teagle Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 The promise of once again master quality music for us to enjoy sometime in 2015. Unfortunately it requires not only new hardware, but the cooperation of the recording industry. Still you never know. Its good to know that file sizes are not huge. Awaiting with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teagle Posted December 5, 2014 Author Share Posted December 5, 2014 http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/robert-harley-listens-to-meridian-mqa/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolon Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 (edited) Actually there is a trademark registered which includes the word 'LOSSLESS' so perhaps it is: http://www.markhound.com/trademark/search/Ct6wXgmI3 From the first reports it appears this is a lossy format not lossless. I have wondered if there could be some advantages in a hi-res lossy format (i.e. smaller file sizes). However, it seems a shame not to get all of the bits from the studio. Edited December 5, 2014 by jolon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolon Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 I guess we'll find out more as time goes on, but there are some questions about the arguments. Firstly, it is claimed that it allows hi-res music to be streamable. However, it uses a standard 24/96 FLAC/ALAC format, which is not entirely streamable! And for most people 24/96 would be a decent enough improvement without going higher. The photo in The Absolute Sound article shows 384kHz, so it must be possible to encapsulate 384kHz into 24/96. The 24/96 files are also backwards compatible even if the player doesn't support MQA. My guess is that the files contain 16/96 in typical lossless format and the top 8 bits are used for the additional data. The question is whether 8 bits per sample is enough to encode an additional 3 samples of 24 bits? That's 9:1 compression, which has only previously been possibly with lossy techniques. I'm wondering whether the technique may be lossless for the 'CD quality' part and lossy for the 'timing' information? I guess we'll only know for sure if there is a MQA encoder/decoder where we can do a bitwise comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teagle Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 Yes, certainly more questions than answers at this stage. However, I think a lot of us that have listened to hi- res bit rates, have come to the conclusion, that the quality/ musicality of the original mastercopy is the key to a great playback, & this seems to cover that. Must be a lot of doubt about its successful adoption, but you never know 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweaky Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 (edited) The whole 'Lossless Audio Codec" that we all call FLAC ,was created by Meridian. This is a new version of the same thing. Anybody [Company ] that missed the boat regarding FLAC, now has a chance to 'wise up for their own benefit' - making file sizes smaller..... hence quality streaming services for video, which is where it is most wanted. I think Audio related fare won't take this up, well not at the cutting edge. Edited December 6, 2014 by Tweaky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teagle Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 The whole 'Lossless Audio Codec" that we all call FLAC ,was created by Meridian. This is a new version of the same thing. Anybody [Company ] that missed the boat regarding FLAC, now has a chance to 'wise up for their own benefit' - making file sizes smaller..... hence quality streaming services for video, which is where it is most wanted. I think Audio related fare won't take this up, well not at the cutting edge. Thanks for the info, I'll remain hopeful [somewhat] that audio somehow benefits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 The whole 'Lossless Audio Codec" that we all call FLAC ,was created by Meridian. This is a new version of the same thing. Anybody [Company ] that missed the boat regarding FLAC, now has a chance to 'wise up for their own benefit' - making file sizes smaller..... hence quality streaming services for video, which is where it is most wanted. I think Audio related fare won't take this up, well not at the cutting edge. you sure about flac being created by meridian tweaky ? can't find any reference to that in any searches have done. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC flac seems to be accredited to the developers. Xiph.Org Foundation, Josh Coalson, Erik de Castro Lopo MLP or meridian lossless packing sure. which is the basis of compressed lossless hdaudio for hddvd(now demised) blu-ray (dolby truehd) and dvd-audio. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_Lossless_Packing I would be guessing this new format has some connection to MLP, but meridian sure has a long history with lossless audio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teagle Posted December 7, 2014 Author Share Posted December 7, 2014 (edited) A bit more blurb http://www.musicischanging.com/ Edited December 7, 2014 by teagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBO Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 A very big call made by stereophile on the new MQA technology, and a detailed tech description for those who can follow it! http://www.stereophile.com/content/ive-heard-future-streaming-meridians-mqa Also check out the second page http://www.stereophile.com/content/meridians-mqa-one-listeners-impression 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teagle Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Looks like 2015 could be interesting after all 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mello yello Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 here we go again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teagle Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 I see Tidal streaming service has an agreement to use MQA; not relevant to OZ yet but you never know. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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