Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Linn's response to MQA

This just appeared on the linn blog Why MQA is bad for music it's pretty dismissive and portrays MQA as a money making scheme.

Guess they don't like it...

There are always two sides to a story and I don't doubt an element of truth in the blog, but oh dear oh dear: it reeks of "not invented here" syndrome.

$$$ MQA Gets Paid $$$ (not Linn)
$$$ MQA Gets Paid $$$ (not Linn)
$$$ MQA Gets Paid $$$ (not Linn)
$$$ MQA Gets Paid $$$ (not Linn)
$$$ MQA Gets Paid $$$ (not Linn)
$$$ MQA Gets Paid $$$ (not Linn)
$$$ MQA Gets Paid $$$ (not Linn)
$$$ MQA Gets Paid $$$ (not Linn)

A clearly very choreographed piece.

Hard not to feel outraged at wilfully destructive cr*p like that. And with Linn refusing to participate, there's no agenda of their own in hosting such opinion pieces?

Cheers

George

Despite having a great dislike of Linn, it is very difficult to see what is objectionable about that article.

Meridian have spent time developing a format and spun off a separate company to market it. What else do they want apart from to make money out of it? They are trying to adopt the Dolby/Philips/Sony model of getting an income stream from licensing. AIUI they are already doing that by licensing MLP.

To argue against the article is being wilfully blind.

Of course the writer is being much too pessimistic (from his POV). MQA is extremely unlikely to succeed in the way he suggests that the would like. It simply doesn't have the USP that Dolby and CD had.

Professional jealousy at its finest.

I've no objection to Linn whinging about the business model (or implementing a strategy to counter anything inconsistent with Linn thought leadership), but I do object to this:

Of course not, but...
Nasty.

My take on the article is that it throws maximum shade without quite lying:

- It speculates that MQA could become a form of DRM if HW manufacturers decided to (commit suicide by) restricting their HW to MQA only. It mentions zero evidence of any kind that any manufacturer is contemplating doing this.

- It portrays the business model as sucking up all the profit from every step in the chain, but doesn't mention two key points:

1. All the major music producers have signed on despite music industry margins already being tight. Knowing that significant additional cost cannot be passed on to the general music buying/renting audience, this means that MQA isn't taking much.

2. The pricing we've seen for MQA processed music hasn't been very high!

The rest of the article is similar, shade without substance.

Sounds like an undercover job is required of ChrisLayerUK !

This is Linn not Rega. Roy doesn't have Digital in any part of the process if he can have his way. A purist engineer (and lovely man) is an understatement.
They are recording today to 1 inch tape. No mixing all Analog the mix desk is handmade using the best phono circuits.
Most vinyl is not even pure Analog anymore as the signal goes through a digital preview circuit on modern cutting machines. This is the big con that won't get talked about.

I heard a story of why the Rumours early vinyl can sound so good. (I'm no expert here) Apparently due to the pressing tools were made from the acetate within and hour of manufacture along with careful handling.
This stuff matters in the same way Birds Eye peas get picked and frozen quickly.
Thoughts Chris

Surely the title of the Linn Response should be. "Why is MQA a bad thing for Linn"?

If nobody takes a risk, then no advances are made. Bob Stuart has provided a vehicle for all concerned from Artists right through to the Consumer in an unbroken chain.

Profit is not a dirty word, just the way it is in any business.

Linn, why pick the grapes and eat them whilst they are sour. Let them ripen and ferment into something of value that can be shared.

Hector

People say/do stupid words/things,when they are desperate

It is a repetitive, slanted blog article but minimizes the technical achievement of the MQA processes (streaming HQ high-res music in a normal bandwidth Internet environment). Claiming MQA adds no value is clearly underestimating the technology;waiting for an open source (free as in free pizza) alternative may take longer than they care to wait (especially as the MQA solution has been officially chosen by Warner and streaming through TIDAL already).

I do agree with one small point, studios are spending big bucks re digitizing and MQA-ing their back catalogs and spending less money on finding and developing new artists.

The middle-aged aficionado who can afford Linn or Meridian quality equipment probably is more interested in streaming oodles of back-catalog goodness over the Internet now that most record/CD shops are out of business, or at best, centered in urban areas like L.A. or London (or indeed Japan or to a lesser extent, Germany I guess).

Front page of Linn.co.uk : streaming TIDAL or QOBUZ multiroom solutions. Must be annoying to their CEO that their prime streaming partner is streaming HD audio and they have to pay MQA to decode it....