MQA’s Unexpected Twist
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the professor
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Interesting
Kuoppis
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Well, do I buy e.g. the 20K and otherwise inferior Meridian MQA DAC, or do I loop in a $100,- Audioquest 'renderer' and send that data to my existing hi-end DAC get full MQA decoding?
Let me think about that for a bit.
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Let me think about that for a bit.
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Aurender A10 OR
Aurender A10 + DAC of your choice, use two inputs on preamp (one for MQA from A10 and one for PCM, DSD from DAC of choice) OR
Berk REF2 (MQA coming end of Q1 2017)
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Let me see whether I understand. Here is what I think is the relevant quote from Harley.
"In addition to allowing you to hear MQA-decoded files without an MQA DAC, software decoding offers the possibility of a two-step MQA decoding process. In this scenario the music-player software performs the first decoding step and the MQA DAC performs the final steps to realize the full MQA performance. AudioQuest’s DragonFly Black and Red operate with this two-step decoding process. Such DACs are more properly called MQA “renderers” rather than MQA decoders. The "half-decoded" signal output from your computer to your DAC contains all the information the DAC needs to complete the full MQA decoding."
Does this mean you feed the Tidal signal to your computer and the downloaded Tidal software app, then to the USB input of a Audioquest Dragonfly Black or Red then through their Dragontail USB adapter to your USB DAC? If you don't have a USB DAC, then ?? use a Berkeley Audio USB converter?
Thanks, Larry
The Tidal desktop app does the first step of software MQA decoding. If it is fed into any non-MQA DAC, you get only partial benefits from MQA. If it is fed into a MQA renderer you get all the MQA benefits from the analog outputs of the renderer. If a full hardware MQA decoder is to be used, you also get all the MQA benefits, but the Tidal desktop app needs to be set to MQA Passthrough mode.
It doesn't work that way.
Full MQA decoding or MQA rendering only outputs to analog.
Only partial MQA decoding (such as Tidal desktop app) outputs to digital. (Roon Labs hinted they may be able to do better, but this is not confirmed.)
Thanks, so the Dragonfly acts to complete the full MQA decoding - no need to pass through another DAC. So $100 or whatever the cheapest Dragonfly cost will get you a fully decoded MQA file. I assume this would be just as good as a $20K MQA enabled DAC for the purposes of MQA unfolding and decoding. Correct?
Larry
If I'm not mistaken, DragonFly Black/Red are MQA renderers, not full MQA decoders. It requires software that performs the first step of MQA decoding, e.g. Tidal desktop app. In terms of results, yes, you can obtain the full benefits of MQA this way.
Having MQA playback equipment only means you can playback this format fully without loss. Functionally similar? Yes. Same sound quality? No. In the same way that a $150 SACD player is not going to sound better than an Esoteric SACD player, a $100 MQA hardware is not going to sound better than a $20K MQA hardware. (Stating this only to clear up potential confusion by other people who read this wrongly.)
Thanks. I guess I was one that read this wrongly. I own the early Meridian Explorer DAC which now has has a successor that has been upgraded with MQA (which I don't have). When decoding 192/24 PCM files (pre MQA) I was pleased with the results, but in no way did I find it as good a DAC as either of my 2 high end DACs. So what I am understanding is that if you have a Dragonfly, it will complete the MQA decoding that the Tidal App starts, but you are still going through the Dragonfly DAC to decode the result into analogue. So if you have a high end DAC that can do the MQA decoding (one of mine is supposed to be upgradable in the near future to MQA capable) then you get the full decoding and also the benefit of the better DAC. Hope that is correct. I may still get a Dragonfly to take when I am travelling to fully decode Tidal MQA files with the Tidal app. That should be a nice reasonably portable hirez system.
Thanks for clearing this up for me. If I've still got it wrong, then another correction please before I start on this path.
Larry
YuriKorzunov
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Source: http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/mqas-unexpected-twist/
Source: http://www.mqa.co.uk/professional/for-playback-providers
If I right undestand, stiil at MQA site noted only applications for a streaming services. I suppose, audio file player software out this category.
Source: http://www.mqa.co.uk/professional/for-playback-providers
If I right undestand, stiil at MQA site noted only applications for a streaming services. I suppose, audio file player software out this category.
Audirvana Plus 3 and Roon will provide decoding to MQA Core signal, i.e. accomplishes the same as Tidal desktop app does.
YuriKorzunov
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Decode for Tidal stream or audio files?
I expect they do for both.
lizard84
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I'm running the tidal desktop app through a Meridian Explorer2 mqa dac, it's pretty impressive on certain recordings. The desktop app auto detected the mqa capable dac. MQA content a little hit and miss but the amount of it increases everyday.