MQA

an answer without a question

© 2018 art by odo — Minoan bull’s head

© 2018 art by odo — Minoan ceramic bulls

Master Quality Authentication was ostensibly made to give us high resolution audio without using massive amounts of bandwidth while streaming, downloading and storing audio files. To squeeze more into less requires compression. MQA is a compression technology. Okay, that’s nothing new, e.g., Apple Lossless, FLAC, Mpeg. So what’s the big M(f)QA deal?

© 2018 art by odo — Minoan two-faced sculpture

Well, it’s high res!!! Okay, but how do you get high res through a channel only wide enough for standard CD 16bit/44kHz resolution? The only way is with lossy compression.

Well, it’s lossy! How is that Master Quality? Okay, it’s not. So, that begs the next question. How is lossy “high res” better than standard 16/44?

Well, it’s not! Okay, that throws out the “Master Quality” portion of the format. So, what’s the “authentication” about?

Well, it’s “authentic”! Okay, a lossy compressed file that’s not as good as 16/44 pretends to be authentically equivalent to the studio master. Sounds to me like someone trying to sell us a bridge in Brooklyn.

Let’s put down the pretense. Let’s review the facts.

© 2018 art by odo — Minoan sculpture

A 16/44 audio file, standard CD quality, is an exact copy of the studio’s final master made for release. It is already Master Quality. It is already Authentic. And most importantly, it is already as high in resolution as you can hear and your equipment capable of reproducing. There is no need for hi-res during final playback. The entire premise for MQA is not to give you more. The premise is to take away more of your money.

The above claims may have you asking why? For more details try these links— 

© 2018 art by odo — Minoan ceramics

[How High the Moon]
[High Resolution Audio]
[Involving]