9, 2023
    #32
  13. Richard Pena

    Richard Pena New

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    Not a fan of MQA, but if they can contribute to higher quality lossy Bluetooth, I welcome their efforts in doing so, otherwise, I'll keep enjoying lossless FLAC files with no fancy folding and origami truth-bending.

    Their greatest failure was in their lying to the audio community. To me, they are the MFSL of the digital world.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 9, 2023
    Richard Pena, Apr 9, 2023
    #33
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    There is nothing of substance there either at Achimago's blog, it's just pundit stuff, maybe worded better than here. With respect to MQair or SCL6, I already gave my two-cents? If there is already LDAC and aptX adaptive, what's the point of MQair - especially since MQA is out of money.

    What thoughtful forum discussion can we or anyone else actually have? Anything anybody says would be like what Roy Kent said in that Ted Lasso show when Roy had a temporary gig as a football commentator: We just don't f'ing know. We are just a bunch of f'ing assholes looking at it from a f'ing distance. We're not on the f'ing field, near the players, etc.



    The only way to have a thoughtful discussion would be from people on the inside, the UK bankruptcy admins, the creditors, Tidal, etc. On the end user device end, I bet the likes of Topping and iFi are probably cheering because they don't have to support this shit anymore, shit that their customers supposedly "needed".

    Tell you what, let's set up two kickstarter campaigns:
    1. Buy MQA assets "featuring tech from a bankrupt company" and shut it all down.
    2. Buy MQA assets "featuring tech from a bankrupt company" and restart.
    ^ This will provide for way way more thoughtful discussion about the MQA bankruptcy.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 10, 2023
    purr1n, Apr 10, 2023
    #34
  15. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    It’s just a big indicator of the market trends. Because we all know the big companies pay for the MQA licensing g and if it is not moving the needle and costing more, ditch it.

    I’m sure we’d all like to say it is crap and sounds like crap and that’s why it is failing, but it’s more about perceived value in the marketplace.

    It’s still crap.
     
    Azimuth, Apr 10, 2023
    #35
  16. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    As some might have noticed, I'm slightly confused between administration and receivership in British company goings on. Receivership is worse. But Administration is no cause for celebration. If they had a buyer for either the company or the assets this is not what they would be doing.

    (yes: no, IANAL. Nor am I an accountant. Just British)
     
    Thad E Ginathom, Apr 11, 2023
    #36
  17. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    Good riddance. It will become forgotten like HDCD or DAT, as Schiit wisely said.

    Hope this glorified mp3 never comes back.
     
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    9suns, Apr 11, 2023
    #37
  18. netforce

    netforce MOT: Headphones.com

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    Some news from a Reddit AMA with the CEO of Tidal, he mentioned they are introducing hi-res FLAC for HiFi Plus subs so looks like Tidal is as well moving on from MQA:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/TIdaL/comments/12hr68f/ama_w_jesse_tidal/jfuo1ng/

    Thought if anyone was likely to buyout MQA at least for parts it would have been Tidal but seems like they as well don't want to touch it.
     
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    netforce, Apr 11, 2023
    #38
  19. Beefy

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    Outstanding. That might convince me to jump up to the HiFi Plus tier. I was certainly never going to do it for MQA......
     
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    Beefy, Apr 11, 2023
    #39
  20. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    This is literally music to my ears, since Qobuz not available in Canada and Roon doesn’t support anything else natively. Will be great if Tidal switches to hi-res FLAC, or even just unadulterated 16/44 FLAC.
     
    rlow, Apr 11, 2023
    #40
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