La Dolce Vita
New member
Thanks Ken. Congrats on a beautiful system. So as I already own an N10 at some point I can pay to have it upgraded? I am currently passing MQA through to my Mytek DAC.
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Alpinist (Ken) - how is your new system?
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
Thanks Ken. Congrats on a beautiful system. So as I already own an N10 at some point I can pay to have it upgraded? I am currently passing MQA through to my Mytek DAC.
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If you're already using a MQA certified model of Mytek DAC, having MQA Core decoding in the transport does not bring any benefits. In fact the transport will automatically turn off its MQA Core decoding once it sees that you have a USB MQA Full Decoder DAC.
If your DAC is not a MQA Full Decoder, then having MQA Core decoding in the transport is very beneficial for the playback of MQA music, compared to no decoding at all.
La Dolce Vita
New member
Thank you! Very helpful. So the N10 MQA will add benefit when using with my Lampizator DAC but not with my Mytek (which is already decoding the MQA). Right? Thanks again...
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Yes, if the N10 adds MQA Core decoding as the Lumin U1 already does, then both will benefit LampizatOr. The LampizatOr needs to be PCM-capable for this to work. For a DSD-only LampizatOr, you need the transport to be able to upsample everything to DSD (which Lumin U1 is capable of).
- Thread Author
- #245
But you need a DAC that can render MQA in order to get full MQA.
La Dolce Vita
New member
Exactly - So to recap... the Mytek fully decodes MQA so I’m getting complete and comprehensive unfolding or decoding there with the N10 even now.
If the N10 becomes a N10 MQA in January or the like it will work well and provide some benefit with the Lampizator but not fully decode MQA, in effect stopping before the third unfolding (only a licensed DAC with the right hardware can do this).
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Listening to Telarc’s Rhapsody in Blue, Eric Kunzel and Cincinnati Pops, William Tritt on piano. Playing through the Berkeley Ref2 MQA DAC. It sounds startlingly real. I really can’t wrap my mind around what I’m hearing. Total immersion. I feel like I’m sitting tenth row at Lincoln Center. I’m not worthy.
Ken
Ken
sharkmouth
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Damn right Ken, you need to downgrade! Congrats, I love that feeling & it is so hard to achieve but very easy to ruin. Enjoy before the chemicals from the passing of the audiophiles moon imbalance your judgement & you change something
Not just third unfold, but aliasing filter to swith pre-ringing to post ringing. Tradeoff of frequency domain (pushed into ultrasonics) for time domain improvement. MQA seems to work best with 24-88/96 material vs 24-176/192 material, at least with chart readouts. Finally you get the green light that says the artist personally approved the release. This is the most bogus part though, as logistically this seems unrealistic and based on some private music I heard that people would not share with me, artists and families have BLOCKED the best audiophile versions and only approved the reverb filled compressed crap. You should hear the draw dropping unreleased versions!
Of course, all of Berkeley/MSB and dCS claim to implement MQA differently, so no way to generalize about it.
I agree with Mike here, if it sounds good to you, ROLL with it!
Bobvin
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Right on Ken, congratulations for putting together a system that "does it" just the way you want. Beyond all the techie wizzardry, getting to the point your system "does it" is, after all, what we all strive and yearn to achieve with our systems.
My own system has taken a giant leap forward on the digital side with inclusion of the Rossini DAC. Had a half dozen audio buds over last night to listen to the Rossini and nothing but glowing remarks. As my dealer said "the Rossini will kick your DAC8 squarely in the nuts with a steel-toed boot then laugh while it lies there moaning"—at that it does!
I guess taste matters.
The week before Sarasota, I spent the evening at a dCS dealer commercial launch event locally here in CH listening to the Full dCS Vivaldi stack. It was pretty nice, but not totally my cup of tea. Certainly no jaw dropping on my part, even with that atmospheric retail price.
The week before Sarasota, I spent the evening at a dCS dealer commercial launch event locally here in CH listening to the Full dCS Vivaldi stack. It was pretty nice, but not totally my cup of tea. Certainly no jaw dropping on my part, even with that atmospheric retail price.
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Hi Bob,
Congrats on your Rossini DAC! It’s a tremendous addition to an already stellar system.
Enjoy!
Ken
a.wayne
Well-known member
How much is the Berkeley MQA Dac .... ??
- Thread Author
- #255
Bob - congrats on the DCS Rossini. Great piece!
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Randy Myers
Well-known member
Thanks Randy! I’m in source heaven over here with the Esoteric Grandioso K1, Berkeley Ref2 MQA DAC and ARC Ref CD-9. I’ve got something for every mood or format!
How are your KEF R700’s breaking in? They are beautiful looking speakers. I bet they sound fantastic!
Best,
Ken
Randy Myers
Well-known member
Hey Ken,
I am very impressed with the speakers, especially at the price. I am hoping to eventually be able to get Reference 3's, or, dare I say, Blade 2's. But for now the budget would not allow it. The R series are what KEF refers to as Mini Reference. Very similar in design, borrowing heavily from the Blade 2 drivers, not quiet as robust cabinets and as all out build as the Reference, and made affordable by building them in their China factory instead of hand built in England.
So a close facsimile.
Your "New" speakers look pretty awesome. I bet the system sounds amazing!
I am very impressed with the speakers, especially at the price. I am hoping to eventually be able to get Reference 3's, or, dare I say, Blade 2's. But for now the budget would not allow it. The R series are what KEF refers to as Mini Reference. Very similar in design, borrowing heavily from the Blade 2 drivers, not quiet as robust cabinets and as all out build as the Reference, and made affordable by building them in their China factory instead of hand built in England.
So a close facsimile.
Your "New" speakers look pretty awesome. I bet the system sounds amazing!
SCAudiophile
Active member
Alpinist (Ken): Amazing system...beautifully setup and shown off as well!
I added an Esoteric Grandioso G1 Clock to my system today to go with my Esoteric Grandioso K1 Player. I’m using the Shunyata Sigma 50 Ohm Clock cable. I’ll post my initial impressions and a photo tonight. Break in time is 100 hours for the G1 Clock.
Best,
Ken
Best,
Ken