Been adding a bunch of MQA albums from the Tidal desktop app. So far no album has had higher SQ/resolution than 24/48 when playing them in Roon.Even Pink Floyd’s " The Division Bell", which even says that it is 24/96. Is this because I don’t have a MQA DAC? Since the DAC is further down the line in the sound quality chain, I don’t think so. But is what I’m playing a true MQA file? Does the Tidal desktop decode to MQA? Many questions, I know.
Another strange detail is that not all MQA albums from Tidal end up in my " overview" in Roon after resyncing. How come?
/Jonas
Yes.
Yes. It’s playing a encapsulated and un-decoded MQA file. MQA claims the listener might still hear a slight improvement. I think I have detected a slight improvement listening to this version, mostly on older, 80s, 90s vintage recordings when compared to my CD rip from a CD from that era.
If you already have a copy of the album in your library, check to see if it’s been added and appears under “Other Versions” when you display that album in Roon.
Hi
Only the Tidal desktop app or an MQA dac is decoding the stream at the moment. If you don’t use either of these you get something similar to cd quality (some say better, some worse).
An MQA dac will unfold the file fully (potentially up to 384khz, basically back to the original resolution) and correct for some things in the dac itself, the tidal app will only unfold once, up to 88.2khz or 96khz and doesn’t care what dac you’re using so doesn’t do any additional corrections.
Roon have said they will include software decoding in 1.3 (like the Tidal app), we don’t know whether this will work like tidal (probably) or do more like an mqa dac.
As to albums not appearing, if you have a local CD copy then currently Roon treats it as higher quality and hides the tidal version, if you find the album and the look at Other versions, it should be there and you can make it the primary one.
So far with in my early experience with Tidal MQA files- I get higher bit depth/resolution on Tidal directly vs. from within Roon. OK- need to wait for things to “settle out” and draw on the experience/experimentation of others.
HOWEVER, I am reading some conflicting information about a potential Deal Killer for me concerning
MQA: The prospect that it will not work with (allow) Dirac Live. Let me be blunt- Dirac Live does far more to improve SQ than any increase in bit rate/resolution. With Dirac, bass it tighter, and everything else snaps into focus with no smearing and confusion. Dirac’s Impulse and Frequency correction is the real deal. For me, it has been the single most beneficial change I’ve seen in my nearly half century enjoying this audio hobby.
I hope the early information proves to be incorrect… any updates would be appreciated.
2 Likes
I think it will work with Dirac or any other processing, this would happen after Roon has decoded it so should be ok.
I think the problem would come with an MQA dac, where the processing may corrupt the MQA and make it not unfold.
Ok. Thanks for info about the resolution. However, a lot of my new additions in Roon I already have, but they come up in my overview as new. Some additions doesn’t. One album that simply doesn’t get imported at all is The Last Waltz,
Yes. I am seeing the same thing. Sometimes it sorts itself out. I use the Roon/Settings/Services/Tidal/Edit/Sync Library Now command often.
Got no clue re: “The Last Waltz” other than it’s a favorite and I will try to “Favorite” it and see what happens.
Came right in for me. (After Syncing per above.)
Question about Roon/MQA decoding… I’m playing J Mascis - Several Shades of Why Tidal/MQA in Roon. This album was recorded in 24/44.1 (sounds really good), my question is with 1.3 and Roon decoding should their be additional SQ improvements with a 24/44.1 album or is it only for albums recorded at 96kHz or higher which will see improvement over what we have now for 44.1/48 recorded album?
I’m guessing rather than talking from experience, but I’d guess two things:
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The recording is a hard limit on resolution. If you record with a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz then upsampling is not going to add new musical information. There may be other benefits from upsampling, particularly if you are going to do other DSP on the signal, but anything that adds different values to the finer slices than the original is a fancy way of “whistling along with the music”, not hi-fidelity. MQA doesn’t do that sfaik;
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The time-correction DSP that is performed by MQA based on the known characteristics of the ADC and DAC could still be performed on such material. That may require an MQA DAC although I understand Bob Stuart to say it is possible to do it in software.
Your 2nd point is more what I was thinking about and not upsampling. But rather does MQA add any benefit over existing 24-44.1/48 hi-res files without having a MQA dac. As most new albums produced these days are done at 24-44.1/48, some are 96 and very few at 192.
I guess my other point I’d like to know once the Roon/MQA decoding is done will any of the Tidal/MQA 24/96 albums sound any different than say a 24/96 album of the same mastering that I’ve bought at HDtracks (ie - Black Sabbath - The Complete Albums 1970-1978).
It will vary by individual release, but I can say that using only software decoding (in Tidal desktop), some MQA releases thoroughly spank the 96/24 downloads 
For example, “Buena Vista Social Club” sounds much better in the MQA version vs. the 96/24 download. So do the various Madonna releases available.
While I’m happy we now have these better releases, I have to say I wish my downloads sounded as lively and vital as the new MQA versions 
Roon 1.3 is supposed to have parametric EQ and MQA decoding. It will be interesting to see how the two integrate. In the meantime I wouldn’t be quite so dismissive of MQA. It’s a lot more than bit depth. You might try bypassing Dirac and trying MQA with Tidal decoding. Then trying it with Dirac on.
I’ve done a fair bit of room analysis in my two channel room and my room measurements are fair but not great–no huge nulls or suckouts but Dirac or similar could certainly improve things. Listening to familiar recordings then the same in MQA with my 818 decoding is revelatory.
I have only a few albums in both forms. I just compared Buena Vista download with Tidal, both MQA. I can hear no difference.
Note the difficulty of doing such comparisons because of the possibility of different masters. I think these two come from the same “remaster”, but I also have a 24/96 non-MQA version that is quite obviously from another master.
This album shows as decoding to 96k.
My environment: Roon on a Windows NUC, direct USB to a Meridian 818 acting as a MQA-decoding DAC, analog out to a Bryston headphone amp, to Audeze LCD-3 cans. My most revealing setup. Except for my 16-bit ears…
Maybe something wrong with my setup - the BVSC local 96/24 file sounds completely different from the MQA stream. I mean, it’s very obviously the same recording, but the MQA version is much more lively and involving, much clearer, more spacious, etc.
As some others have pointed out, it also sounds a bit louder 
which certainly could be confusing me. If so, I certainly like the effect.
How can you corroborate this?[quote=“jhwalker, post:909, topic:8204”]
As some others have pointed out, it also sounds a bit louder 
which certainly could be confusing me. If so, I certainly like the effect.
[/quote]
Unless you do accurate level matching, all bets are off.
In my case, both were MQA. The MQA people say the time alignment is more important than the high sampling rate. That could be a reason for the difference you hear, since the 24/96 version is not MQA.
Personally, I have not heard such a difference. 2L offers samples of the same master, some MQA versions are even on Tidal.
My belief is that the MQA differences are subtle. If it is a radical difference, I assume it’s different masters.
The people who make a living writing about the technology disagree with me…
I didn’t say it was definitely the same mastering, I said it was the same recording - obviously.
And I mentioned level matching - I’m not trying to do scientific comparisons or making bets, just saying I enjoyed the music.
John
You’re sure that BVSC is MQA via Tidal??..not seeing that here…nor is it listed in the Spreadsheet above
Well, you posted it in the MQA thread, so I assume you’re attributing the extra enjoyment to MQA.
But you could get the same effect by turning up the volume