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Radio Paradise. MQA


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3 hours ago, pcking said:

Radio Paradise to stream in MQA from April 6th, 

using the BluOs enabled products, NAD, Bluesound, etc.

Cheers Paul.
 

 

MQA= the biggest corporate scourge ever imposed on the audio industry:angry2:

 

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46 minutes ago, pcking said:

Have you done any updates for your Hardware ? ( BluOS 3.14.2) 

 

Yes, I have. Actually I have just discovered that the Windows app needs to be running in full-screen mode to see that info.

Edited by Chigurh
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I'm wondering if RP have any plans to support MQA in their Apple / Android / Windows apps, provided of course that the user has the appropriate hardware like an Audioquest Dragonfly DAC or similar.

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On 01/04/2021 at 11:17 AM, a.dent said:

That's a shame.

RP has been my go to internet radio station until now.

 

you have the choice - it is not mandatory - see below MQA or CD quality:

 

image.thumb.png.8ed499f4a22ce1fdd5bd535af791f86d.png

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I'm not familiar with MQA, so just reading up about it a bit.

 

Hmm, a lossy compressed audio format that can be carried by lossless compressed formats such as FLAC. Can be played back as is, but needs a player with an MQA decoder to 'reinstate' the higher frequencies for supposedly lossless playback.

 

I don't pretend to understand the rationale behind this but, really? Add extra complexity to degrade a lossless format and make it lossy unless you have some extra decoding capability? What is the point, and where is the sonic advantage?

 

The cynic in me thinks this may just be a way of deliberately giving you a lower quality product unless you pay extra.

 

Or maybe I'm just missing the point.

 

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36 minutes ago, emesbee said:

What is the point, and where is the sonic advantage?

 

There is no point whatsoever and the  advantages are nothing whatsoever to do with sound quality.

The real purpose is imposing a closed corporate system on music releases in order to control them and impede others who do not sign up.

 

AKA, a pure, old fashioned corporate money grab disguised as offering. better audio quality.

 

Pffft!

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5 hours ago, emesbee said:

I'm not familiar with MQA, so just reading up about it a bit.

 

Hmm, a lossy compressed audio format that can be carried by lossless compressed formats such as FLAC. Can be played back as is, but needs a player with an MQA decoder to 'reinstate' the higher frequencies for supposedly lossless playback.

 

I don't pretend to understand the rationale behind this but, really? Add extra complexity to degrade a lossless format and make it lossy unless you have some extra decoding capability? What is the point, and where is the sonic advantage?

 

The cynic in me thinks this may just be a way of deliberately giving you a lower quality product unless you pay extra.

 

Or maybe I'm just missing the point.

 

 

Base on the statements in your post, I think you have missed several points. Having said that, the MQA business case is contrived and not easy to spell out. There are claims of sonic advantage (in the business case), but I have not yet seen a consensus on whether this advantage has been realised in practice. 

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On 07/04/2021 at 6:05 PM, Chigurh said:

I can choose the MQA stream for RP in the BluOS app but I'm not getting the MQA symbol appearing during playback. Am I missing something?

I'm having the same issue. Plus a few others since updating the 2i. 

I tried playing RP in MQA for about half an hour or so last night & none of the tracks played in MQA format. They were labelled as CD and the resolution was 44.1k.

I tried playing some known MQA tracks with not much success. Most tracks again were labelled CD & resolution was 44.1k. The odd file displayed HR (I'm guessing Hi Res?) and resolution was 48k or higher.

I tried playing known MQA tracks using Tidal connect & Node 2i. This resulted in tracks labelled as MQA or Master tracks appear to be working correctly yet mostly only playing at 44.1k. Only track from memory that actually seemed to play in MQA was Revolution Earth from the B-52's album Good Stuff.   

Other issues encountered were skipping forward 2 tracks at a time when trying to skip forward 1 track and when selecting a track it would automatically skip forward to the next track!!!

I hope this gets sorted out quickly as it makes the whole experience frustrating. 

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25 minutes ago, 68premier said:

I tried playing RP in MQA for about half an hour or so last night & none of the tracks played in MQA format. They were labelled as CD and the resolution was 44.1k.

Mine just came good. I don't know what I did but I was fiddling with the player's settings a bit. I have a Node 2 and a Node 2i. Both are now playing RP in MQA. One thing of note is that if I'm using the coaxial output into my non-MQA DAC the resolution is now showing as 88.2k

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50 minutes ago, Chigurh said:

Mine just came good. I don't know what I did but I was fiddling with the player's settings a bit. I have a Node 2 and a Node 2i. Both are now playing RP in MQA. One thing of note is that if I'm using the coaxial output into my non-MQA DAC the resolution is now showing as 88.2k

Good news!!! Yeah I looked at all the settings I could find. I toggled them, re-booted the node and my phone.

I use a couple of connection methods. Usually I use the RCA outs into a Marantz receiver but also have coaxial connected to the input of an Oppo 205 as I think the DAC sounds better than the Node. Unfortunately I don't think it fully unfolds MQA. I usually see 48kHz on the display when playing an MQA track.

Hopefully things improve tomorrow when I'll try again.

 

Did you experience any other glitches such as the skipping to the wrong track etc?

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4 hours ago, 68premier said:

Did you experience any other glitches such as the skipping to the wrong track etc?

I think at first the song info may have been out of sync with what was actually playing but that has sorted itself out too. I've noticed since the update the Neil Young Archives are in high-res. There's full access to a couple of featured albums at any one time on NYA which is probably more Neil Young that I'd want to listen to in one go anyway ?

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On 01/04/2021 at 4:36 PM, Hi-Fi Whipped said:

Sweet, more ways to get the MQA logo to appear on the Nad!

 

Its about all it does.... can’t hear any difference between MQA and LOSSLESS!

I need to read these forums more!

 

It was not until I read the above that I realised there even was an MQA logo on my NAD C658......and like you, I too cannot hear a difference, it's as if my ears are painted on.....

Edited by Pigpen
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On 08/04/2021 at 3:34 PM, emesbee said:

Hmm, a lossy compressed audio format

MQA can deliver the same (practical) quality as lossess format.    You will read everywhere what you have quoted above.... but that's not a particularly accurate summary / generalisation.

 

BUT.... depending on how the MQA encoder is used.   It can deliver as low quality as the person in control wants.

 

It is possible (all part of the patent) that this can be adjusted on the fly.....  which has the potential to put the MQA powers that be in charge of your audio quality .... even potentially audio you have already purchased and downloaded.  A "hires" song that you play (even if you have downloaded it / own it) .... could suddenly start playing back in 'clock radio' quality.... because you didn't pay your bill .... or for any other reason.

 

 

A lot of people are out there lamenting whether MQA is "lossless cr@p"....  this is wrong concern.  MQA can possibly be just as good, or even potentially even better, than existing lossless formats.

 

... but it is potentially a trojan horse.

 

 

On 08/04/2021 at 3:34 PM, emesbee said:

I don't pretend to understand the rationale behind this

Many.

  • Stream high quality audio over networks using less data
  • Adjust the quality of audio on the fly when you move from a faster to a slower network, etc.
  • Render the audio in a way which is specifically tailored to the hardware it is being played back on.
  • Confirm to the user the file being played is the same file, (ie. authenticated) that the content owner has published (ie. avoid "fakes")
  • Control the "damage" done to audio from as early on as possible in the recording process

 

  • All of these are somewhat noble and useful causes
  • Some of these are not yet implemented, but are all part of the MQA patents/capabilities
  • Almost all of these are being proposed to be done in way which will make MQA the "gods" of audio recording and playback, if their system becomes (even somewhat) ubiquitious.

 

On 08/04/2021 at 3:34 PM, emesbee said:

where is the sonic advantage?

It is possible there can be some sonic advantage ..... although so far the majority of it is almost certainly coming from different recordings/masterings, etc.

 

The flip side of that is that as I said above many are saying it must be worse becasue "lossy".   This is misguided..... there's nothing to say MQA can't be just as good.

 

On 08/04/2021 at 3:34 PM, emesbee said:

The cynic in me thinks this may just be a way of deliberately giving you a lower quality product unless you pay extra.

I think you are 1000% on track here.

 

If MQA becomes ubiquotous.... it is possible for them to.

 

  • Remotely control the capabilities of end user hardware and software.
  • Control the playback quality of streamed MQA audio .... for those not using MQA decoders (ie. playing the "core PCM audio")
  • Control the playback quality of streamed and already downloaded MQA audio for those using MQA decoders.

 

This could be leveraged to make MQA vs no-MQA an artificial comparision (ie. intentially degrade the quality of the PCM-core audio)....  and could be used to "make people pay".

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On 08/04/2021 at 8:23 PM, lebowski said:

I’ll continue to enjoy CD quality Radio Paradise in the car and at home even with a streamer that can decode MQA.

I’ve discovered so many new and old artists through RP.

 

If you give a thumbs up to a song ( a 100 of them ) RP will create that playlist for you , I believe.

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6 hours ago, davewantsmoore said:

I think you are 1000% on track here.

While there are many things to like in your post, I suspects people 'liked' your post only because of this statement. I hope I am wrong.

 

6 hours ago, davewantsmoore said:

If MQA becomes ubiquotous

Is there a way for MQA to achieve their business goal without being ubiquotous, or near ubiquotous? (Personally I don't like market monopoly myself)

 

Edited by LHC
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