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MA Recordings

Musikk for viderekomne:

https://www.marecordings.com/

MA Recordings er et lite plateselskap som lager innspillinger for oss spesielle audiofiler.  Jeg har noen album fra før, så kjøpte jeg Nama med Puente Celeste i går. Jeg har bare så vidt hørt litt på den, det blir spennende å høre dette på fullt volum nå i kveld. Nama har en nær og intim atmosfære, til forskjell fra fx Nublado, som er spilt inn i et veldig forskjellig lokale.

På første siden har de nå 2 samplers son kan lastes ned gratis, to samlinger med spesiell musikk gjort med ekstrem produksjonsteknikk. Her er det litt forskjellig fra hele repertoaret, slik at en kan høre og finne ut om dette er noe en liker, før en kjøper.

Jeg kan finne på å skrive mer om disse innpillingene og lyden senere.

Todd Garfinkle from MA Recordings just confirmed there is a counterfeit/illegal copy of the Sera Uno Noche album La Segunda on Tidal, and he also mentions an illegal copy on Amazon.

Turns out, by playing these copies you not only support the demise of an enthusiast recording business, you also get a significant reduction in sound quality.

Curious to know how I found out - here is the story i sent to MA Recordings/Todd Garfinkle:

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La Segunda (Sera Una Noche) can be found on Tidal, and I thought it would be interesting to notfiy you about this, since you may not be aware.

This Tidal version is technically different from your original, I can prove this with controlled scientifically viable listening testes as well as technical analysis, and the Tidal album does not mention MA Recordings as source. The cover photo, music content, and the recording this Tidal version originates from is as far as I can tell, from your MA Recordings production.

I noticed the track Cuando Silva El Viento on the Tidal version sounds different from the sample in your Audiophiliac Sampler. I got curious enough to check. Here is what I found:

- Level is different
- Spectral distribution similar
- First impression is that Tidal version has reduced definition, especially at higher frequencies
- Sound differences are verified in a controlled listening test using foobar ABX, with level-matched samples
- Reducing bit rate down to 44k on MA Recordings version makes no difference compared to 176K original
- Sound differences are similar to what you experience with lossy encoders like aac, mp3

So, is this an illegal copy, because if this was sourced from the original files, it should not have such loss in sound quality.

The differences in sound quality is very easy to verify, I did the ABX test very quickly, quite easy to do 7 correct answers in a row, and that is not possible if differences are very small. Still, you need the MA Recordings reference to be able to tell, without a reference, you will think that the Tidal version is how it is supposed to sound.

I wanted to tell you about this, because the tidal version does not provide the sound quality that MA Recordings can have, and if this is an illegal copy, appropriate legal action should be executed.

Your MA Recordings are expensive, but the price can easily be defended as these are very special recordings of very special music, something quite extraordinary for a select few of audiophile enthusiasts. Illegal distribution of this content will, as I see it, make it impossible to continue to provide such a product, and therefore must be stopped, if that is the case here.

(I may post this on the forum on my web, to potentially warn about the proven sound difference in the Tidal version, and possible illegal distribution.)

 

Sincerely,