[Sound Eq]

can i ask does qutest support mqa

 

[miketlse]

can i ask does qutest support mqa

All the decoding has to be done by the music source, that then feeds the input for the Qutest.

 

[Sound Eq]

All the decoding has to be done by the music source, that then feeds the input for the Qutest.

well i am connecting my laptop to chord, and using tidal

 

[Triode User]

can i ask does qutest support mqa

In a word, no. Any MQA unfolding has to be done by software before the digital signal is fed to Qutest.

Rob Watts has given good reasons though to stay well clear of MQA. (Sorry but his post is hidden somewhere in one of the Chord threads or maybe in Rob Watts own blog).

 

[Zzt231gr]

can i ask does qutest support mqa

Don't bother with it.

 

[Christer]

well i am connecting my laptop to chord, and using tidal

As far as MQA is concerned it seems to be seen as "vaporware" by some sources by now. Obviously it is not as lossless as initially claimed.
And I think Rob was one of the first to point out its weaknesses.
I doubt it will be much of a commercial success in the long run.
Why would you want it?
As far as I am concerned when I want Masterfile quality I listen to the actual masterfiles not a compressed version of them.

 

[Sound Eq]

In a word, no. Any MQA unfolding has to be done by software before the digital signal is fed to Qutest.

Rob Watts has given good reasons though to stay well clear of MQA. (Sorry but his post is hidden somewhere in one of the Chord threads or maybe in Rob Watts own blog).

i am just confused what software unfolding if i am using tidal, is it not supposed to do that work and feed it to the dac

also i see the light colour changes when i use mqa vs non mqa on the qutest

 

[Triode User]

i am just confused what software unfolding if i am using tidal, is not supposed to that work and feed it to the dac

Others will be more clued up but I recollect from when I used Tidal that you can just use their streaming services or you can use the Tidal Masters which has MQA file size reduction. The Tidal software will do the first MQA unfold but you need an MQA compatible dac to do the subsequent unfolds. I’m sure you will get a better explanation if you google MQA unfold or something similar.

 

[miketlse]

i am just confused what software unfolding if i am using tidal, is it not supposed to do that work and feed it to the dac

also i see the light colour changes when i use mqa vs non mqa on the qutest

The tidal app has to do the software unfolding - the unfolding cannot be done by the Qutest.
I think there are three levels of unfolding, and the app does the first level.

 

[Lodwales81]

i am just confused what software unfolding if i am using tidal, is it not supposed to do that work and feed it to the dac

also i see the light colour changes when i use mqa vs non mqa on the qutest

Tidal is unable to decode the mqa material through its player however you will still get slightly higher res music than standard 16bit just not full mqa. I have both roon and audirava which offer mqa software decoding. There is a lot of bad vibe regarding mqa but I like it and can hear a big difference I would like to try Quobuz sublime but at £350 a year subscription I can't justify it.

 

[Sound Eq]

Tidal is unable to decode the mqa material through its player however you will still get slightly higher res music than standard 16bit just not full mqa. I have both roon and audirava which offer mqa software decoding. There is a lot of bad vibe regarding mqa but I like it and can hear a big difference I would like to try Quobuz sublime but at £350 a year subscription I can't justify it.

so if i use roon can I then get full mqa support and roon work with tidal, sorry for these noob questions

 

[miketlse]

so if i use roon can then get full mqa support and roon work with tidal, sorry for these noob questions

@Rob Watts has posted several times regarding MQA, and this is one example https://www.head-fi.org/threads/watts-up.800264/page-65#post-14414362
Apps will do the first unfold, but hardware is required to do the next stages.

 

[Lodwales81]

so if i use roon can I then get full mqa support and roon work with tidal, sorry for these noob questions

Roon and audirava will decode more than tidal, only a fully supported dac can do 100% but I'm happy with the software root. Both roon and audirava support tidal streaming basically you log into your account on either of the above and away you go.

 

[Sound Eq]

Roon and audirava will decode more than tidal, only a fully supported dac can do 100% but I'm happy with the software root. Both roon and audirava support tidal streaming basically you log into your account on either of the above and away you go.

well just bought Audirvana and of course i hear difference , listened to sting 44/876 album in mqa and non mqa, man of course there is a difference , it was an instant buy when i heard the difference

thanks for telling me about Audirvana

it took less than a minute to judge for me and am glad i bought Audirvana

 

[AndrewOld]

Tidal is unable to decode the mqa material through its player however you will still get slightly higher res music than standard 16bit just not full mqa. I have both roon and audirava which offer mqa software decoding. There is a lot of bad vibe regarding mqa but I like it and can hear a big difference I would like to try Quobuz sublime but at £350 a year subscription I can't justify it.

Qobuz have changed their subscription deals. You can now get high res streaming for £24.99 a month or £249 a year. This is their Studio tier and replaces Sublime. Sublime+ stays, but is now £299 a year, and gives you discounted downloads in addition to hi res streaming. Imo £350 a year was already good value for such a fantastic selection of music, but now with Studio you are paying 68p a day which is negligible. And with Qobuz you get the hi res master. MQA only gives you a lossy version of it. Why go with Tidal when you can have the real thing?