cybergalaxy
New Head-Fier
Just wanted to say I have the same observation. But I am puzzled too as I think in both cases the tidal app should be sending bit perfect info to Mojo 2. Any further insights have you since you first posted?I was debating which forum to post this in, I'll give it shot in here. I've been a happy owner of the Mojo 2 for a while now and I find the EQ to be a game changer for my IEM collection. I have owned several TOTL DAPs at different times and I have not experienced a purer EQ implementation on a portable device. Would I like finer band control, sure, but at this price point I am not complaining.
I am a heavy Tidal user as all my playlists are on there and though I would like to switch to Qobuz, it still has a lot of gaps for my collection and music preferences. Thus, I am stuck with multiple MQA-only releases. Which is fine for my setup, or so I thought. I was happily using an iOS device with Tidal, where I assume the Tidal app performs the first unfold, and then feeds Mojo 2 with an 88.2 or 96khz stream, which Mojo 2 happily decodes. It sounds great. Does is sound better than 44.1khz non-MQA Tidal titles? I don't think so.
So the other day I could not find my lightning to usb-c dongle and I thought I'd try a different source. I picked up my DX300 MAX, fired up UAPP (with the MQA plugin) and started streaming my Tidal playlists to Mojo 2 over usb-c. Yes, I could've skipped Mojo in this case and listened through the incredible MAX directly, however for the specific iems I wanted the EQ. In this setup, UAPP performs the first unfold and sends an 88.2 or 96khz stream to Mojo 2. To my utter shock and surprise, the sound out of the Mojo 2 is completely different. The soundstage is spectacularly wider, instrument separation is phenomenal, bass is tighter and harder hitting. This is not subtle. I eventually found my dongle and went back and forth between Tidal on iOS and UAPP on Android. Mojo 2 was the dac in both cases. Big difference in sound.
What's going on here? Is UAPPs MQA unfolding vastly superior to Tidal's? Something else?