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Any News on MQA Lately?

Earlier in the year there was lots of "buzz" about MQA, especially when it was reported that Tidal would be streaming the format.

Since then it seems like Tidal might be shopping itself for a possible sale, maybe to Apple?

I'm not seeing much MQA "buzz" on the web lately.
ejr1953
ejr1953 OP
918 posts
 
Lots of great info here, thank you everyone for what has been contributed.

In my travels, one of the audio salesmen I encountered said that "remasters" oftentimes were the reason why newer versions of the same old music sounded better, especially when they could go back to the old "analog" tape.  If that is true, I suspect what he's saying is that going from the original analog multi-track source to the now new original digital would make that conversion much better (with a newer analog to digital converter in the path).  He also said that starting out with original multi-track digital source, to digital master could also be an improvement, but (in his opinion), not as much of an improvement as starting out with an analog multi-track source in the first place.

Thinking of MQA, I'm guess something similar applies?  If the engineer can mount an original analog multi-track tape and master from there, the first analog to digital conversion would have the advantages of MQA, with the "de-blurring" happening there?  Would there be some sort of similar MQA benefit when the original multi-track recording was itself a digital source?
erik_squires
16,406 posts
 
Hi ejr,

Yes, this was a big problem when DSD first came out. The DSD versions were noticeably different in energy across the audible frequency spectrum. It can also happen in reverse. As Bob Carver advertised, a lot of early CD's were heavily compressed, not just in dynamic range but also stereo separation compared to LPs. A lot of the "bad sound" of digital could be directly attributed to really bad mastering engineering and practices.

We also tend to hear any difference as improvement. Much like haircuts. :)

So the idea is to compensate for the original A/D step. This is done by measuring the blurring of the AD converter itself, and then applying a compensating algorithm to the Digital multi-track masters. As far as i know, the process for going from analog to digital is to first convert each track individually to digital. So whether or not we start from analog or digital doesn't really affect the process.

Only after multi-track masters are fully digitized can re-mastering begin.

Of course, some recordings are far simpler. A lot of great 1950-1960 orchestral recordings were multi-track, but by multi we mean 3.

Best,

Erik
ptss
1,964 posts
 
Thanks for your feedback Erik. I shouldn't have made any comparison to HDCD as it was not designed to facilitate transmission by reducing file size. My only experience with HDCD is with Reference Recordings,which I've enjoyed.As I think more about this topic I foresee less need for MQA as I feel download speeds will make it less relevant. 
ejr1953 OP
918 posts
 
Got an email from Tidal this morning, they are rolling out the first MQA streaming on their desktop app (I presume they don't support it with the browser version).  They are branding this "TIDAL Masters".

I have a PS Audio DirectStream DAC, which from what I read doesn't do well with MQA.  So this weekend I'll make my way down to my local shop and see what MQA sounds like with the Explorer2 DAC...for $199 worth getting one, to see what all the fuss is about MQA.
wadia150's avatar
wadia150
85 posts
 
From Absolute sound report on Rocky Mountain audio fest and I quote
Most significant :MQA is no longer at the cheerleader stage it’s really happening Warner is on board with two other majors as well and many independent labels have signed on as well. Processors to the affordable nad to the astronomical msb are on board. Best of all A/B comparison were running all day long troughout the show. Demonstrating to most as well as me don’t know who me is some say RH. THAT ITS IMPROVEMENT TO BOTH HD AND STANDARD RESOLUTION IS SUBSTANTIAL. Why are you guys so butt hurt over this. So your telling me all these people are in on a scam and it's just away to resell music  You say you have to buy all your music over again. Not true so none of you guys stream tidal 20 bucks a month. I bet some of your wire cost thousands. And a MQA dac 200 bucks. From what I’m hearing it is impressive. Why all the Debbie downers hear. If you can’t hear the dif sucks for you. I do so why bash the people that just want better sound. It’s almost like you work for dac companies that have not come on board yet. I just don’t get the better the better than thou attitude.

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