MQA file format

Read my post again. I basically told him what you just said. It seems like old knee-jerk habits die hard, I include myself 🙃
Sorry but at no point can I see you mention that it cannot be done, unless I am missing something there, so you didn't tell him what I have just mention. You expressed an opinion regarding the format which is fine but saying don't bother implies it might be possible.
 

manicm

Well-known member
AI, apologies, I see what you mean at a stretch, so to the OP, no cannot convert anything to MQA by an end user right now. And MP3 is a compressed, lossy format, so converting to anything else does not make any sense.
 
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AI, apologies, I see what you mean at a stretch, so to the OP, no cannot convert anything to MQA by an end user right now. And MP3 is a compressed, lossy format, so converting to anything else does not make any sense.
Thank you. No interpretation needed, and I agree with your bold statement.
I felt the only area that a proprietary format like MQA could make some headway was with streaming.
 

djh1697

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Nov 27, 2008
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I got an email from WHF with an article saying how great MQA is, however, the article is "sponsored" so it is a paid for advert. MQA folds the music up, and then tries to unfold it. They call it "origami" but it is a HiRes version of MP3. When you fold a flat piece of paper in origami, then unfold it, do you get a the same flat piece of paper after the unfolding?

Gilad T of Linn products did an interesting article on the Linn website about it,

MQA is an excuse for Meridian to print money, everything needs to be MQA certified, licence paid, MQA media produced, licence paid, MQA recording studio, licence paid.

Wiki has an interesting article too! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Quality_Authenticated
 

djh1697

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"Linn don’t like MQA (or more to the point, they don’t want to make the necessary changes to their DAC), so whatever they’re going to say is going to be negative. "

Linn, Naim, Rega, and other manufacturers do not want to pay royalties for using MQA technology, MQA can not be improved upon since you would not be allowed to alter the decoding method? Someone doing a Phd should perhaps reverse engineer MQA as a project, that would not be illegal? I am thinking here about the DR-DOS and MS-DOS war in the later 1980's early 1990's. The reverse engineered DR-DOS was far better IMHO! Unfolding something does not restore the original, even a bed sheet that is folded up will not unfold to it's original shape, try buying one and unwrapping it!
 

Friesiansam

Well-known member
Is there actually much in the way of high res music, encoded in MQA format actually available, apart from that offered by Tidal?

EDIT: Found a small number of CDs marketed as MQA fomat on Amazon but, mostly with no indication of bitrate.
 
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Is there actually much in the way of high res music, encoded in MQA format actually available, apart from that offered by Tidal?

EDIT: Found a small number of CDs marketed as MQA fomat on Amazon but, mostly with no indication of bitrate.
CD format has its own Redbook formulation, you aren't going to get an MQA CD, and nor should you need one.
MQA is a packaged lossy file that only really makes sense,sort of, for streaming.
It's not a file format for storage or anything else in my humble opinion.
However, this is getting away somewhat from the OPs question
 

manicm

Well-known member
Actually MQA albums can be downloaded from HighResAudio and ProStudioMasters websites, among others, and MQA certified players like Bluesound can play these back via USB.

There are MQA encoded CDs also available, can be played back from any 💿 player, but fully decoded from compatible players, if any are available.
 

record_spot

Well-known member
Having given MQA a go a couple of years ago, and, further, purchasing one of their MQA / CD discs, I can pretty much say I've happily dumped it, some time ago. The Meridian Explorer did the full unfold, but, ultimately, I don't see this as much more than the Emperor's New Clothers, with a nice sideline in bumping up Bob Stewart's pensions fund.

A fine example, however, that as ever, format (or indeed, wrapper, in this case) is not guarantee of sound quality.
 

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