Thanks guys, looking into those options :thumbsup:

Thanks, I'll check those out - although 3 boxes might be getting a little 'unportable' for my needs!

Thanks, that's helpful and saves me a lot of legwork looking! So, firstly, I hope that Cayin might produce such a device in the future... Second, if I had to use a 2-box approach, what would be the best way to 'feed' one of the Cayin tube amps with the above requirements, do you think? I guess...

Your English is fine, thank you for helping! What I’m after is something like a portable one-box DAC/Amp with a tube stage (I just tend to like the sound of tubes) and with the ability to play Tidal, including MQA, in some way. But it must be Apple ecosystem compatible. Ideally it would be Roon...

Very cool. Is that a tube amp in that one?

Thanks! That's an interesting product but I can't see any MQA support, etc.? I've been following Cayin for a while, hoping they would produce a tubed portable with DAC (and Tidal Masters, or Roon support) when used with a laptop or iPhone. The DAPs they produce are very nice, but unfortunately...

I’m in the market for one of these with a DAC built-in as I love the concept of a SS/Tube portable. Has to work seamlessly with Mac/iPhone/Tidal MQA (or ideally Roon) for me, though... anything in the pipeline from you guys please?

Hardware EQ would likely be worse if by that you mean pots of some kind.

Yes I hope so! The source I conversed with sounded like he knew what he was talking about, and was a user of the devices himself (and is also waiting for Tidal to get their app sorted for MQA). He also expressed that Pioneer/Onkyo are big believers in the future of MQA and fully behind it, if...

Sounds like you got through to someone who has no idea what they're talking about - a digital signal is exactly what would require a DAC.

I think my contact at Onkyo/Pioneer mentioned this. Sadly, I believe it is only for the newer players. Since I haven’t bought any yet, I would go for one of those... except they don’t allow offline playing of Tidal/MQA since they’re not Android-based. IMO this is the huge drawback of streaming...

The reply to me indicated they’d passed my request on to the development team, but they couldn’t say how long it would take or how far along they were. They also indicated they appreciate feedback from their members as to what’s missing and what they need (I guess this helps prioritise...

Also, it is the SD cards which cause glitches in offline playback.

Furthermore, Pioneer/Onkyo confirmed that it’s Tidal, and not the player, which is limiting hi-res/MQA streaming until it updates its app. Strongly suggested you email Tidal and request this if you’re a subscriber who needs the feature.

Right, I finally heard back a definitive answer from Pioneer. I quote: All audio from either the 2.5mm balanced or 3.5mm analog outputs uses the Sabre DAC. There you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth!

Completely agree. Out of interest, what is your 1K ‘goosebump’ system?

Linn are one of a few other companies who have a very specific opinion on MQA, although bear in mind they have interests of their own to protect, and possibly sour grapes! But there are a lot more companies of excellent reputation, and more importantly a whole load of music lovers, who are...

The only nonsense is what you just said. Explain exactly how MQA is DRM.

Thanks, that's important to know. Given that the main source of MQA by far is now Tidal (especially given the huge amount of releases in the last couple of weeks), this dap is not so useful to me if it can't play full MQA from Tidal (which is one of its main selling points.

Why wouldn't it use the Sabre, isn't that the only DAC in the Pioneer? Surely this is already rendering MQA streamed via Tidal - every other MQA compatible piece of kit I own renders Tidal MQA?

Thanks, that's really helpful :beerchug:

Can anyone with XDP100R tell me whether Tidal offline from memory cards is working now, as I don't really need the 300R and it's much more money!

Thanks man, that's really helpful! Can you tell me exactly which memory card you are using please? (I believe the people who are having problems are using specific SD cards).

OK thanks. Trying to find out from some current users. I'd need more than just the internal memory for Tidal offline, unless the player lets you move Tidal files on and off the internal/external memory before playing? My biggest usage scernario will be on the train to London but wifi/phone...

How often are we talking about - occasionally, or several times a track? Other users report no issues, could this be a question of different memory cards?