MQA decoding could best be done in the DAC so the time smearing of the DAC can be compensated for too. And Roon will pass on MQA files bit perfect so it will pass on MQA files as wel. Or am I wrong?
My understanding (and I havenāt read the full whitepapers on MQA yet) is itās a combination of software (playback and streaming applications) and hardware (DAC) implementation.
While there arenāt yet any DACās (that I know of) that support decoding yet (Iāve been in contact with PS Audio and they confirmed that while they plan to implement in the future it will take DAC modifications on their end to do so).
I also donāt know of anyone selling MQA encoded files. It would be nice if the decoding could be done within the software alone so we donāt all have to upgrade or replace our DACās but Iām not positive thatās a feasible
option.
Your understanding is almost right. On the playback side it looks like a 24 bit 44.1 (of 48) kHz file and therefore any player can play the file. When the file is sent bit perfectly to an MQA DAC, it is checked for integrity and decoded while at the same time compensating for time smearing the occurred in the audio path from studio to (and including) your DAC.
I made two comprehensive videos on MQA: Meridian MQA part 1 and from there you can click to part 2.
There is no MQA software yet but Tidal has announced they will start streaming MQA soon. Decoding the signal in software would be a compromise since it then canāt compensate for the time smearing of the reconstruction filters in your DAC. Unless - somewhere in the future - software is taught the behaviour of your DAC. That could be done in the shape of a profile file, as is done with camera lenses.
For me the next things Iām waiting for are better radio (current one is pretty much unusable for me, always repeating the same artists and albums, plus weird choices in similarities) and better music discovery options. Namely, the option to somehow be able to discover things currently not in your library.
Hi,
Not too long to wait, thereās an improved āradioā function currently in alpha testing.
I have noticed the same behavior with radio on a few artists where i felt there was too much repetition. Iām not sure how the algorithm works but the other evening i forgot to hit pause on the player when i headed out for the night. When i turned my amp back on the next morning from standby the radio was absolute perfection. it seems that after it cycled through a few hours of music the selection really broadened out it and it pulled in a wide variety, but relevant, selection of tracks from my library.
Iām interested in what more you think they could do on discovery? To be manageable and relevant it has to start with things in the library or it would contain masses of irrelevant things that you would not want. (Like all tidalās hip hop and rap for me.)
Already discovery gives me a long list of varying things from my library. When I select any of those I very quickly get to all tidal has on that artist or composer Etc and also all that tidal has on people they have worked with or have been infuenced by are similar to etc. All this only takes a few clicks or touches.
This is not to to be critical of your suggestion here Iām just wondering specifically how you think this could be improved further.
Well, your suggestion only works if you sub to tidal. Maybe CL is suggesting something to suggest music to those who donāt sub to Tidal.
There are some discovery screens in Tidal that havenāt made it to Roon yet. That is likely to change in the short term.
Here are some suggestions that if implemented would significantly enhance the utility of Radio for me:
- Remain in Genre?
- Remain in Sub-Genre?
- Genres to be ignored?
- Sub-Genres to be ignored?
- Explore associated Sub-Genres?
- Number of tracks to skip artist?
- Number of tracks to skip song?
- Number of tracks to skip album?
- Ignore compilation albums?
- Music Source:
- Local
- Tidal
- Both
Restrict radio to:
- Similar to? y/n
- Influenced by? y/n
- Followed By? y/n
- Collaborated With? y/n
- Associated with? y/n
Restrict mix to:
- 60s
- 70s
- 80s
- 90s
- 20s
- 21s
- Custom year range?
- Record Labels?
Hi @philr,
I havenāt given this too much thought, but off the top of my head, maybe a radio mode that will simply be allowed to play things from Tidal that are not currently in your library, but are still similar to what you chose your radio to be based on. Kind of like Pandora. I know I can actively explore based on the various links, but I would also like a more passive mode, let the experts/algorithms choose for me for a while.
^^^ thatād just mean picking only Tidal as the music source in my list above and using a seed song/album from your collection or Tidalās.
Iām so excited to hear that an improved Radio is on the way!
And let me second (third?) the idea that having the option to force Radio to choose between:
- Only Your Files
- Only Tidal
- Both Your Files and Tidal
would be spectacular.
Radio introducing me to music I donāt know, that I can learn about with Roonās metadata, while listening through HQPlayer - thatās my ideal. I had that potential scenario in mind when I became a lifer and it looks like itāll all be possible soon!
so many items in your lists are done in build 88