[hash70]

like most people I wish mqa would die a quick death ASAP,its nothing more than a way for meridian to make money,there has been measurements took to show there is alot of digital noise in mqa

 

[bagwell359]

iFi will say nothing clear until the path is clear. They are obviously upset they have walked into this wall.

Still, I don't understand how the two final MQA unfolds will occur in the Zen. Wouldn't that require a DAC? I'm interested in the Zen because I want to use my own DAC.

 

[hash70]

I can keep mines until the 20th Dec, any later than that I can't send it bck for refund, I think they will get it sorted but ive got a feeling that this is going to drag into atleast February but im takin no chances,if I've not had a positive response bck before the 20th then bck it goes

 

[MrWalkman]

like most people I wish mqa would die a quick death ASAP,its nothing more than a way for meridian to make money,there has been measurements took to show there is alot of digital noise in mqa

Nobody forces manufacturers to include it in their devices, as nobody forces people to use MQA from Tidal, so I really don't understand the hate.

I used MQA with a Dragonfly Cobalt, and now I'm using it with a Sony WM1A, and it sounds great in both cases.

Choosing to trust your ears could be more beneficial than a bit too much about measurements and stuff. MQA is made to sound good, even if it may not measure good, and that's good enough for me. I enjoy MQA as much as I do a DSD or Hi-Res PCM recording.

I prefer spending time enjoying audio instead of measuring it.

 

[hiplytragic]

iFi will say nothing clear until the path is clear. They are obviously upset they have walked into this wall.

Still, I don't understand how the two final MQA unfolds will occur in the Zen. Wouldn't that require a DAC? I'm interested in the Zen because I want to use my own DAC.

In my case I only need the decoding portion of the MQA process to happen on the stream. The rest (rendering) happens on the zen dac (v1).

This is essentially what happens when I connect my zen dac to a PC or a Mac running the native Tidal app.

As I understand the issue, if you have a DAC that can handle both decoding and rendering of the MQA stream, such as the zen dac V2 (i believe based on the marketing) you won't have this issue.

So yes, depends heavily on what your dac can do. I have not had experience or expectation that the stream could handle the full MQA process.

 

[Brava210]

I agree the MQA thing is a pain, but I also like the sound

 

[hiplytragic]

I agree the MQA thing is a pain, but I also like the sound

Same here. In fact, it was my ears first that noticed MQA wasn't happening which was then visually confirmed via the amber led color on my zen dac instead of the expected purple.

 

[jlemaster1957]

Same here. In fact, it was my ears first that noticed MQA wasn't happening which was then visually confirmed via the amber led color on my zen dac instead of the expected purple.

I am hopeful on Zen Dac V2 that if we just don’t update fw it will continue to unfold MQA- since Zen stream was the issue not Zen Dac V2, correct? Or has IFi stopped all MQA support for all devices?

 

[ozz007]

I am hopeful on Zen Dac V2 that if we just don’t update fw it will continue to unfold MQA- since Zen stream was the issue not Zen Dac V2, correct? Or has IFi stopped all MQA support for all devices?

Zen dac V2 will not work correctly. I sent both of mine back for that reason.

 

[iFi audio]

iFi will say nothing clear until the path is clear. They are obviously upset they have walked into this wall.

It's all good really. If anything, MQA on ZEN Stream caused some confusion that we're now working on to clear and we should have an update on the subject soon. That's all there is to it.

Nobody forces manufacturers to include it in their devices, as nobody forces people to use MQA from Tidal, so I really don't understand the hate.

Indeed. As for MQA playback in this context, it doesn't affect any other audio format and is not forced.

Or has IFi stopped all MQA support for all devices?

We didn't

 

[rlw6534]

Zen dac V2 will not work correctly. I sent both of mine back for that reason.

That's odd. The Zen DAC V2 should work as it is a full MQA decoder (and should remain so with future updates). I don't own one so I can't test.

 

[iFi audio]

That's odd. The Zen DAC V2 should work as it is a full MQA decoder (and should remain so with future updates). I don't own one so I can't test.

For ZEN DAC V2 to decode MQA it hs to receive it first, so a transport for it also has to be capable of sending MQA.

 

[rlw6534]

For ZEN DAC V2 to decode MQA it hs to receive it first, so a transport for it also has to be capable of sending MQA.

I thought the Zen Stream supported MQA passthrough (i.e. bitperfect stream).

 

[hash70]

iFi will say nothing clear until the path is clear. They are obviously upset they have walked into this wall.

Still, I don't understand how the two final MQA unfolds will occur in the Zen. Wouldn't that require a DAC? I'm interested in the Zen because I want to use my own DAC.

its only 1 unfold the zen stream was previously doj g

 

[ozz007]

For ZEN DAC V2 to decode MQA it hs to receive it first, so a transport for it also has to be capable of sending MQA.

Which it does, when you used it in conjunction with the Tidal App, with passthrough or let the tidal app do the first unfold. But for me, trying both ways, it never got past 44100 or 48000, when I just try the same setup with another dac. let's say Focal Arche, with the same song and album, Focal arche will show 96000.