MQA - Music Discussion

I should have posted my experience so far. I compared the 96/24 and MQA tracks for the two songs uner this listing at

www.2L.no/hires

Vivaldi: Recitative and Aria from Cantata RV 679, "Che giova il sospirar, povero core"
Tone Wik & Barokkanerne (period instruments)

I chose 96/24 and MQA because (for each song) they were roughly the same byte size. I used my streamer to let me switch back and forth pretty quickly between tracks.

Honestly the biggest problem was just the treble. Ugh, very hard for me to listen to. It was congested and microphones were placed too close to the sources for me Still, I could hear NO difference at all in the two formats.

So far I agree with Peter McGowan of PS Audio that it’s value, if any, is "meh"

I plan to listen to better tracks, but part of the problem is, the best MQA examples are going to have to be remixes, so it's almost impossible to do an apples to apples comparison and know where changes (if any) are coming from. The reason is that MQA works best when you go back to the multitrack masters, and separately de-blur (and I use the term for lack of knowing if it does anything) each track, then remix.  Well, most engineers don't take such careful notes, or settings that they can precisely reproduce their choices again and again, especially when they are making dozens of changes on the fly in an hour.  It is possible that a mix-down tool could keep track of all this, but I haven't heard of such being used.

Best,

Erik

@dbtom2

Hahaha, it sounds like you and I had the same problems with the 2L recordings. :)

"Distracting" is exactly the word I would have used.  I'm honestly not thrilled at the idea of giving 2L or HighRes Music $50 or $100 for tracks. It feels like I'm going to waste my cash. It's part of why I have been hesitating.

To me, I need MQA to be at least as useful as Dolby A, B or C or dbx was. If it's not that easy to hear and experience the benefits, it's useless. If I have to hunt for the improvements with a microscope and tweezers, it's the same as all the other charlatans.

So over at Darko’s site, I got a tip that the Mozart Violin concerto’s were also not very good.

<< sigh >> I really resent having to buy an album I would not, to see if something is marginally better, so I'm not going to get the Buena Visata Social Club.

Most of the other albums from High Res Audio are not available for purchase in the US. << sigh >> Meridian should have sample tracks for free. Maybe I’ll go back to the 2L.no site and look for better sounding test tracks besides Vivaldi and Mozart.

So on tap for today is:

Britten: Frank Bridge Variations - Romance
TrondheimSolistene

I'll be listening to the MQA version vs. DSD 64 and PCM 96/24

It's a very short (1:37) and simple piece. Not complicated at all. Should be ideal for listening to individual instruments and the acoustic space they are in.

I'll also be switching to my AKG 7... 7... I forgot. I'll post that later.  This way we don't get into arguments about speakers, cables, blah blah.

Ive been sceptical of claims of so called advanced digital audio methods for a long while, MQA is no exception
My scepticism is further reinforced by many worldwide threads usally titled ,..List the best hi res down loads heard with best methods used...Its all over the map and not much has changed today ,Years have past and none of these threads that I followed ended up being very popular with any number of members responding. 

Just like anything within the audio industry as many of us know there are exceptions with a few that know exactly what they are doing which produce consistent exceptional results , 
it all starts with the quality of the recording and there are many exceptional examples over the past 60 years .

A couple of impressive examples of digital play back that I listen to this past weekend is Fims reissue from a few years ago of Albeniz Fruhbeck De Burgos , Suite Espanola XRcd 24 bit , ripped ,and hi res down load including spinning the original Decca Lp . I've had this fabulous Decca vinyl over 40 years and love it everytime I listen to it .
The digital playback equals the outstanding vinyl playback in every way .,I just started down this road so there will be more .

We need more people with this knowledge , skill and good ears in the industry then another down load method option . However that won't happen .
Yarlungs  reel to reel , vinyl , hi res down loads and CDs are another outstanding example along with very few others in the industry we need to support more if we want consistency with quality sound .