B180 / B1275 MQA on ARC for Renders

Latest Early Access build with MUSE adds MQA support for Render DAC such as the Ztella Zorloo

Device setup, with all the supported formats, plus enabling of MQA Core Decoder for 1st unfold to a max 24/96

Signal path for MQA 96 format, previously would of just played 24/48 without any unfold

So Lossless support for MQA formats

Then Tidal Masters support on ARC


Great news, thanks Roon team :pray:

HiRes formats on the move via ARC on iPhone with dongle DAC and IEMs :grinning:

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Good to add MQA decoding into ARC but the future of MQA is bleak if when Tidal decided to go all to lossless flac. I would rather spend more resources into making USB driver more compatible to a wider range devices :grin:

But the USB driver is within iOS and not ARC, is it not? ARC is an application running on the mobile device within its OS, with hardware support coming from the OS.

I believe there some improvements in the Linux kernel for USB, but this will affect devices natively implementing a distribution, plus improvements will need to be implemented on both sides.
What are you looking for? And which devices?

Anyway, despite all the Press re. MQA there are many Tidal Masters available, plus I have quite a number of Albums in MQA in my local library. Don’t think it is going anywhere anytime soon.

I would guess that development for the MQA support started before the news came in

Why is everyone expecting MQA to just disappear?

The company structure created to support the technology has gone in administration, but the technology still exists and isn’t going to suddenly stop working.
Many software startups and technology companies have difficult journeys in their beginnings. Doesn’t mean that the technology is bad, just the initial business plan for its Go-to-Market didn’t work and there wasn’t enough cash reserves or startup funding to replan and try again.

It could even prompt the technology being made Open source and offered under a GPL licence, as with FLAC etc.
Remember MP3 was going to be licensed until it was suddenly leaked as Open Source, and used by the early internet ripping services, making streaming what it is today.

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Oh, I was referring to Android ecosystem.

I guess to some extent but I presume if Tidal decided to go all way to lossless flac, MQA is no longer needed except for those legacy playback.