Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Thoughts on MQA after event at BlueVision - Marietta GA 6-12-15

to those who are less than convinced that MQA will succeed I would point to Bob Stuart's success with MLP being adopted as the DVD Audio standard and indeed forming the basis for Dolby TrueHD (as I understand it).

The point being that Bob has a track record in not just revolutionary concepts but also in getting music industry adoption.

That I would suggest is a rare and powerful combination, the fact that this all emantes from a small company nr Cambridge in the UK just makes it all the more impressive.

Sorry, and I may be wrong here, but you are comparing apples to oranges. As I understand it there was a requirement for DVD Audio and Meridian were the chosen company to facilitate that. If there was no Meridian it still would have happened in one way or another.

Nobody had a requirement for MQA and hence the problem is fundamentally different.

The former didn't get adopted so much as a need fulfilled. The latter has no requirement so people need convincing that they need it.

I doubt that people were running around lamenting the lack of MQA and wondering if only somebody offered such a thing. Whereas with DVD Audio people were saying we want HD audio but how can we do it or at least that is how it seems to me.

Cheers,

Tony.

If I was to phrase it a little differently:

I seriously doubt that somebody of the calibre and experience of Bob Stuart would have done all these years of work without giving equally serious thought as to how to get it widely adopted in the industry.

Yeah as if Bob Stuart can dictate releases and can trigger adoption- like Meridian gear which has been widely adopted

I like optimism but I will call out 'truthiness' I would like MQA to succeeed but there are many moving parts and credit (or failure) cannot go to one entity alone.

regards,
Kishore

Tony, inventions don't often come from an established requirement like a DVDA codec.

Some smart people see a need before the need becomes a defined requirement.

Probably a bad example but Apple didn't respond to "request for portable music player" did they? They saw an opportunity and created the market.

If you look at hi-res music and the future of music streaming, then smart people would realise the issue and hence the need to solve the problem of large files vs bandwidth.

Similarly, people in the business have been worried about how best to digitally archive old tapes that will be degrading with more years spent in tins.

I suggest that just because a user, perhaps like yourself, didn't have a need for MQA doesn't mean that there wasn't one.

Well put

You may not have implied this, but I don't believe MQA is an archival format. What the studios should be (have been?) doing is digitizing their library tapes at super high bit depth and sample rate (and worrying about how to maintain those digital files over long time). Who knows, in another 5 years there might be a superior MQA-2 codec?

Bob has stated as much. Having heard it on three separate occasions, through all three SE loudspeaker products, the Explorer² and the Prime, I'm satisfied that MQA is as good as it gets for now at least, and that any improvement will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Thanks for patronising me. It is much appreciated.

However, I think that you have missed my fundamental point completely which is that the challenges facing the adoption of MQA are significantly greater than with the DVD-audio example.

I would suggest that more inventions from 'smart' people fail than those that succeed due to a myriad of reasons. I have no doubt that Bob has put some thought into how to get MQA adopted but I also have no doubts that Bob is coming from a primary position of sound quality. A position that I suspect not many of the people who he hopes to adopt MQA is aligned with.

I don't need to be 'smart' to figure out that it is significantly more difficult and complex to create a market than it is to simply supply to an existing one. As result I think that the real selling point of MQA is its benefits for streaming rather than its sound quality or authentication. After all why should I believe studios care about sound quality, aside from if they can monetise it, when things like the loudness wars happened which fundamentally wouldn't have happened if they did.

I didn't know I had a need for MQA until it was presented to me and to be honest until I am permitted to have a side by side comparison against a hires track from the same source and the same master my need isn't fully defined. However to suggest that there was a need for MQA is disingenuous at best. As for people needing MQA for archival purposes I can only suggest that if that was the only need it could have been satisfied without MQA.

Pending a full side by side comparison I truly hope and want MQA to succeed (I am looking at upgrading to SE speakers, sight unseen, solely for this so unlike many I am putting my money where my mouth is at significant risk). However I am under no delusions that however 'smart' somebody might be that they will ultimately succeed.

I suggest that I am a realist in this regard rather than a fantasist.

Cheers,

Tony.

I think Tony and I have similar perspectives - hopeful that MQA is what it is being billed as, rooting for it to succeed, willing to back the format in the form of hardware investment at a very early stage, but still skeptical about the long term landscape because of the industry's history.

I've been thinking more about al this and I'm starting to believe that MQA's association with Tidal before ever getting out of the gate (for consumers) may make or break MQA in the long run. If Tidal struggles, I think some or all of the labels will look at that struggle as a reason not to put effort into MQA. If that happens, catalog support for MQA remains limited and we never get out of it what we hoped. Of course, MQA and Tidal are completely separate and MQA could gain ground in a variety of other avenues (and they are trying to do that already), but I think the early wagon hitching will be hard to erase in the minds of the label decision makers.

I think Q3/Q4 of 15 and especially Q1/Q2 of 16 will tell us an awful lot about the streaming industry. My guess is that Apple Music is going to gain initial traction with the free trial and then again when the next phone is announced in September. Tidal already had a big task trying to differentiate itself amongst non-audiophile consumers in an established market. Jay-Z's acquisition and actions since certainly helped make them more visible, but they have a tough road ahead. If they struggle over the next year and if they are the only streaming service (I'm talking about the big players) that offers MQA during that time, I think folks at the labels will see that as a reflection of low consumer demand for MQA and thus not put extra effort into it.

Jeff,
any thoughts on whether the labels will see huge opportunity to re-sell the back catalogue to you in MQA format ? Either digital download or silver disc of some sort ?

They do have a track record here.... Beatles MQA anyone ?

It was interesting that the Beatles hirez releases were only 24/44.1. Is there more they can squeeze out?