Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Re: MQA status?

I suspect the comments you mention come from people who find it more important to demonstrate how clever they are (cant comment on the technical but the main one is very incoherent) as opposed to embracing the format most likely to foster an appreciation of good sound quality to a wider audience for many years. You can see why non audiophiles find it all a bore.

I first heard MQA over a year ago and remain convinced it takes you closer to the music, how it does this is a curiosity at best, the important thing being it does it! Hopefully some new product will be launched at CES over the coming days as i am very keen to get MQA in my Sooloos system.

People should be skeptical but internet comments can easily descend into uninformed trolling.

I am most interested in understanding MQA and how the industry will evolve with it. Is there a place for live music concerts transmitted/streamed in MQA? Will small (home) studios be able/allowed/affordable to record in MQA for the small artists?

Also Mods can we have a separate topic called "I am still waiting for my Meridian MQA equipment" for all those that dont inform just winge.

I like the majority I guess, am not particularly literate or clued up on the technical side of things. I however very much appreciate the illuminating comments, here and on the Roon forum, which help my understanding of MQA from those more knowledgable than I.

I just wish the sceptics would take the time to audition MQA at a dealer as I am sure they would quickly change their negative stance of "Bah Humbug" to "When can I have it please".

As to those who dismiss MQA because of cost, most consumers are loathe to spend more money until the subjective perceived value justifies it, and then we dig into our pockets even it means a serious extended saving campaign to make it happen.

Our hobby is listening to well produced music, I have never met two people who can agree in monetary terms what is justifiable regarding their most prized hobby but it is usually more than conventional common sense would dictate.

New year musing while I await MQA availability.

Happy new year all 🙂

I don't want to over-generalize, but many (maybe even most) of the audiophiles I've had lengthy interaction with are very much focused on the equipment, with the music being secondary. No problem with that. Everyone has their own interests/hobbies/priorities.

MQA (and some of the mystery around MQA) threatens the currency/relative capability of their cherished systems that have been pain-stakingly assembled and paid for.

I think it's natural for some of these folks to feel subconsciously threatened by something as radically disruptive as MQA. MQA Ltd. may want to do some outbound communication specifically to address this kind of reaction to let people know that their systems will not require major upheaval to get some portion of the benefits.

P.S. I was lucky enough to have heard an MQA demo, and am all-in. Jaw-dropping, gut punching amazing!

Most hi-end systems are analogue from the DAC output to the speakers and are IMHO the least threatened by MQA, which presumably will only require a new (or modified) DAC or outboard module.

Meridian systems on the other hand appear to present a very complex architecture and ironically are probably the most "threatened", i.e. they may need both h/w and s/w updates across multiple components.

All of which is moot until there is sufficient (good) music available to justify the modifications. It is, of course, the music which may have to be repurchased, rendering any existing investment obsolete, in MQA terms at least.

We [Meridian owners] are all going to need "another DAC"; for us it will be an MQA decoder, be it 818v2 to v3 upgrade, or a new source yet to be announced. I am still hopeful that with such a source, and direct to a stereo pair of 96/24 DSPs at least, we will be pleasantly surprised.

Was there supposed to be another announcement today (Jan. 6)? I thought I had heard that. If so, does anyone know what time it is scheduled?

Thanks and here's hoping it is all finally close.

Wayne

Re: only DAC needed for MQA. There is also the small matter of a Be tweeter that is comfortable @30kHz+ with low rate of ringing.

Gianni,
I think you're exactly right about our systems being much more threatened. The good news is that, as M devotees, we're pretty well informed about MQA.

I suspect the folks that are doing things like negative comments after the Stereophile article (and elsewhere) without hearing MQA are feeling threatened out of ignorance.

As someone else mentioned, there's always the troll effect as well (sigh).

Hopefully, the content and HW will be out soon enough to make the ignorance and doubt go away pretty quickly.

Not really. You need the SE speakers for the "ultimate" MQA playback, but according to Bob or Richard (can't remember which), getting to 96k is really important; and 96k will play on anything that is 96/24 capable - a 96/24 decoded-MQA stream would even work with legacy processors and DSP modes... However, there have been hints that it could be better than 96/24 in legacy 96/24 loudspeakers, but we just don't know.

I am writing in transparent ignorance so I do hope you are correct VK.

What I need is for my Sooloos core to decode MQA and deliver it to the downstream components (G68/568) and thence to the DSP speakers in such a way that a good percentage (say 50-80%) of the MQA goodness is audible.

It would be frustrating if my bigger systems (which both include an MS600 and Meridian SSPs) could not do that. And more so if my simpler laptop office system could.

But, to be clear, I am not decrying the MQA product or its potential, I just don't know what I will be able to yet. Right now, we only know what the entry level (Explorer 2) and top end (818v3/8000SEs) solutions are.

I think the golden rule is that anyone with MHR capable DSPs will be able to get the vast majority of the MQA goodness, but you will need a new Meridian endpoint that is MQA compatible.

It is pretty clear that there will be an MS200 type replacement that is MQA compatible but there may well be others similar to the MS600. I don't think the existing models will be firmware upgradeable to handle MQA and MHR - the replacements will be new models. Whether models such as the 861v4 will be upgradeable (eg new MQA card) will, I am guessing, depend on demand. I would certainly hope so but who knows?

I don't think the Sooloos core will decode MQA - rather it will deliver it in its encoded state bit-perfectly to the new MQA compatible endpoints, which will then do the decoding before sending the data to DSPs via MHR. The SE DSPs will sound best of all because of their greater DAC "bandwidth" (see Bob's interview) and, equally important, better amplification and tweeters than the earlier models. The lesser DSPs will probably need some form of downsampling within the decoding/ MHR process to get within the 24/96 DAC limit.

The DAC management aspects of MQA appear to be related to the bandwidth of the DAC - another guess, this aspect relates to sub 10% of MQA goodness, possibly sub 5%? (no knowledge here, but interested in what others think).

Your laptop system will only handle MQA with an MQA compatible DAC such as the Explorer 2 - I don't think there will be software that sits on a PC or Mac that decodes MQA and gives a digital output.

Others please correct me if I am wrong.

I have been listening to the MQA album I bought last week. My 818v3, which is not yet MQA compatible, has been playing the album as if it was a 16/44 album and, contrary to what I wrote last week, upsamples the album to 24/88. It is a very impressive sound, even at this level, and could easily be mistaken for a high res album even though only the lower bits are being accessed. In other words, even without MQA decoding, the sound is definitely better than CD quality. I know this because I have also bought the 16/44 FLAC version and made the comparison. Once we get the firmware upgrade (please, can it be soon?) we will be able to hear MQA in its full glory.