Interesting video on MQA

[OM_2K19]

Question about filters - MQA vs Hi-Res?

Hey all, So - I posted a thread a couple of weeks or so ago inquiring about potential DAC choices if selling the one I have to fund an MQA-compatible DAC, as I was using Tidal. I'm now giving the free trial of Qobuz a try to decide which service I want to stick with (so far, Qobuz has a few...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Analogous]

Thanks much, both @sathtom , @OM_2K19

It seems quite clear technically and practically (Qobuz) it’s feasible to use FLAC to stream

So as the author of the article succinctly put it : MQA is a solution in search of a problem!

 

[thedude]

Qobuz USA Family Plan costs around 300 per month.

It cost US $24.99/month not ₹300

 

[jai1611]

A sequel to the original video. Apparently MQA stopped claiming it was lossless after the first one

 

[rajeshv]

It cost US $24.99/month not ₹300

Rs 300 pm per family member if annual subscription taken (6members)

 

[Analogous]

A sequel to the original video. Apparently MQA stopped claiming it was lossless after the first one

He sounds reasonable though I don’t understand terms like “aliasing” or “temporal blur”
please correct me if I am wrong, but As I understand it:

FLAC, WMA, ALAC, AIFF are all lossless (compressed or otherwise); MQA is not.

MQA uses proprietary tech to encode and licenses decoding the same to audio equipment manufacturers for profit.
To market this they made some rather tall claims, some border on unethical.
Several big streaming services have contracted the company that owns MQA technology. There is some concern this could become a monopoly.
Perception of SQ of MQA is variable and subjective and difficult to measure.
Apple is going to do something similar, but with more panache and muscle.
This guy doing the testing and publishing these videos is a pain in the @$$ for MQA. MQA is using legalese to respond- somewhat suspicious…
This soap opera has a few more episodes for us to enjoy.

 

[jai1611]

He sounds reasonable though I don’t understand terms like “aliasing” or “temporal blur”
please correct me if I am wrong, but As I understand it:

FLAC, WMA, ALAC, AIFF are all lossless (compressed or otherwise); MQA is not.

MQA uses proprietary tech to encode and licenses decoding the same to audio equipment manufacturers for profit.
To market this they made some rather tall claims, some border on unethical.
Several big streaming services have contracted the company that owns MQA technology. There is some concern this could become a monopoly.
Perception of SQ of MQA is variable and subjective and difficult to measure.
Apple is going to do something similar, but with more panache and muscle.
This guy doing the testing and publishing these videos is a pain in the @$$ for MQA. MQA is using legalese to respond- somewhat suspicious…
This soap opera has a few more episodes for us to enjoy.

De-blur seems to be a marketing term from MQA . Aliasing explanation here: https://www.blackghostaudio.com/blog/the-quick-guide-to-audio-aliasing

The big thing with MQA originally was being able to do lossless high res at lower file sizes. That claim has apparently been withdrawn. The rest of it just marketing fluff.

Only Tidal uses MQA among the major streaming services. Qobuz uses flac for high res. Amazon / Apple not on the MQA train, Spotify unlikely to use it either. So no worry about it becoming a monpoly.

 

[Doomster69]

And now an update on the original video is out...

 

[Analogous]

And now an update on the original video is out...

To spare us sitting through another long account I’d be grateful if you could briefly summarize the update. That is if you have reached it of course.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Apple is going to do something similar, but with more panache and muscle.

Are they? That’d be sad. Are you saying ALAC is not lossless?