I published music on Tidal to test MQA - MQA Review

A deep dive into MQA, and its problems.
Testing starts at 5:45

Come chat on discord: https://www.thegoldenone.co.uk
Support me on patreon and join the private telegram chat:   / goldensound  
(or subscribestar) https://www.subscribestar.com/goldens...

How to test MQA's leaky filter: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...
2018 RMAF MQA talk by Chris Connaker:    • RMAF 2018 - MQA: The Truth Lies Somew...  
Archimago's MQA article: https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/review...
PS Audio vid on MQA:    • Is MQA a good thing?  
Schiit on MQA: https://www.schiit.com/news/news/why-...
Linn on MQA: https://web.archive.org/web/202011112...
Neil Young removes albums from TIDAL: https://neilyoungarchives.com/news/1/...


Further reading on MQA:

GTO filter analysis: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...

Benchmark Audio's statement about MQA transient shifting: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/arti...

RealHD stops supporting MQA: https://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=7218

Archimago on transient smearing https://archimago.blogspot.com/2018/0...

Rob Watts on digital filters: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/watts...

Benchmark on MQA: https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/appl...

Meridian has doctored tests of hi-res in the past: https://audioinvestigations.blogspot....

Filter ringing (with a link to Mans/troll audio) https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...

Aliasing vs. imaging: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...

Music aliasing distortion example: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...

Linear phase vs. Minimum phase: https://troll-audio.com/articles/line...

Sox settings to duplicate an MQA filter: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...

JA's post showing signal aliasing: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...

mansr's original Dragonfly DAC analysis: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...

Why MQA's digital filters blur the music: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...

A Survey of Musical Instrument Spectra to 102.4 KHz https://www.cco.caltech.edu/~boyk/spe...

RealHD Audio on MQA: https://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=6517

Bob Stuart wanted to censor AS: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/to...


References in MQA's response:


[1] 'A Hierarchical Approach for Audio Archive and Distribution', JAES Volume 67 Issue 5 pp. 258-277; May 2019. http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?e...

[2] 'The Gentle Art of Dithering', JAES Volume 67 Issue 5 pp. 278-299; May 2019.
http://www.aes.org/e‐lib/browse.cfm?e...

[3] MQA Q&A Sidebar 1: https://www.stereophile.com/content/m... example‐nielsen‐2l‐120‐track‐1

[4] MQA Q&A Sidebar 2: https://www.stereophile.com/content/m... example‐portland‐state‐chamber‐choir

[5] MQA Sidebar 3: https://www.stereophile.com/content/m... portland‐state‐amazing‐grace‐audibility‐analysis

[6] Bobtalks: MQA CD https://bobtalks.co.uk/blog/mqaplayba...


0:00 - Intro
1:15 - Summary of topics
1:47 - Pre-video clarifications
3:44 - What is MQA?
5:41 - How I got test files encoded in MQA
6:57 - MQA 44.1khz vs Native 44.1khz
8:14 - MQA HiRes vs Native 88.2khz
11:11 - Reduced Dynamic Range
11:47 - Does unfolding work? (Many MQA releases are just upsampled 44.1khz)
12:41 - No Lossless on tidal if track is MQA
13:47 - MQA "Authentication" means nothing
14:30 - MQA Upsampling filter is leaky
15:33 - Filter attenuation analysis
16:54 - HiRes unfolding analysis
18:53 - Full decode analysis
19:54 - Conclusion
21:19 - My Opinion, and testing cables
25:46 - Why are manufacturers supporting MQA?
27:13 - Best way to play MQA files
27:44 - ifi GTO filter is MQA
28:56 - MQA's response
37:02 - Credits/Thank you

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