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MQA: Questions and Answers Sidebar 4: References

Sidebar 4: References

[1] Stuart, J.R., 'Soundboard: High-Resolution Audio', J. Audio Eng. Soc. Vol.63 No.10, pp831–832 (Oct 2015) Open Access www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=18046.

[2] Stuart, J. R. and Craven, P.G., 'A Hierarchical Approach to Archiving and Distribution', 9178, 137th AES Convention, (2014). Open Access: www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=17501.

[3] Stuart, J.R., Howard, K., 'New digital coding scheme—MQA', (Japanese translation by Hiroaki Suzuki), J. Japan Audio Society, Vol.55 No.6, pp45—57 (Nov. 2015).

[4] Lipshitz, S.P., Vanderkooy, J., '…

MQA: Questions and Answers Sidebar 5: Glossary

Sidebar 5: Glossary

ADC (A/D Converter): Analog to Digital Converter.

DAC (D/A Converter): Digital to Analog Converter.

Encapsulation: The process which identifies and secures the information space of a music signal and which exploits advanced sampling and reconstruction methods to optimise analogue end-to-end temporal precision while minimising data rate. We refer to the encapsulated object as the 'kernel.'

Hierarchical Coding: A conceptual framework that models analogue as an infinite sample rate, finite word-size representation which can be approximated by a…

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Some musicians play new material live before they record it. In other cases, the records are made before the material is quite worked out, before it’s been tested in front of an audience, before it’s come out of a PA system and echoed across a gorgeous July night in Brooklyn.

From the opening notes of “Atomic Number” it was clear that in the six weeks they’ve spent on the road playing the material from their debut, Case/Lang/Veirs, the trio of kd lang, Laura Veirs and Neko Case have gelled in powerful ways. At a recent Celebrate Brooklyn tour stop at the bandshell in Prospect Park the…

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"The days grow short when you reach September," sang Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, but not so short that you won't have time to enjoy our September issue, which hits newsstands, mailboxes, and tablets this week. Technologies vintage and modern are featured, with Ken Micallef's review of the Music Hall MMF-7.3 turntable and Jim Austin's interview and MQA's Spencer Chrislu taking pride of place on the cover. And there is more on MQA inside, with John Atkinson writing about his listening comparisons between MQA-encoded files and the hi-rez PCM originals.

And there's more: reviews of the…

Europe's Best Vinyl Shopping?

After living in NYC for nearly two decades, and having traveled to most of the cities of Europe in that time, a hard realization has become apparent. If it’s LP record shopping you seek, vintage or new, singles or full albums, the best in the world lies right here in the USA. How did Chuck Berry put it: “A juke-box jumping with records like in the USA.”

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It is more than fair to say that In C (1964), a repetitive composition of unpredictable length by California native Terry Riley (b. 1935), forever changed the course of modern music. If you want to have a fabulous time learning why, listen to In C on Four Four Three: The Music of Terry Riley. The new DSD-native recording from Channel Classics by the Ragazze String Quartet, percussion quartet Slagwerk Den Haag, and genre-redefining drumkit/French horn/guitar trio Kapok, can be purchased in either CD format or as a stereo or multichannel download in resolutions up to Quad DSD. This collective…

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In 2002, I conducted a lengthy interview with Terry Riley for andante.com (footnote 1). The following dialog reveals the drug-induced genesis of In C:

Jason Victor Serinus: Let's set the context for In C. May I assume that you were very conscious of making a statement?

Terry Riley: In C was kind of a gift to me. I wasn't trying to write a piece; it just came to me one night on a bus when I was riding to work.

JVS: And you weren't stoned at the time?

TR: I was [laughter]. My Rainbow In Curved Air and all my recordings for CBS were done when I was stoned. In the…

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It's a Sunday in suburbia. Sunny, 95°—"sweltering," some would say. The kind of heat where, you grab that cold can of Guinness, and the moment it leaves the cold comforts of the fridge, it's dead on impact.

You invite your good ole non-audiophile pal Stan (footnote 1) over. You use a ruse you know Stan will fall for, like "Let's flip some burgers and listen to the cool commercials on Spotify's free tier," or "I just mastered the piña colada and torrented David Bowie's entire discography" (as if the piña colada alone wouldn't be enough to lure that sucker Stan), or "You left your phone at…

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A recording engineer's choices of microphones to record singers, guitars, horns, bass, drums—or an entire orchestra—are absolutely crucial. Those very subjective choices are, in large part, what separate the best recordings from the also-rans. When I contacted some of the best engineers in the business to talk about mikes, I got an earful. I was told that mikes have a more profound impact on reproduced sound than does any other link in the recording chain. Yes, the acoustic of the recording venue also plays a huge role, and post-session mixing and mastering can of course improve or ruin the…

Spencer Chrislu: Master Quality Authenticated

Most people who have heard music recordings encoded with Master Quality Authenticated agree that it sounds really goood (footnote 1)—but even they recognize that at least one major challenge remains: ensuring that listeners can actually get, in MQA format, the music they most love. I spoke with Spencer Chrislu, MQA's director of content services, about the company's efforts to meet this challenge.

Jim Austin: Please tell us about your background.

Spencer Chrislu: Wow, where do I start? I've been a music fan all my life, and fell in love with high-end audio as a teenager. I've…