MQA Discussion

More reflections on MQA in the latest Stereophile by Atkinson and Austin, trying to get their heads around it. A bit of talking much but saying nothing IMHO. They seem to be a little at a loss to be honest, and perhaps somewhat out of their depth.

Admittedly, might be passing a tad of harsh judgment here, as the topic is complex. But my expectation is they should know/ understand something I don’t. Otherwise there is no need for me to read their magazine.

Unfortunately I am increasingly getting the feeling there is less and less real insight being put out by the Stereophile editorial staff.


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Atkinson piece came across as back-paddling, he as well went full on-board the MQA craze, perhaps too soon...
 
Atkinson piece came across as back-paddling, he as well went full on-board the MQA craze, perhaps too soon...

Came across to me in a similar way. Starting to talk about what is good for the industry and have you not towards the end.

What does he care? He is mostly an audio box reviewer, if I am not mistaken. He does some record engineering as well, but I’m not entirely sure what his main focus is. Editor job should fill quite a bit of his time.


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Call me a convert. Eyes see, ears hear.

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Call me a convert. Eyes see, ears hear.

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Footnote 2: Strictly speaking, the signal we use to test DAC impulse responses is "illegal," in that it violates the Nyquist/Shannon requirement for the signal to be band-limited to half the sample rate.—John Atkinson
Which is why hearing with your eyes is a bad idea.;)

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Chord WTA filter vs Ayre Minimum Phase Apodizing filter?

Or MQA is spectacular because they force a minimum phase filter on you?

I’m not too particular about any one filter, just think that music is nicer with a minimum of pre-and post ringing. But that’s just me.


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It has been announced Roon will provide MQA first unfold (to MQA Core 88.2/96kHz).
. I'm not sure how this benefits those of us who already get our MQA through Roon via Tidal. Since virtually all MQA content comes from Tidal what does it matter if Tidal or Roon performs the first unfold?

In my system it doesn't matter since I pass the file directly to my DAC for full MQA unfolding.
 
. I'm not sure how this benefits those of us who already get our MQA through Roon via Tidal. Since virtually all MQA content comes from Tidal what does it matter if Tidal or Roon performs the first unfold?

In my system it doesn't matter since I pass the file directly to my DAC for full MQA unfolding.

The Tidal service sends the original MQA streams in 24/48 or 24/44.1, not yet unfolded. The Tidal desktop apps perform the first unfold to 88.2 or 96kHz, but the Tidal mobile apps and browser playback do not.

This is irrelevant to people with MQA DAC, since they need the original bitstream to get the DAC to decode MQA. However, plenty of Roon users have been asking for MQA decoding because they do not plan to buy a MQA DAC any time soon.

Currently Roon Tidal users without MQA DAC can only listen to Tidal MQA undecoded. When Roon provides the first unfold, they can enjoy MQA decoded to MQA Core even with their non-MQA DAC.
 
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