Boy, I'm exhausted just following all of this, but am glad to see that Bob was finally able to get the Tidal desktop app to see his MSB DAC! Good team work!!! :congrats:
Yes, but I still don't think I have it

Boy, I'm exhausted just following all of this, but am glad to see that Bob was finally able to get the Tidal desktop app to see his MSB DAC! Good team work!!! :congrats:
Phil, Although I am playing from the Tidal Desktop/Masters and connected to the msb dac and the dac read 32/88 in the Tidal desktop app I still can't get it to show exclusive or passthrough mode. But it's playing 32/88K on the dac????? Does this mean because the Tidal app is not recognizing (even though it's playing from the app to the dac) that it's still not MQA?
Pull up the settings and go to the streaming tab. Hover next to your DAC and select the settings gear. Select "Use Exclusive" and disable "Passthrough MQA".
![]()
![]()
Yeah, I know that and for some reason my pc/win10 will NOT show my msb dac. I just pulled out my MacAir and it worked fine, checked all three boxes, triend Iron and Wine and it came up as 24.44.....geezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. But now I have the Apple seeing it so I will play with it to get the higher rates....thank you!
That is what it is 24/44 and it is MQA. It sounds very good too.
Glad to hear you got it sorted Bob. Now you can go back to exploring the albums in tidal's masters catalog
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have to be honest, I was sitting in my office cursing you today. I can't say I got much real work done. That said, I'm very glad that at the end of the day you're getting the best resolution you can, and I hope our discourse helps others find their way. Happy listening!Thx Chris. I hate PhilI was having the best time with my 24/48, I thought I was in heaven. Back up- four days ago, I was TOTALLY happy listening to Tidal streaming at 16/44.1.....I listened to it for hours every day, was in love with it and the music.
Then comes 24/48 and it sent me into a tizzy....but I had to go and fav the titles on the pc and reload on the Aurender, BUT to play back music I was still using my Ipad, which I love.
Now, today....f'ing PhilNow I can't listen to the 24/48 via the Aurender. Now I have to use my Mac with a long, cheap usb cable, right back to where I was five years ago......EXCEPT that 24/96 from the Desktop app has to be heard to be appreciated, I'm not even going to try and explain what it sounds like. But now it's probably the only way that I will listen until I get the mqa module for my dac. Then I should be able to pass the files through the Aurender and decode them completely in the dac. Everyone should hear it for themselves and decide in their situation, system and preferences.
What a day.....hey Phil....thank you....not just a % difference, it took it up to a different experience.....thx again for the endurance.
For those using Lumin - your experience is the same as mine when I try to send a Master album (favorited in the desktop app) to my Chromecast via BubbleUPnP - Tidal substitues the Redbook version for the MQA encoded file (16/44.1).
I have to be honest, I was sitting in my office cursing you today. I can't say I got much real work done. That said, I'm very glad that at the end of the day you're getting the best resolution you can, and I hope our discourse helps others find their way. Happy listening!
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Bob,
For me, it's a nice revelation too, for no extra money, until I decide what dac to go with for MQA. Enjoy!
Ok! From the slow learner here and the spreader of bad information - I got the desktop Tidal app to pay through the msb non mqa dac. It shows 32/88K on the dac on the Iron and Wine.
Through the Aurender all you see is 24/48.
After just a few quick listens to a few tracks off of 3 albums, Iron and Wine, Joni Mitchel and James Taylor the 32/88 coming directly from the Tidal desktop app connected via usb to the msb non-mqa dac vs. the 24/48 same Masters tracks that were favorited over to the Aurender from the desktop, there again is a NOTICEABLE difference.
The 24/48 still seems to have the same sonic signature and is definitely vinyl type sounding to me, but the 32/88 from the desktop app takes it to another level. Maybe 25% better?...which is a lot. It's more fuller sounding and has less of an edge to the sound.
Andy, from the forum is going to bring over his Brooklyn DAC and we are going to see what an MQA dac sounds like now vs. the 32/88 from the computer, which is now the premium MQA sound that I am getting.
Thx Phil and Chris, appreciate it.
Bob...let's do this today. What do you say?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Morning Andy,
I'm already listening to Joni Mitchell from 24/96 MQA via my Macbook air
Today is good, just let me know what approximate time. Looking forward to it!!!
Great to hear! absolutely...will do!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Update: Lumin will now receive 24-bit MQA music (but not decode them) from Tidal favorite, if users put Tidal Masters music as favorite first using the Tidal desktop app. To identify whether MQA music is being streamed from Tidal simply look at the bitdepth from Lumin app or front panel: MQA is 24-bit. Non-MQA lossless is 16-bit. Since Lumin is not decoding MQA yet, Lumin shows MQA music as 24-bit 44.1kHz or 48kHz.
This "play from favorite" method may not generally apply to other manufacturers, as a fix is required.
A great article from dar this morning on MQA and Tidal. Jeez, if only this had come out yesterday.
Bob - I think your original experience can basically be summed up in this statement:
"Even if you don’t have an MQA DAC and you don’t have software that executes hi-res unfolding, an*uptick in sound quality*might still be*heard, especially on a more resolving hifi system."
Full article here: http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/01/mqa-tidal-where-are-we-now/
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
...it should be required reading for anyone that might be interested in MQA.