[MLA] MQA

Mon May 9 19:04:27 CEST 2016

Dear Bob L. I have written to Bob Stuart but not gotten any response 
yet. Of course I want to audition MQA, but I'm using a digital 
crossover, and for stereo I have 4 channels of DAC so I need a digital 
MQA "decoder". Any thoughts on that?

Bob K.

On 5/9/16 11:24 AM, Robert Ludwig wrote:
> Hi Ian,
>
> Just to reiterate, Thomas is 100% right in my opinion, needlessly 
> crushing music is by FAR the #1 item that needs to be fixed for better 
> sound, nothing else matters when you start with unsatisfying music. 
>  However, assuming you’ve got great sounding music, then all the rest 
> comes in to play!
>
> The TIDAL MQA material isn’t officially launched yet, but Bob Stuart 
> said there are people who know the URL that would get one to the beta 
> site.
>
> I don’t know how much you know about MQA, but it is several “things” 
> under one MQA name.  It is an audio de-blur algorithm, it is a 
> “folding” or _data_ compressing algorithm folding 384 kHz or less into 
> either a 44.1kHz or 48kHz/24 bit file (which can be streamed at 1 - 
> 1.3MB/sec) and it is a digital copy protection scheme where 
> theoretically you could make a one-off DAC that is coded to your 
> converter and only people with the same converter could hear the music!
>
> As far as MQA examples go, without an MQA DAC you can’t hear the whole 
> thing, but one could hear some of the results of the de-blur process 
> using a normal converter.  I’m trying to see if I can find you a 
> before and after example.  I’ll get back to you.
>
> In the mean time, you can check out Morten Lindberg's 2L label “test 
> bench”.  Even though he is recording at 352.8kHz, Morten still finds 
> the MQA to create a superior sound.
> It’s a mind blower to see a 44.1kHz/24 bit file feed the MQA converter 
> and the resulting FFT goes right out to 176.4kHz!!
>
> http://www.2l.no/hires/index.html?
>
> Best,
> Bob
>
>
>
>> On May 8, 2016, at 6:20 PM, Ian Shepherd <ian at mastering-media.co.uk 
>> <mailto:ian at mastering-media.co.uk>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Bob L,
>>
>> Can you recommend a release that really highlights the benefits of 
>> MQA ? Is there a way to tell which files on TIDAL are encoded with 
>> MQA ? And is there a converter you’d recommend ?
>>
>> Although I’m afraid Thomas may well be right, I’m curious to give it 
>> a try.
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On 8 May 2016, at 14:27, Bob Katz <bobkatz at digido.com 
>>> <mailto:bobkatz at digido.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Guys:
>>>
>>>
>>> It's a good thing I buy my music either on CD or from HD tracks or 
>>> similar vendors. I only buy the AAC from the iTunes store when one 
>>> of my clients wants me to reference a CD that I don't have and I 
>>> have to listen to it "now". If then I like that music, then I go out 
>>> and buy it, usually on CD. Amazon has become my major vendor, I pity 
>>> the brick and mortar stores, though Best Buy seems to be hanging on, 
>>> they don't have the CD collection I can get online from Amazon. I 
>>> can then transfer the CD into iTunes and use on my iPhone if I like.
>>>
>>> For my highest-sonic-quality personal entertainment on my iPhone I 
>>> use an incredible app called HFPlayer from Onkyo..... in conjunction 
>>> with an Oppo DAC that connects via Lightning directly to the iPhone 
>>> and plays any high res. flac files I have on the iPhone up to 384 
>>> kHz/24 bit (and also plays DSD directly into the ESS Sabre DAC in 
>>> the Oppo DAC).... It beats the crap out of the Astel and Kearn stuff 
>>> that is so unreliable and uber-expensive.
>>>
>>> Bob L., I tried the Astel and Kearn player and got it to crash in 15 
>>> minutes, three times before I called it flakey. And their 
>>> communication with their dealers and reps is exremely shakey. I do 
>>> not like this company. If they wanted to make a dependable music 
>>> player, why did they pick the Android operating system?
>>>
>>> Also, sorry, Neil Young, this Oppo/iPhone combination beats the Pono 
>>> because I can also take phone calls :-(. If I'm jogging or don't 
>>> want to carry the DAC, the HF Player will downsample the high res 
>>> material so it will work out of the iPhone's regular headphone jack.
>>>
>>> Tip: the Oppo PM-3 headphones are killers! Maybe the most accurate 
>>> and impacting headphones you can get and carry with you to play music.
>>>
>>> If you want to salivate about the best portable playback on earth, 
>>> in my opinion, read my review of the Oppo pieces and the HF plyaer: 
>>> visit 
>>> http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/katzs-corner-episode-11-oppo-explosion#RiXt3ToxveQ4BMf5.97 
>>> These PM-3 headphones have bass that goes down to the center of the 
>>> earth, are extremely accurate and tonally neutral....  With a little 
>>> of the 64-bit EQ in the HF-player you can get even more accurate 
>>> playback.... and the Oppo DAC/headphone amp is clean and punchy and 
>>> open....
>>>
>>> I have tons of high res flacs that fit in a 64 GB iPhone. If Apple 
>>> lost for me the purchased AAC music that I have from the iTunes 
>>> store I'd be pissed, but not that pissed because I just don't have 
>>> that much money invested in AAC material I bought from the iTunes 
>>> store. It seems to me that music must be in the iPhone backup that's 
>>> on my Mac, though, isn't it????  I'm only semi-attached to the 
>>> cloud. I use icloud for Notes, Calendar, etc., but not for music (I 
>>> think). I share my iTunes library with a few OSX computers.... maybe 
>>> that's through iCloud?  Yuk....
>>>
>>>
>>> Bob K.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 5/7/16 2:39 PM, Thomas Lund wrote:
>>>> Hi Bob,
>>>>
>>>> This casual treatment of tracks fits with what I'm seeing in 
>>>> iTunes. One has to actively disable cloud replacement time after 
>>>> time so iTunes doesn’t steal your known-good tracks. From Tidal 
>>>> I’ve heard how record companies require them to carry only the 
>>>> newest (crappiest) version of a track, and make sure originals 
>>>> aren’t available.
>>>>
>>>> Compared to such demolishment, I’m afraid MQA is a sheer marketing 
>>>> detail which is bound to disappoint consumers just like the myriad 
>>>> of previous attempts at promising “hidef". 24 bit, 16 bit, 14 bit, 
>>>> 12 bit resolution: Doesn’t matter. Dither or not: Doesn’t matter. 
>>>> Sample rate DSD, 192k, 96, 48, 44.1k: Doesn’t matter. Lossless, 
>>>> 320k, 256k, 128k: Doesn’t matter. The version of a track/squashing 
>>>> is what generally matters.
>>>>
>>>> cheers,
>>>> Thomas
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On 07/05/2016, at 00.20, Robert Ludwig <gatewaybob at mac.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.iphonehacks.com/2016/05/apple-music-isnt-deleting-music-libraries.html
>>>>>
>>>>> I think this article explains it pretty well.  It isn’t as 
>>>>> horrible as the blog describes, but it is still taking _way_ too 
>>>>> much control for me to ever want to use their service.
>>>>>
>>>>> BTW, Tidal has 300 albums with MQA so with an MQA converter you 
>>>>> can hear streaming 96kHz or even 352.8kHz music!
>>>>> MQA is really revolutionary.
>>>>>
>>>>> Best,
>>>>> Bob L.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 5/6/16 5:01 PM, Grimm | Eelco wrote:
>>>>> Dear friends,
>>>>>
>>>>> If this story is true it is unimaginably horrific.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://blog.vellumatlanta.com/2016/05/04/apple-stole-my-music-no-seriously/
>>>>>
>>>>> Can anyone please tell me it is not true?
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Eelco
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>> -- 
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>>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> If you want good sound on your album, come to Bob Katz 407-831-0233 
>>> DIGITAL DOMAIN MASTERING STUDIO Author: *Mastering Audio *Digital 
>>> Domain Website <http://www.digido.com/> No trees were killed in the 
>>> sending of this message. However a large number of electrons were 
>>> terribly inconvenienced.*Please excuse the weird typing - this 
>>> message dictated by microphone. Contact me by regular email. *
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>>
>> ***
>> Ian Shepherd
>> Mastering Media Ltd <http://mastering-media.co.uk/> - Audio 
>> Mastering, Blu-ray and DVD Excellence
>> http://twitter.com/ianshepherd
>>
>> Mastering Media Ltd,
>> Kemp House, 152 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX
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>> Company No. 073500450
>>
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>>
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>
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-- 

If you want good sound on your album, come to Bob Katz 407-831-0233 
DIGITAL DOMAIN MASTERING STUDIO Author: *Mastering Audio *Digital Domain 
Website <http://www.digido.com/> No trees were killed in the sending of 
this message. However a large number of electrons were terribly 
inconvenienced.*Please excuse the weird typing - this message dictated 
by microphone. Contact me by regular email. *

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