I'm completely sold on MQA. Thank God for the Bob Stuarts of this world

It is not who get paid in the end but we already have hi-res PCM and DSD, why should we go for another format that will probably add more complications?

I don’t see the reason here. It is just as plain simple truth; we already have it!

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We already had vinyl when we went digital. When DVD-A and SACD came along we already had CD. It is just evolution, and being threatened with extinction is never welcomed!

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DSD is too large to stream and we all ready know MQA is better than CD. Not so sure about Chord DAC owners as they all ready experiencing similar performances from CD but not as good on MQA. MusicFidelity thank you for the DSP settings tip, it worked perfectly for me … ( the power of 2 with the smooth filter)
M

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I agree, where is the Sacd DSD content for everyone? Who has the kit to play it to max effect? Not the masses, that’s for sure. They are locked out of good sound and corralled in MP3.
MQA is a long term solution for everyone as the DAC chips roll out into everyday devices and then we can all take our pick of formats…

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I still have my own idea of what the “problem”
With MQA are! (For some)!!!

But it’s only my opinion :wink: !

Love & Respect

I totally agree with you @Henry_McLeod
Even when the different versions of Music Format you’re mentioned, there was it much discussion as well.
But they haven’t the Roon Community or all social media!!!
To discussing on, well maybe SACD and DSD/DSF/DXD…
But they released music like, Classic, Jazz Music anyway the most of it!
So even if I like these Music, so was it more for the “Higher Society” to showing up on their “Party’s” and impression on their “Guests”!
They haven’t counted on that the average music listener, should listen and have the money to buy it!!!
But have SACD and DSD/DSF/DXD…
Been such great success?

When I bought my first really good Cd Player in 1988, together with my first great Integrated amp, handmade speakers (a old man in the southern part of Sweden, had created and built them! They got the best Award for speakers that year, from one or two HiFi Magazines! And he told me that I should buy a Turntable as well. I still remember his words, how great the CDs and the player becomes, so will they never ever sound as great as a perfectly tuned Turntable playing on a Great Hifi Equipment)!
I still have the speakers and the Turntable, the amp and CD player went to the garbage for around 10 years!

MQA is a new Music Format, and as long it’s CDs or MP3 or ogg etc…
So doesn’t anyone who don’t like it, needs to Streaming it!!!
But I have like you, noticed that’s it’s not only the Format that’s people have problems with! No it’s that “Bob’ controls it, and how much money he will get! But it’s not seems to scare the Major Record Company’, because they have jumped on the train! Also some of the big makers of DACs, even if a couple have made a special network card to make it working with MQA!
Like PS Audio DS, MSB TECHNOLOGY http://www.msbtechnology.com/mqa-has-arrived/
dSC is coming with it as well, and Meridian Explorer 2 does a good work if the other is to expensive! MYTEK Brooklyn + Dac and Manhattan II.
These DAC’s is what I know are MQA, so if they didn’t want to well…

We shouldn’t complaining about MQA because it’s not costing us any extra money to TIDAL or Roon, for streaming it and the Meridian Explorer 2 is a cheap Dac! If we don’t have to buy a new DAC anyway, so does they come with different price and they take more Formats not only MQA.

I haven’t listened to anything but MQA since Roon 1.5 version came, well maybe for a hours all and all and I’m playing and listening to music for around 10 hours, each day because it’s my work and I love it.

Love & Respect

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Two thoughts:

  1. It of course depends on how you judge the market (i.e. what you think is important, what you take as indicators, etc.) but I think it is fairly obvious that other than to “some” but not all audiophiles (let’s put their numbers at %1 of the music lover market) MQA is Dead On Arrival. Recently, the Audiophile promotion machine made much of a smart phone adapting MQA encoding, but then the company is out of business within a week. At best, MQA is destined to be a niche product in a niche market.

  2. “breathing life” has to have some benefit for all the parts of the body supposedly doing the breathing. It’s not “OK” to breath life in “some areas” of this industry at the expense of others. MQA is bad for consumers, bad for manufactures of reproduction equipment, etc. The only part of the industry clearly enlivened is Bob S & MQA in their “end to end” $rent seeking$

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I think you meant devolution… :wink:

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I have noticed you can get Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital with MQA for around 400 Euro or you can get the RME ADI-2 DAC for around 1000 Euro, but without MQA. What would then be the better choice, if the source solely is Tidal from Roon (Innuos Mk II).

I mean, the latter is probably a better DAC, but the former has MQA. How do you rate that against each other?

I am little lost, I must admit.

Your going to have to audition them I think.

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I wouldn’t make MQA a deciding factor. Get the best DAC. If the best one also has MQA view that as a bonus.

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I agree with Henry. Recently made exactly that decision for my new headphone rig.
I was able to do testing. I have full MQA decoding in my Meridian system, and I can feed the decoded signal to th3 headphone amp. So I compared fully decoded MQA, with Roon unfolded MQA + upsampling, with Roon unfolded MQA and letting the Meridian DAC do its own upsampling (no MQA). Based on that, I decided not to let MQA decoding be a deciding factor, I got the best DAC. And let Roon do the software decoding.

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I do not know for sure, but I strongly believe that at one moment in time someone somewhere was also thanking to Fraunhofer team for the invention of mp3. I’m starting to believe that the happiness comes only in lossy formats… (I don’t recall off anyone thanking for DSD or 24/96 or 192 other whatever other real high resolution format :grinning:).

Exogal attains realization -

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I have been looking and thinking of the best possible Dac, that I could get for my budget that of course “was a MQA Dac”.
When it suddenly striking me and made everything clear, I believe you have get this though sometime in your life!

PS Audio DS, the DS JR. MYTEK Brooklyn + Dac, Manhattan II and even dSC Rossini Dac…
They are all good/great DAC’s without MQA Right?
MQA is a special implant that MQA makes themselves, and put into these DAC’s (maybe the different makers of these DAC’s are doing it, I don’t know and it’s not the main thing in my thoughts)!

The main thing is that MQA is included, in DAC’s that sounds great with or without MQA!
But can you use the different filters in these DAC’s and still “Have The Blue Light? Or Does It’s Stops”? (I mean not the MQA filters)!
I mean the different kinds of filters that’s making these DAC’s, so good/great?

Or is the MQA implant working as one Dac for itself, inside these DAC’s?

If the case is so. (Just to make my thoughts right, this was just coming from everything I have heard, reading here and on other places about MQA’s End To End System)!

Today I have a good/great Dac, a B.M.C PureDac that’s playing great in PCM 32 bits and 384 kHz, DSD over Dop…up to 128 but it’s enough for me. It’s stable and have all the different kinds of inputs and outputs, I need and it’s got a great Headphone amp, it’s really great! Have a 4 pin balanced XLR and a phone or is it 6.3 “people use to say”!

So does I have a Meridian Explorer 2, what’s sounds great to play MQA with, it can play PCM 24 bits and 192 kHz I haven’t tried DSD!
If I haven’t my B.M.C to compare the PCM part well maybe it would sound okay. It’s got a okay 3.5 Headphone if you want to use it with your iPhone etc…
But it’s got the “Blue Light”!

So if I was a better technician I knew one who could have done it, but unfortunately isn’t he longer among us “God blessing you my friend”!

The thing that I was thinking about, instead of using two different DAC’s so does I believe that’s possible for a really great technician to put the Meridian Explorer 2, inside my B.M.C PureDac!
Of course have the tube around the Explorer need to be removed, the power being fixed, but it could share the better inputs instead of it’s USB mini B also the better outputs, XLR and RCA instead of it’s “bottleneck” 3.5 output even be connected to the Headphones amp in the B.M.C!

It wouldn’t be easy, but for a great technician it should be possible to make this, so the results would be a great B.M.C PureDac that was a MQA Dac!

So if my dilemma wasn’t big enough before, so is it huge now :smile:!

Because the biggest difference between the cheap MQA DAC’s, like my Meridian Explorer 2 and a couple of more that’s cost more or less than $300USD.
Is that they have bottlenecks like, a 3.5 connection out, a usb mini B in, or to be connected with a usb A directly to your computer or what you are using! The cable industry doesn’t make any good/great 3.5 contact with RCA L-R, or any usb mini B cables (for you that don’t believe any cables are making any difference, it’s not any problem)!
There are different kinds of adapters, for example one 3.5 connection in and with two RCA L-R also to get from a usb mini B to usual usb B!

The company who makes these products, is saying that the inputs and outputs is to be able make them smaller for use with iPhone…
But how much larger would a Meridian Explorer 2 be, if it’s got a usb B input and two RCA L-R outputs? I believe we wouldn’t noticed the difference between them, if we didn’t hold them in our hands!

But they earning more money to put their MQA implant in the big sharks DAC’s, one or two of the big sharks don’t I think had to pay MQA anything or maybe a little % of the profit!!! Because MQA did know that if they make a Dac with our implant, so does the other following because they don’t want to lose their share of the market!
So it’s a much bigger thing around MQA it’s not only “End To End”!
What some discussed in the beginning of this article about MQA!
Depending on what happens with MQA and how it will grow, now starting Deezer also begins to stream it!
So for awhile will the larger company who makes DAC’s, saying no, but for how long?

But I will not buy any new Dac that’s got MQA, I will keep my B.M.C PureDac and use my “Implant” my Meridian Explorer 2 when I play MQA that I still love, even if you maybe wonder after what I have wrote!

I just realized that since I just change Dac easy on Roon and click on my remote control and my amp change input channel!
So don’t I have to spent anymore time on looking for a new Dac with MQA!
I also spares a lot of money that I can use to make something fun with!

Love & Respect

For those testing MQA, try the title track on this album. I find the recording of the drum kit to be quite realistic, perhaps more so because of where it sits in the mix. I have not compared the MQA version to the non-MQA version. Anyway, it’s a fun exercise.
The%20Second

Absolutely okay!

Listen to Fleetwood Mac Rumors from 1977.
It’s not only the Drums, the acoustic guitar, piano well the hole mix is perfect!

The Led Zeppelin’s Remastered Versions Album 1-6. Absolutely Amazing.

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You’ve picked two albums with about 35 different masters each. There is a high percentage chance that the MQA and non-MQA versions are completely different masters.

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Sorry I just answer the question about the drums!
To @Flashman
Do you now how many mixes they made of his suggested Album?

I don’t think they made 35 mixes on Led Zeppelin and Zeppelin II :smile:!
They are recording on a Sound On Sound Tape Machines!
Okay they can have made many mixes anyway…

In 1973/74 made ABBA 96 mixes on Waterloo (released in 1974).
I know because a good friend of mine was in the studio, they felt that mixe nr 1 was best!
But took mix nr 6!
Of the reason that they felt stupid for making 96 mixes and choose mix nr 1!
The reason why they took mix nr 6, was because it almost sounded like nr 1!

Love & Respect

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Dear Mr. @anon55914447

I don’t think that’s so!
We are talking about Fleetwood Mac and their Album Rumors!

For a long, longtime so was it Pink Floyd’s Album
The Dark Side of the Moon (Billboard 200: totally 889 weeks) (around 17 years)!
1973-1988, 2011 och 2014.

Rumors Album spent 31 weeks on Billboard 200-list as number one . Also received a Grammy For The Best Music Album (1977). Only in USA has the album sold 19 x Platinum until 2003. It’s one of the most sold albums in the world (around 30 millions)!

The 3th album won’t I write so much about and it’s not necessary!
The Wall.

As I wrote in the beginning a long, longtime was these 3 albums selling for full price! No nice prices for whose albums!
They are from 1973, 1977 and 1979.
Frankly so haven’t I never seen any of them, with a Nice Price notice!
But I haven’t looked around for CDs for many years.

So of these 3 albums don’t it exists 35 different mixes on the market, no way!
There are a few of The Dark Side Of the Moon, because it was mixed on two channels L-R as usual but also in Quadraphonic from the beginning, so it was easy to make SACD and Surround! So actually it’s only one in Stereo and one in Quadraphonic! So not 35 different mixes only two and that was used to make the Stereo SACD and Dolby Digital!

Led Zeppelin is released on Vinyl and Cd, Deluxe released not a new remaster only some extra material from the recording!
But when Jimmy Page decide to make remastered versions a couple of years ago! He produced and made the original mastering!
The first 6 albums was remastered and released on 180 g Vinyl records. There appreciated among Audiophiles (I don’t know if it only was because the sound, or that they actually liked Led Zeppelin? But I think that many Audiophiles become Led Zeppelin fans).
So not 35 different mixes around here either! Only 3-4!

Now did Pink Floyd also get involved in this, but it’s only good!

Because you say that 2 with Pink it’s completely!
Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac (especially with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham) and Led Zeppelin!
These 3 Music Groups should never ever, let the control of their Masterpieces of music to nobody! They can be compared with Mozart easily. So it was a wrong target to take a shot at.

Love & Respect