INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 28 for Windows => Topic started by: Cinelder on May 10, 2021, 11:16:35 am
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Is there something similar to the analysis of whether an imported FLAC is HDCD that could be added to determine whether a *.flac file is losslessly encoded or is lossy MQA in a FLAC container? Unlike for HDCD, this *isn't* a request for any subsequent software decoding in JRiver if MQA is detected, rather my request is based on wanting to ensure I'm buying a lossless file when I'm paying for a lossless file.
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Yeah this would be helpful, as this MQA ordeal has become a problem were unless you take a look at the file closely, you would be buying something you had no idea you were.
An analysis tool would be great (no need for MQA support itself).
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If they're going to go this far to just detect MQA, they might as well go all the way as this idea can easily and quickly be expanded upon to "support" MQA in Media Center without having to add any sort of decoder support or anything like that. In fact, it'd require relatively minimal effort to accomplish.
Right now (if you guys didn't know already) you can passthrough MQA through Media Center to a DAC that supports MQA so the DAC decodes it if a) you have volume set to 100% and b) use no DSP whatsoever. This is basically what bitstreaming (e.g. DSD bitstreaming) does.
So...
1) Have audio analysis detect MQA being present and write the information to the library and/or tags.
2) Add a MQA option to the bitstreaming dropdown list. When activated the MQA option, upon detecting the MQA flag in the tags will automatically trigger the bitstreaming option. The bitstreaming option would then a) play the file at max internal volume automatically and b) disable all DSP being used, like MC already does when bitstreaming is enabled for things like DSD. Thus by doing this, it hands off the decoding of MQA to the DAC itself. The downside could be the user having system volume at less than 100% which may not allow it to function properly, but this is the same downside shared with DSD bitstreaming, so it's only a minor issue and can be easily fixed by the user by setting system volume to 100%.
Ta-da, Media Center "supports" MQA without having to do a single thing like decoding the file itself. All it'll do is detect if a file is MQA then if it is enable a bitstreaming option which sends it to the DAC for decoding. Basically you're taking what Media Center can already do if you manually set it up and are automating it.
Just call it MQA bitstreaming or MQA passthrough and explain that Media Center itself doesn't support MQA, it's handing it off to the DAC instead. Or don't even advertise it as a feature at all, but quietly add the options.
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Sorry for a newbie questions, but where would you purchase the MQA encoded files and how would you recognize them otherwise?
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Sorry for a newbie questions, but where would you purchase the MQA encoded files and how would you recognize them otherwise?
Here's some test files to play with
http://www.2l.no/hires/
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Hope it's not too derailing but I'd also love the ability to detect up/downsampled files, as well as transcodes (from non-lossless sources, non-bit perfect etc).
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Hope it's not too derailing but I'd also love the ability to detect up/downsampled files, as well as transcodes (from non-lossless sources, non-bit perfect etc).
Not derailing, but this feature simply isn't possible even outside of JRiver. There are preliminary tools like Lossless Audio Checker (and a few others I guess), but it can be fooled in terms of false positives.
Things like downsampling of files or bit depth conversions, yeah you're never going to get the full picture on files like that from any sort of automated analysis.
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For the most part, MQA is essentially limited to Tidal streaming service. While there is some MQA encoded music to buy for download, it is a fairly limited market so far, and will likely remain so. Downloading at all will probably never be anything other than a small niche. Therefore, introducing MQA support without at the same time providing support for Tidal is virtually meaningless. In the long run, I see the streaming services as JRiver's real Achilles heel.
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For the most part, MQA is essentially limited to Tidal streaming service. While there is some MQA encoded music to buy for download, it is a fairly limited market so far, and will likely remain so. Downloading at all will probably never be anything other than a small niche. Therefore, introducing MQA support without at the same time providing support for Tidal is virtually meaningless. In the long run, I see the streaming services as JRiver's real Achilles heel.
MQA-CDs also exist and are pretty easily bought from sites that sell CDs from Japan, I got a couple myself (don't even own a MQA DAC anymore though).
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Least Likely To Succeed:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135605.0.html