MQA disappointing

Why do you say that?
It is certainly possible to fix distortion, if you know what it is.
Photoshop routinely compensates for distortion on the input side (camera+lens) and the output side (printer+ink+paper), using a large library of performance profiles.
And many modern cameras, including the Leica Q and all phones, do it.
It is a well-known and non-controversial technique.

You can argue that in your opinion MQA fails to do it.
But it is certainly not impossible.

Yes, they will happen if the digital filter is a weak when it comes to attenuate the aliasing images. For example, a slow roll-off minimum phase does not cut off at 22.05k (assuming 44.1k, 24 bit MQA). The only digital filters that can effectively attenuate the aliasing image is the linear sharp cut off filter.

Read this excellent articles…

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Sounds like digital glare. Similar to jitter but more benign. Quite difficult to hear. Listen for a slightly “etched” sound. Many people like the “etched” sound - particularly classical listeners. This was the digital sound of the decade of the 90’s as it was so common. In the decade of 2000’s things improved on linearity with SDM and upsampling but jitter was still a big problem.

Technically it is similar to quantization noise but worse as it affects the MSB as much as LSB. The transitions on a ladder DAC are not perfect - like a physical ladder with different rung spacing on every step. This adds high frequency non musical signals that are related to the sample rate modulated with the audio signal. You can upsample in Roon to improve things - randomizing the noise and making it less audible.

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This only happens to PCM and this is one of major drawback of PCM technology. On the other hand, DSD address this issue by sampling at megahertz range and combine with noise-shaping techniques, it is technically superior. DSD convert to analog signals using Pulse Density Modulation (PDM) is very analog in nature. It is closest to analog reproduction if it is done right.

Actually a mix of both technology is best. Latest ESS Sabre DACs like 9028 are equivalent to a 6 bit ladder DAC but with excellent linearity due to random selection of massively parallel one bit SDMs. These chips have both superb linearity (the weakness of ladder DACs) and superb low noise (the weakness of 1 bit SDM or DSD).

Latest ESS chips are blurring the delineation between 1 bit SDM and ladder or R-2R…

@Rhythmatist @DrTone @Alexey_Petrov @WiWavelength
Reading this “article”!
That I have wrote about Master Tapes and MQA.
Of course are you welcome to @AndersVinberg

One question!
Have anyone worked in a professional studio or mastering studio?

On Roon is it free to listen on PCM, DSD and Hi-Res!
No one is forced to listen to MQA, right?

Love & Respect

Good article. I agree that the mastering quality is a huge factor in everything. It is more important to the sound quality than any format differences.

I don’t work in a Mastering Studio but my speakers are used by countless audio engineers and studios from Mark Knopfler to Pink Floyd, Tom Petty to Diana Krall, from Rolling Stones to Telarc classical, Sting to Jack White, Coldplay to The Killers to Lou Reed. A large portion of anything you have heard was mixed or mastered on these speakers in studios all over the world:

http://atcloudspeakers.co.uk/client-list/

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I own the same model of car as Lewis Hamilton. Does that make me as good a driver as He is?

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Thanks Jeremy,
I recognize whose speakers, so I have properly recorded, mixed or mastered on them. My memory on names started to be harder and harder to remember a few years ago.
I have studio speakers myself as well, Audience (USA).
I’m feeling more to have it, instead of regular hifi/high-end speakers :slight_smile:

Dear @philr
What have it with this or my “article” to do?
I fought we discussed MQA and not what car you own!

But if you drive it for 40 years!

Love & Respect

Dear Roon Fellows and Music Listening Lovers.

The answer to @philr

Was the only one, on a stupid and irrelevant answer, question that I’m gonna answering, okay!

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Because someone here suggested that they had abilities similar to a mastering engineer since they owned the same make of speakers.

Not sure what the relevance is here but I am very happy for you and envious. Love Mercedes!

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The early SDM uses one 1-bit converter for each channel but modern SDM uses Multi-SDM, the purpose here is to improve the SNR by combining 8 differential converters, noise cancelling can be very effective. The architecture too uses 6 bit with up to 64 levels which is departure from true 1-bit converter. Some said true 1-bit converters produce the best SQ when playing back DSD.

All modern SDM DAC are actually DSD converters, meaning, if one feed a PCM signal, it needs to first convert to from 24 bit to 1 bit, increase the sample rate to at least 256x of 44.1k, do some noise shaping and this goes to the SDM which convert to analog signal. If the input is DSD, then it goes directly to SDM. I would say, SDM is well suited to DSD while multi-bit R2R is for PCM. PCM does not requires noise shaping and it is inherently more quieter.

Okay @philr now I’m getting your answer!

But it’s a great forum the Roon Community, right?
So it’s open for everyone’s fought’s, ideas and conclusion’s to write her.
Many people who have problems with their products, can get help with it.
The Roon Community works better if we are helping each other, what’s not necessary that we have the same fought, ides or like the same thing except for Roon I suppose that we all love it.
Okay maybe not so much when it’s not working!

Love & Respect

Hi @MusicFidelity

As I mentioned above Roon Community is a great forum.
You seem to know a lot of different music formats and DAC’s.
But here’s on the Community, so doesn’t we all do it I’m interested in the stuff that you’re writing!
But is it possible to write it in a more easier way? So everyone understand it?
I’m not kidding with you, because my Mentor in the studio I started to working in 1978! Told me to use my ears and not putting time on reading all facts about it.

“He said you knows enough and you’re using the ears when you recording, mixing and mastering! The most people who have spent their time on reading and learning all facts! They can recording, mixing and mastering, but they do it by the books so it’s sounds worse than crap because they don’t use their ears! So if you want to know any facts ask them who knows everything about recording, mixing and mastering that’s the only thing they are or can be useful in a studio”!

He could everything about the technology that is worth knowing, but he could hear if it was something that could be better in my mixing!
But he couldn’t get a mixing to get life or putting it together like me!
Making the “perfect mastering” was he a Master on and Recording but he the Mixing let him to me!

Love & Respect

I agree completely. That said, I use a Meridian Explorer 2 and Oppo PM-3s with my laptop on the road to listen to Tidal Master albums. Roon long-distance is mostly a no-go and I have limited Hi-Res Audio storage on my phone.

I really enjoy the Tidal MQA stuff away from home.

So you enjoy MQA when you’re away!
But not at home!

Okay :ok_hand:

That is one interpretation. Another is that they are starting with one of the same tools and so may have better insight into what the mastering engineer was trying to achieve.

I would enjoy it more at home, too, if I didn’t have HQPlayer to upsample all of my non-MQA music to DSD256 and an Oppo HA-2 to convert the DSD256 to analog!
:grinning: