[Zybane]

I've become a fan of MQA and Tidal streaming master audio. I stream to my Sennheiser HD700 from my Meridian Explorer 2.

I have a fairly good receiver, a Denon AVR-7200WA. I want to hardware decode Tidal masters with my Meridian Explorer2. Right now my Denon is hooked up to my computer sound card via TOSLINK. So my "sound card" in my computer is just passing a digital signal - software Tidal decoded MQA, via TOSLINK to my Denon, for the AK4490 DAC to process.

Another option would be to send my Meridian Explorer 2 the hardware "pass through" MQA, via USB from my computer to the Meridian 2, and then use the Texas Instruments PCM5102 DAC, send the signal line-out analog 3.5mm, via an Audioquest Big Sur cable into the Denon with RCA plugs.

What do you guys think would sound better? The Tidal software decoding the MQA and sending it digital straight to the Denon to process, or using the hardware MQA decoding of the Explorer 2 but maybe deal with some audio quality loss going analog from the Explorer 2 to the Denon?

 

[yage]

I owned an Explorer2 a while ago. It sounded good when connected to my stereo through the analog outs. However, it was no match for my disc player on PCM (an Ayre C-5xeMP). I think you'll have to try both setups to see what sounds better.