The post-venting MQA thread

There just doesn't seem to be any thoughtful forum discussion about the MQA Limited administration.

There is the usual #1 source of MQA insight, Archimago's blog, of course.

I would really like there to be some forum that provides a bit more substance, and was very disappointed with the other threads on SBAF that turned into boring bland venting. For the record, you're unlikely to have worse things to write about MQA Ltd than I have done in the past.. but let's move on. That kind of tedious content is for head-fi.


First some facts…

• MQA Ltd is a company in trouble, and we have reached a milestone. But MQA Limited could be bought whole, rescued by a financing deal, or have its assets acquired by someone else. Reports of its death are greatly exaggerated.

• MQA Ltd is a company that has behaved shittily. Autocorrect suggests shiftily, which is also accurate. MQA Limited has threatened Archimago and @GoldenOne and gaslighted consumers.

• There is no reason to think the MQA codec is dead, although its outlook is not great. the outlook hasn't been great for a while, so that's not news.

So some things to consider..

• Maybe MQA Ltd's shitty / shifty behaviour was driven by its exiting owner, Richemont. Maybe Bob Stuart & Co aren't as terrible as people think, maybe he was just following Richemont orders as its flailed around trying to mitigate losses. Maybe with Richemont gone, MQA Ltd can be redeemed.

• Maybe there is some value in MQA tech. For example, the accolades were mostly for something that happens during mastering. MQA Ltd did a 'bait and switch' by using those accolades for its consumer product, even when all consumers got was a compressed version of what is contained in FLAC.

• Tidal is MQA consumer central. I wrote elsewhere about why Tidal may acquire MQA Ltd or its tech as a rational financial decision. They would likely keep the name since it is embossed on DACs and streamers of the most likely customers. The other offerings on MQA's top tier seem gimmicky at the moment, so MQA is its defining feature. Rather than seeing MQA dead, the next step could be Tidal doubling down on "Tidal MQA". After all, they need to have some differentiator as Apple, Amazon & co circle.

• Trying hard to think of positives from MQA tech even if it disappears, one is the confirmation that 16 bits of depth is more than we need. While MQA may not have added much, it stole some bit depth and that went fine with consumers, and was better than Spotify. Maybe there are other uses for backward compatible signal encoding in those bits.

Anyway, I just wanted to create a space for this kind of discussion after the MQA Ltd milestone, which is a substantial event for streaming consumer audio.

 

This thread is unnecessary. The so-called "venting" thread was really not noise. Sometimes you need to call out bullshit as bullshit and move on, not play the "well maybe it has merits" game.

We know factually that MQA is not a technology that adds or improves anything. it's lossy compression in the upper bits of an other wise standard FLAC, with forced minimum phase and garbage aliasing above 20 kHz. How is this better than the (likely fucked to hell in other ways) CD or HD master that was the source in the first place?

For selling points, "something that happens during mastering" as you say doesn't appear to have anything to do with actual MQA encoding tech. Good mastering is critically important, but in the end it's not what MQA was selling. Not really. At least Mastered for iTunes or Apple Digital Masters has some actual definition.

We have high res lossless streaming without this lossy compression from Qobuz and Apple (and others). We demonstrably don't need to "fold" high res audio into a smaller space using proprietary technology.

 

There's quite a good article on ecoustics on what's actually happening with the company

Little value, except to Tidal who need it for business as usual and face reworking their infrastructure and tiers if MQA support evaporates.

 

I don't mean to come off as cantankerous, but MQA seems about as much a milestone in streaming services as Denuvo has been for game DRM.

 

Huh? Lol

 

This thread is gaaiiii.

What kind of autist shit is this?

Yes we have one. Too bad you don't see it that way.

Go back on Head-Fi.

 

Super Best Autist Friends

Both threads can coexist. I agree with you that just one is fine as the venting is wholly entertaining but its fine if Woland wants one thread for focusing on facts and minimizing noise.

Vent in the venting thread you silly fakkit!

Of course and agreed but both threads have merit.

Calling out bullshit is important to sbaf’s existence but also causes some users to scurry to Discord etc which is by design. Woland is calling bullshit on venting noise, he is trying to do “right”. There is no shame in his game even if we think this thread is unwarranted or unwanted.

And folks, please be considerate and express why you disagree when disagreeing instead of just clicking rating emojis without reason (unless its plainly obvious). Even though YMO could be mistaken for Garuspik’s alternate account at least he tries to argue with some sort of logic even though I disagree because clearly Im autist.

*Im not a homophobe, I just want YMO to feel comfortable.

 

There has already been substantial discussion on this site. The second linked thread below is fairly open minded with a lot of people giving it a good test. Other than this bankruptcy filing, is there really anything new to go over with respect to the technology? Seems highly unlikely.

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-thx-certified-and-other-certifications.1052/
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...dio-streams-with-tidal-masters-with-mqa.3662/
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/mqa.1635/

 

^ Woah. Well then that would that make this the 5th MQA thread. Now who is making noise @Woland ? jk or maybe

 

Who is as rude about MQA as anyone here, but in more words with less swearing. His post would have fitted well on the "other" thread.

...Or, MQA is dead, but we don't know quite when. The sooner the better.

I do agree with you that it is not dead yet. But your maybes, here, seem to be as fictional as MQA's benefits.

MQA is in administration. This means trying to sell off assets and pay creditors. Unless, they can find someone to buy it as a going concern.

BS may turn up somewhere else. Or not.

Team: Please merge this thread with the other one. It has less likelihood of independent existence than MQA does.

 

I agree. At the very most, whoever buys MQA will not put forth the effort, energy, and money to get audio manufacturers to license it for their equipment. They will not care about it nearly as much as Bob Stuart or whoever. Without a hype man, people will stop asking for it.

 

MQA works if you use high-end cables and give it at least 1 month of burn-in time.

 

It has to be worth money for someone to buy it. Other than, perhaps, some sort of patent hoarder putting it away and hoping it comes in useful one day.

ROFL

and...

... This is just bullshit. The last squeak of a desperate marketing man. I don't think anyone goes into administration as part of a fun way forward. One thing about it is that the administrators get their fees.

Of course, it might be bullshit for "well, hey, we're up to our ears in debt. Let's dump this, and pop up anew as Bob's Codecs and Curios. That used to be rampant. The better-informed please chime in, but I think that British law has made the Bankruptcy as a free ticket route a lot harder in recent decades?