[sutjahjo]

I am in Hong Kong and to my pleasant surprise, Digital 24/96 MQS (Mastering Quality Sound) music albums in the form of MicroSD is now available in Hong Kong.
 
A project by Groovers Korea and in conjunction with Universal Music, 4 Chinese albums are the first batch of product released and with many more titles expected. I spoke to the retailers and I was told that
 
- Not sure if Astell&Kern is involved, but the Groovers' project is supposed to make High resolution and AK players more popular.
-They are distributed by ECT Hong Kong through Astell&Kern retailers.
- The first four titles are selling very well and many A&K retailers are out of stock.
- This is probably the first time, high resolution FLAC is distributed officially in MicroSD.
 
Here are some of the images I shot:
 

 

 

 

[krayzie]

Did you manage to hear a difference compare to the CDs?

 

[sutjahjo]

Based on first round of listening, all the 4 MSQ versions sound much cleaner (than their corresponding CDs) and with more details.

Strictly speaking, none of them are of true audiophile quality. I supposed them being rather old recordings, there is a limit to what could be done. To my ears, they all sound kind of "thin" made even more obvious with the new found clarity. The "thinnest" sounding one is the Julie Sue "Took The Wrong Car" album.

Alan Tam's "Love of Fog" album is surprisingly good though - his vocal in the track "illusions" is hauntingly real!

Having said that, they are all obviously better than their CD counterparts.

 

[krayzie]

Based on first round of listening, all the 4 MSQ versions sound much cleaner (than their corresponding CDs) and with more details.

Strictly speaking, none of them are of true audiophile quality. I supposed them being rather old recordings, there is a limit to what could be done. To my ears, they all sound kind of "thin" made even more obvious with the new found clarity. The "thinnest" sounding one is the Julie Sue "Took The Wrong Car" album.

Alan Tam's "Love of Fog" album is surprisingly good though - his vocal in the track "illusions" is hauntingly real!

Having said that, they are all obviously better than their CD counterparts.

 
I just listened to the first song of the Priscilla Chan album with this MSQ version, vs the same song ripped from a K2HD CD, vs the same song ripped from a Mini-LP CD (all with the same setup: Sony NW-ZX2 with MDR-E484). To be honest I didn't hear any extra details with the MSQ, but I got to say the mastering seems pretty good in terms of dynamic range. The Mini-LP CD version has the warmest sound (but a tad loud), and the K2HD CD version is a little on the bright side. The MSQ version strikes the best tonal balance imo.
 
Wish they would do a Jacky Cheung release from his stuff in the late 80's or early 90's (for Polygram Hong Kong CDs, the re-release of the original version with the DSD sticker on the casing usually sound the best to me).

 

[sutjahjo]

Other than the Julie Sue SACD (ripped flat, not dsd), the other 3 I used to compared are from the regular CDs. Glad to hear from someone who has experienced with various pressings.

I am really excited and am hoping for more mandarin titles.

I am using AK380 via Hugo and AK/JHA Layla.

 

[sutjahjo]

I found another Groovers title, not familiar with the singer though.

 

[happy hopping]

I have a question on this:
 
I found this CD,
 
http://www.yesasia.com/us/%E7%B2%BE%E8%A3%9D%E6%9E%97%E5%AD%90%E7%A5%A520-mqs/1051488100-0-0-0-zh_TW/info.html
 
it's by Groover, but it's made in Korea, to me, that's like a Ferrari made in  China.
 
Can Groover made in Korea be high quality MQS?

 

[sutjahjo]

As for as I know, all Groovers MQS micro SD series are made in Korea by A&K subsidiary. 

 

[happy hopping]

but how's the quality though?  say compare the sound recording to K2HD CD

 

[sutjahjo]

I have quite a number of MCQ micro SD and they sound very good on AK380. I didn't directly compare them to the K2HD CDs though. The Korean Woong San album is particularly exceptional.

 

[happy hopping]

w/ K2HD, the background sound is very distinct, the foreground also sounds much better.
 
The only other technology that is similar is XRCD2 with K2 coding technology.
 
So let me ask you, when you said they sound very good, would  you say there is a noticeable difference if you compare the same song on a regular CD?

 

[sutjahjo]

I certainly find them clearer, more detailed and more transparent as compared with normal CDs

 

[happy hopping]

hey thank you, I'll buy one & give it a try.

 

[sutjahjo]

Yes, best is to try it out yourself.

 

[soundboy]

I wonder how the microSDs compare to their respective SACD versions?