MQA

Shake the world? That was according to Meridian Audio.

Audiophile reviewers were quite enthusiastic about the format. Worthy as MQA might be from an audiophile perspective I'd say a year's time has been the arbiter as far as mainstream appeal. Maybe more time needed to reach a conclusion?

I wonder where Meridian's bottom line now stands versus their MQA investment.

Tidal is rumoured to be launching a MQA stream,  www says ....... A firm date for launching MQA has not been set. We will of course let everyone know if/when MQA becomes available.     Its not exactly saying it will,  but for sure it's not denying it.   Also need to factor in a possible Apple purchase of Tidal & if so I would guess MQA licence rights might be high on the to do list.  

Besides there being fairly regular announcements about hardware vendors releasing MQA aware equipment (DAC's, mobile devices etc.) I think the most significant announcement was the one at The Munich show between Meridian and Warner Music Group in May of this year ...

"Craig Kallman, Chairman & CEO of WMG’s Atlantic Records division, added: “The digital music era has been all about convenience. It is fantastic that we can listen to virtually any song, anywhere, any time. In that process, however, convenience has trumped sound quality, and we have gotten further away from the sound that artists work so hard to create. MQA makes hi-resolution music easy to stream or download to any device. Music fans will love it when they hear it, and WMG is thrilled to be partnering with MQA to take the next step in bringing hi-resolution music to consumers across the globe.”

Warner Music Group (abbreviated as WMG and also known as Warner Music) is an American global record company headquartered in New York City. It is one of the “big three” recording companies, together with Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). In Warner Music’s catalogue are some of the largest and most successful recording labels in the world, including the work of artists such as Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Crosby Stills & Nash, Yes, The Doors, Tim Buckley, Fleetwood Mac, Madonna, Prince, Bob Marley, U2, and Bruno Mars, among thousands of other extremely popular names." [audioxpress website  May 6th 2016]

MQA is another attempt to control your music with DRM. It is all about money and licensing fees, about selling new equipment and to get you to buy your music again. It is a downgrade from what we have now in the name of a money grab. 

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blo...-88d1ec426b-74973545

BubbaMike, I think your viewpoint is a bit simplistic, every audition review I've read has been positive of MQA. Its 'DRM' also ensures quality and would prevent maverick purchases of dodgy hires audio as that from HD Tracks. It seems to be neither strictly lossless neither lossy but a hybrid format, and it would be great for new releases. It offers hires audio at 16/44 FLAC size. I hope it takes off.

I found Benchmark's piece a bit reactionary. Why could they not design a MQA compatible prototype DAC before being so dismissive? I would level this accusation against Linn as well.

If it' offers better sound quality than native 24/96 or 24/192 PCM it's worth a look. If it's a lower quality way of recycling and selling the same stuff all over again, Mike's comments above are nearer the mark and I will lean that way also.  We should be suspicious of formats that lead on copyright protection, DRM and the like. It assumes that the punters who fuel the industry are criminals and this attitude should not be tolerated.

I would like to think MQA was going somewhere. I dont think it is. Ignore Tidal, they announced support then backed away. And arguably havent got any money so might not survive anyway, if recent reports are true.

Bubbamike posted:

MQA is another attempt to control your music with DRM. It is all about money and licensing fees, about selling new equipment and to get you to buy your music again. It is a downgrade from what we have now in the name of a money grab. 

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blo...-88d1ec426b-74973545

Thanks for the link, good read

Bubbamike is exactly correct in his first two sentences.  I've not heard it, so cannot say if it is a "downgrade" or not.  It is, however, an inarguable money grab.

The music labels would be better served by identifying and cultivating great new musical talent, as they used to do, instead of trying to ram the same old, same old down our throats again. 

Instead they are destroying good bands like Coldplay! They become sounding like beyonce

Haven't we been here before? Ages ago there was the other Meridian format MLP (Meridian Lossless Packaging), Linn Lingo (format, not the product), and WMAPro Lossless. 

In the meantime, only the open formats have emerged as defacto standards by virtue of the fact they don't connect to patent fees and fidly DRM. It will be difficult to convince the consumer why there is a problem with FLAC (since there really isn't) and difficult to convince an industry to start paying license fees to acheive what can already be acheived today for free. 

The value-added features look great until you calm down and realise that once you have obtained lossless hi-res already (which we have), they rest is largely a diversion. 

not sure there is drm in mqa by default

oh, and i cannot take MQA seriously until there is a kit of parts that lets me take my own material, process it through, and then listen to it. Almost unbelievably, there is nothing like this available. Anyone who has been listening to MQA material has done so to material processed for them by Meridian. At least, that is my understanding having discussed it with them on more than a few occasions.