2. misc-audio
  3. 181571-179096

Why is everyone so down on MQA?

Ok. MQA is a little bit complicated to understand without doing a little research. First of all: MQA is not technically a lossy format. The way it works is very unique. The original master tape (Holy grail of SQ) is folded or compressed into a smaller format. It is later unfolded through a process I don’t claim to understand. The fully processed final version is lossless! It is the song version from the original master tape. FYI, original master tapes are usually the best sounding, they are also the truest version of any song- they are painstakingly produced along with the artist in the studio during the recording process. Ask anyone, they are the real deal. For some reason most people hate the sound quality! One caveat, the folding/unfolding process is usually carried out at one time by a dac. But some dacs only compress and do not unfold….I think Meridian should explain dac/ streamer compatibility issue. When your hardware supports the single step the sound quality is pretty amazing. They should have explained in more detail what the format is all about.

128x128walkenfan2013
cycles2
207 posts
 

@walkenfan2013 It's likely going to die because it doesn't sound as good as true lossless hi-res. My dCS Rossini DAC/Streamer supports hi-res and fully renders MQA Studio Quality. I used to subscribe to TIDAL and found that MQA tracks generally sounded better than the same tracks in Redbook CD format. Once Qobuz came to the US, game over. Qobuz hi-res tracks generally sound better than the same song in MQA format.

pedroeb
493 posts
 

Well Dolby is licenced and complex. Who in their right mind would ... 

Forget it, this is getting silly.

iseland's avatar
iseland
143 posts
 

As I recall Tidal upsampled some redbook with mqa and that was not always well received ( google Neil Young and Tidal..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the other hand I did bought some excellent mqa cds like the Hoff Ensemble, Polarity!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To conclude, it is as always down to implementation!

 

 

 

In my opinion 😁

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cagma7
26 posts
 

Personally, I do not really care if the MQA concept is good or not, I just want to have the best listening experience possible. 

Therefore, here's my thoughts on MQA (I have a non-MQA Border Patrol Se-i Dac and my Zen Stream / S Booster combo is doing the first unfolding) as I compare both for the last month : 

MQA Tidal files seems more 'dense', details are a bit more 'in your face'.

Red Book Tidal : More air between instruments and perhaps more natural.

At first glance / for the first few minutes, the MQA sound is more attractive, more spectacular but after some time, I think I prefer the Red book files (more realistic / natural to my years). 

I do not know if I would conclude the same with a MQA Dac but I think I will drop HI-Fi+ as most of the time, I prefer Red book files. Of course, YMMV.

PS : Qobuz is not available in Canada

 

 

 

calvinandhobbes
307 posts
 

Reasons for me:

1. Even Spotify Premium sounds better to my ears.

2. Qobuz definitely sounds better.

3. MQA is a proprietary format that would be a tax on the music industry if its creators had managed to get it established as a standard.

4. I think its original reason for existence of being able to compress files so they can be send with less internet bandwidth is generally not a viable pain point anymore.

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