Critic's Corner

Too many assumptions...

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Although the article itself contains at least one patently absurd statement ... posted by John Atkinson on April 06, 2017 at 04:22:26

Hi John,

So, here we go again...

Mark Waldrep was another, who I mentioned in the article.

That said, "To my personal knowledge" and stuff like that doesn't guarantee they were.

I talked to many manufacturers about this and could no find one that could get proper A/B demo material to assess whether MQA is doing what they claim. Rich Maez, of Boulder Amps, said this publicly on Facebook the other week. He also added that they could tell that when there were A/B demos done (not for them, but elsewhere), the weren't likely using the same masters. When I talked to various DAC designers about MQA's apparent unwillingness to supply such material, that's where they became suspicious. Just go talk to John Siau at Benchmark -- he's not afraid to talk about it. In fact, he's written about it.

I've talked to your own Jim Austin about this, mostly online, but also in person, and I've always gotten the impression that he was never supplied such material. I could be wrong -- but please go check since you added his name. But he's never mention to me that he's had proper A/B files.

As for the rest, I haven't found a single writer, other than you, who had material that they could guarantee was from the same master. Now, again, I could be wrong and perhaps there is someone out there; but everything I've found was in comparison to CD, some high-res release, etc. -- but no one could tell me that the MQA file and whatever they were comparing it to were from the exact same sources. The only other exception is that 2L has made some recordings in multiple formats, so perhaps those were what was used. But, please, show me the TRUE comparisons with verified source material.

The exception is, of course, you, which is why I referenced your experiment. It was the first time I'd seen that -- and it's what should've been done long, long ago.

Doug Schneider

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