MQA now on Tidal

RDSChicago said:
Hi Rhapsody,

i now do 99% of my listening via Tidal. I don't have an MQA DAC. My DACs do not include built-in native Tidal. I am using a Mac laptop via USB. In one of my systems I use a Wyred4Sound Recovery. Is there something else I should be using in my system, such as a dedicated streamer, that would improve/optimize the sound or should I leave well enough alone? Most servers emphasize storage fiist and streaming second which is why, not having music files, I haven't felt the need to purchase a dedicate music server like a Lumin. I don't have expensive USB cables and was wondering if they really make a difference? Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
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Morning over in ChiTown:)

You would get 20 different answers to this question and there really is no right or wrong answer. So much personal preference involved. From my experience I feel like the Aurenders have "a sound". I like what they do. I use my pc on occasion with a cheap usb cable and it sounds fine and there is nothing about my pc that is special and it still sounds fine. BUT, for me the kicker is the Aurender Ipad interface vs. the mac or pc interface. I prefer interacting with the system via the Ipad and I am hooked on the Aurender app.

Roon is a great interface as well, but for streaming Tidal I just like the Ipad and the Aurender app. No desire for anything else, totally personal preference.

Sonically I could not tell you unless I tried both the Aurender and your current mac set up in your system. You might prefer one over the other, not sure, but I think if you played with the Aurender app for a while via the Ipad you might like it.

One of my systems is never going to have an MQA dac and I don't find it a hindrance to great SQ. Through the Aurender I only get 24/48, the first SW unfold but it sounds great because the rest of the system is to my liking.

Going the pc route you get the 24/96, second SW unfold and sonically there will be an improvement over the first SW unfold and playing 24/48. For you that might make a difference. For me even streaming 16/44.1 through the Aurender sounds great and I'm more hooked on the music that I want to listen to and enjoy vs listening to tracks because they sound a little better but they are not what I want to be listening to.

Any specific questions?
 
Yes. Why do my dogs wake me up at 6 am on Sundays?:huh:

Do dealers typically allow a potential client to try out something like an Aurender at home to determine if it makes an improvement in their system?
 
RDSChicago said:
Yes. Why do my dogs wake me up at 6 am on Sundays?:huh:

Do dealers typically allow a potential client to try out something like an Aurender at home to determine if it makes an improvement in their system?
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You have a very good Aurender dealer in Chicago and I am sure he would arrange an in-house demo for you. It's the only way you will know.
 
justubes said:
Thanks for your reply.

I presume you can tailor the sound to an extent using the tweaks and understanding room interactions, as such, you do not find any significant differences with using either the N10 or W20 for tidal.

I am just trying to jump onto the MQA band wagon and it will probably requires quite an investment even if i just go for the N10, as it will be used for streaming Tidal and hope it will not be a waste.

Very much wanting to try MQA now with a addition of a MQA streamer, again, then there does not seem to have any dacs at the moment to play in the league of the N10 or W20.
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I love the N10, the sweet spot of the line for me. ALTHOUGH, the A10 with it's internal MQA DAC at $5500 is compelling for someone that only streams.

Andy brought over his $2K Mytek Brooklyn MQA DAC and it sounded incredible with the MQA HW decoding. It's a very nice dac at the price with full MQA. An N10 and a Brooklyn DAC would sound very good playing MQA.
 
Let me jump in here. I have all the aurender's and I'm doing a W20 install today. I agree that the N10 is the sweet spot and the one to have unless you have a DCS and can take advantage of the dual AES (among other things).

The A10 IMO is the sleeper in the lineup. It's essentially an N100H with a soon to be certified MQA DAC in it. It even has a USB output so you can use it with other DAC's. $5500 MSRP.

I've compared even the N100H to my Mac Mini and it's no comparison. The N100H has a warmer more liquid sound, it's quieter and the app is a delight to use.

I will add, that you should also audition the Lumin U1 (competitor to the N100H/N10). The external PSU and wonderful Lumin app make it a must audition as well. Each definitely has their own "sound".
 
Mike said:
http://archimago.blogspot.com/?m=1

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Thanks for the link.

It has been a fun weekend for myself comparing Master/MQA vs standard albums.

With my non-MQA dac, I am streaming via ethernet over powerline instead of via usb from the PC. I find the Master albums do not always sound better than the standard 16/44 files.

For pop/rock, Master albums such as Bad Company, Deep Purple, Cars, David Bowie did not sound as good as Master albums of Steely Dan's Two Against Nature and Carly Simon's No Secrets.

That said, 16/44 files from Steely Dan's Gaucho sound as good as Two Against Nature.

For jazz, the some of the Master albums of Miles and Coltrane sound as good as 16/44 files.

For classical, most of the 16/44 and Master albums sound equally fabulous.

I am sure Tidal would sound better with direct ethernet to the router and that the good Master albums would sound even better with an MQA dac but the not so good ones, well......

Even with ethernet over powerline, the good standard and Master files sound wonderful. The biggest surprise is the classical collection - wonderful soundstage, tone and imaging.

J. :)
 
j2020 said:
With my non-MQA dac, I am streaming via ethernet over powerline instead of via usb from the PC.
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Since your N-05 can be used as both USB DAC and network player, you can get Tidal streamed natively via its Ethernet port, or from PC USB. In case of MQA, PC USB currently has the advantage.

You can try PC USB connection to get a software decoded 88.2 or 96kHz stream (unfolded from 44.1 or 48kHz) from Tidal desktop app. Install the latest Tidal desktop app on PC, set streaming quality to HiFi/Master, turn on Exclusive Mode, uncheck MQA Passthrough.
 
wklie said:
Since your N-05 can be used as both USB DAC and network player, you can get Tidal streamed natively via its Ethernet port, or from PC USB. In case of MQA, PC USB currently has the advantage.

You can try PC USB connection to get a software decoded 88.2 or 96kHz stream (unfolded from 44.1 or 48kHz) from Tidal desktop app. Install the latest Tidal desktop app on PC, set streaming quality to HiFi/Master, turn on Exclusive Mode, uncheck MQA Passthrough.
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Thanks, Peter, for the heads up. If I do this, I wonder if Esoteric has updated the app like Lumin to show the correct bit depth and sampling rate on the iPad.

Will try and report back.
 
Mike said:
Let me jump in here. I have all the aurender's and I'm doing a W20 install today. I agree that the N10 is the sweet spot and the one to have unless you have a DCS and can take advantage of the dual AES (among other things).

The A10 IMO is the sleeper in the lineup. It's essentially an N100H with a soon to be certified MQA DAC in it. It even has a USB output so you can use it with other DAC's. $5500 MSRP.

I've compared even the N100H to my Mac Mini and it's no comparison. The N100H has a warmer more liquid sound, it's quieter and the app is a delight to use.

I will add, that you should also audition the Lumin U1 (competitor to the N100H/N10). The external PSU and wonderful Lumin app make it a must audition as well. Each definitely has their own "sound".
Click to expand...

So what's the house sound of the Aurenders vs the Lumin Mike?
 
j2020 said:
Thanks, Peter, for the heads up. If I do this, I wonder if Esoteric has updated the app like Lumin to show the correct bit depth and sampling rate on the iPad.
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That reminds me when I go back to work tomorrow, I need to check whether N-05 is receiving 24-bit MQA streams from Tidal. No matter you use Esoteric or Lumin app it should show 24 bit when you stream a Tidal Master album if you use the network input.

If you use the USB DAC input, you can see the sampling rate from the front panel, if you see 88.2 or 96kHz, you can confirm that the Tidal desktop app is configured correctly and you're indeed streaming a Tidal Master album.
 
Nice Monday morning surprise, this just showed up from the Fedex guy.......shall be interesting!

The BEST PART is that when connected to the Aurender via usb and playing MQA files that were saved from the Tidal MQA Master's list via the Tidal desktop app to the Aurender, the files play and show MQA as in the pic. All done with having to use the desktop other than to save favorites. Now a happy camper with MQA Tidal streaming from the Aurender with full HW decoding the MSB Select II DAC.....now to go and see what it sounds like!


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still-one said:
Two that I have tagged are Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" and Van Morrison's " Moondance".

It's funny but there are 88 and 96 files that sound better than these two. The original does not have to be 192 to get great sound.
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Jim, are getting any 24/192 or are the 192 mostly 16/192?

When I was playing the MQA files with the SW unfolding they seemed to mostly be 24/96. Now with the HW decoding they are all over the place, I guess showing the original recordings bit rate and res.

I am getting mostly 16/192, some 14/384, some 24/44, all over the place.
 
Wow, very much jumpin to get your impressions of full Quadrate MQA.

Since yesterday, i have added a Bluesound Node 2 in place with my Modded Sonos (full linear supplies, master clocked with Esoteric direct master clock and then through a W4S Remedy!

The Node 2 is sounding very good with Tidal MQA from my 1st listen. Non MQA from a 1st few tracks will not beat the modded Sonos playing 16/44.1 files.

I stream almost solely from Tidal into my Esoteric K-01x which a carefully setup network has lead no preference of cd playback over Tidal.

Just for more background, my stream comes from 300mbps fibre which goes through the optical network to my router and through a pair of fibre media converters (All power via separate linear supplies) before entering the Tidal renderer (Node 2 or connect).

From the get go, i can only get 24/96 Tidal MQA now.

I am experiencing from the Node 2 comparing the non MQA and MQA files now. There is a sense of further organisation of the sound. This is opposed to what we in the audiophile world understand from separation of sounds from one another.

The non-MQA in my setup has very good separation and can clearly distinctly individual more than 7 sounds/instruments on complex (noisy) tracks. MQA playback has all that same separation but adds another level of organisation of the soundfield with greater calmness and relaxed quality.

I am sold on MQA.

The best part of this MQA approved device, the Bluesound Node 2 is that i do not need to find MQA from tidals desktop app. From the BluOS app, the MQA and non-MQA albums will still show up as 2 similar albums from the search leading me to know one will be MQA.

Selecting and playing the non-MQA album will show up as CD next to the cover art, re-selecting and playing the other album will show MQA with the blue dot by the side of the art.

This adds much to the experience of music discovery and searching from me and do NOT need to search from Tidal desktop and add to favourites. Note this will not be from those who are streaming directly from a PC/notebook using Tidal desktop.

Because of this search function, i will hold off until renderers like Aurender, Lumin etc. have this MQA integration in their native App playing Tidal.
 
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