Master Quality Authenticated: Next Generation Audio
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:53 pm
Thought the search function was sucking again, but it seems like maybe the forum backup was before I posted the original topic. Anyway, I found this review comparing masters to MQA:
Source: http://www.avsforum.com/mqa-demo-at-the ... port-2016/I started with a track called “Resonance” by percussionist Hiroshi Fukamizu, which starts with ambient cymbal sounds that have a lot of very high-frequency content. The unprocessed file was 24-bit/192 kHz at 5.022 Mbps (megabits per second), while the MQA file was 24/48 at 1.374 Mbps, and I could hear no difference between them at all.
Next was “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits; the unprocessed file was 24/192 at 5.066 Mbps, and the MQA file was 24/48 at 1.658 Mbps. Again, I could hear no difference between them.
I tried an old recording of “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong; the unprocessed file was 24/96 at 2.363 Mbps, and the MQA file was 24/48 at 1.371 Mbps. The recording was relatively poor quality, and I thought Ella’s voice was perhaps bit more mellow in the MQA track, but otherwise, it was very difficult to tell them apart.
Switching to classical music, I played a recording of Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, Assez vif, performed by the Guarneri Quartet. The unprocessed file was 24/192 at 5.017 Mbps, and the MQA file was 24/48 at 1.419 Mbps, and again, I could discern no difference at all.
Finally, I listened to the first movement of Mozart’s Violin Concerto in D Major (KV218) performed by Marianne Thorsen and TrondheimSolistene, a wonderful recording by Morten Lindberg at 2L. In this case, the unprocessed file was 24/352.8 at 10.912 Mbps and the MQA file was 24/44.1 at 1.4 Mbps. With such a drastic reduction in bit rate, I thought this might be a real torture test, but as with the other modern recordings, I heard no difference at all.