Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Amy Duncan "Undercurrents" MQA - 44k not 352k?

This fence is quite crowded but you do meet some very nice people.

O C Hector

I already have SE DSPs and am planning to upgrade to 808v6 simply because I like to keep kit up to date (and Meridian is rare -unique - in enabling this), plus reports of improved SQ independent of MQA.

I hear that the Amy Duncan album will be available via her own website sometime soon.

Regarding the MQA encoding

Understood!

But it ain't what you have, it is what you might have, and more to the point when you can get it in spades.

Hector

A short video by Amy about her MQA album.

Amy Duncan Posted by MQA.

Chris 😎

Hi folks , I too downloaded this Amy Duncan album as my first shot in MQA. I likewise found it was designated 44/ 24 which is a long way from what I expected, so pretty miffed.

Chris I also tried the Amy Duncan YouTube video, but it appears to have been taken down - or for whatever other reason I cannot access.

More important however is the missing high res MQA I was expecting. I noted the various other comments from members but I am then even more confused as to what is going on and what we might expect from this or other releases.

Thanks regards
Huw

If you search out MQA on YouTube It has been reposted. I watched it tonight.

Amy Duncan

Hi folks , I too downloaded this Amy Duncan album as my first shot in MQA. I likewise found it was designated 44/ 24 which is a long way from what I expected, so pretty miffed.
Chris I also tried the Amy Duncan u tube video , but it appears to have been taken down- or for whatever other reason I cannot access.

More important however is the missing high res MQA I was expecting. I noted the various other comments my members but I am then even more confused as to what is going on and what we might expect from this or other releases.
Thanks regards
Huw

Yes Chris managed to view now thanks.

We are doing some control tests using Explorer1 and Explorer2 with latest MQA firmware. Of course it's not strictly a control because on normal high res albums the 2 was definitely better anyway.

Will report back later this weekend.

I have now learned that MQA files are designated .FLAC (or can be other too) but I still do not get why they come up as 44.1/24. Incidentally using my Explorer1 with this "MQA" file on my Mac only the first blue light comes on, which suggests nothing very high res is going on.

Hopefully we will get to the bottom of all this.

Anyway the Amy Duncan album sounded pretty nice even on Explorer.

Regards
Huw

I haven't heard the album in question. Assuming it is a white-glove mastering, I would expect most or all of the following to be in place on a 44k original recording:

1) compensation for the characteristics of the ADCs, which in this case would definitely be known.
2) upsampling (i.e. to 352kHz) using apodising to remove blurring.
3) encapsulating of the deblurred file as MQA (back down to 44kHz).
4) matching to the DAC as part of the MQA decoding process.

Note that no. 2 being done offline, doesn't have any of the processing limitations of hardware upsampling.

None of this is anything to do with MQA simply encoding high-res audio.

And if it sounds great what's the problem?

Hi Guys, I thought I'd clarify this question.

MQA is a technology for delivering the very best sound quality from a recording, whether it is new, remastered or an archive recovery.

In addition to the sound quality improvements (that come from managing parameters end-to-end such as blur, noise, etc) we have the ability to indicate and guarantee Provenance.

Because MQA has a hierarchical architecture, the decoders extract the best sound matched to the platform you happen to be using. So, e.g. a file sourced from DXD can be unwrapped to 44.1, 88.2, 176.4 or 352.8 to match the device (important in legacy, WiFi and mobile applications).

Now, back to Provenance. When you see the MQA light it means you are hearing it as it should be. We take great care to encourage our content partners to only give us the actual and originally approved master. Our encoder is on the lookout for (and will query) up- or cross-sampling.

MQA is guaranteeing you are getting the real thing. It does not judge the content, rather we take an archivist viewpoint. So, if a recording is made in 44.1/16 and the artist is happy, or it is the only (remaining) document, that's fine. Equally if it's made in DXD or DSD256, that's fine too -- as are analogue tapes, cylinders -- you get the picture.

In particular, we are not trying to apply any arbitrary definition of 'High Resolution' and, as we have commented elsewhere, sample rate and bit depth can be poor indicators of sound quality. My personal perspective on this can be seen in this Open Access paper: Stuart, J.R., ‘Soundboard: High-Resolution Audio’, JAES Vol. 63 No. 10, pp831–832 (Oct 2015) Open Access http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=18046

Those of you who have owned Meridan products over the last decade know that good results are possible from CD.

MQA takes this to a new level for all content, using more advanced technology based on modern insights from sampling theory and neuroscience. MQA operating at 44.1 kHz has lower temporal blur than today's 'normal' 192 kHz. (Read that sentence again and think what it means). Of course, it brings higher-rate recordings even closer, literally.

So now, Amy Duncan: This is a lovely recording. It was recorded at 44.1/24. Therefore that's what we encoded, she approved and we delivered. Don't be disappointed by any numbers, just listen.

And if you can afford it, try the Nielsen piano recording (also 44.1/24) and argue that it isn't high definition. https://shop.klicktrack.com/2l/468051


Footnote 1: We do encourage retailers to make the original format clear at point of sale.
Footnote 2: You can always find the 'OriginalSampleRate' in the ID3 header as a check - it's there to help server UI.
Footnote 3: If Explorer2 shows you one light and it's blue, it means MQA of a 1x. A blue (or green light) accompanied by some white lights indicate in the usual way that the source rate is higher.

Bob, many thanks for the input. With so much conjecture and speculation it is most helpful to have some clarification.

Cheers