Aurender & MQA

[Mike]

I'm going to try to answer some questions regarding Aurender & MQA:



How can I get full blown MQA on my Aurender?

Currently, only the Aurender A10 offers full blown MQA decoding (all three stages)

If I own an MQA DAC, will my Aurender N100H/N10/W20 pass MQA to the DAC for decoding?

Yes. As of yesterday's latest update, you are good to go if you have an MQA capable DAC.

Aurender can handle stage one of MQA (24/48), but can it handle stage 2 (24/88 or 24/96)?

No. Due to licensing and technical requirements, only the Tidal desktop app can decode stage 2 of MQA. Aurender is currently assessing the additional requirements and options. At this time, only an MQA DAC or a Aurender A10 can fully decode MQA.

If I buy an Aurender A10, then I can't use my DAC, right?

No. The Aurender A10 has a USB output allowing you to also use it with any other DAC (provided that DAC has USB input). You use two inputs on your preamp. One for the A10's analog output (for MQA) and one for your other DAC's analog output. The Aurender A10 is essentially an N100H with a built in MQA DAC, 4TB of storage and volume control.

 

[mep]

Maybe it's just me, but all of the info out there on MQA and how to decode it especially with partial software laundry unfolds seems to be more confusing every day. The last thing a "new" digital format needs is more complexity and confusion for the users. You damn near need a degree in computer science to setup a regular network with a file server and a computer interface running some type of software and keep it all running. MQA is adding new issues unless you go the most simple and direct route of just purchasing a full-blown MQA DAC. Even finding MQA recordings on Tidal seems to be confusing as they all don't show up under the "Master" listing according to what some of the users are saying.

 

[wisnon]

The hidden treasure are the remasters that will definitely sound better at 16/44 or first unfold to 24/48 on a top quality Dac than on a lower quality full blown MQA Dac. Of that, I have no doubt ...

 

[mep]

The hidden treasure are the remasters that will definitely sound better at 16/44 or first unfold to 24/48 on a top quality Dac than on a lower quality full blown MQA Dac. Of that, I have no doubt ...

Don't all MQA DACs have to have a certain level of "goodness" before they can become MQA certified and blessed by the Pope? You can buy the Meridian Explorer2 DAC for $199 on Amazon and it unfolds all the MQA laundry doesn't it?

 

[Rhapsody]

The hidden treasure are the remasters that will definitely sound better at 16/44 or first unfold to 24/48 on a top quality Dac than on a lower quality full blown MQA Dac. Of that, I have no doubt ...

That has been my experience.

 

[mep]

That has been my experience.

It would be interesting to hear your $90k DAC which unfolds part of the MQA laundry against the Meridan Explorer2 DAC which sells for $199 on Amazon and unfolds all of the MQA laundry.

 

[Rhapsody]

It would be interesting to hear your $90k DAC which unfolds part of the MQA laundry against the Meridan Explorer2 DAC which sells for $199 on Amazon and unfolds all of the MQA laundry.

The Select unfolds full MQA HW decode, not partial SW unfold.

I don't even think about whether it's MQA anymore, I just play the music I want to hear, whether it's 16/44 or MQA - it all sounds great.

 

[jdandy]

I installed the Aurender 4.9.27 software update to my N10 this evening. No hiccups that I have discovered yet. The MQA Masters tab shows up on my Tidal page. Recordings from the Masters tab play at 48kHz on my Esoteric K-01X DAC. All other recordings from Tidal play at 44.1kHz. The sound is pretty good, although I haven't done any comparison between the Tidal 48kHz stream and the same recording at 44.1kHz.

 

[Rhapsody]

With 4.9.27 it is cool that all 500ish MQA tracks show up in Aurender, but there are 1600 available MQA albums in Tidal if you go searching for them. It would have been cool if Aurender was able to capture the other 1100 MQA albums that are not shown in the Masters section on Tidal. One step at a time

 

[j2020]

I'm going to try to answer some questions regarding Aurender & MQA:

How can I get full blown MQA on my Aurender?

Currently, only the Aurender A10 offers full blown MQA decoding (all three stages)

If I own an MQA DAC, will my Aurender N100H/N10/W20 pass MQA to the DAC for decoding?

Yes. As of yesterday's latest update, you are good to go if you have an MQA capable DAC.

Aurender can handle stage one of MQA (24/48), but can it handle stage 2 (24/88 or 24/96)?

No. Due to licensing and technical requirements, only the Tidal desktop app can decode stage 2 of MQA. Aurender is currently assessing the additional requirements and options. At this time, only an MQA DAC or a Aurender A10 can fully decode MQA.
.....

After reading the above, I had the impression that the latest update has something to do with.......

but I have been informed emphatically by the Administrator that the latest update has nothing to do with this......

so, I shall try not to make sense of the following statements :-


1. "If I own an MQA DAC, will my Aurender N100H/N10/W20 pass MQA to the DAC for decoding?
Yes. As of yesterday's latest update, you are good to go if you have an MQA capable DAC."

2. "Aurender can handle stage one of MQA (24/48)......"


and just leave things at that.

From the Aurender website, the latest system software is v4(5).9.3 announced on April 14.