[FilipeNgra]

TIDAL currently streams 44.1 or 48Khz FLAC files.

After the first unfold (performed by the TIDAL or UAP app), these streams become 88.2 or 96Khz with the lowest bits (in technical jargon LSB) containing the MQA information necessary to 'reconstruct' the high frequencies.

If your DAC is MQA compatible, it 'reconstructs' the original audio signal by extracting information from these bits (and you will see sample rates of tracks even higher than 96Khz).

If your DAC is not MQA, you will see the stream with a maximum frequency of 96Khz (and these LSB bits will contain information that your DAC will not be able to identify, and therefore they will produce audio 'noise', which you probably will not hear, because are the least significant bits of the digital stream).

That said, TIDAL announced that in August that it will begin serving high-res streams via high-resolution FLAC (as QOBUZ currently does), while (apparently) abandoning the MQA technology that has set them apart so far.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/tidal-adds-hi-res-lossless-flac/

@Ferdinando1968

Thank you for this kind explanation. Much appreciated my good sir.

There is something that i dont understand. My mojo2 playing MQA with native TIDAL app detect 192khz sample rate. The same music with bit perfect in UAPP dont go behond 96khz.

There is some incorrect flag in tidal native app? or my mojo2 can decode those least significant bits and reconstruct the 192khz song?

Is there a away to test this in UAPPP?

Thank you my friend.

 

[Ferdinando1968]

@Ferdinando1968

Thank you for this kind explanation. Much appreciated my good sir.

There is something that i dont understand. My mojo2 playing MQA with native TIDAL app detect 192khz sample rate. The same music with bit perfect in UAPP dont go behond 96khz.

There is some incorrect flag in tidal native app? or my mojo2 can decode those least significant bits and reconstruct the 192khz song?

Is there a away to test this in UAPPP?

Thank you my friend.

For what I knows, MOJO2 does not have the MQA decoding capabilities, so it cannot decode these the LSB MQA bits.

However I cannot explain why with TIDAL app you see 192khz.

So, unless the TIDAL app makes some mistake, I can't explain what you see.

Could you share a link to the TIDAL track so I can check with my DACs?

 

[FilipeNgra]

For what I knows, MOJO2 does not have the MQA decoding capabilities, so it cannot decode these the LSB MQA bits.

However I cannot explain why with TIDAL app you see 192khz.

So, unless the TIDAL app makes some mistake, I can't explain what you see.

Could you share a link to the TIDAL track so I can check with my DACs?

Hello @Ferdinando1968

Same music, Morcheeba - Part of the process MQA with Tidal app the mojo2 detect 192khz (the little blue marvel)
Same music, with UAPP mojo2 detect 88.2khz (Yellow marvel)

 

[Ferdinando1968]

Hello @Ferdinando1968

Same music, Morcheeba - Part of the process MQA with Tidal app the mojo2 detect 192khz (the little blue marvel)
Same music, with UAPP mojo2 detect 88.2khz (Yellow marvel)

HI.
I ran some tests on both Android and PC, with UAP , with TIDAL and with ROON.
I confirm that the track you reported to me is a 44.1Khz MQA track.

In my tests I used a NON MQA DAC dongle, and the results of the experiments confirm what I wrote to you.

Whichever player I use, I always get an 88.2Khz stream, and never 176.4
(maybe you misinterpret the color?
Looking at your photos, it seems to me that the color is the one I highlighted with the arrow, so 176.4, which is more logical than 192, because it is 88.2x2=176.4).

So I don't know why you get 176.4 or 192.

I do not exclude that, for some reason unknown to me, your smartphone doubles the sampling frequency, going from TIDAL's 88.2 to double, and the MOJO can't do anything but indicate the frequency it receives.

 

[Brain Damage]

@Ferdinando1968

Thank you for this kind explanation. Much appreciated my good sir.

There is something that i dont understand. My mojo2 playing MQA with native TIDAL app detect 192khz sample rate. The same music with bit perfect in UAPP dont go behond 96khz.

There is some incorrect flag in tidal native app? or my mojo2 can decode those least significant bits and reconstruct the 192khz song?

Is there a away to test this in UAPPP?

Thank you my friend.

Is the Tidal app (on your phone) set to 'Exclusive Mode'? If not, this can sometimes cause Tidal to upsample streams.

 

[stan1121]

On Shanling M 3 Ultra will you hear the difference after purchasing MQA in UAAP (Tidal Hi-Fi)?

 

[vafler86]

Im having a bit of problem with UAPP, tidal and my newest purchase BTR7. Do i need to buy MQA plugin in UAPP app to enable the MQA playback in UAPP app?

 

[TheOneInYellow]

Im having a bit of problem with UAPP, tidal and my newest purchase BTR7. Do i need to buy MQA plugin in UAPP app to enable the MQA playback in UAPP app?

Yes, as MQA requires a license, and then it's user choice if they want to pay for MQA decoding.

On Shanling M 3 Ultra will you hear the difference after purchasing MQA in UAAP (Tidal Hi-Fi)?

Complicated question, no real answer as this is based on many variables, such as equipment, headphones, and music (per album/track).

MQA had a small advantage circa 2016 (after previous owner of Tidal, Asperio, was closed, and streaming transitioned from FLAC lossless to MQA in January 2017).
Around 2016/2017, mobile data was tighter than today, both in bandwidth and data usage, so having high-quality yet lossy streaming via MQA sorta made sense; a middle-ground between low-quality lossy vs high-quality lossless playback.
However, time has not been kind to MQA as mobile data today is far superior.
Home internet/broadband also better too.
So MQA's niche, to combat high-data usage via streaming, was becoming moot.

The other features of MQA, identifying music signed off by either the artist, label, or both (via blue or green lights per track) was not often seen to be useful either.

Can you hear a difference? Vs lossy streaming services, maybe? But this is highly subjective and controversial too.

There's far more to this, but I hope this short summary helps!

 

[rlw6534]

Yes, as MQA requires a license, and then it's user choice if they want to pay for MQA decoding.

There are several DAPs out there that are full MQA decoders and don't require the UAPP MQA purchase, but the BTR7 is an MQA renderer only and needs the core unfold done in software, which requires the UAPP add-on. It will, however, work fine in the native Tidal app.

 

[TheOneInYellow]

There are several DAPs out there that are full MQA decoders and don't require the UAPP MQA purchase, but the BTR7 is an MQA renderer only and needs the core unfold done in software, which requires the UAPP add-on. It will, however, work fine in the native Tidal app.

Yes this is also true, forgot to mention it but didn't want to go into the granular explanation overall.

On reflection I should have added it, so I thank you for adding this however!

 

[Benesyed]

I am getting a strange issue where uapp is showing duplicates of every track in my library despite only one copy being on my microSD card on my sony DAP

edit: rescanned my library and it fixed the issue. Strange.

 

[RONJA MESCO]

I dont know why people keep sleeping on Onkyo Hifi player app (paid version) and keep thinking UAPP is the ultimate answer. The Onkyo Hifi player has been bypassing android resamplers for years and can actually upsample your music (where is actually registers as such on your dac) whereas UAPP, to me, really doesn't do that (tho it says it upsamples). The Onkyo app is the only one that will get your music collection sounding awesome, even if all your music isn't.

I went back to try UAPP after I got pissed with the UI years ago...and it still plays strong and coherent, plus the UI is better, but man the Onkyo Hifi player adds that sparkle, nuance and depth to my songs that UAPP cant, even if all of em aren't FLAC or similar. And it also beats Hiby's app too....the only one I feel that got close to Onkyo was Fiio's app, but outside its players, it sucks.

 

[fullbass]

Onkyo Hifi player adds that sparkle and depth to my songs that UAPP

looks like some dsp applied
that's why uapp -- there is no dsp

btw is there streaming integration? I use uapp mainly because of this

 

[asilker]

Hey folks, I am using UAPP on a google pixel 6a with an apple usb dongle. Qobuz as a source. It works about 50% of the time, and I typically get "error decoding" or "error starting playback" messages. I feel like I have been through every setting, including multiple networks and changing settings in my phone's UI for power etc.

Am I missing something? Has anyone experienced this? What should I look for?

(I realize this thread might already hold these answers, but it's challenging to find the correct vocabulary to search through the nearly 400 pages. I can read for myself if someone could point me in the right direction)

 

[Smoothstereo]

I dont know why people keep sleeping on Onkyo Hifi player app (paid version) and keep thinking UAPP is the ultimate answer. The Onkyo Hifi player has been bypassing android resamplers for years and can actually upsample your music (where is actually registers as such on your dac) whereas UAPP, to me, really doesn't do that (tho it says it upsamples). The Onkyo app is the only one that will get your music collection sounding awesome, even if all your music isn't.

I went back to try UAPP after I got pissed with the UI years ago...and it still plays strong and coherent, plus the UI is better, but man the Onkyo Hifi player adds that sparkle, nuance and depth to my songs that UAPP cant, even if all of em aren't FLAC or similar. And it also beats Hiby's app too....the only one I feel that got close to Onkyo was Fiio's app, but outside its players, it sucks.

I agree, paid version of Onkyo HF Player is a good alternative to UAPP because it not only upsamples PCM wav files, it can upsample files to DSD. Something I been wishing UAPP would add in future release.

But one thing I wish Onkyo HF Player would add is a Balance left right volume control since I have slight hearing imbalance. That balance control comes in handy on the UAPP where I can dial in my center image right on point. That's why I use the Onkyo HF Player less due to that missing feature.