CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[iamoneagain]

I'll have to check once my Dave gets here, but still i think that's hardly a reason to move away since most, if not all mqa tracks have at least one equivalent cd quality version

This is not true on some newer releases which is why I switched from Tidal to Qobuz. Qobuz also has more hires albums than Tidals has MQA since a few labels never jumped on board the MQA wagon. Qobuz catalog has also greatly improved over the last 6 months.

But Rob’s advice is just to stay away from MQA whether folder or unfolded. His WTA1 upsampler works best with the original files no matter if using the Dave straight or with mscaler.

 

[ubs28]

But given that I got Tidal for free, how should I best use it with the Chord Dave? Let Audirvana handle the MQA decoding or just don’t do it and let the DAC handle everything (despite not supporting MQA decoding)?

 

[Triode User]

But given that I got Tidal for free, how should I best use it with the Chord Dave? Let Audirvana handle the MQA decoding or just don’t do it and let the DAC handle everything (despite not supporting MQA decoding)?

Assuming you are getting cd quality (44.1/16) or above from Tidal then I personally would disable everything to do with MQA and just feed the bare signal to Dave.

 

[adrianm]

But given that I got Tidal for free, how should I best use it with the Chord Dave? Let Audirvana handle the MQA decoding or just don’t do it and let the DAC handle everything (despite not supporting MQA decoding)?

Yeah i'm kinda in the same boat,only tidal is available here and it's twice as cheap as other options while also not requiring me to use vpn's.
I assume getting a streamer to do the full unfold and output it to Dave is useless since from what Rob says the problem is in the MQA process itself, correct?

 

[Mediahound]

But given that I got Tidal for free

How did you get Tidal for free? Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[adrianm]

How did you get Tidal for free? Enquiring minds want to know.

Probably someone paying for his like i'm paying for a family plan that others are using

 

[Gadget67]

How did you get Tidal for free? Enquiring minds want to know.

Audirvana offers a free Tidal trial for a few months. Here’s a link to the Audirvana explanation.
https://audirvana.com/hi-res-streaming-services/

 

[adrianm]

Audirvana offers a free Tidal trial for a few months. Here’s a link to the Audirvana explanation.
https://audirvana.com/hi-res-streaming-services/

I tried Audirvana for a couple of weeks and felt it sounded worse than the Tidal desktop. With both Mqa and Non-Mqa stuff

 

[Gadget67]

I tried Audirvana for a couple of weeks and felt it sounded worse than the Tidal desktop. With both Mqa and Non-Mqa stuff

Oh, that’s just the free trial; I hear it sounds better when you start paying for it

 

[iamoneagain]

Yeah i'm kinda in the same boat,only tidal is available here and it's twice as cheap as other options while also not requiring me to use vpn's.
I assume getting a streamer to do the full unfold and output it to Dave is useless since from what Rob says the problem is in the MQA process itself, correct?

Correct. If using Tidal just avoid MQA if you can. MQA will sound good but you won’t be getting the best out of Chord by just using the cd quality version.

Here’s link to Rob’s take on MQA:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/watts-up.800264/page-65#post-14414362

 

[adrianm]

Oh, that’s just the free trial; I hear it sounds better when you start paying for it

As with all things audiophile

 

[ubs28]

Correct. If using Tidal just avoid MQA if you can. MQA will sound good but you won’t be getting the best out of Chord by just using the cd quality version.

Here’s link to Rob’s take on MQA:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/watts-up.800264/page-65#post-14414362

I see, thanks. Perhaps the aliasing and distortion at 20khz what Rob is talking about is what I was picking up as switching MQA decoding in Audivrana did not fix the “digital sound” of Tidal.

I will experiment with avoiding MQA all together to see if this fixes it.

 

[iamoneagain]

I see, thanks. Perhaps the aliasing and distortion at 20khz what Rob is talking about is what I was picking up as switching MQA decoding in Audivrana did not fix the “digital sound” of Tidal.

I will experiment with avoiding MQA all together to see if this fixes it.

I’d also avoid any upsampling with Audirvana. Let Chord handle that part.

 

[edwardsean]

I've used Audirvana in the past before my current system. I liked quite a lot. To my ears it is significantly better than Tidal's native app. I don't know the situation on Windows, but for Mac direct mode was defeated by security measures in recent Mac OS versions.

If you search online there is a way to get it back if you are comfortable with disabling OS X root security features. Direct mode provides another small bump in SQ. I think anything you can do to reduce system processing is worth it when you are using a computer for a server.

 

[ClicketEKlack]

This is not true on some newer releases which is why I switched from Tidal to Qobuz. Qobuz also has more hires albums than Tidals has MQA since a few labels never jumped on board the MQA wagon. Qobuz catalog has also greatly improved over the last 6 months.

But Rob’s advice is just to stay away from MQA whether folder or unfolded. His WTA1 upsampler works best with the original files no matter if using the Dave straight or with mscaler.

If MQA is so horrendous, I'm curious as to why ultra-high end manufacturers like DCS, MSB, PS Audio, and Berkeley Audio, all of whom produce DACs that are as well-regarded or better than anything Chord produces, include MQA unfolding. Presumably these companies can pick and choose whatever formats they want to support, as their clientele are exceedingly picky about sound can afford the best sources money can buy. Is Rob Watts suggesting that these DACs are producing crappy sound? Or offering garbage tech that doesn't actually work? I get that he has strong feelings about MQA, but I suspect there's more nuance to the story than the MQA-as-bad-tech-and-evil-business-conspiracy offerings. Personally, I listen to a lot of MQA Tidal files via a Topping D90 DAC and they sound great -- slightly better than Qobuz Hi-Res. When I'm able to audition gear in person, I may upgrade to a DAVE or something of its ilk. I'm really curious to do an A/B.