How Is MQA Fareing?

For most part all those have access to MQA files, continues to enjoy the enhanced resolution.

Ever since I bought the Vault 2, I have come to appreciate the MQA recordings in direct comparison with their redbook counterparts.

Tidal resolution as is very good, consider MQA files are bonus and taste of what’s about to come in next year or so when HD Tracks and hopefully others starts to stream high resolution files.

We can compare or judge the merits MQA files when we have high resolution streaming available from other resources, until then just enjoy!

This is a very interesting conversation. The objective analysis from the articles cited above as well as writings by Andreas Koch (Playback Designs) and others are very convincing to me. At the NY stereo show, I heard a comparison of a few tracks of hi-res v MQA  (via headphones) and had a hard time telling the difference. But there was background noise and I figured I'd leave a comparison to another day. I attended a presentation by Peter McGrath at Innovative Audio using Wilson Alexia v2s and D'Agostino electronics. Peter is one whose ears I and many others trust implicitly. He played an orchestral piece which he said was MQA'd by Meridian especially for him. It was clearly better in every way than what I recollect was a hi-rez file for comparison. The difference was so apparent and so huge, it was shocking. 
It occurred to me that something other than MQA was utilized to make the MQA sample sound so much better on this custom made track.
My mind says no to MQA for many reasons including the fact that it is lossy and claims to be master quality authenticated when it seems to me that it would be difficult if not impossible to recreate and reverse engineer the attributes of an A/D converter and entire recording chain when the converter and chain are, in many cases unknown and/or no longer exist. My ears said yes on that one occasion. I need to hear many more track comparisons before I buy in to the MQA format which just happens to be another opportunity for record companies who adopt it as a new standard to sell us the same music once again.   

+1jon2020
Thanks for posting this article. It is a great read.

I have been listening to MQA tracks ever since I started with Tidal on my Vault2.
Now I will say there are MQA and there are MQA....
Some are not worth the bandwidth they take up!
But the majority I would say are an improvement  on Redbook and some considerably so.
Its future? That I am not so sure on but it does seem to have more adopters every week so we will just have to wait and see.

On CA:

MQA: A Review of controversies, concerns, and cautions

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/reviews/mqa-a-review-of-controversies-concerns-and-cautions-r7...

P.S.:

"Editor's Note 1: MQA ltd was sent a copy of this article several days prior to the scheduled publication date. The company requested a phone conversation, which took place earlier this week. MQA was encouraged to write a response for inclusion with the article below, but it respectfully decline to submit a formal response.

 

Editor's Note 2: The author of this article is writing under a pseudonym. While he is unknown to the readers, his identity has been verified  by Computer Audiophile. He has no vested interest in the audio business, other than being a consumer of music.

 

Editor's Note 3: The technical assertions made in this article have been thoroughly checked by independent engineers, both in and out of the audio industry. To the best of our knowledge everything technical in this article is factually correct and may be duplicated at any time by anyone with the requisite skills."

 

- Chris Connaker

@johndoe21ro 
Very interesting link
Thank you

I have no "axe to grind" on the subject.

When MQA was first being streamed by Tidal, I bought one of those inexpensive Explorer2 DACs to see what all the fuss was about.  I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard; many of those MQA masters seemed to have more defined bass, better timbre from ride cymbals, more distinct percussive sounds from acoustic pianos, more richness for vocals and string instruments like violins...but not all MQA masters.

I was so impressed with MQA I gave my Explorer2 to a friend and bought a Mytek Brooklyn DAC, just for MQA.  As Tidal's MQA library has grown, I'd say some of the remasters sound significantly better, many sound somewhat better and some sound about the same.

Fast forward to my purchase of a PS Audio DirectStream memory player to pair with my PS Audio DirectStream DAC with an I2S cable.  I find this pair to be the best sounding digital, especially with SACDs and most conventional CDs.  I am learning that the I2S interface separates "the bits" from "the timing" and that "the timing" might have a lot more importance then I ever realized.

My MQA setup is a USB from a Dell Windows10 Pro machine to the USB input on the Brooklyn DAC.  I'm being encouraged by a friend to get a device to "reclock" my USB pathways, into the DACs.  I might just try that out and will see if MQA can sound "better" than the PS Audio pair.

Please stay tuned.

"How is MQA fareing"?

Depends on who you ask.  I'm somewhat agnostic about it myself.  I've listened to it thru a Bluesound Node2 for nearly a year now and in general I like what I've heard.  I just recently changed over from my Bluesound to a Lumin T1.  Everything sounds a little better on the Lumin...including MQA.  But, you will never catch me doing any "serious" comparisons...I just find that very tedious.  There are a lot of more technically inclined folks than myself who think MQA is the devil incarnate and the sky is surely falling.  I don't know enough about the technical side to disagree with them.  I'm like a six year old eating candy...all I know is that it tastes good.  The "adults" in the room keep telling me "sure it tastes good but it's not good for you"....meanwhile I just shrug and keep listening to the ear candy.

To summarise some of the issues that have been raised in other threads here and in forums elsewhere :-

1. MQA is a boon for streaming, at least for now until streaming of native hires becomes more accessible (Qobuz which streams native hires is currently not available in US and many other countries)

2. If you have a Tidal subscription and listen mostly to Tidal, Tidal MQA generally sounds better than non-MQA Tidal - better to get an MQA dac to fully enjoy Tidal MQA

3. If you don't subscribe to Tidal, and listen mostly to your own collection of non-MQA redbook or native hires pcm/dsd files, MQA may not be an important consideration

Comparing MQA with non-MQA hires pcm/dsd files gains importance when considering a new dac - should it be MQA-capable or not?
This decision will rest on points 2. and 3. above.

Enjoy the Music!  :)