MQA files for bankruptcy protection

I spy with my little eye a Linn-branded steaming service. “Tunes, eh?”

 

Like rats scurrying off a sinking ship, and into a lifeboat.

 

As a NAD/Bluesound fan (I actually have a NAD M66 on preorder for my TV/living room rig as it is one of the few products that meets all my wants there), this is troubling news. I imagine they will continue to keep MQA on life support so they can recoup their investment licensing out MQA. You could say maybe they are just interested in the SCL6 Bluetooth codec (fka MQAir) that is in the works, but with tidal dropping MQA slowly, they still need a streaming MQA source to pull it all together. Dark floated the theory of a Bluesound-branded MQA-based streaming service...nightmare stuff. https://darko.audio/2023/09/my-crazy-theory-about-why-lenbrook-bought-mqa/

 

I don't think that's nightmare stuff at all. I think that might be the best outcome here.

• MQA is phased out at Tidal. Only FLAC remains.
• MQA is exclusively available via NAD/Bluesound streaming service.
• Adoption and participation rates for that service will necessarily be lower because it is more niche.
• MQA compatibility in hardware is thus not as big of an issue for consumers, so it becomes less important for manufacturers.
• MQA lovers are happy because they have their specific service.
• MQA haters are happy because they don't have MQA shoved in their face by the original audiophile streaming service with a Roon integration.
• People who are both Roon lovers and MQA lovers are pissed because MQA is no longer available via a service with Roon integration. Then NAD/Bluesound and Roon announce their integration. Then people who are both Roon lovers and MQA lovers rejoice.

 

Very true, a good assessment that lowers my blood pressure over it a bit. As long as NAD/Bluesound keep Roon ready I guess what do I care. I just get on edge as I have a knack for choosing losing platforms (HD-DVD, Windows Phone, etc), and also feel MQA is an unnecessary abomination so worry about it becoming a cornerstone of a platform I am enjoying using in my daily life.

 

I hear you. This is partly why I've vowed to completely separate my digital equipment from the analog. No more combo DAC/amps for me (at least in the living room / TV system), and certainly nothing that is a streamer/DAC/amp. It's just a nightmare nowadays.

I got burned with my Oppo Blu-ray player. A decade ago it was perfect. I watched Netflix on it and listened to Tidal. Then I wanted Amazon Prime, which Oppo didn't offer. No problem, I used my cumbersome TV app for that on occasion. Then Oppo's blu-ray player division went under. Then the Oppo/Tidal integration broke. Then Netflix upgraded its service to offer frame rate matching, previews, and other features that were not supported by the still-functioning but very slow Oppo native Netflix app.

I finally broke down and got an AppleTV 4K and built a Pi2AES streamer and couldn't be happier. Let the digital stuff do digital stuff, and then invest in solid analog gear that you keep for years to decades (crossing my fingers). Not as convenient in the short-term, but way more convenient in the long-term I think.

 

As a Canadian...

 

I will admit, didn't have Lenbrook buying MQA on my list of possible outcomes with MQA. Wonder what the mindset was with this choice considering Tidal is replacing MQA on their service with FLAC. Is Lenbrook building a new stream service with MQA? Do the studios with MQA contracts transfer over to them along with the hardware makers?

MQA was losing money hand over fist and did they snag MQA on the cheap or something to make Lenbrook think this was a good deal for them. I have so many more questions now with this acquisition.

 

Maybe they acquired it cheap to gut for parts/resources/etc? dunno if there's even anything left of worth.

 

It’s likely that it is for acquisition of patents.

 

Patents for something no one will ever use/want????? Last time I checked, Lenbrook was not in the forefront of audio technology. Yes, they make some really good stuff, but as far as others paying for their tech, NOPE!

 

and...

It's for obtainng the revenue from the licensing of the patents and associated IP. Remember, part of the "point" of whole MQA "thang" was that they made money at virtually every step of the "process." I posted a link to Linn's article about this further up in the thread.

Linn Recordings had it nailed it from the get-go...

 

Does anyone think MQA will be a thing 5 years from now?

@Puma Cat - Understood, may be some really short term revenue potential as it dies. I would really scratch my head if hardware folks continue on this path.

 

One this forum? Nope. I'm sure there's lots of people elsewhere who have a good dose of hopium and money invested in gear that believe this is a small hurdle and MQA will still become the audiophile norm.

Just like HDCD and SACD, I'm sure there will be some lingering users for decades to come as MQA withers away. Who knows, maybe it'll be the equivalent to the hipster vinyl trend in 2057.

 

I vote no.

 

Sure, that was the aim, but how much success has it had? Company failures can be because a great product has bad management or marketing --- or because it isn't that great and/or simply doesn't sell or bring in revenue as hoped/expected/needed.

Are the new owners going to do better with it?

 

Just a hypothesis on my end, but I think it failed because it didn't provide VALUE.

 

Licensing aside, it’s a difficult thing to position.

if you’re targeting the hobbyists, you don’t have a simple answer for simple questions: “is it lossless? Does it sound better than FLAC in my existing system?”. If you’re targeting the wider consumer market, “does it work with Apple Music?”

It’s also very difficult to A/B. It does sound different when compared to FLAC using the same DAC. I preferred it in such cases, it felt like it was applying better filters. Many critics with good ears agreed. But comparing, say, the meridian explorer on MQA to Yggdrasil is futile - I’m comparing dacs at that point, and I can’t compare MQA (other than the unfolding, which also sounds different). No DAC I own matches my Yggdrasil, source be damned. So that’s a hard one to overcome.

Open sourcing the thing would be fun…. But if new hardware will be needed, it’d better be the best thing since 33 1/3. And I think most of us agree that 44.1/16 in a competent chain is already a very high bar to beat.

 

In my experience with repect to different "formats", it all comes down to the quality of the...MASTERING.
The best-sounding digital recordings I own, hands down, are from Linn (some classical recordings) and the Audio Wave XRCD24s series of Blue Note (which are 16/44 Redbook) jazz recordings that were (re)mastered by Alan Yoshida. I read a quote by a very knowledgeable music recording industry "insider" (can't remember who at the moment, sorry) that if every digital recording had been mastered by Alan Yoshida, we wouldn't have needed 96/24 PCM,192/24 PCM, SACD, DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, MQA, blah, blah, blah, Alan's 16/44 recordings would be...it.

I happen to agree with him.

 

I don't remember exactly when, but early in the time of MQA I was at a show where MQA had a demo using a (prototype I think) Mytek DAC that could operate either with or without MQA. Mytek DACs have never fit my preferences, but I was curious and listened anyway. I don't recall hearing any notable differences, but wasn't expecting to with unfamiliar gear and show conditions, etc. Talking to the guy from Mytek about some of the difficulties with the digital implementation of MQA left me convinced that he was deep in the trenches doing tech work on it, not a marketing person. He was unwilling to say much about the sonic differences, leaving things at basically "it is very subtle". The MQA rep really wanted to know what I thought though. But when the first thing I said was to ask if the two versions were from the same master, they didn't even know. I tried to be polite but when the MQA rep pressed I had to tell them that the demo was complete BS and a waste of time without knowing that the master is the same, and the DAC is the same, and so on for the amp and headphones. They seemed to be almost offended by the expectation that the difference between MQA and FLAC would be less than the difference between masters or DACs. At that point it was clear to me that MQA was either just confused or else a scam.