MQA: Why We Should Resist It

[FreddieFerric]

For a forum dedicated to audiophiles as AA is, I find it somewhat disappointing we have had such a muted discussion of MQA and its effects on our beloved hobby. While I agree there has been some talk of the format here and there, I haven't been able to engage a meaningful conversation with all of you about MQA and why it should be resisted.

I must confess my first conscious awareness of MQA came in the form of catalog shopping and seeing various components that were stated to be MQA ready. My second awareness came in the form of the recent writings about the format in Stereophile and TAS, which seems on balance to be supportive of the format, and if that is not an accurate characterization, then at least resigned to it. I disagree with those writers and I am posting a series of links to very well though out articles which urge us to resist MQA entirely.

The first read is an excellent commentary by Jim Collinson of Linn. You should be able to get through his article within 10 minutes. I believe it sets an excellent frame of reference for the second link.

https://www.linn.co.uk/blog/mqa-is-bad-for-music


The second written under the pseudonym @Archimago is much longer, and explores the technical aspects of MQA first before tackling the philosophy behind the MQA effort. I found the article to be well reasoned, dispassionately presented, and very effective in laying bare the snake oil that MQA appears to be.

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/c...cautions-r701/

Last is an article that I assume most of you are already aware of in substance, which is the present scandal taking place over at TIDAL. This is relevant since TIDAL has partnered with MQA, and in consequence, provided it a tentacle into our hobby. While I am not a subscriber to TIDAL, and never will be, if MQA gets into Spotify and/or iTunes, it's game over.

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/201...beyonce-fraud/

This post is not offered in anyway as criticism to any member here who uses MQA and likes it. I would, however, ask that you post your experiences and reasons for it. For myself, I love this hobby, so my interest here is to make sure it remains an open multi-format, multi-codec hobby that promotes consumer choice and respects the freedom of individual choice.