A look at a Hi-Res pre-recorded physical music format, MQS SD. There is some important info in this video description text box... MQS SD is sold in South Korea & HK for use with the Astell & Kern Hi-Res Personal Audio Players which feature MicroSD card storage slots. Astell & Kern use MQS to define HD Audio in a FLAC format with a 24bit encoding. According to their specs the KHz sample rate can vary depending on the source between 48KHz and 192KHz. The Beatles LP seems to be a special case because it’s just 44.1 KHz and I suspect this is because that’s the best source currently available. Back in 2014 manufacturers and record companies got together to define a system to code HD audio files. Here’s what they came up with. MQ-A - Taken from an Analogue Master Source MQ-C - Sourced from a 16bit 44.1KHz CD master and upsampled MQ-D - Sourced directly from a Direct Stream Digital DSD Master MQ-P - Sourced from a minimum 20bit master with a minimum 48KHz sample rate I haven’t seen these in use anywhere since, perhaps the descriptions were considered too verbose when you then combine them with the filetype AIFF, ALAC, FLAC or WAV. So what is MQS? Well as the video shows it’s not exactly nailed down in A&K’s description and I suspect that it’s just a simplification of the existing system. If you look at this South Korean music download site http://www.groovers.kr/mqs/chart/domestic?d=-1091701920 you can see they use MQS to identify HD tracks and then use a code like MQS 24/192 to identify the quality. The logo stands out in red on the page and the system is slightly simpler than stating a file is “HD Audio MQ-D FLAC 24/192” Whether the average human ear is capable of hearing the difference between all these things - I haven't a clue and I don't have a horse in that race...I'm just interested in collecting formats. I'm particularly interested in physical packed pre-recorded music...music in a box sold as a retail product. This is the most recent packaged music format (as far as I know). Yes SD cards and FLAC are not new...but putting them together in a nice box with cover-art and a booklet is...and that's what this video is about...something you probably weren't aware existed. SNAKEOIL - It's a flippant joke at the vague definition of the benefits of MQS over normal FLAC HiRes audio files...is there really any difference? It appears MQS is just 24 bit FLAC. I AM NOT SAYING HI-RES AUDIO IS SNAKEOIL ...just that I can see no discernible technical differences between 24 bit FLAC and MQS. Perhaps there is one...and if so A&K need to do a better job of defining exactly what the specific benefits of MQS difference are. Here is a link to all the MQS SD Card Albums. http://mall.groovers.kr/front/productlist.php?code=001000000000&listnum=12&sort=&block=0&gotopage=1 I bought my Beatles MQS SD Album on ebay - here's a link that should find any for sale https://goo.gl/MMOKDM Don't overpay though! Incidentally there's also another file format called MQA - here's some info on that http://www.soundandvision.com/content/hi-res-label-unamas-release-10-mqa-recordings This seems to have no connection to the MQ-A categorisation I mentioned above (which describes the origin of a recording - like AAD or DDD you used to see on CD's) This MQA (without the dash) actually seems to be a separate format that is backwardly compatible with some other formats...it's all very confusing. UPDATE No one has to buy these. Your existing choice of music delivery medium will continue to function irrespective of the success or failure of MQS SD. I didn't anticipate that showing an obscure music delivery format that is only marketed in South Korea for playback of audio via the micro SD card slot on a high-end digital media player would be so controversial. -------------SUPPORT--------------- This channel can be supported through Patreon https://www.patreon.com/techmoan Patrons usually have early access to videos ---------------SUBSCRIBE------------------ http://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan?sub_confirmation=1 ------AFFLIATED LINKS/ADVERTISING NOTICE------- All links are Affiliated where possible. When you click on links to various merchants posted here and make a purchase, this can result in me earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network & Amazon. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON Sites (including, but not limited to Amazon US/UK/DE/ES/FR/NL/IT/CAN)

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