The 24/96 isn’t on Qobuz for me.
Very nice on Apple Music.
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In theory the MQA authentication will fail after any kind of lossy compression (with the exception of 24-to-16 bit truncation). I will test it when I go to work tomorrow and get back to you.
Yes with iOS 14.6 Apple Music AirPlay2 gives you lossy AAC. I speculate this is a feature (to allow for improved buffering with multi-room usage), but my coworker disagrees, and I guess most people here think of this as a bug and will be fixed.
This issue will have to be revisited when Apple provides the promised lossless update for HomePod.
No shortage of work for me.
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One of the most respected and respectable people online in this hobby, for many years across many forums
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Thanks. It’s just I’ve read weird things about MQA light still lighting up and also weird things about cd MQA in general. Think if light doesn’t show MQA when you change setting to High Quality, confirms your theory of AirPlay 1 vs AirPlay 2.
Kind of sad if that’s true that using the latest technology gives you lower quality, at least at the moment.
I got more assistance from someone whose products I do not own and pay no money to than from individuals whose product I use and pay money to.
He is extremely proactive and helpful!
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No shortage of work for you, and, yet, here you are, helping everyone to understand this as much as any of us can, at this point. Much obliged to you, sir! Cheers
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Was curious to try these with my Mac connected via USB to my DAC.
Only tracks I get the MQA light on are Fairytales & Reflections.
However 
Light only comes on during the first song of these albums and only for a few seconds. As soon as the music starts, lights goes off.
Anyone experiencing issues with gapless play? I just listened to Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 by the LA Philharmonic & Gustavo Dudamel…sounds great in Dolby Atmos but I’m not getting gapless play and the transition between tracks is horrid.
From time to time, I see some tracks stop playing mid-stream, while others never start as it switches from 1 artist to another in Station mode.
But, I am on iOS 15 Beta, so I was inclined to think that it is attributable to being on iOS 15.
p.s. Great to see Eddie as your avatar! 
For your Mac USB output test, please make sure Sound Check (or any other volume leveling options), Dolby Atmos, EQ are all turned off. And the output is set to 44.1kHz. Set volume to max.
I checked several tracks Fairytales (MQA), and successfully got the MQA light so far via AirPlay1 to external USB MQA DAC.
Also macOS (and iOS) sounds notifications will disrupt bit perfect playback.
Best to switch to Do Not Disturb.
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As expected, after turning off Lossless and restarting playback of the MQA album, MQA light remains off.
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Yes - gapless not working well 
in either iOS or macOS. Need to try it out with tvOS.
This is similar to AudiophileStyle result of HDCD tests via USB. This is something that warrants further investigation, especially since USB is the only way to transmit Hi-Res from Apple Music.
Maybe this has been asked and answered, and if so, please direct me there. When looking at your Apple Music albums is there a way to see which are lossless and/or hi-res? As it is now, I click on the album to see. Or, I look at my library in Roon, Tidal, or Qobuz to see.
I think the only way is to actually press play and see if the lossless icon appears, then click that to see the info in a popup.
Haha yeah, up the irons! 
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So do you know if steaming over the AirPlay 2 protocol can actually stream in 16/44? When Naim showed Qobuz steaming it actually used a legacy ALAC steam. I think that means it’s not buffering and can’t do multi-room. Apple Music appears to be making the choice to use AirPlay 2 protocol when it’s available.
So my question really is it t actually an issue with AirPlay 2. If it uses the AirPlay 2 protocol, is it limited to 256k aac?
And we’ve been taking about Homepods getting a lossless update but if you look they can do both AirPlay 2 and some handoff feature. I think Apple is talking about updating the handoff. Would be nice if they can offer this handoff to other streaming devices.