What did you order? If it's the Royal Scam MQA CD it's not being released till 6/20/18. If you bought the Royal Scam SHM-SACD then I hate to tell you this but there is no disc as it was never released. Western Union........... never ! The Royal Scam [SHM-SACD] [Limited Release] Steely Dan SACD
Sorry, I tend to forget that humor does not always travel well over the internet. As the talk was about ROYAL SCAM, I thought the irony in my post would be obvious.
Will these MQA CDs play in a regular CD player? Are they mastered any better than the standard releases?
For what it's worth, Stereophile has published several articles on this. MQA basically fixes the time smear problem. See the plots in this article. MQA Tested, Part 1 They're not too concerned about the lossiness either. "Lossy" has become a dirty word because of MP3, but apparently the stuff MQA "loses" is really of no value, audio-wise, and it enables file sizes that permit streaming. Even Fremer likes the way MQA sounds (though naturally he prefers analog). The only negatives are from a business perspective -- it's proprietary technology, and it prevents the consumer from having an exact copy of the master. It's designed to appeal to the industry, in that regard, and is viewed by some as bullying and disruptive. It's supposed to sound really nice though.
We've all been waiting for the perfect all-in-one new format, death of format, re-release everything again, MQA will kill us all, combo platter thread, and it’s finally here!
Most folks should have their hearing checked before they start spending a lot of money on replacing any music.
cheers - thanks for the link ! I know of a few renowned engineers who have said it sounds impressive. I imagine it is going to be tough for the manufacturers of the playback equipment to convince the general public to invest in MQA CD players without any real way to demonstrate the advantages over standard format. In a way it is similar to the SACD vs CD debate, where there are no industry outsiders providing reliable consumer information in terms of actual same-mastering comparisons between those two formats. Now MQA adds another layer of complexity to the comparison process whereby the master itself is altered, leaving it to actual listening experience as the only way of convincing people to invest in it.
I agree, I’ll keep buying the different formats if I believe they sound good to me. And this justifies the Oppo 205 when they go back to the final production. Great avatar by the way!
Velvet Underground (never fully satisfied with any digital mastering I've heard, hopefully this will be the one) Brothers and Sisters (the US Drake mastering is my current favorite but I'm hoping for an improvement) 461 Ocean Bvld (Can't believe I am getting another copy of this) John Barleycorn Must Die (I have the SHM-SACD which I like but this new mastering is from the original master instead of a Jpn copy tape)
I heard the sound is so precise that you can actually hear the ridges of the guitarist's fingerprints as they glide over the guitar strings.
I'm thinking of buying the Aja MQA CD as the cdjapan listing states "Features the DSD master in 2018, using US original master tapes". Aja [Hi-Res CD (MQA x UHQCD)] [Limited Release] Steely Dan CD Album
It's getting there and MQA(which I don't like anyway) will not save it. Music streaming is finally the industry's biggest revenue source
Doing a quick Google of "Steely Dan Aja MQA CD" only shows cdjapan. So I'd assume that is the only place at this time to order the Aja MQA CD. There might be other ordering options but I'm happy to buy from cdjapan. I went ahead and added the Aja MQA CD to the Royal Scam order. Who knows maybe this version will become the definitive Aja mastering. But then again maybe it won't. Nothing ventured nothing gained .
Well Donnie boy better get his pen out and get it done . All kidding aside with a 2018 mastering of The Royal Scam being done then I'm hopeful this release will happen.
Why Royal Scam wasn’t released on JSACD is a mystery. Same goes for Can’t Buy A Thrill. It’s always Aja and Gaucho. Why not ALL of the 70’s SD catalogue?