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MQA was launched on December 2014. It is now January 2, 2017 so let’s see where MQA is at today. Remember all the people who said that MQA was not Digital Rights Management? Well Utimaco disagrees. “MQA turned to Utimaco, a leading manufacturer of hardware-based security solutions that provide the root of trust to keep cryptographic keys safe, secure critical digital infrastructures and protect high value data assets. “ “Critical to the continued success and monetization of the streaming and download services of the entertainment industry, is the ability to secure and safeguard end-to-end transmission of intellectual property. A market leader in hardened encryption, Utimaco is at the forefront of enabling the authenticated delivery needed to drive next-generation entertainment consumption.” Now turn to content. As of today there is no music in the genres 80% of American buy, Rock, R&B/Hip Hop, Pop and Country. Add Latin and EDM and you are at about 9 out of ten people buying music in America have no MQA encoded music to purchase. Don’t wait for licensee Warner Music Group to suddenly turn a switch and their music become available because they told the SEC in their latest financial statements they haven’t figured out how to distribute digital music. There are 10 companies that produce equipment with MQA decoders. None of the products have enough units in the hands of consumers to make any impact. Many companies announced they would not support the format. The view of companies neither producing products nor announcing they would not support the format is indifference. Hardly a must have feature. I said earlier this year that I would need 200 artists producing new music in the genres I regularly buy for MQA to be viable a viable format for me. I don’t see any interest by those artists in recording high resolution much less with MQA encoding. Those genres are rock, alt rock, alt country and bluegrass. And personally I will not test any MQA equipment until eight of the nine albums I use as my reference are available in MQA. The Doors “Riders on the Storm “was used as demo of MQA not realizing there was no master to authenticate. Something that was well known but apparently unknown to the MQA people and audio journalists. As of January 2, 2017 two years after its splashy launch we have a lot of audiophile press about MQA, announcements and demonstrations. But there is a limited supply of equipment to decode MQA files and no music encoded for nine out ten American music buyers, classic vaporware.

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....technology company,the US and other countries. The financials are eye-opening. Annual revenue never exceeded £700,000 while administrative expenses exceeded £4,000,000 for 2020 and 2021! Does anyone think Bob Stuart took this much money out of the company? Wow. So MQA has become another Dolby FM technology. But then, many in the industry thought MQA was a scam.😎

I have just read a positive review in July number of Italian magazine AudioReview about this new little DAC from Project http://www.box-designs.com/main.php?prod=preboxs2digital&cat=s2-line&lang=en A very reasonable entry level price for experimenting with MQA, but apparently not at all entry level performance. Main specs from Pro-Ject infosheet: • Dual mono construction • High end ESS Sabre ESS9038 dual DAC • Proprietary clock circuity design • Organic polymer capacitors and thin film miniMELF resistors • MQA hardware decoding • DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 & DSD512 (DSD over PCM) • Up to 24bit/192kHz for optical & coax inputs • 7 selectable digital filter characteristics • 1 proprietary optimum transient digital filter • Headphone output on the front (6.3mm) • Synchronization of all internal oscillators • Jitter as low as 100 Femtoseconds! • Gold plated four layer PCB • Full alu/metal sandwich casing in silver or black SRP: € 349,00

Greetings, Looking for a new headphone amp for a specific situation: drive a stand-alone headphone system in a home study. No loudspeakers. Roon-Ready streaming Tidal/Qobuz/NAS will be only source. Ideally, I could find a high-end, class A tube amp with balanced phone outs,...with DAC and streamer built-in. BUT, I prefer to not compromise amp or DAC quality in order to jam all functions into a single box. 2 components would be fine. Suggestions?

http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=20456 Free download. New in May 2019. Thought maybe discussion of this separate from other threads might make sense. A Hierarchical Approach for Audio Capture, Archive, and Distribution.

I posted a comment today that Tidal is not streaming audio's 900 pound gorilla because of the small subscriber numbers. I talked with him briefly at RMAF 2017 and my posts have not survived moderation since then. If I'm banned just tell specifically why.

NASA telescope has revealed largest batch of seven Earth-size, habitable-zone planets around single star! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170222130941.htm I'm asking myself just one question - what music and audio gear do they have there.? Well, maybe just one more - what would they think about MQA.?

I have just contacted Bryston asking them whether they plan to implement MQA in their products (DACs) and this is what they replied: "We have no plans to implement a signal changing type feature in Bryston products. We will leave that to other audio companies. [...] Brian." Too bad. I really like their products and I was contemplating buying their BDA-3.

Hey guys, just wanted to drop by to let folks know that I'm running a blind test of MQA Core Decode vs. original hi-res... It's a way to compare what MQA decoding sounds like with your own DAC especially for those of you who don't have TIDAL and may be wondering about the difference between a stream that's MQA Core decoded compared to say a non-MQA 24/96 stream. After you listen, I would of course love to know your perception of differences. The tracks are randomized and "blinded". Tell me which you prefer and how much difference you perceive! Test instructions and files can be found here: INTERNET BLIND TEST: MQA Core Decoding vs. Standard Hi-Res Audio Thanks all, have fun... Arch

Well, this pulls some of the MQA issues together well and Mr. Koch's position is crystal clear. Some highlights: He does get into some specifics, but I don't want to run on too long here. For some this may just be a rehash, but it is well written. I found it worth a read.

If you haven't visited our Learning Center in awhile, we've recently added several guides and articles. Here is what's new A Guide to Roon Music Player Forget everything you know about music players. Music is an experience, and Roon reconnects you with it. A Guide to Streaming Music Services With a still-growing array of streaming services, it can be tough to decide which one to pick. Here are the key questions you should ponder before you decide. MQA, What is it and Why Should I Care? Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) is the newest format to hit the market. MQA is an audio codec intended for high fidelity, digital audio, internet streaming and file download. MQA can be played on any audio device, whether that’s inside your home, your car, from your phone or anywhere else you might be – perfectly fitting into the way you listen to your music today. An Introduction to Computer Audio New to computer audio or having trouble deciding if a computer audio system is right for you? Fear not, we have put together this introduction to computer audio so that you can understand the basics of what goes into a computer-based audio system. An Introduction to Buying a Turntable Vinyl is back and better than ever. If you're thinking about getting back into the hobby or considering purchasing your first turntable, this guide will run you through the basics of what to look for in a turntable setup. Resonance Control - Controlling Unwanted Vibrations in an Audio Systems When listening to music, speakers are the main source of vibration traveling through the ground and back to your equipment, also termed floor-borne vibration. It’s the job any component isolation product (footers, shelves, stands) to protect the supported component from external ground and air vibration interference. Vibration is a variable which must be mastered through proper design and discreet material choices to achieve resonance control for your audio system.

Great new perspective. And certainly raises many red flags! MQA: a non-hostile takeover? | DAR__KO

Afternoon all, new member here, unsure if this is new info or not but my Mytek Brooklyn dac is showing MQA is running on Tidal (started today), green emblem showing on OLED. SHowing 16bit but no lock. PRior to this Tidal always showed 16bit 44.1k

The recording industry panel on MQA at the upcoming Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) in Denver has been canceled. Apparently, the MQA folks decided against participating. Quite an interesting discussion on all of this among the recording and mastering engineers over at the Gear Slutz Forum. https://www.gearslutz.com/board/mastering-forum/1171365-mqa-discussion-denver-rmaf-4.html

Mastering engineer Brian Lucey recently solicited info on the pro's & con's for an upcoming panel on MQA at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Besides six times Grammy winner Lucey MQA representative Mike Jbara and an engineer from Mytek was supposed to be on stage. Today the panel was cancelled. More info here: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/12847173-post86.html Good job MQA, reputation one up!

Hello fellows on Computer Audiophile, I hope that you can help me, to chose the right hardware for me! Today I have a old pc laptop that runs Roon, Signalyst HQPlayer, TIDAL HiFi, (mostly MQA because I have felt in love with it's sound), a NAS with ripped CDs and DSD. But I need new hardware for this, because my laptop singing on it's last chorus! So I wrote to you on this forum, because I believe that here's a lot of experience and knowledge that I shall buy! That full files my needs and can be upgraded when it needs! I can handle a old pc laptop and little more, but I'm not a computer genius . I now how it shall sound! Because I'm a professional musician and studio producer, studio/live engineer so when it comes to sound well we're I'm not lost . But unfortunately for me today, so changed I my "tape boy" against a "computer boy" when the computer, started to be used in the studio . So please come with suggestions on hardware for me! I wish all fellow, well in my case (Computer) Audiophile's a great Sunday. Greetings from String in a sunny ☀️ Sweden.

Short but damming read on MQA by an anonymous audio-vendor: http://6moons.com/industryfeatures/mqa/1.html Confirms most of the points Shiit and Linn have raised. Their argument about the benefits of MQA for cheap DACs are interesting.

Just read this article on Digital Audio Review shared by Srajen Ebaen of 6moons. Very interesting to say the least. http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/07/kih-46-mqas-missing-link/ Best. Mev

I subscribe to Tidal Hifi and have access to Masters encoded with MQA. My computer is connected to my McIntosh MHA100 through USB and I am using eihter Amarra Symphony or Audirvana Plus (with Tidal) + Itunes. My understanding is that Tidal by itself connected through my McIntosh will not deliver the full MQA experience and need an MQA compatible DAC. So I was told Buesound Node 2 would happen to do just that. My issue with this set-up is that the Burr Brown Chip on this 599$ (CDN) is not at the level of the DAC built in my McIntosh. Would I, at the end of the day ended up with worse quality music than feeding it with the USB cable and using my McIntosh DAC while not having the full MQA experience. Second part of this: The Audirvana Plus has MQA capability, does this solve my issues and would I get the full MQA experience? I want to integrate Blusesound in order to remove Airplay from my system because it can't stream 24 bit while bluesound could. Hope I make sense here as this is my first post. Thanks Saby

ROON and MQA news updates for Lumin Universal Audiophile Network Players and Systems. ROON is now part of the upgrade to Lumin <8.0> for all products D1, A1, T1, S1, U1. (The only thing left to do will be the L1 media library as a upnp device!). Roon is working well on our end with LUMIN products natively (not going through airplay). To use: 1. Have a computer running Roon core 2. Computer and LUMIN are on the same network 3. Roon app installed on the iPad 4. LUMIN/Roon running firmware 8.00+ It should work fine if all these are "yes". MQA: MQA ON LUMIN AS OF FEB. 23, 2017 1x = 16/44.1 Via Airplay bit perfect. Also: MQA at 24bit 48kHz is active In development for firmware updates. (Dates TBD but should be done by Q2/Q3 2017). 2x = 24/88.2 or 24/96 4x = 24/176 or 24/192 8x = 24/352 or 24/384 2x (or maximum 4x) is all that is really required from a technical point of view. Universal Music Group has now signed on with MQA, and their labels include: *** ECM, Interscope, Geffen, A&M, Capitol, Island, Def Jam, Decca, Verve, Blue Note, Virgin, and EMI *** Re: MQA now on Tidal For those using Lumin app, there should now be a Masters category under Tidal. If you don't see it, please kill the app and retry. You can also ‘tag’ MQA but does not yet give you the full MQA resolution (it down samples it to 24bit/48kHz for now), which is still an improvement over 16bit/44.1kHz . Lumin has full MQA support in the works, so we should see that in the near future. Additionally, MQA also plays bit perfect via airplay at 16bit/44.1. Lumin app for iPad, iPhone and Android tablets available at: http://www.luminmusic.com/lumin‐app.html Click here to visit the full lineup of Lumin Music Players To start your free Roon trial click here Click here for the latest information on MQA

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With my new AQ Dragonfly Red I finally have an MQA compatible DAC; so I signed up to the three month free trial for Tidal you get via Audirvana to get some actual MQA content. Are there any really well done MQA albums out there you´d recommend checking out? I don´t want to go into any discussions about vaporware or not here (note I´m personally skeptical about the user benefits of this technology), but rather have some examples I can use to make up my own mind.

Based on the irrational comments in the "MQA Conceptualized" post, I have no choice to consider the staff at Stereophile snake oil salesmen. Many here have worked under the delusion that they would start to temper their support once all the widely available data was examined. Keep dreaming. These excerpts show they have doubled down: JIm Austin: "MQA is currently in "bootstrap" or "startup" mode. (It may graduate from that or just disappear. Only time will tell.) As a result, processes are still being worked out. But what you describe--your desire to sign off on the MQA version--is completely consistent with MQA's creators' vision; this is what the blue light (as opposed to the green light) is intended to mean" "As for MQA, a current problem is that, away from the mastering studio, artists commonly lack access to an MQA-capable DAC (and, very likely, a system capable of resolving those differences)." "You said you'd never heard MQA. When you do--when you compare MQA and non-MQA versions of your work--I think you will be surprised how similar they sound. I have never heard a piece I thought MQA made worse, but in general the change is quite subtle, IMO. (YMMV.)" Jason Victor Serinus: (Try not to laugh) "If MQA didn't audibly improve sound quality to our ears, our coverage would be minimal." "MQA's argument is that you and recording engineers are currently hostage to DAC timing errors. If MQA can truly correct those errors, does that make you a double hostage, or are you actually freer to move closer to the source?" "How would you feel if I reviewed your recording without listening to it? I ask because you have just made absolute pronouncements about something you have never heard and, admittedly, have not taken the time to read about or understand." If your answer is affirmative, you have just read what a lot of us, including a host of major sound and mastering engineers and recording label executives, have been saying. That doesn't mean that, once you listen, you have to agree. But Lord almighty, don't you hope people will come to your music with an open mind? Why not extend the same courtesy and curiosity to MQA?" Sickening . And when you are sick, the last thing you need is SNAKE OIL. https://www.stereophile.com/content/mqa-contextualized https://www.stereophile.com/content/mqa-contextualized

I want to experiment with a Roon Ready endpoint MQA enabled network streamer to listen to MQA selections from Tidal with Roon. MQA has been so hotly debated I want to pick up some gear and listen for myself rather than read endless online debates. I'm not interested in portable DACs or music fed directly from a computer. So, I'm inclined to shy away from the Meridian Explorer 2, Dragonfly Red or iFi Nano BL. I suspect that using the iFi Micro BL on a desktop is a waste of much of what that device has to offer. But perhaps I'm thinking of this the wrong way. Since Roon can now handle the decoding, I realize a renderer is all that I need, however, I don't feel compelled to ignore solutions that offer decoding and rendering. This particular system is very simple. It's a Naim Uniti Atom driving ProAc Tablette 10 speakers. The analog input is available. I've been pleased with the Allo USBRidge that I've deployed on one of my low budget systems and was thinking that pairing that device with a Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 would do the trick for about $580. An alternative would be the Bluesound Node 2 at about $500. I suspect that the USBRidge/Pro-Ject combo would yield better sound. However, the Bluesound would tie things up nicely with a single box. I'm not interested in any of the other features offer by Bluesound. Are there other alternatives you might suggest? How would you think about the two options I've mentioned? Just to put boundaries on this experiment, let's keep the budget below $750. Thanks, -- Rich

A word of congrats to Roon and committing to work done right. I want to celebrate here that they truly listen to their customers and produce truly amazing software - head and shoulders above all else in my opinion. The particular reason for such praise is their new MQA implementation: They fought tooth and nail to get something that would live up to the Roon standards and finally they did. You might or might not like MQA - I am not advocating it at all. What I am pointing out is Roon's commitment to doing it in line with their design and not destroying user experience. Quite amazing to see such a robust product. Some power users might prefer JRiver for some use cases - in a few better than Roon's. That's very good software as well.