MQA: Yet another file format to compress audio

Hello,
Do we have any MQA streaming source in India? Also does any one know if there is any SACD version of Bollywood albums released so far? Likely not but I still ask...
Thanks
I am not aware of

I am not aware of Indian SACDs, but I remember Veer Zaara was released on DVDAudio 96KHz24bit. Some new Indian movies are available in 88.2KHz24bit on AcousticSounds.com. it is not easy to search as they are not tagged. They are mostly from Sony Music India.

Thanks,
Sharad Medhavi
 
Hello Sharad,
Thanks for the information. I have a few Veer Zaara songs in a hindi Blu Ray disc released by Yash Chopra. They are indeed recorded with 96x24 fidelity and presented in both Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master formats. I will search for Hindi hi-rez albums in AcousticSounds. There might be another music DVD audio released by Shankar Mahadevan but I am not sure... Does anyone still listen to DVD audio?
 
Sorry Hindi 88.2KHz24bit files are on hdtracks.com. AcousticSounds.com had a few Hindustani classical SACDs on the Water Lilly label.
 
Sorry Hindi 88.2KHz24bit files are on hdtracks.com. AcousticSounds.com had a few Hindustani classical SACDs on the Water Lilly label.

What keywords I use to search the Hindi albuns on hdtracks Sharad
 
Okay, dumb question time: is MQA claiming superior audio quality for a given bit rate (or level of compression) compared to older compression algorithms?

What exactly is their claim(s)? Someone please summarise. I want to understand why the studio, the DAC maker, and the end user must pay a license fee or subscription fee to be able to enjoy Master Quality Authenticated. What is the compelling reason to use it? Is it a lossy compression or lossless? What is the typical bit rate?

I want to join Keith's chorus, because I don't like DR, but before chanting it I want to know why.
 
ive been listening tonight to MQA playlists on Tidal, playing at 96Khz/88khz via the Tidal Native App from a Mac mini, to a non MQA DAC inside my new integrated. To my ears it sounds a lot more relaxed and life like, than the regular red-book versions on Tidal. im very impressed.
To be honest I did not hear this quantum of difference with my old Amp/DAC combo or with my older LS50 Wireless. (i have a new Intergrated Amp in my system)
 
Hi Joshua
Even I am confused and inspite knowing where to find answers have never got time to mainly because don't use tidal as of now.nor have any mqa files
But one thing I think is very clear.
Best results are always achieved with mqa plyaback when we use a dac capable of decoding mqa stream
Personally I will not a buy a dac only because it is capable to decode mqa stream.
Other features and most importantly it's house sound is way more important for me

Dont know how good is roon doing mqa decoding

Perhaps these videos might help us understand what exactly is mqa and is it worth all the hoopla




 
At this point the non pc/mac versions of Tidal does not seem to support MQA. Considering my genre of favourite songs being focussed mostly to Indian music not sure if MQA is still worth. Also have anyone noticed that the average loudness of songs on Tidal is less than On CDs?

Also some songs sound like MP3. Looks not 100% of library is not true lossless.
 
Reigniting the MQA vs Lossless war: A recent article from Stereophile defends MQA
Readers comments/reactions below the article are interesting too.

and Goldennote’s response to this:
 
Die, MQA, die! :D

You had the foresight to notice the fakery built around the losless claims of MQA. They got roasted by golden sound and it was funny to see all those people who promote high end gear to jump to the support of MQA. Tidal went hammer and tongs after this guy, removed his audio files which showed the fake claims of lossless format.


Some like Paul McGowan, CEO of PS Audio had the guts ask the question "Is MQA a good thing"? and he goes on to day that the only reason he added support was because customers were asking for it.


and it was tickling to see promoters of (costly means better sound), people like Hans Beekhuyzen getting furious at Golden Sound.

 
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Before the Golden Sound MQA episode, I used to follow all the videos of "Hans Beekhuyzen Channel", but after that episode I don't trust Hans Beekhuyzen anymore.
 
Comment by a user
MQA just smelled really bad from the start. It seemed like a lot of insiders, from the old geezer audio magazine reviewer to Amir and his ASR insiders (all what would seem to be pretty smart people) had financial interests in it. (Note @GoldenOne was kicked off ASR for daring question Amir about his support for MQA).
 
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
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