The best part about MQA bankruptcy..


Is going to be that we will see many fewer discussions on Audiogon about it! 🤣

Now we can all focus on hating on ASR and professional reviewers.

 

https://www.whathifi.com/news/mqa-is-going-into-administration

erik_squires

These DACs, and perhaps some other high end DACs, have been able to deliver excellent SQ from MQA. If you heard MQA over these DACs you might change your mind about its quality.

Isn't 95% of the perceived sound quality a result of convincing engineering in the recording - meaning mics, placement room, preamps, conversion and convincing artistic choices in mastering?
The medium or resolution itself is IMO only a limiting factor if you go below cd quality. A better recording "on cd" sounds better than a lesser recording on high-rez.

Regarding MQA: Its point is not compression per se (and/or the unfolding of your pocket) but the integrated view on the whole chain of AD anti-aliasing and DA oversampling filters and the touted control of an optimal resulting impulse response.

The first problem is the black box, the secrecy, intransparency and lack of control around the process.

A second possible problem is the promised phase- & impulse-perfect stitching together of a 22kHz lowpass signal with a 22kHz high pass signal.

I'd like to see also "neutral" comparisons of impulse measurements AD/DA of a complete recording chain, including measurements of dynamically more complex signals. Usually one only sees "filter ringing" provoked by incorrect artificial digital signals on DA. 

The somehow speculative audibility of filter ringing will disappear the higher the sampling rate.

I still find the idea of MQA intriguing and promising - except the ripp-off aspect...

Most of these ignorant replies sound exactly like the audiophool cable naysayers on ANA. How can a $50 cable sound better than my .02 cent cable, must be snake oil. That’s exactly how most of these posts sound. So many wrong posts. The post about having to spend $$$ to get mqa. BS, with a firmware upgrade my last 2 DACs got mqa support. Get a good dac in the beginning that’s fpga based and you won’t be left with old technology. The post about mqa unlistenable. My reply, get new ears or get a good system. I’m sure most of you were also sacd naysayers, just hated to buy sacd discs or have to get a sacd player. Mqa is less invasive than sacd was/is. 

MQA is very good from my experience with a MSB DAC.

this comment came up in a different but related thread

i would concur, mqa content sounds simply lovely on my msb analog dac... but as i said there as well, i would only add that i think this speaks much more about the quality of the msb than about the benefit of mqa...

Most of these ignorant replies

@p05129

Point out one. Point out any reply you feel is actually ignorant. Personal experience is not ignorance. It’s the opposite. It’s sharing of knowledge gained one person at a time.

 

How can a $50 cable sound better than my .02 cent cable, must be snake oil.

Well, this is a straw man argument that’s actually the opposite. In this case we are not going from theory and declaring the process bogus, we are going from personal experience, and some analysis by folks such as Benchmark Media to make our points.

BTW: I was personally very excited about MQA at first. It was my own listening tests which failed to find value. Even members of the SF audio society with systems much more expensive than mine were having a really difficult time finding a reason for it.

 

The post about having to spend $$$ to get mqa. BS, with a firmware upgrade my last 2 DACs got mqa support.

That didn’t happen for free, and the point is that MQA is a brand that is licensed and therefore adds to the cost per unit. It’s not something they are giving away.

Are you aware that MQA is a lossy format? See the Benchmark white paper on it.

If I was a rude, self righteous person I’d point out that you haven’t read it and you are probably therefore ignorant, but I’m not like that.

 

My reply, get new ears or get a good system. I’m sure most of you were also sacd naysayers, just hated to buy sacd discs or have to get a sacd player.

You are setting up a tautology: If you can’t hear how good MQA is you must have a bad system or bad ears.

All in all a very pleasant way to address others on this board.

These are all practically ad hominen attacks on other posters.  I strongly suggest that if you want to refute the thread, post personal experience, including equipment and examples that would let others follow along with your reasoning.