I would be okay with the price, as long as it doesn’t have MQA; I really don’t want to support that company.
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do you know id the MQA version actually have better / different tuning / SQ?
Not from what I had read, only tried the non mqa version so I can’t say
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Nope. If remember correctly, they have same specs, but it was not resent I looked.
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Exactly. MQA is bullshit. I am not going to support it in any way, shape or form. That includes buying hardware that has that crap on it. I am not going to let a penny of my money go to MQA. Period. Not if I can help it.
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I’m just constantly surprised some consumers supported mqa in the beginning, not sure how someone can look at it and think it offers any compelling reason to use it, from a single glance you and pretty much tell it’s just marketing
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I just sent an e-mail to MAtrix asking them if it can be bought without MQA , as I won’t support the company.
At least I got a message about MQA to them.
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When it first launched on Tidal, there wasn’t much available in the US for lossless, “HiRes” type streaming services. Deezer wasn’t yet available in the US and neither was Qobuz. I think a lot of people are still on Tidal because it was the “first” to launch and they are still on it…MQA was a nice marketing “upcharge”, I suppose.
But, I agree.
For me, when you needed some super duper special component to “unpack” the MQA files, I was basically out and looking for something new (as I’ve said before, I’ve moved on to Qobuz and I like it very much)…it seems all of these MQA components are all basically backlog releases they’ve been working on for a while, but are likely to be obsolete soon…the MQA DACs, too, seem to be an upcharge over equivalent non-MQA DACs…correct me if I am wrong on that, but it seems so.
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Yes that’s the business model, they charge the component manufacturers a licensing fee.
Though I have no idea how much, or if it’s fixed or a sliding scale based on retail price.
Sure, but you could also use it without having to pay for mqa (if memory serves me correct)
Has all the marks of a marketing format (including from the beginning):
Format that limits what it can be played on and very closed door? Check
Format that pretty much is exclusively available from one source for actual content? Check
Format that adds cost and complexity for manufacturer that gets passed on to the consumer? Check
Format that has DRM like properties which is appealing to labels and greedy platforms? Check
Format that tries to solve a non existent problem? Check
Format that is just worse than what it’s trying to replace? Check
Format that can be very inconsistent in quality and implementation even when coming from limited sources? Check
Format with original intent going right out the door before it even hit the market cause money? Check
and yes it can go on. It’s just one of those things where anyone with basic reasoning and common sense can realize this isn’t really the best thing for the market. But it’s here now because it caught some traction (mainly threw people getting suckered into mqa tidal and pure marketing for mqa dacs to go along with them). Not a massive deal, you do have alternatives and whatnot, and if you are extreme enough you can decide to avoid anything with mqa attached to it, but that’s also potentially foolish at the same time since you could be ignoring otherwise quality products that just happen to have mqa on them that you don’t have to use. Guess it’s how extreme you feel about it.
Just wondering why for some reason people are deciding to figure this out now and getting all outraged after the fact, kinda missed the window on that one, to really kill something off effectively you have to do it at the start for it to be the most effective imo, not after it’s already established. Sorry, just somewhat tired of seeing all this mqa “controversy” lately, like we get the point already it’s just beating a dead horse. (Not going to comment on it more to make sure I don’t further clog this thread)
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you could look for the original on the used market. put up wtb ads on r/avexchange and the different audiomart.com sites too.
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Fair enough. There is a thread for this already, so those conversations can be had there. What will be interesting is to see how many products in the future keep on with this nonsense. And for myself, I am new to this HiFi game, so I am just getting exposed. But I can smell bullshit a mile a way, and MQA stinks. Bad. So I am not going to support it. But you knew that already. LOL!
Thanks, it’s probably out of my budget, but just wondering if I ever want an high end DS DAC which version I should go for
it could be when the scandal hit, MQA was reaching critical mass to become the next thing. we can only hope it fades into the background as a fad.
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The plot thickens! More Apple Music lossless tier info found in the package of the android Apple Music app:
TLDR:
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Astrotec released a limited edition variant of Lyra nature earbuds. Comes bundled with a 3.5mm and 4.4mm bal cable bundled.
New Grado line up - X in Prestige Series
325 and 225 use flat pads
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It looks like they have upgraded cables too.
I wonder was the Hemp a sort of prototype for this new generation. If so it would be very interesting to see the new reference series.
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Considering the 325 and 225 are both using the F-cush flat pads I think they might have been. Well I’m glad I decided to get a set of 4 year old limited editions instead of an “e” series new. I’m really looking forward to the new Reference Series, specifically the RS1x.
My only real concern is if the fabric cable will be microphonic. I think they tried something similar with the HF-1 I think and it went poorly.