[alekc]

No I haven't but I'm sure it's great.

The production was obviously as good as it gets in all aspects. It seems there was extreme attention to detail when it came to the engineering of the very striking recording of her vocals and where her voice was in the mix, as you can hear every subtle nuance.

I've asked since I am away from my main rig and have only Mojo (Chord does not support MQA) with LCD-1 with me but I really wonder is there a much difference between CD and Tidal release of this wonderful album. As my belief is that some MQA releases sounds better due to different mastering and not due to MQA compression I am looking forward to long a AB testing when I will be able to play it from CD and Tidal with MQA enabled DAC simultaneously.

 

[PortableMusic]

i wonder why there is so little information, or replies, to the question of if and when Sony will put MQA versions of Pink Floyd's albums and tracks on Tidal soon?

since Warner did it in Europe recently, i was hoping that Sony would also jump on the MQA train. then again, Sony has a history of preferring proprietary technologies. sort of like if it's not invented here (i.e. by Sony), we don't want to jump on it. witness Betamax, MiniDiscs, Memory Sticks, etc.

Let's hope not in this case!

 

[gimmeheadroom]

i wonder why there is so little information, or replies, to the question of if and when Sony will put MQA versions of Pink Floyd's albums and tracks on Tidal soon?

since Warner did it in Europe recently, i was hoping that Sony would also jump on the MQA train. then again, Sony has a history of preferring proprietary technologies. sort of like if it's not invented here (i.e. by Sony), we don't want to jump on it. let's hope not in this case!

That's an interesting comment and I have to agree with it. Sony is the king of proprietary technology misadventures. I didn't notice NIH syndrome from them but it's very possible.

Actually that would be an ok situation I think. I would like choices in unwatermarked hires in addition to MQA options. This could work out!

 

[PortableMusic]

That's an interesting comment and I have to agree with it. Sony is the king of proprietary technology misadventures. I didn't notice NIH syndrome from them but it's very possible.

Actually that would be an ok situation I think. I would like choices in unwatermarked hires in addition to MQA options. This could work out!

@gimmeheadroom: hi there and thanks for your comment.

would you mind clarifying what you meant please? when you wrote that it would be an ok situation and that you like choices, are you saying that you're happy that Tidal does NOT have Sony albums in MQA?

confused. thanks.

 

[rkw]

i wonder why there is so little information, or replies, to the question of if and when Sony will put MQA versions of Pink Floyd's albums and tracks on Tidal soon?

No information because Sony hasn't made any public statements or press releases about it. Simple as that.

BTW, Sony Classical is a huge catalog. I have never seen any Sony Classical release with MQA.

 

[Uncle00Jesse]

Sorry for my ignorance on this, just a couple of questions about mqa:

1. in order to benefit, you need a specific MQA capable DAC, is that correct? What are some standouts in this category?

2. If not using an MQA DAC, what happens when you play an MQA track? Should you always use the non MQA version in tidal instead or does it not matter?

 

[Deolum]

Sorry for my ignorance on this, just a couple of questions about mqa:

1. in order to benefit, you need a specific MQA capable DAC, is that correct? What are some standouts in this category?

2. If not using an MQA DAC, what happens when you play an MQA track? Should you always use the non MQA version in tidal instead or does it not matter?

Read on p. 66. I asked the same.

 

[MrWalkman]

Sorry for my ignorance on this, just a couple of questions about mqa:

1. in order to benefit, you need a specific MQA capable DAC, is that correct? What are some standouts in this category?

2. If not using an MQA DAC, what happens when you play an MQA track? Should you always use the non MQA version in tidal instead or does it not matter?

1. You need a MQA Full Decoder or a MQA Renderer

A MQA Full Decoder can decode the MQA file on its own. The only thing is that the MQA data has to be sent without being altered by another device in the path. For example, in the Tidal app you need to set "Exclusive" to on, and also "Passthrough" to on, to the MQA data will be passed to the DAC untouched

A MQA Renderer needs the playing software to do a first unfold, and then the DAC device completed the unfold. In Tidal, you would need "Exclusive" to on, and "Passthrough" to off. While "Passthrough" is off, Tidal will do the first unfold instead of sending all the data to the DAC.


2. If you're not using a type of device mentioned above, then the file will just be played as a 24/44.1/48 kHz FLAC file - the idea is that you can still play the files, but not at their best, which can only be achieved with one of those DAC types.

Not all apps can do the first unfold. I know only of Tidal, Audirvana, and on Android devices you can use USB Audio Player Pro. On Android, the UAPP app can also play tracks from Tidal (you log in the app with your Tidal details and you can search for tracks, see your favorites, etc.).

 

[Uncle00Jesse]

Thank you for the info! This is probably a long shot since it’s so old but I’m still using a Squeezebox Touch as my Tidal streamer to the DAC, therefore not using the official app. Do you know if I can change those settings you mentioned through the Logitech server or would I have to use the app for that?

 

[1-MiC]

That being said, the quality of your stream is not as important as the quality of your chain. I'm not utilizing MQA unfolds anymore than the initial software unfold, and I'm still enjoying Tidal all the same. I cancelled my Amazon HD subscription because of it, and they offer more "hi-res" without any decoding needing to be done.

 

[Left Channel]

Thank you for the info! This is probably a long shot since it’s so old but I’m still using a Squeezebox Touch as my Tidal streamer to the DAC, therefore not using the official app. Do you know if I can change those settings you mentioned through the Logitech server or would I have to use the app for that?

The Tidal app for LMS/Squeezebox does not support MQA. Certification would cost time and money, so I doubt that will ever happen. This has been discussed many times on the slimdevices forum. (For Hi-Res streaming on LMS/Squeezebox I use my local downloads or the Qobuz streaming app for LMS, but that's a different thread.)

If on the other hand you use the Tidal app for Windows or Mac, the app would do the "first unfold" in software regardless of whether you have an MQA DAC. I think that was left out of a previous post above. From there an MQA "renderer" DAC takes it the rest of the way, while a full MQA DAC doesn't require that first unfold.

For what it's worth the MQA first unfold, also known as "1x software decoding" sounds fine to me.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

@gimmeheadroom: hi there and thanks for your comment.

would you mind clarifying what you meant please? when you wrote that it would be an ok situation and that you like choices, are you saying that you're happy that Tidal does NOT have Sony albums in MQA?

confused. thanks.

I think it is good if the same albums are available in more than one version. It's hard to know what master is used for anything but Sony has a good reputation for jazz releases including on SACD that get good reviews.

In the past we had catalog numbers from different record companies for the same album. I would not like to see a situation where everything is MQA, or nothing is MQA. I'd like to be able to choose from different versions just like I did before MQA came out.

Sorry for my ignorance on this, just a couple of questions about mqa:

1. in order to benefit, you need a specific MQA capable DAC, is that correct? What are some standouts in this category?

2. If not using an MQA DAC, what happens when you play an MQA track? Should you always use the non MQA version in tidal instead or does it not matter?

Plenty of discussion on this at different points in history in this thread and elsewhere.

1. No, there is benefit without an MQA DAC but for "full benefit" you need MQA support, yes.
In what price range?

2. The Tidal desktop app does the first unfold so you get some benefit. As far as I can tell, if there is an MQA version and you set the hifi option instead of Master, you will still get an MQA stream, only the Tidal app will not unfold at all. Let your ears be the judge of whichever version you like. There is no rule except that the customer is always right

 

[PortableMusic]

...

Plenty of discussion on this at different points in history in this thread and elsewhere.

1. No, there is benefit without an MQA DAC but for "full benefit" you need MQA support, yes.
In what price range?

2. The Tidal desktop app does the first unfold so you get some benefit. As far as I can tell, if there is an MQA version and you set the hifi option instead of Master, you will still get an MQA stream, only the Tidal app will not unfold at all. Let your ears be the judge of whichever version you like. There is no rule except that the customer is always right

it's interesting for me to read that a number of the good folks here are happy with, or interested in doing only the first unfold and be done with that, i.e. not going to full MQA hardware unfolding, which as per the MQA site (their own site), is their version of "ideal" - full hardware unfolding. software first unfold is a Plan B.

it's interesting to me because for myself, my decision making has never included a first unfold only! i want full hardware unfolding, or no mqa at all.

my thinking is that if i were to do MQA, i'd do mqa as they intended it to sound, i.e. full hardware unfolding. otherwise, i'd live sans mqa until the day i am good to go for full hardware unfolding.

chacun a son gout!

 

[gimmeheadroom]

it's interesting for me to read that a number of the good folks here are happy with, or interested in doing only the first unfold and be done with that, i.e. not going to full MQA hardware unfolding, which as per the MQA site (their own site), is their version of "ideal" - full hardware unfolding. software first unfold is a Plan B.

it's interesting to me because for myself, my decision making has never included a first unfold only! i want full hardware unfolding, or no mqa at all.

my thinking is that if i were to do MQA, i'd do mqa as they intended it to sound, i.e. full hardware unfolding. otherwise, i'd live sans mqa until the day i am good to go for full hardware unfolding.

chacun a son gout!

I did a quick listen one time and I think the sound with the Tidal app doing the unfolding is pretty good. For casual listening it's certainly good enough. If you have an analytical setup and like hearing every detail then it's probably worth shelling out for a good MQA DAC to get the last mile out of the stream.

 

[PortableMusic]

I did a quick listen one time and I think the sound with the Tidal app doing the unfolding is pretty good. For casual listening it's certainly good enough. If you have an analytical setup and like hearing every detail then it's probably worth shelling out for a good MQA DAC to get the last mile out of the stream.

i have two set ups:

1) mid-fi/low-fi: in wall speakers in order to save space and have better decor, whole house system, powered by audio visual rack of AVRs. Bluesound Node 2i connected to this system via ethernet.

2) Empyreans, A&K Kann Alpha.

In both cases, full hardware MQA unfolding is done "in device", i.e. the Node 2i does full hardware unfolding in the Node 2i, and the Kann Alpha has dual ES9068 dac chips with on-chip MQA full hardware unfolding.

nothing to deal with for me: all done "in one box".