MQA Discussion

mauidan said:
AFAIK, you don't program the DAC chip to do MQA or any other function.

You program the microcontroller chip.

BTW Rob, how does the Oppo sound with the MQA update?
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Well Dan, that is just another name for an IC with certain capabilities.

There are many ways to build a DAC. Two common ones are to either use a hard coded HW IC with DA capabilities (most cheaper DACs) or then implement the DA functionality through an FPGA.

In addition the device firmware has to be programmed based on which function calls of the chip are actually used.

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rbbert said:
No idea, we’ve been in Kaanapali and Kihei since the day before that firmware was released, not home until after Thanksgiving
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Those are my two lest favorite places.

Spend lots of money, our economy needs it.
 
Is there an update to the MQA albums list on Tidal available?


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Interesting e-mail exchange today with Exogal: they said they will never do an MQA DAC, as that would require for them to disclose their algorithms to MQA.

But the interesting thing was, that they said their future DACs will be able to decode MQA w/o being officially certified. Similar approach to Auralic I guess.


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And maybe a glimmer of the starting of another partnership group.

The list is being maintained now on the Meridian forum.
 
Kuoppis said:
Interesting e-mail exchange today with Exogal: they said they will never do an MQA DAC, as that would require for them to disclose their algorithms to MQA.

But the interesting thing was, that they said their future DACs will be able to decode MQA w/o being officially certified. Similar approach to Auralic I guess.


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Cool!


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Mike said:
I hope Chord does something similar. Lampi too.

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Those would be nice. I would add Meitner, Bricasti, Nagra and Ayre to that wish list.


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I have an Oppo UDP-205 and downloaded the latest firmware last night (I didn't want to do the Beta firmware that was released previously -- color me nervous since you couldn't go backwards if you installed the Beta firmware). I already had a few files that were non-MQA (e.g., WAV files) and MQA encoded (e.g., MQA FLAC files) -- Beethoven Piano Sonatas performed by Robert Silverman. I purchased the download of these files specifically so that I could compare the two once I get an MQA capable DAC. After updating the firmware, I compared a few tracks and honestly, I didn't hear enough of a difference that I'm convinced I could pick between the two with any degree of certainty. Now, I will also say that this particular recording (MQA or not) never really struck me as being cream-of-the-crop-audiophile-demonstration-quality to begin with, so I don't know if it was a fair comparison.

I've gone ahead and downloaded a few comparison tracks from 2L's website and will be giving them a listen tonight when I get home.

I also own an MQA-encoded CD, the latest Camille Thurman Inside The Moment released on Chesky, and while the "MQA Studio" label did appear on my TV when playing back the Robert Silverman tracks via USB, the Camille Thurman CD did not display a similar label on my TV monitor during playback.
 
tino27 said:
I have an Oppo UDP-205 and downloaded the latest firmware last night (I didn't want to do the Beta firmware that was released previously -- color me nervous since you couldn't go backwards if you installed the Beta firmware). I already had a few files that were non-MQA (e.g., WAV files) and MQA encoded (e.g., MQA FLAC files) -- Beethoven Piano Sonatas performed by Robert Silverman. I purchased the download of these files specifically so that I could compare the two once I get an MQA capable DAC. After updating the firmware, I compared a few tracks and honestly, I didn't hear enough of a difference that I'm convinced I could pick between the two with any degree of certainty. Now, I will also say that this particular recording (MQA or not) never really struck me as being cream-of-the-crop-audiophile-demonstration-quality to begin with, so I don't know if it was a fair comparison.

I've gone ahead and downloaded a few comparison tracks from 2L's website and will be giving them a listen tonight when I get home.

I also own an MQA-encoded CD, the latest Camille Thurman Inside The Moment released on Chesky, and while the "MQA Studio" label did appear on my TV when playing back the Robert Silverman tracks via USB, the Camille Thurman CD did not display a similar label on my TV monitor during playback.
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You mention that you are using a USB connection. So are you using the Oppo 205 as a DAC or as a transport?
I would think that in order to get the Oppo to do a full MQA unfold, you have to listen to the analog output of the 205 not the digital outputs. Just curious.
 
Sorry, I forget how configurable the Oppo is. The Oppo has both an asynchronous USB input as well as (several) standard USB type A connectors to attach devices like a flash drive / USB drive. The latter is what I have done. The Oppo is decoding the files from a flash drive and the output is being sent out of the analog XLR outputs to my pre-amp.
 
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