And even if there’s a theoretical high enough bandwidth on the streaming and/or download client side,
the aggregated bandwidth need for multiple users can quickly become an issue.
That applies to mobile base station level, Internet connection @home, backbone networks or at the download/streaming service supplier.
I swapped the units:
why to bother with microseconds when we smear then the signal with our speakers and room response by milliseconds?!
So when you do the same in your answer:
Maybee because microseconds are by a factor 1000 shorter than milliseconds…
…you can see the point
I get your point but don’t agree fully, it’s partially apples and oranges and two wrongs does not make it right.
I am pretty sure the not-first-world is not a revenue source for MQA
MQA does not save that much bandwidth. In fact, it DOUBLES the bandwidth required if you’re not decoding it anyway. This bandwidth excuse is complete BS in my opinion.
Sound takes about 3 miliseconds to travel 1 meter. So I would expect the blurring from reflections and other factors in an average speaker setup to be on the order of about 10 times that, so roughly 30 miliseconds. This plus the frequency response impact of room modes, speaker response (freq and time), etc are all very meaningful.
Think you missed how dkdkdk mixed up ms and us in the post I responded to…
Obviously, MQA will not save bandwidth compared to FLAC encoded Redbook format but what does that have to do with this?
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So every mobile sold has MQA capability, even if the locals have no inclination to use it. I can see the $$ signs right there! The multi layer end to end nature of MQA presents multiple opportunities to capitalise on it, to the point where people will pay for it even if they don’t use it. Just like we already do with devices that have codecs required for speech over digital telecoms and for music playback.
iOS does not support MQA at the moment. I doubt it will in the near future. My point on mobile usage is that at this point in time, if all files on the TIDAL servers were MQA files, I would be using twice the bandwidth to stream a file that I would not be decoding anyway.
High bandwidth amplifiers up to 100kHz and above will subjected to this type of distortion. Modern digital recordings especially PCM is virtually free from aliasing. This is something, even the Pros, will tell you to avoid at all cost. There’s should be more test done in this area so that consumers are well informed.
Full unfold in software would be great for obvious reasons especially on mobile devices.
It’s odd if the MQA organization is really restricting this because of the impact on hardware partners because it means MQA will never get to fuller acceptance.
I’m using a Meridian Explorer 2 to do the entire unfold and turn off the first unfold in Tidal.
I’m loving MQA.
iOS devices’ audio interface (over the lightning connector or Bluetooth) are actually limited to 48KHz/24bit resolution. You cannot get any higher via the lightning audio interface. So having first unfold, or full decode for that matter, would be pointless.
The only way to get past this limitation is to connect a DAC over the lightning USB interface. This is how a Dragonfly can get higher rates. But this is a pretty niche market so I doubt TIDAL would ever bother to add first unfold to it’s app.
Lastly, I don’t think TIDAL on iOS is currently able to stream MQA files at all, so no MQA for a Explorer2 either!
The only way I can think of playing MQA on an iOS device is by playing an MQA file on a high res audio player such as Onkyo HF Player, to an Explorer2 via lightning USB.
The iOS lightning audio limitation is here to stay. I very much doubt we will see anything MQA on iOS anytime soon - meaning this side of 5 years!
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Interesting.
I didn’t know the lighning connector was limited in this way and I basically don’t use bluetooth ever.
Tidal only streams MQA on the Tidal desktop app right now.
You can connect an Explorer to the lighting port but but it’s a bit bulkier than the Dragonfly. The full unfold on the Meridian is why I bought it over a Dragonfly.
Yeah, but unless you’re playing MQA files on a bit perfect player to the E2, I think you’re out of luck anyway.
This is why Audeze’s Cipher cable is limited to 24bit/48KHz resolution.
Also, high quality recordings over 48KHz/24bit can sound truly fantastic. We have a tendency to get a little snobbish about “more than 48”.
Makes sense.
I listen to Tidal MQA now via MacBook 15 inch USB-C port>USB-C adapter>USB cable>Meridian 2>Grado SR325e headphones.
The Audeze integration to Roon is really interesting. I’m seeing more and more products that I am giving a second look at because they integrate with Roon.
I pre-ordered two Sonos One speakers and the Oppo blu-ray player just this morning and I had only been thinking about them previously.
Almost, there are other units that perform unfolding and deblurring too, such as Bluesound and i think Lumin. Audirvana+ also does software unfolding i think?
Sure there are other ways too, other than these.
Personally i use my Bluesound Vault as an Endpoint but if i want to enjoy a Tidal MQA album i usually play it directly from Tidal using the Bluesound app, hence enjoying MQA unfold and deblurring up to 192khz (or outputting 88.2/96khz over optical SPDIF)
Tidal have previously said they are going to add MQA unfolding to mobile platforms.
And a lot more people than you think use external DACs with iPhones / iPads, etc. I often stream PCM up to 384k and DSD up to DSD256 to my iFi Micro iDSD via the CCK.
I have a Lumin T1, and can confirm that Lumin does first unfold on the unit on Tidal MQA.