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Topic: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA. (Read 144752 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #376
First my Reply #357 and only an hour after posting this from a DAC/Sofware designer without MQA support How to handle MQA
Nobody wants to argue to much against MQA because it also may damage sales of own non MQA products.
Is troll-adiposity coming from feederism?
With 24bit music you can listen to silence much louder!


Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #378
Breaking news, there is proof ... at least it is "planned": https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30381-mqa-is-vaporware/?do=findComment&comment=731942

"Planned", indeed.
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30381-mqa-is-vaporware/?do=findComment&comment=732411

I won't be holding my breath waiting for it. I hope the good doctor does... :-)
Regards,
   Don Hills
"People hear what they see." - Doris Day

 

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #379
“everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”
Confucius Tyson

Actually, I think McGill will come through with a study
Loudspeaker manufacturer

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #380
Archimago provided some samples for MQA blind tests.
http://archimago.blogspot.hk/2017/07/internet-blind-test-mqa-core-decoding.html

But I found some problems in the samples. Read the comment section, I posted under another nickname with an ABX log. Other members here can also download the samples to find potential problems in order to make the test more reliable.

Has anybody done any difference testing using either subtraction in an audio editor or Diffmaker on Archimago's before and after MQA files? 

I did and am looking at a lot of weird stuff. Since this should be pretty quick and easy to do, I'd like to see what happens when an independent party tried it.

In the interest of preserving independence, I'm not going to say more, but I'd like to...

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #381
I did before but it was not conclusive to me.  I doubt an average person could make a conclusion but listening.
If you want a working cheat just isolate the lower bits and the difference should be obvious like with any other bithdepth comparison. MQA has no real correlated info there.
Is troll-adiposity coming from feederism?
With 24bit music you can listen to silence much louder!

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #382
I did some subtraction tests and there were indeed some differences apart from the fades, may be due to the fact that Archimago's simulated filter has some differences with the MQA renderer's filter, or some hard-to-align phase differences. However I found no hint to tell which is which.

Anyway, the test is over and I really hope Archimago will write some other topics since I am getting bored. I read some pages in the CA threads and it seems that some shills were banned. Thanks to the culture of HA the thread here is not as chaotic.

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #383
I read some pages in the CA threads and it seems that some shills were banned.
No difference when others are seamless replaced by an even more obvious sent out jerk to spoil threads.
Is troll-adiposity coming from feederism?
With 24bit music you can listen to silence much louder!

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #384
“everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”
Confucius Tyson

Actually, I think McGill will come through with a study

Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, remains to be seen in the details of the actual experiment(s). The proposal presented to the AES seems to be very non-specific.

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #385
Today Mandy Parnell, a MQA hired mastering engineer is cited in one of the most popular online computer pages in germany that MQA encryption is a good thing for fighting the loudness war because streaming-service can't apply own additional compression.
This is the first time i read about it here.
heise.de Ableton Loop...
Is troll-adiposity coming from feederism?
With 24bit music you can listen to silence much louder!

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #386
I am not sure if Google is translating correctly (in Chinese or English), but the translated text say

Quote
With MQA, we get mastering engineers back in control, we deliver the encoded songs so no streaming provider can spoil them with their compression

That's mostly untrue.

[1] Most streaming services just decrease the volume of low DR songs, they don't compress high DR songs.
http://productionadvice.co.uk/online-loudness/

[2] Loudness normalization can be disabled/customized.
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Linux-Windows-Web-Player/Disable-loudness-normalization/td-p/1024596
https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/how-to/tidal-101-enable-loudness-normalization-0180380/

In fact, when loudness normalization is correctly implemented, it can reduce the chance of getting lossy codec/DAC induced clipping. Also, if MQA doesn't support loudness normalization, it just means it has yet another demerits:

[1] it lacks a function that other formats have
[2] it is not immune to loudness war since louder songs won't get turned down

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #387
The translation is good and why many Tidal MQA releases are more compressed as older CDs is a mistery then ;)
Is troll-adiposity coming from feederism?
With 24bit music you can listen to silence much louder!

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #388
"we get mastering engineers back in control" - pure bullshit, and that's exactly the cause of loudness war.



Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #391
Quote
"If I want that distortion in the master I would’ve put it there in the first place. The results of MQA I would call fatal to the source material even as they are very subtle." - Brian Lucey

The artist intent isn't to make lossy sounding noise.

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #392
"we get mastering engineers back in control" - pure bullshit, and that's exactly the cause of loudness war.

well...not necessarily.  Some report that they simple are doing what their client wants, when they pump up the loudness.

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #393
http://fairhedon.com/2017/11/05/an-interview-with-mastering-engineer-brian-lucey/

"However I’m always open minded and am not a crusty cynic like some, so I gave it an open minded listen.  Not bad, not great was my impression.  It’s definitely a lossy codec, that was clear.

Where as mastered for iTunes is harmonically cold and loses some low volume/low end information, actually altering the groove to make everything sound like a nerdy white wedding band, MQA brightens the high-mids in the Mid section while thinning the low-mids on the Sides. There’s also some harmonic distortion which some people could find pleasing,  If I want that distortion in the master I would’ve put it there in the first place. The results of MQA I would call fatal to the source material even as they are very subtle.
[/b] "

Gonna bet that his audition method wouldn't pass HA standards, though.  I'm skeptical whenever listeners report this sort of 'very subtle' yet 'clear difference' between a lossy encoding, and lossless.  Even if I agree that MQA is bunk.

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #394
http://fairhedon.com/2017/11/05/an-interview-with-mastering-engineer-brian-lucey/
From further reading Brian Lucey likes to master in 24bit and his releases are 44.1kHz. Modern music for the typical human.
In this case i believe him more as if it came from an audiophile studio dweller who palavers about DSD and DXD.
Like with many things in audio one can only speculate what the real intention the different audio engeneers may have because of things happening in the background.
What is staggering is that Lucey really registered at CA to stand for his findings. There the fun part just seems to start because he is told that the golden eared species doesn't suffer of things like ears frequency limits and physics. I didn't read everything yet but will do :)
Is troll-adiposity coming from feederism?
With 24bit music you can listen to silence much louder!

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #395
"we get mastering engineers back in control" - pure bullshit, and that's exactly the cause of loudness war.
well...not necessarily.  Some report that they simple are doing what their client wants, when they pump up the loudness.
Likely because their clients still don't know about what loudness normalization does.

It should be fine if they don't mind their songs got turned down then. Merzbow still sounds like Merzbow when played at 14dB quieter.

Re: Meridian Audio's new... sub-format called MQA.

Reply #396
What is staggering is that Lucey really registered at CA to stand for his findings.
Link?
Yes, I didn't posit his statements about MQA "sound" as gospel, but rather as an example of a mastering engineer who hasn't drank the MQA koolaid and isn't hopping on board and peddling the scam for $$ like Ludwig et al.
Loudspeaker manufacturer