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
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Shortly after MQA came out with more and more artists using MQA, along with hires/dsd, I sold all my vinyl and TT setup and have never regretted it.

I went thru this same issue almost 20 years ago when people were arguing that sacd sucked, which it didn’t and that was superior to the other formats.

IMO, most people that hate new technology don’t want change or they don’t want to upgrade their equipment to support the new feature.

I also tested Qobuz against tidal and for what I listen to (artists/genre), MQA, and sq, I prefer tidal.

Radio Paradise had two channels. One plays 16/44 and the other plays MQA and for the life of me, I can’t hear the difference. 

MQA sounds processed - no surprise there as that's what it is - heavily processed at that.

As multiple posters above have said, in an era when there is no problem streaming high sample rate / word length files, MQA is obsolete.

That's along with the fact that the majority of the recordings out there are 16 bit and 44 or 48khz masters, for which MQA is completely irrelevant.