MQA General Discussion

Yes.

If you download the latest Tidal desktop app and playback through it then it will unfold MQA masters by software decoding to 96kHz/24 bit. Playback through Roon of MQA masters is currently limited to 48kHz/24 bit. Roon has said that MQA software decoding is coming, but we don’t yet know to what level. The rampant speculation is that it will be similar to Tidal.

An MQA DAC will completely unfold the MQA Master to the maximum resolution folded up. I don’t know what the position is with Berkely Audio sorry.

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I spoke with Berkeley Audio last August when I was seriously thinking of going analogue and the guy I talked to–I think it was designer–seemed committed to decoding MQA. He told me it would be available as a field retrofit “this fall” meaning last fall. Really sorry to hear that might not happen. Probably worth another call on your part to find out.

Great system you have.

My concern is based just on the fact that they are no longer listed at the MQA web site as a PLAYBACK partner, This fact may mean nothing… I will try and contact them and see what is happening, I certainly don’t want to start a false rumor. And it seems that some think that software decoding will be just as good outside the DAC. I guess time will tell.

Hmmmmm …

Have to be honest and say that I was a bit sceptical about the claims being made for MQA - past experience has led me to a view that differences in mastering can account for some (many?) of the perceived improvements in HiRes files. Despite this I’m always open to new evidence so I used Tidal desktop app and Bluesound speakers (which support MQA) to compare MQA and non-MQA recordings. Whilst I wouldn’t say that the differences were massive there were noticeable improvements (and my partner, who is not the least bit interested in technical stuff but has a good ear) came to similar conclusions (she didn’t now which was which so a sample of 1 blind listening test I guess).

So, given that I am thinking of using miniDSP kit to build an active speaker system I asked MiniDSP if they were going to support MQA (e.g. miniDSP 2X4HD - which can optionally run Dirac) with MQA support would be a great platform. Here is their reply!

[quote=MiniDSP]On the topic of MQA, we can say for sure that we won’t support the standard. Without providing much info of behind the scenes talk, this was one of the weirdest interaction we ever got with a company trying to license their IP… We had a perfect platform to get it up and running. The type of questions and attitude we got from the company was “interesting” to say the least. :slight_smile:
Anyway, I’m afraid that it won’t happen. Wishing them good luck! DevTeam.[/quote]

So wondering if this might be possible in future version of Roon?

(a) Roon decodes MQA and sends to Raspberry Pi.
(b) Raspberry Pi sends, via USB, to miniDSP 2x4HD (which can accept input up to 192/24
© miniDSP does crossover filtering and provides outputs to amps / speakers

Any better suggestions?

Interesting and detailed analysis of some MQA files.

http://archimago.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/comparison-tidal-mqa-music-high.html

Broadly. conclusion seems to be that MQA does most of what it claims to do but that some MQA files don’t start off life as very HiRes in the first place.

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18 posts were split to a new topic: What MQA DAC are you using?

Mike,

Great blog. Well thought out and written. Thanks for the link!

Rob

Interesting article , thanks . Reading this part “If you play back a 24-bit/192kHz MQA-encoded file through an MQA software decoder like Tidal HiFi, Audirvana, or (soon) Roon, and you are using a regular DAC (i.e. a non-MQA DAC), you will get a 24/96 file” makes me think that if your endpoint can’t handle over 24/96 ie. my Meridian F80 which I really like and don’t want to change , then there is no need to buy a new MQA Dac . Thoughts ?

Listening to this album via Tidal App - sounds really good on my Devialet. Roon software will be asleep for now - just checking out the Masters section on Tidal, SQ is awesome on some these recordings.

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Linn’s perspective

Good read. Thanks for sharing. Now I’ll go crawl into my hole and cry.

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Love the ‘mute’ option on threads :slight_smile:

Russ

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Given that Linn charges $24 for 192/24 downloads who is extracting the more $$$ from the supply chain $$$ MQA or Linn?

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Unlike some, I am not enormously impressed by MQA.
I don’t hear improvements over straight high res.
And I have concerns with buying MQA content that I can decode at home but not on the road.

But those are personal views.

Do I hear differences? If do, do I like the differences? Those are subjective.
But engineering discussions are not.
They should be correct.

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[Moderated]

No, not all of the MQA discussion is technical. Some are in above their pay grade when it comes to information theory. And some seem to have a vested interest in MQA, if not financial, then personal.

Like several others, I am not out to get MQA. I am out to get to the bottom of MQA. But some people will not have that. They seem to prefer ignorance as their bliss.

[Moderated]

AJ

Love that mute button!

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I’ve moderated this thread by deleting some posts and excerpts in others. Please keep the discussion about the ideas rather than each other.

The few comparisons I’ve done between MQA and high resolution files of the same master show very little (if any) difference. That said, I think MQA provides two things that you don’t get with a “blind” high resolution distribution model:

  1. A scheme that provides low communication bandwidth streaming of high resolution music;
  2. An approach that emphasizes good mastering and good ADC/DAC processing to maximize analog audio reproduction.

I don’t think you would get the above if we stuck to the current high resolution file distribution model. Could there be other equivalent (even better) ways of doing this? Possibly, but that’s the nature of business and innovation…it’s not always about the best solution but finding one that works and getting to market sooner than your competitors with a good product.

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I think MQA is dangerous.
It leads, if successfull, to a way I dissaprove. It will be like Dolby and DTS on the HomeCinema side of life.
The whole chain will be controlled by one company and all will and have to sound the same.
What an ugly vision of the future.
Absolutely unnecessary for me as music buyer.
I will avoid MQA.

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This post on the official LINN website is sooooo unprofessional. It is unbelievable that the management allows an emloyee to publish this kind of content on a personal title…: Right or wrong: This is not the way to critisice a competitor.

Probably LINN management (and thus LINN as a whole) is asleep.
Wake up LINN!

Of course their competetion like MQA, Roon and Tidal should make some money whilst delivering good sounding music. As long this is not backfiring on the artists, and as long I have to pay an acceptable price for the content and hardware I have no problem with that.

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