There is some important information in this video description text box…
MQS SD is sold in South Korea and Hong Kong for use with Astell & Kern high-resolution personal audio players with MicroSD card storage slots.
Astell & Kern use MQS to define HD audio in FLAC format with 24-bit encoding. Depending on their specifications, the KHz sampling frequency can vary depending on the source between 48 KHz and 192 KHz. The Beatles LP seems to be a special case because it's only 44.1 KHz and I suspect that's because it's the best source currently available.
In 2014, manufacturers and record labels came together to define a system for encoding HD audio files. Here's what they found.
MQ-A – Taken from an analog main source
MQ-C – From a 16-bit 44.1 KHz CD master and upsampled
MQ-D – Sourced directly from a Direct Stream digital DSD master
MQ-P – From a minimum 20-bit master with a minimum sample rate of 48 kHz
I haven't seen them used anywhere since, perhaps the descriptions were considered too wordy when you then combine them with the AIFF, ALAC, FLAC or WAV file type.
So, what is MQS? Well, as the video shows, it's not exactly defined in A&K's description and I suspect 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 that they use MQS to identify HD tracks and then use a code like MQS 24/192 to identify quality. The logo stands out in red on the page and the system is slightly simpler than indicating that 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 have no idea and I have no horse in this race… I'm just interested in the format collection.
I'm particularly interested in physically packaged pre-recorded music…music in a box sold as a retail product. This is the newest packaged music format (as far as I know). Yes, SD and FLAC cards aren't new… but putting them together in a nice box with a sleeve and booklet is… and that's what this video is about… something you probably didn't know about existence.
SNAKEOIL – This is an offhand joke about vaguely defining the benefits of MQS over normal FLAC HiRes audio files… is there really a difference? It seems that MQS is just 24-bit FLAC.
I'm not saying that hi-res audio is SNAKEOIL… just that I don't see any discernible technical difference between 24-bit FLAC and MQS. There may be one…and if so, A&K needs to do a better job of defining exactly what the specific benefits of the MQS difference are.
Here is a link to all albums on the MQS SD card.
http://mall.groovers.kr/front/productlist.php?code001000000000&listnum12&sort&block0&gotopage1
I bought my Beatles album SD MQS on ebay – here is a link which should find some for sale https://goo.gl/MMOKDM
Don't pay too much though!
By the way, there is also another file format called MQA – here is some information about it http://www.soundandvision.com/content/hi-res-label-unamas-release-10-mqa-recordings It seems n 'have no connection to MQ -A categorization I mentioned above (which describes the origin of a recording – like AAD or DDD that you used to see on CDs). This MQA (without the hyphen) actually appears to be a separate format that is backwards compatible with some other formats. .this is very confusing.
UPDATE
No one is forced to buy them. Your current choice of music streaming media will continue to work regardless of the success or failure of MQS SD. I didn't expect that showing an obscure music streaming format, marketed only in South Korea, for audio playback via the micro SD card slot of a high-end digital media player, would be so controversial.
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