New Meridian audio format creating quite a buzz

Can you take someone seriously who's obviously developing for bats?

"... Stuart describes MQA as a “seismic shift in coding,” explaining the technology has only been possible thanks to recent developments in MRI scanning and research. “Higher resolution audio uses higher sample rates. 96kHz sounds a little bit better than CD, 192kHz sounds a little bit better still, and 384kHz, unfortunately, a little bit better again. The problem is that the file size becomes huge. An enormous amount of data is required to deliver a nuance.” ..."

768kHz anyone?

 

Bats are the second largest order of mammals, so there may be some business sense in that.

 

A new audio format? Great! I've been looking for an excuse to get another copy of Kind of Blue!

 

I just read a Hi-Fi Plus article by Alan Sircom on MQA and he couldn't adequately explain it, yet stated that he believed it was the future of audio.

The more I read about MQA, the more I am convinced that this is a big marketing push by Meridian to sell something of dubious value. The music industry is excited, though, because they are yearning for an alternative to iTunes, where they can bypass Apple's bargaining clout and therefore charge the consumers more for music.

Also, the word "authenticated" and the supposed universal backing of the music industry make me worry that MQA involves some sort of DRM.

 

Martin Colloms posted this on the HiFi Critc forums, FWIW

"will report in a few days on the site blog
have seen it, heard it, and read the tech papers
It is not smoke and mirrors and has a chance
an economical coding method to get something like 24bit 192kHz coding sound quality , but without 'digital filter pre echo and ringing'
two channels packed into a 1MB/s essentially PCM data stream which levels of replay quality may be unwrapped according to equipment and need
A USB stick player for MQA has just been announced at £199

Martin Colloms"

 

Another feel good launch video, but with a few different characters this time. I see Sony, Dolby (though not by name) and Onkyo represented.

 

Well, we definitely need more information as to what MQA coding does and how it is superior to other forms of compression and/or encoding. The details are scant-to-nonexistant, but the hype machine sure has been gearing up!

The description of it as being "authenticated" by the recording artists as identical to what they heard in the studio rings oddly to me. It sounds like DRM or some other kind of intrusive, non-audio-related technology.

That all being said, I hope it actually is the breakthrough the spin artists are claiming. Bring on the information, please!

 

This article says Atlantic Records is planning to release MQA content:

http://www.twice.com/meridian-mqa-audio-tracks-coming-2015/55280

 

John Atkinson from Stereophile about Meridian MQA

 

In an accompanying article, Meridian's MQA: One Listener's Impression
http://www.stereophile.com/content/meridians-mqa-one-listeners-impression
I was amused with Jason Victor Serinus' final comments on testing with a Metallica track:

That the music could be lower in volume, yet sound meaner and more vile in the best of ways, confirmed the musical dividends that MQA can deliver.

 

http://hiresaudiocentral.com/tidal-successfully-streams-meridian-mqa-music-files/
Tidal Streams MQA files

 

Proprietary? I don't think there is a place in Houston where you can even buy Meridian.

 

MQA is potentially a very big deal for streaming services. I'm sure Bob Stuart would love to get Amazon or Apple to embrace the format for downloads as well.

 

John Atkinson 12/2014

Stereophile

Robert Harley's TAS piece isn't online yet, but his reaction was nothing short of revelation.

I wonder if Steve or other audiophile mastering engineers are involved with MQA yet?

Has anyone here heard a demo?

 

A new format on top of the how many that exist currently? Meridian didn't have anything better to do presumably.

 

It may be promising but if it doesn't evolve past Meridian hardware it will be extreme niche if it is to survive. More likely DOA.

 

As of what I understand only decoding on Meridian hardware, correct? I understand from their perspective that makes sense as a first step, but licensing the technology to other hardware vendors will be the only way Meridian gains significant traction with distrubutors and listeners. Getting the competition to agree to license will be a difficult uphill struggle. The tech is going to have to be amazingly compelling both from a tech capability perspective and a perceived/demonstrated consumer demand.

 

I get that, but when this was first announced about six months or so back, my reaction then was no different than it is now.

Even more niche than DXD and limited to Meridian gear in the first instance from what another poster has said.

Clearly, the audio world just doesn't have enough ways to manage 1s and 0s for audio. It'll stiff. If it comes with a Meridian style price tag, it'll probably plummet.

Sorry, I just can not get remotely excited about this stuff. DSD development is about as close as it gets for that for me now.

 

I think it has some merit and would like to hear a demo.

 

To me the most interesting aspect of MQA is that Tidal will be streaming it soon. I think it could find its niche here if it somehow just improves the overall quality of Tidal's streaming music.

But that's probably wishful thinking. Chances are Meridian is going to follow the lure of profits and make all the same mistakes DSD made in putting all their eggs into the cater-to-tiny-niche basket.

 

That gives MQA a minor amount of legs. Agree.

 

Something that stuck out to me from Atkinson's piece is "As a MQA decoder is software...".

This implies to me that no special "MQA DAC" is required if you play the files back from a computer, only software capable of decoding it, much like HDCD and Windows Media Player. This adds to the favorability of MQA over Tidal IMO.

 

Wonder if @Steve Hoffman has become interested? Would be nice of Hoffman, Gray, etc could become involved. I'm very interested!

 

This gentleman does a good job explaining how MQA works: