If I output a Tidal master with an HDMI cable from my PC to my Marantz 7011 receiver am I getting master quality or is it downgrading it to hifi? Thanks in advance
If your Marantz doesnāt decode MQA, yes, the quality will be significantly degraded. Thatās why it is strongly recommended to fully decode MQA whatever possible.
So even though it says master on my desktop and Iām outputting through HDMI, I still have to decide it
Yes. Currently you can decode a Tidal master in software using the Tidal app (first unfolding to 96 kHz) or in hardware using an MQA capable DAC. Roon does not currently implement software decoding but it is on the way.
An undecoded Tidal Master usually has 48 kHz resolution; at least as good as CD.
So Iām using the tidal desktop app, am I getting 96k or do I still need an outboard decoder? Is there anyway it tells you whether itās 48 or 96?
If you using Tidal app, the only way to tell whether its 48 or 96 is by looking at the display of the DAC(If you got one) otherwise you canāt tell. However, Tidal app will show āMasterā if MQA is being played back.
I think MQA decoding in Roon is going to happen very soon so the wait may not be too long!
Thanks for all the responses. I use the Tidal desktop app outputting it with HDMI. When I play a master track it indeed says master on the screen, but since my marantz does not support MQA at this time I didnāt know for sure whether it was downgrading the signal. I tried playing the hifi version of Hotel California, then I switched to the M version. I couldnāt hear a difference so I figure Iām not get to getting it. Iām just confused because Iām using the desktop app and it says Master playing, so I thought I was getting it.
By your description, the Tidal app is sending MQA out the digital (HDMI) output to your Marantz but your Marantz is treating it like a standard flac file.
If instead, you played the Tidal app (assuming it is setup correctly) to a soundcard in your computer and plugged the audio out (Red/White Analogue) to Audio in on the Marantz it would be 1st stage decoded MQA as the Tidal app would then decode it on the computer.
If Tidal apps says Master, then youāre listening to a Master version.
To check whether Tidal desktop app does the MQA Core decoding (first unfold) for you, find the button for the Marantz to display the sample rate - if itās 88.2kHz or 96kHz, Tidal app is performing the aforementioned decoding. If itās 44.1kHz or 48kHz, the Tidal app is not doing the decoding due to its limitations for different modes of output on a computer.
Than you Mr. Peter for your response i will definately check the info button on my Marantz to see what im getting. Either way I am certainly loving the Tidal app. I was surprised though that it was missing 88 Basie Street. I wanted to compare the master to my XRCD.
Do you guys think the sound would be better outputting through red and white analog rca plugs as opposed to HDMI?
There are a number of variables here:
Firstly, you may be getting a first unfold MQA file at 96 kHz through the soundcard, compared to 48kHz via HDMI. If so, I think this would be the least contribution to any changed sound.
Secondly you would be using the soundcardās DAC compared to the Marantz DAC. I would expect your Marantz to have a better DAC unless you had a very good sound card.
Thirdly, your soundcard lives in a very electrically noisy environment inside a PC whereas your Marantz may have better isolation.
Lastly, you will be adding an additional analog cable section using the soundcard. In general terms Iād be inclined to avoid unnecessary analog sections.
The upshot is that you wonāt really be comparing apples with apples by using the analog out on your soundcard, but it could be interesting to try.
If your soundcard had a digital SPDIF out, then it would be interesting to see if the Tidal app was unfolding MQA through that.
andybob, why would the HDMI output be any different from that of a S/PDIF output? All other factors equal, both HDMI and S/PDIF should be able to output the 88.2/96 kHz MQA first unfold from the Tidal desktop app, yes?
AJ
Yes, I expect they would be the same, either both unfolding or neither. But sometimes things donāt work out as expected.
Glad to have Tidal Masters (MQA) available thru Roon. I understand I can go into the Tidal section of Roon and view the Masters/MQA inventory, but there has got to be a way to identify a Tidal album as MQA in Roon aside from that without actually playing a song, isnāt there? If I am trying to decide whether to add a Tidal album to my collection, is there some sort of icon or indicator that identifies it as MQA/Master? Often there are two Tidal copies of the same album with no apparent difference? Why? How can I identify the MQA Master without actually sampling both? Iād like to take advantage of th better sound quality, but it does not seem very user friendly OR more probably, I have yet to understand what the trick is!
Thank you,
Bruce
Not yet. Issues seems to be on the data Tidal gives Roon. I am sure the devs are working on it.
Thanks, Daniel. Very weird, indeed
More like bloody frustrating! Oh and donāt forget to turn all DSP off (also a manual job at the moment) otherwise you wonāt get MQA (apologies if Iām teaching you to suck eggs there)
In context though itās worth the hassle - loads of new music for zero incremental cost. First world problem methinks.
Many people are using tags in Roon. Say you add a bunch of MQA albums in a batch, you can see in Roon your recently added albums and tag them MQA.
Other ideas are if you have two, go into Tidal and Unfavorite the nonMQA and it will come out of Roon.
Last is to play both and look at the path in Roon and it tells you at play time.
The problem for Roon is there is no tagging on the file that says MQA. I would like an option to automatically tag albums as MQA once it is āsensedā in the playback, but I think Roon feels this is not an elegant solution.
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