MQA now on Tidal

[Rhapsody]

Bob

Did you ever get your Windows laptop to recognize your DAC? If not and you were a fairly early adopter of 10 then go into your device manager and delete your audio driver whether Realtek or some other. Re-start the laptop and Windows will install a repaired driver. The original software update had a corrupt USB driver. I fought with it a while before I remembered.

Hello Jack,

Thx so much for thinking of "my issue". Actually I never did get it working. I spent and hour on the phone with Microsoft and had them log on to my computer, they could not get it to recognize. I DID delete my usb driver and reloaded it again, to no avail.

Right now I can't mess with it because I took my usb module out of my MSB and sent it to MSB to have the module upgraded to the MQA version of the USB module. I should have it back later this week or next.

Andy brought down his Mytek Brooklyn and when we ran the Brooklyn connected to the Aurender the Aurender passed up to 192Hz Master files, SO, when I get my usb/mqa module back I will be able to run it from my Aurender app after having saved the files on my desktop and then bringing them up on the Aurender favorites.

On th flip side, my enthusiasm has been "curbed" as I do LOVE the SQ from the MQA titles, but I am SO INTO listening to certain music that I like on regular Tidal that I've defaulted back to that for most of my listening. The 900 tracks that are currently available don't have ANY of the music that I like to listen to. I also scanned the entire Warners catalogue and although of course there are lot's of good albums from Warner, it's not inclusive enough vs. UMB/EMI, Sony.

For now I have settled in to in some listening sessions listening to MQA and then other sessions I listen to only the 16/44.1 Tidal. The only trick for me is if I want to listen to the 16/44.1 I CANNOT listen to the MQA tracks as sonically they are in a different league, but I'm fine with the 16/44.1 and it sounds great as long as I don't hit the MQA button. I'm much more about the music I'm listening to vs. the SQ of what I am listening to for my personal listening.

Again, thank you Jack for the suggestion, I will actually try that again, once I get my MQA/usb module back from MSB.

[calloway]

When playing the Tidal "Master" albums using a Lumin A1 with Roon / Tidal , are there any special settings on the Roon site itself that have to be set to get the best audio from the Lumin player? I am getting 24/48 playing the albums currently with the suggested Tidal settings.

[CPP]

When playing the Tidal "Master" albums using a Lumin A1 with Roon / Tidal , are there any special settings on the Roon site itself that have to be set to get the best audio from the Lumin player? I am getting 24/48 playing the albums currently with the suggested Tidal settings.

Thats what I get from my Lumin when playing back MQA files to a non-MQA dac. 24/48, PS not a Roon user.

Play around with your upsampling on your Lumin, that 24/48 file can be upsampled to DSD

[calloway]

Thats what I get from my Lumin when playing back MQA files to a non-MQA dac. 24/48, PS not a Roon user.

Play around with your upsampling on your Lumin, that 24/48 file can be upsampled to DSD

.....CPP...thanks...I am doing that, which does help significantly and the Masters albums do sound better....most....at 24/48 when compared to the regular upsampled pcm to dsd albums.

[radioactive]

well, consider me confused. is the gist that people with non-MQA dacs can run MQA files through Tidal and sound better than the non-MQA version? or do you need a MQA dac for the files to sound better.

Supposedly, but I did not have that experience. It sounded very compressed to me and a buddy. I posted to the MQA Thread and just saw this one...I posted more details there. At the end of our session we played back over my Debussy direct from Tidal, (as one example), The Postal Service's, "Such Great Heights" was loud at the intro and last few seconds, but the middle sounded at least about 25% less loud or thereabouts. It also had passaged that went loud and then low -- I really should have pulled out my meter and filmed it, but I'm expecting other's will have a similar experience. FWIW, my copy from HDTracks (http://www.hdtracks.com/give-up-delu...ersary-edition) which is 24Bit 44Khz, sounded much, much better than Tidals MQA (through an MQA Dac/Player) and straight through my Debussy.

Now this could be just the couple of tracks we found that I also had a digital version of or SACD/CD. Perhaps something else was at play or it was just a bad selection of tracks on our part. I'm not poo-poo'ing MQA, I still want to keep trying it out and figure out why it didn't blow us away.

[radioactive]

Hey Jim,

Would you mind recommending a few albums that sound great in the Master's section? I'd much appreciate it. It would help me in figuring out what the heck's going on with my playback as I'm not getting what I'd expect in quality from what I've been toying with.

Thanks,

Bryan

Two that I have tagged are Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" and Van Morrison's " Moondance".

It's funny but there are 88 and 96 files that sound better than these two. The original does not have to be 192 to get great sound.

[radioactive]

Interesting point, but if Apple (the currently rumoured to-be-most-interested) buys them out, I wonder how much they would embrace MQA? Just look at what they did to the lossless format...

Well, judging by the reaction of many digital audiophiles that have proclaimed MQA as the second coming, even if Tidal goes under, one of the other streaming services will probably pick it up.

[still-one]

Interesting point, but if Apple (the currently rumoured to-be-most-interested) buys them out, I wonder how much they would embrace MQA? Just look at what they did to the lossless format...

You may want to try these.
-Emmylou Harris (with Rodney Crowell) "The Traveling Kind"
-Rhiannon Giddens - "Factory Girl"
-Van Morrison - Moondance

I haven't compared the following to Hi Rez versions but they sound better than the CD's
-Mark Knopfler - Sailing To Philadelphia
-Richard Hawley - Hollow Meadows
-The Drifters - "up On The Roof"

[radioactive]

So I may have to retract that statement. Today, I opened up Tidal and there was an update to the software (not sure this was the "fix"), but I compared Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" in their Master's to my HDTracks 24Bit 96Khz version. NOTE: My buddy's DAC/Player wasn't here so it was just comparing their playback to my FLAC copy. Also the Tidal version showed up in my Debussy as 24/96 so it's a descent comparison I suppose. I have to say the "compressed" sound was not present. In fact, they (Warner, whomever did the MQA release) seemed to have cleaned the track up, as John Bonham's notorious Ludwig Speed King model #201 bass drum pedal's squeak wasn't as noticeable in the Tidal version. There was a good deal of space that was also more appealing, and the phantom center presented by my Alexia's was much more coherent in the Tidal version. That said, it also had a bit less "oomph" (for lack of a better word) and the level of midbass was seemingly thin to me. All in all, I'd call it less fatiguing, but in it's a tie. They both sound good and each have their pluses and minuses. I'm going to go back and listen to other tracks now and see if this update helped The Postal Service's track too and some other's.

This is fun!

Supposedly, but I did not have that experience. It sounded very compressed to me and a buddy. I posted to the MQA Thread and just saw this one...I posted more details there. At the end of our session we played back over my Debussy direct from Tidal, (as one example), The Postal Service's, "Such Great Heights" was loud at the intro and last few seconds, but the middle sounded at least about 25% less loud or thereabouts. It also had passaged that went loud and then low -- I really should have pulled out my meter and filmed it, but I'm expecting other's will have a similar experience. FWIW, my copy from HDTracks (http://www.hdtracks.com/give-up-delu...ersary-edition) which is 24Bit 44Khz, sounded much, much better than Tidals MQA (through an MQA Dac/Player) and straight through my Debussy.

Now this could be just the couple of tracks we found that I also had a digital version of or SACD/CD. Perhaps something else was at play or it was just a bad selection of tracks on our part. I'm not poo-poo'ing MQA, I still want to keep trying it out and figure out why it didn't blow us away.

[erniejade]

. In fact, they (Warner, whomever did the MQA release) seemed to have cleaned the track up, as John Bonham's notorious Ludwig Speed King model #201 bass drum pedal's squeak wasn't as noticeable in the Tidal version. .

This is fun!

Wouldn't that be a bad thing to be missing?

[rbbert]

It appears they added a number of devices (DAC's) to their database

[Rhapsody]

Bob

Did you ever get your Windows laptop to recognize your DAC? If not and you were a fairly early adopter of 10 then go into your device manager and delete your audio driver whether Realtek or some other. Re-start the laptop and Windows will install a repaired driver. The original software update had a corrupt USB driver. I fought with it a while before I remembered.

Jack,

To close the loop, after I drove myself crazy trying to connect my pc to my MSB dac, it was never going to happen until Tidal finally added the MSB dac to their list of supported DACs. Once I updated Tidal today, the MSB connected with no issue. F'ing Tidal

I don't even listen to the MQA for now as I've gone back to enjoying listening to the music that I want to listen to on HiFi Tidal.....back to being a happy camper, but the MQA excursion was fun and maybe down the road Tidal will MQA their entire list of titles.....then I would surely go back to listening to Tidal/ MQA.

[still-one]

Jack,

To close the loop, after I drove myself crazy trying to connect my pc to my MSB dac, it was never going to happen until Tidal finally added the MSB dac to their list of supported DACs. Once I updated Tidal today, the MSB connected with no issue. F'ing Tidal

I don't even listen to the MQA for now as I've gone back to enjoying listening to the music that I want to listen to on HiFi Tidal.....back to being a happy camper, but the MQA excursion was fun and maybe down the road Tidal will MQA their entire list of titles.....then I would surely go back to listening to Tidal/ MQA.

I don't understand your passing on the option of playing MQA versus standard CD quality when you have the option. I would never restrict my listening to MQA or Hi Rez audio as the selection is way too limiting. That said I have identified the MQA version of a number of albums I will play when I have a choice between the two. Maybe because Tidal is so integrated into Sooloos once I have tagged a file or added a track to a playlist it is no different from choosing any other music from my iPad app.

[Rhapsody]

I don't understand your passing on the option of playing MQA versus standard CD quality when you have the option. I would never restrict my listening to MQA or Hi Rez audio as the selection is way too limiting. That said I have identified the MQA version of a number of albums I will play when I have a choice between the two. Maybe because Tidal is so integrated into Sooloos once I have tagged a file or added a track to a playlist it is no different from choosing any other music from my iPad app.

Jim, I don't have an "option" for MQA on the music that I want to listen to. None of the may 20-30 albums that I normally listen to not to mention 2-3 new albums that I seem to run into every week, which are also not available via MQA, leaves me back at the HiFi option. Of course if the music that I wanted to listen to was MQA'd I would surely listen to it via MQA, but it's not.

[still-one]

Jim, I don't have an "option" for MQA on the music that I want to listen to. None of the may 20-30 albums that I normally listen to not to mention 2-3 new albums that I seem to run into every week, which are also not available via MQA, leaves me back at the HiFi option. Of course if the music that I wanted to listen to was MQA'd I would surely listen to it via MQA, but it's not.

Now, I understand.

[Rhapsody]

Now, I understand.

I know there are lot's of good albums in the Masters list and even the "others" that don't happen to be listed. I do on occasion listen to something from the MQA offering and yes, it sound great, but before long I am back to listening to the music that I really like and even though it doesn't have the same SQ that the MQA has, it still sounds VERY GOOD as I have optimized my system to get the most out of HiFi Tidal. Most importantly and the reason I default to the HiFi titles is that overall my musical listening experience is much more enjoyable for me listening to the stuff that I happen to be digging right now.

[Randy Myers]

Are the albums you really like to listen to available in high resolution downloads or do you prefer to only stream your music?

[Rhapsody]

Are the albums you really like to listen to available in high resolution downloads or do you prefer to only stream your music?

Hi Randy, The majority of what I like to listen to is NOT available with Hi res downloads. Even it if was I've been hooked on streaming Tidal for at least a year now. I've NEVER enjoyed my daily listening experience as much since I started to stream Tidal....it just works for me. I have LOT'S of GREAT vinyl, R2R and a bunch of DSD (native and non-native) and for whatever reason I NEVER have a desire to play any of them. I love picking up my Ipad picking an album, listen to a few tracks, on to the next album, a few tracks and on and on......for hours. It's really just the personal way that I like to listen, nothing more to it than that.

I do listen to albums straight through the entire album on Tidal if it is one of the albums that I know and love. Playing a few tracks works for me when researching new music to add to the music that I love and listen to regularly.

[radioactive]

I guess it depends on whom you ask.

In the early releases of this track, it wasn't noticeable. On later remasters it started coming out and becoming more audible. I can't hear it in the Vinyl releases - and I've heard several. The recording engineer that did the current remaster that is the HDTracks 24/96 version, as I recall, stated that it was a conscious choice to leave it be and not try to remove it because it would have been too disruptive. Maybe some new tech has come out recently that enabled them to remove it without such harm to the track? Perhaps Bob Stuart himself took it as a challenge and wanted to "fix it", I haven't the slightest idea. I can say that it's almost as if they went with one of the earlier recordings and converted that to MQA since those weren't "cleaned up" and the squeak wasn't really a nuisance.

If you haven't heard it, the squeak comes at a fraction of a second before he hits the bass drum (every time he mashes that pedal with his foot). I just wish he had oiled the damn thing!. Little did he know it would be the source of countless discussions once this famous song became remastered.

Wouldn't that be a bad thing to be missing?

[radioactive]

Very interesting. You said you've managed to optimize your system for Tidal playback. I know it may be a bit off topic (we can start a new thread on Tidal Optimization Techniques or something like that), but I think a lot of us could use to pool our experience in getting the most out of Tidal. I suppose some of this may be dependent on gear (like if you're using the Sooloos or the Lumin Player), but for PC Playback with USB Driven DAC there are a lot of settings and knobs to adjust. Care to share?

Hi Randy, The majority of what I like to listen to is NOT available with Hi res downloads. Even it if was I've been hooked on streaming Tidal for at least a year now. I've NEVER enjoyed my daily listening experience since I started to stream Tidal....it just works for me. I have LOT'S of GREAT vinyl, R2R and a bunch of DSD (native and non-native) and for whatever reason I NEVER have a desire to play any of them. I love picking up my Ipad picking an album, listen to a few tracks, on to the next album, a few tracks and on and on......for hours. It's really just the personal way that I like to listen, nothing more to it than that.

[Rhapsody]

Very interesting. You said you've managed to optimize your system for Tidal playback. I know it may be a bit off topic (we can start a new thread on Tidal Optimization Techniques or something like that), but I think a lot of us could use to pool our experience in getting the most out of Tidal. I suppose some of this may be dependent on gear (like if you're using the Sooloos or the Lumin Player), but for PC Playback with USB Driven DAC there are a lot of settings and knobs to adjust. Care to share?

I have my Aurender N10 or W20, my MSB Select II DAC, which I am also using as a preamp, into either Vitus or Goldmund amps. I have 10 sets of speakers to choose depending on my mood or what's going on at my studio. All of the pc's, cabling, Entreq grounding and room/system tweeks, have been tuned and selected so that the Tidal streaming sounds just the way I like it.

Most importantly for me is the speakers and their interaction with the room, Jim Smith taught me that in 2000. I have MANY room treatments and tweeks that have all been adjusted and tuned with Tidal streaming in mind.

If I change or add one power cord or one tweek then I usually have to make sure every other variable in my overall recipe is retuned or adjusted to make the final result optimized for my liking and that happens to be for streaming Tidal.

Of course when you play vinyl, MQA, R2R, cd's or DSD they all sound great as well and sonically they ALL have a better SQ level than the Tidal streaming. The kicker is that I have Tidal streaming 16/44.1 up to the magic level for me personally and I get to use the interface that I prefer and being able to enjoy all of the benefits of streaming which for me heightens my overall musical listening experience to a MUCH higher level as playing any of the other available formats.

[radioactive]

I think a lot of people would jump on your wagon if they believed that Tidal was going to be around in 5-7 years (or longer even). I enjoy Tidal. It was Roon that really got me into trying it out. Love both. I'll just enjoy it while it lasts, which hopefully will be a while. MQA is a bonus and I'll probably be upgrading my DAC in the next year or so anyway. Might as well see how MQA fits into that when I do.

I have my Aurender N10 or W20, my MSB Select II DAC, which I am also using as a preamp, into either Vitus or Goldmund amps. I have 10 sets of speakers to choose depending on my mood or what's going on at my studio. All of the pc's, cabling, Entreq grounding and room/system tweeks, have been tuned and selected so that the Tidal streaming sounds just the way I like it.

Most importantly for me is the speakers and their interaction with the room, Jim Smith taught me that in 2000. I have MANY room treatments and tweeks that have all been adjusted and tuned with Tidal streaming in mind.

If I change or add one power cord or one tweek then I usually have to make sure every other variable in my overall recipe is retuned or adjusted to make the final result optimized for my liking and that happens to be for streaming Tidal.

Of course when you play vinyl, MQA, R2R, cd's or DSD they all sound great as well and sonically they ALL have a better SQ level than the Tidal streaming. The kicker is that I have Tidal streaming 16/44.1 up to the magic level for me personally and I get to use the interface that I prefer and being able to enjoy all of the benefits of streaming which for me heightens my overall musical listening experience to a MUCH higher level as playing any of the other available formats.

[Rhapsody]

I think a lot of people would jump on your wagon if they believed that Tidal was going to be around in 5-7 years (or longer even). I enjoy Tidal. It was Roon that really got me into trying it out. Love both. I'll just enjoy it while it lasts, which hopefully will be a while. MQA is a bonus and I'll probably be upgrading my DAC in the next year or so anyway. Might as well see how MQA fits into that when I do.

Yep, me too, I enjoy it now and have a hard time believing that even if it's not Tidal that there will not be some other form of streaming MQA files with MQA DACs. It's too good and too easy for it to be abandoned imho.

Although if it all ever goes away I am sure that there will be somebody streaming at least 16/44.1 and I'm happy with that as well.

[RDSChicago]

Streaming is here to stay. I would bet in 10 years that nobody will have any of the own music files anymore.

[Rhapsody]

Streaming is here to stay. I would bet in 10 years that nobody will have any of the own music files anymore.

Agreed. And now that we've come this far with Tidal and MQA streaming, even the SW unfolding, I can't see MQA which is ideal for streaming going away either. If it's not Tidal someone else will be doing it.

[radioactive]

You make a good point about simply software unfolded music. In the US, I can't think of any mainstream place where you can get 24Bit, hi-resolution audio streamed to your DAC. Europe has Qobuz but I'm unsure if they stream hi-rez. Even if MQA is not the end-goal, getting hi-rez streamed from a mainstream provider with lots of titles is a first, and pretty cool at that.

Agreed. And now that we've come this far with Tidal and MQA streaming, even the SW unfolding, I can't see MQA which is ideal for streaming going away either. If it's not Tidal someone else will be doing it.

[justubes]

I have my Aurender N10 or W20, my MSB Select II DAC, which I am also using as a preamp, into either Vitus or Goldmund amps. I have 10 sets of speakers to choose depending on my mood or what's going on at my studio. All of the pc's, cabling, Entreq grounding and room/system tweeks, have been tuned and selected so that the Tidal streaming sounds just the way I like it.

Most importantly for me is the speakers and their interaction with the room, Jim Smith taught me that in 2000. I have MANY room treatments and tweeks that have all been adjusted and tuned with Tidal streaming in mind.

If I change or add one power cord or one tweek then I usually have to make sure every other variable in my overall recipe is retuned or adjusted to make the final result optimized for my liking and that happens to be for streaming Tidal.

Of course when you play vinyl, MQA, R2R, cd's or DSD they all sound great as well and sonically they ALL have a better SQ level than the Tidal streaming. The kicker is that I have Tidal streaming 16/44.1 up to the magic level for me personally and I get to use the interface that I prefer and being able to enjoy all of the benefits of streaming which for me heightens my overall musical listening experience to a MUCH higher level as playing any of the other available formats.

Hi Rhapsody,

Owning the both the Aurender N10 and W20 streaming Tidal, can you say there is a good improvement of the W20 over the N10 doing Tidal Streams?

I too have Tidal setup carefully and tweaked till i no longer really have a desire for CD playing the same tracks.

[Rhapsody]

Hi Rhapsody,

Owning the both the Aurender N10 and W20 streaming Tidal, can you say there is a good improvement of the W20 over the N10 doing Tidal Streams?

I too have Tidal setup carefully and tweaked till i no longer really have a desire for CD playing the same tracks.

Hi Justubes,

Not trying to be evasive but sonically both the N10 and W20 work great for me streaming Tidal. I could live with either one and not think about the other. The W20 with the battery, the enhanced storage and connections to DCS make a difference for certain users but like I said for streaming Tidal I'm fine with either one, they both sound great to me.

[RDSChicago]

Hi Rhapsody,

i now do 99% of my listening via Tidal. I don't have an MQA DAC. My DACs do not include built-in native Tidal. I am using a Mac laptop via USB. In one of my systems I use a Wyred4Sound Recovery. Is there something else I should be using in my system, such as a dedicated streamer, that would improve/optimize the sound or should I leave well enough alone? Most servers emphasize storage fiist and streaming second which is why, not having music files, I haven't felt the need to purchase a dedicate music server like a Lumin. I don't have expensive USB cables and was wondering if they really make a difference? Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[justubes]

Hi Justubes,

Not trying to be evasive but sonically both the N10 and W20 work great for me streaming Tidal. I could live with either one and not think about the other. The W20 with the battery, the enhanced storage and connections to DCS make a difference for certain users but like I said for streaming Tidal I'm fine with either one, they both sound great to me.

Thanks for your reply.

I presume you can tailor the sound to an extent using the tweaks and understanding room interactions, as such, you do not find any significant differences with using either the N10 or W20 for tidal.

I am just trying to jump onto the MQA band wagon and it will probably requires quite an investment even if i just go for the N10, as it will be used for streaming Tidal and hope it will not be a waste.

Very much wanting to try MQA now with a addition of a MQA streamer, again, then there does not seem to have any dacs at the moment to play in the league of the N10 or W20.

[Rhapsody]

Hi Rhapsody,

i now do 99% of my listening via Tidal. I don't have an MQA DAC. My DACs do not include built-in native Tidal. I am using a Mac laptop via USB. In one of my systems I use a Wyred4Sound Recovery. Is there something else I should be using in my system, such as a dedicated streamer, that would improve/optimize the sound or should I leave well enough alone? Most servers emphasize storage fiist and streaming second which is why, not having music files, I haven't felt the need to purchase a dedicate music server like a Lumin. I don't have expensive USB cables and was wondering if they really make a difference? Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Morning over in ChiTown

You would get 20 different answers to this question and there really is no right or wrong answer. So much personal preference involved. From my experience I feel like the Aurenders have "a sound". I like what they do. I use my pc on occasion with a cheap usb cable and it sounds fine and there is nothing about my pc that is special and it still sounds fine. BUT, for me the kicker is the Aurender Ipad interface vs. the mac or pc interface. I prefer interacting with the system via the Ipad and I am hooked on the Aurender app.

Roon is a great interface as well, but for streaming Tidal I just like the Ipad and the Aurender app. No desire for anything else, totally personal preference.

Sonically I could not tell you unless I tried both the Aurender and your current mac set up in your system. You might prefer one over the other, not sure, but I think if you played with the Aurender app for a while via the Ipad you might like it.

One of my systems is never going to have an MQA dac and I don't find it a hindrance to great SQ. Through the Aurender I only get 24/48, the first SW unfold but it sounds great because the rest of the system is to my liking.

Going the pc route you get the 24/96, second SW unfold and sonically there will be an improvement over the first SW unfold and playing 24/48. For you that might make a difference. For me even streaming 16/44.1 through the Aurender sounds great and I'm more hooked on the music that I want to listen to and enjoy vs listening to tracks because they sound a little better but they are not what I want to be listening to.

Any specific questions?

[RDSChicago]

Yes. Why do my dogs wake me up at 6 am on Sundays?

Do dealers typically allow a potential client to try out something like an Aurender at home to determine if it makes an improvement in their system?

[Rhapsody]

Yes. Why do my dogs wake me up at 6 am on Sundays?

Do dealers typically allow a potential client to try out something like an Aurender at home to determine if it makes an improvement in their system?

You have a very good Aurender dealer in Chicago and I am sure he would arrange an in-house demo for you. It's the only way you will know.

[Rhapsody]

Thanks for your reply.

I presume you can tailor the sound to an extent using the tweaks and understanding room interactions, as such, you do not find any significant differences with using either the N10 or W20 for tidal.

I am just trying to jump onto the MQA band wagon and it will probably requires quite an investment even if i just go for the N10, as it will be used for streaming Tidal and hope it will not be a waste.

Very much wanting to try MQA now with a addition of a MQA streamer, again, then there does not seem to have any dacs at the moment to play in the league of the N10 or W20.

I love the N10, the sweet spot of the line for me. ALTHOUGH, the A10 with it's internal MQA DAC at $5500 is compelling for someone that only streams.

Andy brought over his $2K Mytek Brooklyn MQA DAC and it sounded incredible with the MQA HW decoding. It's a very nice dac at the price with full MQA. An N10 and a Brooklyn DAC would sound very good playing MQA.

[Mike]

Let me jump in here. I have all the aurender's and I'm doing a W20 install today. I agree that the N10 is the sweet spot and the one to have unless you have a DCS and can take advantage of the dual AES (among other things).

The A10 IMO is the sleeper in the lineup. It's essentially an N100H with a soon to be certified MQA DAC in it. It even has a USB output so you can use it with other DAC's. $5500 MSRP.

I've compared even the N100H to my Mac Mini and it's no comparison. The N100H has a warmer more liquid sound, it's quieter and the app is a delight to use.

I will add, that you should also audition the Lumin U1 (competitor to the N100H/N10). The external PSU and wonderful Lumin app make it a must audition as well. Each definitely has their own "sound".

[Mike]

http://archimago.blogspot.com/?m=1


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[j2020]

http://archimago.blogspot.com/?m=1

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the link.

It has been a fun weekend for myself comparing Master/MQA vs standard albums.

With my non-MQA dac, I am streaming via ethernet over powerline instead of via usb from the PC. I find the Master albums do not always sound better than the standard 16/44 files.

For pop/rock, Master albums such as Bad Company, Deep Purple, Cars, David Bowie did not sound as good as Master albums of Steely Dan's Two Against Nature and Carly Simon's No Secrets.

That said, 16/44 files from Steely Dan's Gaucho sound as good as Two Against Nature.

For jazz, the some of the Master albums of Miles and Coltrane sound as good as 16/44 files.

For classical, most of the 16/44 and Master albums sound equally fabulous.

I am sure Tidal would sound better with direct ethernet to the router and that the good Master albums would sound even better with an MQA dac but the not so good ones, well......

Even with ethernet over powerline, the good standard and Master files sound wonderful. The biggest surprise is the classical collection - wonderful soundstage, tone and imaging.

J.

[wklie]

With my non-MQA dac, I am streaming via ethernet over powerline instead of via usb from the PC.

Since your N-05 can be used as both USB DAC and network player, you can get Tidal streamed natively via its Ethernet port, or from PC USB. In case of MQA, PC USB currently has the advantage.

You can try PC USB connection to get a software decoded 88.2 or 96kHz stream (unfolded from 44.1 or 48kHz) from Tidal desktop app. Install the latest Tidal desktop app on PC, set streaming quality to HiFi/Master, turn on Exclusive Mode, uncheck MQA Passthrough.

[j2020]

Since your N-05 can be used as both USB DAC and network player, you can get Tidal streamed natively via its Ethernet port, or from PC USB. In case of MQA, PC USB currently has the advantage.

You can try PC USB connection to get a software decoded 88.2 or 96kHz stream (unfolded from 44.1 or 48kHz) from Tidal desktop app. Install the latest Tidal desktop app on PC, set streaming quality to HiFi/Master, turn on Exclusive Mode, uncheck MQA Passthrough.

Thanks, Peter, for the heads up. If I do this, I wonder if Esoteric has updated the app like Lumin to show the correct bit depth and sampling rate on the iPad.

Will try and report back.

[rrwmd]

Let me jump in here. I have all the aurender's and I'm doing a W20 install today. I agree that the N10 is the sweet spot and the one to have unless you have a DCS and can take advantage of the dual AES (among other things).

The A10 IMO is the sleeper in the lineup. It's essentially an N100H with a soon to be certified MQA DAC in it. It even has a USB output so you can use it with other DAC's. $5500 MSRP.

I've compared even the N100H to my Mac Mini and it's no comparison. The N100H has a warmer more liquid sound, it's quieter and the app is a delight to use.

I will add, that you should also audition the Lumin U1 (competitor to the N100H/N10). The external PSU and wonderful Lumin app make it a must audition as well. Each definitely has their own "sound".

So what's the house sound of the Aurenders vs the Lumin Mike?

[Mike]

So what's the house sound of the Aurenders vs the Lumin Mike?

I think you'll have to come and listen and compare.

[rrwmd]

I think you'll have to come and listen and compare.

Next month...

[wklie]

Thanks, Peter, for the heads up. If I do this, I wonder if Esoteric has updated the app like Lumin to show the correct bit depth and sampling rate on the iPad.

That reminds me when I go back to work tomorrow, I need to check whether N-05 is receiving 24-bit MQA streams from Tidal. No matter you use Esoteric or Lumin app it should show 24 bit when you stream a Tidal Master album if you use the network input.

If you use the USB DAC input, you can see the sampling rate from the front panel, if you see 88.2 or 96kHz, you can confirm that the Tidal desktop app is configured correctly and you're indeed streaming a Tidal Master album.

[Rhapsody]

Nice Monday morning surprise, this just showed up from the Fedex guy.......shall be interesting!

The BEST PART is that when connected to the Aurender via usb and playing MQA files that were saved from the Tidal MQA Master's list via the Tidal desktop app to the Aurender, the files play and show MQA as in the pic. All done with having to use the desktop other than to save favorites. Now a happy camper with MQA Tidal streaming from the Aurender with full HW decoding the MSB Select II DAC.....now to go and see what it sounds like!

[tunes]

Sprint buys 33% of Tidal
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/23/tech...ion/index.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CPP]

Sprint buys 33% of Tidal
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/23/tech...ion/index.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Someone beat you to it, already a thread

[Rhapsody]

Two that I have tagged are Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" and Van Morrison's " Moondance".

It's funny but there are 88 and 96 files that sound better than these two. The original does not have to be 192 to get great sound.

Jim, are getting any 24/192 or are the 192 mostly 16/192?

When I was playing the MQA files with the SW unfolding they seemed to mostly be 24/96. Now with the HW decoding they are all over the place, I guess showing the original recordings bit rate and res.

I am getting mostly 16/192, some 14/384, some 24/44, all over the place.

[justubes]

Wow, very much jumpin to get your impressions of full Quadrate MQA.

Since yesterday, i have added a Bluesound Node 2 in place with my Modded Sonos (full linear supplies, master clocked with Esoteric direct master clock and then through a W4S Remedy!

The Node 2 is sounding very good with Tidal MQA from my 1st listen. Non MQA from a 1st few tracks will not beat the modded Sonos playing 16/44.1 files.

I stream almost solely from Tidal into my Esoteric K-01x which a carefully setup network has lead no preference of cd playback over Tidal.

Just for more background, my stream comes from 300mbps fibre which goes through the optical network to my router and through a pair of fibre media converters (All power via separate linear supplies) before entering the Tidal renderer (Node 2 or connect).

From the get go, i can only get 24/96 Tidal MQA now.

I am experiencing from the Node 2 comparing the non MQA and MQA files now. There is a sense of further organisation of the sound. This is opposed to what we in the audiophile world understand from separation of sounds from one another.

The non-MQA in my setup has very good separation and can clearly distinctly individual more than 7 sounds/instruments on complex (noisy) tracks. MQA playback has all that same separation but adds another level of organisation of the soundfield with greater calmness and relaxed quality.

I am sold on MQA.

The best part of this MQA approved device, the Bluesound Node 2 is that i do not need to find MQA from tidals desktop app. From the BluOS app, the MQA and non-MQA albums will still show up as 2 similar albums from the search leading me to know one will be MQA.

Selecting and playing the non-MQA album will show up as CD next to the cover art, re-selecting and playing the other album will show MQA with the blue dot by the side of the art.

This adds much to the experience of music discovery and searching from me and do NOT need to search from Tidal desktop and add to favourites. Note this will not be from those who are streaming directly from a PC/notebook using Tidal desktop.

Because of this search function, i will hold off until renderers like Aurender, Lumin etc. have this MQA integration in their native App playing Tidal.

[Mike]

Was told this morning the Aurender A10 is very close!

[russellbobby]

Was told this morning the Aurender A10 is very close!

Was told that last week.. lets hope. I love my A10 and everybody who hears it loves it. I feel you need a decent pre for best results.