mw7485
100+ Head-Fier
Why would it require a hardware decoder ?
And mqa is a lossy compression so decoding can’t recreate the original signal but wether the difference is audible is a different thing.
Lossy? In relation to what? Here are a couple of articles that explain the general principles. Linky 1 & Linky 2. The whole idea of MQA is that you are preserving as much as possible - in as smaller space as possible. Forget the stuff about streaming for now; think of MQA as a CODEC that utilises the "noise space" that other CODECs happily preserve and playback for you. This noise space contains nothing of value - music wise anyway.
I agree, the test is whether a difference can be perceived hence ny desire to find an album that was available in both formats, MQA decoders are for the most part only available in quite expensive gear. The decoder finishes the unfolding process that cannot be done through a software renderer, and ensures you get exactly what was encoded. Whether your monitors can reproduce that is another matter! though.....
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