MQA now on Tidal

Hey Mark, MQA IMHO is the real thing. The only cumbersome aspect is there's not a great selection right now, but what's there thus far, to the extent it suits my musical taste, sounds great! How do you like that VPI table you're playing with?
 
mep...I can't speak for everyone but most of the Master's albums I have sound as good or better than their dsd/sacd counterparts through my Lumin. When the MQA is added by Lumin it should be amazing.
 
Mark - MQA is the real deal. The challenge today for MQA is adoption by hardware vendors. Many have poo-pooed it and some even openly via public statements. The selection of MQA DAC's is sparse at best. With Berkeley's support of MQA for the REF2, we will have a world class option under $20k. The Aurender A10 makes a compelling all in one solution option. Aside from that, we have Mytek, NAD, Cary, Meridian, a few others. At the top end of the MQA supported scale is the MSB Select DAC II at about $80k.

My concern Mark is the length of time it takes for MQA certification. It's one thing to say "it will be great when Brand X supports MQA", but unless I'm wrong, full MQA support will require hardware and firmware changes. And what I'm seeing, is a 2 year process from the word "go". Hopefully that shortens dramatically.

My recommendation for those not wanting to give up their favorite DAC is to take a look at an Aurender A10. Use the analog output (internal DAC) of the A10 for MQA files and use the USB output of the A10 to their favorite DAC for the millions of PCM and DSD albums. MQA support for the A10 is slated for end of this month. Fingers crossed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
mep said:
I have been too busy with reviewing the VPI Avenger table to download Tidal and mess around with MQA. I will get to it in due time. I was curious though if everyone who initially flipped for how great they think MQA sounds still feels the same way or is the romance getting stronger or has anyone fallen out of love? Rob??? For those that preferred DSD over PCM prior to Tidal coming out with the MQA releases, do you now prefer the sound of MQA PCM over DSD?
Click to expand...

It all comes down to the original recording just like vinyl, tape, DSD, pcm etc. For me a great recording MQA'd with HW decoding competes with vinyl or tape if the MQA recording happens to be a good recording.

It all depends on the system as well. I will put up one of my systems playing 16/44.1 Streaming/Tidal (non MQA) against an "ok" system playing vinyl or R2R.
 
Rhapsody said:
It all comes down to the original recording just like vinyl, tape, DSD, pcm etc. For me a great recording MQA'd with HW decoding competes with vinyl or tape if the MQA recording happens to be a good recording.

It all depends on the system as well. I will put up one of my systems playing 16/44.1 Streaming/Tidal (non MQA) against an "ok" system playing vinyl or R2R.
Click to expand...

Really? You will put up a 16/44.1 PCM stream against a table or R2R?
 
RDSChicago said:
Hey Mark, MQA IMHO is the real thing. The only cumbersome aspect is there's not a great selection right now, but what's there thus far, to the extent it suits my musical taste, sounds great! How do you like that VPI table you're playing with?
Click to expand...

Very much thank you. I am going to have the opportunity to review all 3 versions of the Avenger. I'm starting with the basic version and will move up from there.
 
I don't have an MQA DAC, but then again many people impressed with it don't either. I think my biggest problem with it right now is music. There isn't very much of what I listen to available in MQA, and what there is I already have in hi-res PCM. It's easier for me to find my traditional PCM version and play it than MQA, and although MQA sounds a little different, and usually pleasant, it doesn't necessarily sound "better", and certainly not enough to justify the inconvenience.

If Warner's ends up being the only major label to adopt MQA (and at this moment it sounds as if that may be the case, as Sony and Universal appear to be pursuing other avenues), I think MQA will die. Still, at this point in time it would be nice if my next DAC could be MQA compatible, althouh again, that seems unlikely right now.
 
rbbert said:
I don't have an MQA DAC, but then again many people impressed with it don't either. I think my biggest problem with it right now is music. There isn't very much of what I listen to available in MQA, and what there is I already have in hi-res PCM. It's easier for me to find my traditional PCM version and play it than MQA, and although MQA sounds a little different, and usually pleasant, it doesn't necessarily sound "better", and certainly not enough to justify the inconvenience.

If Warner's ends up being the only major label to adopt MQA (and at this moment it sounds as if that may be the case, as Sony and Universal appear to be pursuing other avenues), I think MQA will die. Still, at this point in time it would be nice if my next DAC could be MQA compatible, althouh again, that seems unlikely right now.
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding Rob. You never were really smitten by MQA right?
 
still-one said:
With the MSB Select DAC, I can see why he wouldn't shy away from the comparison.
Click to expand...
Can't the MSB be upgraded to MQA? Doesn't Alex Suify have an MQA MSB Select II DAC?

I'm intrigued by MQA, but not yet smitten by it :happy:
 
rbbert said:
Can't the MSB be upgraded to MQA? Doesn't Alex Suify have an MQA MSB Select II DAC?

I'm intrigued by MQA, but not yet smitten by it :happy:
Click to expand...

Yes, Rhapsody's MSB has already been upgraded to handle MQA. I believe the lower priced Analog DAC's will have the MQA input soon too. It is a swap out.
 
still-one said:
With the MSB Select DAC, I can see why he wouldn't shy away from the comparison.
Click to expand...

So we are comparing a $90,000 DAC against an "ok" vinyl or R2R based system. Hmm. If I knew the budget of the 'ok" system, I might still take on the challenge.
 
mep said:
So we are comparing a $90,000 DAC against an "ok" vinyl or R2R based system. Hmm. If I knew the budget of the 'ok" system, I might still take on the challenge.
Click to expand...

No I guess we are comparing a $15 MQA file to a $400 tape.
 
I have the MSB MQA upgrade, but I said I would put up regular Tidal streaming through the Select with a GOOD recording vs an ok system with an ok recording, vinyl or R2R. None of this makes any sense to me, but I love mental gymnastics. I'm not trying to prove anything, it's just that my regular Tidal streaming sounds pretty darn good through the Select,
 
still-one said:
No I guess we are comparing a $15 MQA file to a $400 tape.
Click to expand...

Not hardly. You might be comparing a $15 MQA file against a $400 tape, but you are using a $90,000 DAC to play back the $15 MQA file. How much did the tape deck cost? How good is the rest of the system that has the tape deck in it compared to the system with the $90,000 DAC?
 
I would never really be able to do a comparison as the over riding factor would come down to personal preference. Mark, if you and I could set up a really worthy test, which I think would be impossible to do, I would venture a guess that in the end you would choose the vinyl and I would choose the streaming:)

I am sure that the system that you would offer featuring vinyl would sound excellent. I also know that the streaming system that I would offer also sounds excellent. Both systems would allow for full enjoyment of listening to music.

My criteria would be the degree of overall musical enjoyment and involvement in the music that I experienced nothing to do with one format sounding like the other or one format sounding "better" than than the other in one of ours estimation. Under this criteria I know that the 16/44.1 equals my listening to vinyl, tape or anything else.

If you talk about "sounding better" the Select's new USB/MQA module playing an HW decoded Tidal streaming file takes it up a few levels from the 16/44.1 versions of the same recording but even in this case I can still put on the 16/44.1 file and forget about formats and get totally "sucked into" the music, IF it is a VG recording and music that I really appreciate and want to be listening to.

Personally since I got the Select even streaming non MQA Tidal has brought as much musical involvement to my overall listening experience as high res cd or files, vinyl or tape.

I really never think about which format now "sounds better" or "gets me there". I just put on music that I want to hear regardless of format and enjoy the listening to music experience without thinking about which format I happen to be listening to.
 
Rhapsody said:
Personally since I got the Select even streaming non MQA Tidal has brought as much musical involvement to my overall listening experience as high res cd or files, vinyl or tape.

I really never think about which format now "sounds better" or "gets me there". I just put on music that I want to hear regardless of format and enjoy the listening to music experience without thinking about which format I happen to be listening to.
Click to expand...

Bob-I would sincerely hope that a $90k DAC sounds really good. Hell, the PS Audio DSJ sounds really, really good and it's a mere $4k. This is really a pointless discussion, but your bold statement about streaming 16/44.1 PCM over Tidal beating out a vinyl rig or a tape deck was a little stunning to say the least. But then, there were no initial qualifiers as to what gear would make up both systems.

At the end of the day, all that matters is that you are happy. Ditto for the rest of the DCPs in the world. If your idea of sonic heaven is to sit in your listening chair with a remote app to control your "all you can stand to hear digital buffet" of music, hats off to you. Playing analog does require some work on the audiophile's part which necessitates getting off the couch which can certainly interfere with fast fingering your way through the musical universe via your remote app. But, for those who disdain the sound of analog, being a DCP is a slice of heaven on earth and I get it. When I get some time, I do plan on exploring the sound of MQA so I can make up my own mind on where they stand in the hierarchy of source material. To date, the best PCM I have heard is through the DSJ DAC which converts all PCM to DSD.

The good news is that the high-end is very accommodating to all audiophiles. There is a place for everyone in this hobby.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top