Meridian launch MQA lossless

One of the forums contributors was scheduled to be at the launch event, so may be more info will be coming soon?

Oh goody yet another format.

It appears not to be a file format - but a way of encoding - and the format is carried in a lossless container such as WAV, FLAC and ALAC as a PCM data chunk. It looks like from what I can see a subjective and ultimately lossy encoding type - but is stated at offering at least 'CD quality sound' on systems that don't support the specific MQA format. HDCD did the same - but I suspect the technology is very different here...

So from what I can see, which is not overly clear,  it looks like its a hidef lossy (or perhaps more accurately a variable rate definition  format) where the recorded format focusses on what Meridian considers important in terms of what we hear and perhaps reducing the resolution of what they believe is not important.. I note the marketing releases seems to obfuscate this - perhaps for understandable reasons - but may sound convincing of course. I cant find details of compression rates to regular PCM.

Its a nice idea though - as our hearing is a none linear process - so encoding audio in a hidef linear manner  feels instinctively wasteful - the issue here is the subjectivity of what to focus on and what not to - but it will be interesting to see if there sufficient demand / benefit over regular lossless compressed formats that do linearly encode

Simon

Simon your description seems to fit Meridian's strategy -- focusing on what they believe is important vs. not important within the audio spectrum.  (Another part of their strategy, to the extent I understand it, is to use signal processing to introduce 'more of' what they think important, etc.)  I tend to think of Meridian as offering a somewhat "synthetic" approach to music, but I don't mean "synthetic" in a denigrating way.

It's a very very different approach to hi fi, but when one hear's their systems it's often hard to argue with.  A good friend of mine in the UK has an all-Meridian system and it sounds very very good; very different from my Naim (which he likes as well when he visits here), but it sounds very good to my ears.  It's just remarkable how different the systems are!  (He has dacs and amplifiers in each of his speakers, etc.)

And I think that one will never know exactly what they are up to; they seem to obfuscate or at least confuse me with their language!

Given download speeds rising, memory getting cheaper etc etc, is this really worthwhile.

Just sounds like a way of raising Meridian brand relevance in an over saturated market. 

I don't think so, currently streaming hi-res audio reliably over wi-fi is not possible - not for the person with average technical skills anyway. Meridian are developing a lossy format which should exceed uncompressed CD quality audio and that's interesting/no bad thing.

Good point - if wireless is your thing. 

Actually to call it 'lossy' is not entirely accurate - here's further info. https://www.theabsolutesound.c...ens-to-meridian-mqa/

It will actually be used in the recording and/or mastering stage.

This type of prose (in the TAS article) is not helpful.  Perhaps that commission that slapped Chord should have a look.

"MQA allows listeners to experience every intricate detail the microphone heard, offering music fans the purest ever sound. And it’s based firmly in science. For the first time in history, music fans will be able to hear at home what the artist created and approved in the recording studio, and MQA confirms its exact delivery."

Come on now . . . 

Well it appears compared to linear PCM its 'lossy' in part at source, rather than lossy in terms of going from one encoding format to another

I think this may well be a game-changer in due course. Mind you, I've been wrong before (February 1988 I think it was). As a long-time Meridian owner, I'm quite excited by this. Mind you, M ownership is not a requirement for this, but lots of software/hardware suppliers need to jump on it. 

. . . which in and of itself is problematic, as history has shown.  Other software and hardware suppliers may be loathe to jump on it and thus "admit" that Meridian have invented the (a) Holy Grail.  You can imagine the marketing language that'd be coming out of M if/when the worlds leading audio companies all do said jumping.

Let's see if Meridian can, as they did with MLP in the DVD-A standard.

If MQA is, what they say it is, then it could change the electronic distribution of music, and give a lossless provision to the mass market.

Philips, as a vendor, did it with the Red Book CD format. Sony with Blu-ray etc.

Apple has the chance to go Lossless on the iTunes Store with ALAC, their own format, but have never taken continuing to pump out lossy AAC. Personally I have not bought a lossy track in the last 10 years.

Let's see what they do with it, and how the industry responds.

What is Naim's official line on the announcement?

Can we expect a firmware upgrade in the future to support MQA as a format?

thanks,

Simon

A friend end who is a devote of Meridian gear sent me this:

 

However, is the public about to download or stream 192/24 audio? No, because it’s not *convenient*. How then to provide audio of the highest quality to the masses? The short of it is that Meridian has found a way of folding the time resolution information into a regular PCM file with a lower sample rate (it’s actually hidden below the noise floor). It’s a stroke of genius and means that MQA files appear to anything other than an MQA decoder as a playable PCM file. But an MQA decoder can "unfold" the file to the original sample rate, adding back the time resolution information.

Another crucial learning from neuroscience is that the brain has three times as many nerves sending signals TO the cochlea than sending information FROM the cochlea to the brain. This is a incredible fact; the brain actively switches the ear’s sensitivity (to frequency) depending on the situation (natural sounds, animal sounds, and speech). The encoding algorithm takes into account these different hearing modes (don’t ask me how!) and the "compression" applied to the master file (which can be anything from a (non-ideal) 44.1/16 master up to 8x sample rate) is not lossy in the conventional sense. There is nothing removed from the file that would allow a human being to differentiate between the MQA encoding and the master as heard in the studio. Lossy? No, that would be an extremely unfair and naive description. "Encoded for human hearing" would be more accurate.

So what is MQA? It stands for “Master Quality Authenticated”. Master Quality because it is able to deliver essentially what the recording artist heard in the studio. Authenticated because the audio data are signed (no, not DRM) so that an MQA decoder can verify the authenticity of the MQA file; that it is intact and as intended when it left the studio, having been signed off by the artist and producer.

MQA has broad music industry backing from execs, artists, and producers. Meridian has been working on it for the past 4-5 years and for the last three years has taken the technology on a roadshow, demonstrating it and working with recording artists and producers. MQA is very much artist endorsed. It is an enabling technology: Meridian isn’t going to be MQA-encoding the whole back catalogue of recorded music; that’s the job of the studios. The first MQA files are expected to be released early in 2015. All of the major studios are on board, plus smaller labels. MQA decoding will not be restricted to Meridian hardware and software.

Given the number of parties involved, it is frankly staggering that this has all come together. That is has is testament to Bob's vision, determination, and no small amount of hard work by him and his team.

Oh, and it sounds more real than you have ever heard. Period. Hearing Louis Armstrong through a pair of 7200SEs – as if he was in the room – was a jaw-dropping moment that I will never forget. It *is* that good.

 

For context see the following:

 

http://www.musicischanging.com/

 

http://www.whathifi.com/news/m...y-high-res-streaming

 

http://www.theabsolutesound.co...ens-to-meridian-mqa/

 

https://www.facebook.com/MeridianAudio?fref=ts