MDAC First Listen (part 00110100)
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Mark Dirac
pfm Member
But are you using your MDAC, or a DAC which supports MQA? I doubt that the Tidal Windows program will be decoding MQA on your PC in software. (I hope that I am wrong though.)
Mark Dirac
pfm Member
Note that it is possible to find tracks to A/B. If you can find two versions of an album (as I have) you can play the same track from the two albums and in one album the "Master" flag appears in the bottom-right of the window, and in the other album "HiFI" appears.
(The MDAC displays "24bit/96.0kHz" with both tracks, whether the Tidal indicator reads "Master" or "HiFi" - I guess the MDAC's display simply depends upon how the Windows "Playback/Properties/Advanced" control panel is set.)
Julf
Facts are our friends
And are they definitely the same version (apart from MQA/not MQA) and level-matched?
Mark Dirac
pfm Member
I believe that Tidal are being disingenuous. I believe that they are neglecting to point out that you need to go out and buy new hardware. Again, I hope I am wrong.
Mark Dirac
pfm Member
Of two pairs of tracks I tried, one pair sounded level-matched, and the other did not. The "Master" version sounded quieter than the "HiFi" version, which I guess offers us some hope.
The two pairs sounded to be the same music/recording/mix down.
From last year (click the quote(s) for full thread context as these quotes are literally taken out of context):
Considering the licensing fees to Meridian and the amount of NDA traffic (and also the fact that you have to give them basically all your design secrets to give you the decryption key, according to more than one source), I don't see MQA support as likely in MDAC2/FDAC. At least not in the short-ish term.
Also probably best to not spread generic MQA discussion outside that one topic (not this one), there's been enough hype last year all over the forum.
jansen
pfm Member
My initial thoughts on MQA aligns with John's, something of a DRM in disguise.
However things may change and maybe we should have an open mind vs MQA. If MQA really improves SQ, as some reviewers are saying, why not keep an open door/mindset and evaluate MQA tech/SQ as we go along.
I for one don't have the full picture/details on MQA's impact on the design of a DAC or the secrets that has to be revealed to Meridian. There's always agreements that can address these concerns.
However things may change and maybe we should have an open mind vs MQA. If MQA really improves SQ, as some reviewers are saying, why not keep an open door/mindset and evaluate MQA tech/SQ as we go along.
I for one don't have the full picture/details on MQA's impact on the design of a DAC or the secrets that has to be revealed to Meridian. There's always agreements that can address these concerns.
JohnW
pfm member
JohnW
pfm member
MQA licensing requires you to summit full schematics to Meridian, have no Digital output (no Slave interfaces etc) no Post processing (DSP / FPGA).
IMO I see MQA as just being a cynical attempt at DRM to aplease record company's with the aura of "improved audio quality" to sell to the gullible...
For sure better Digital filters is a good thing but why wrap it up with the DRM!
DSD for me with non of this rubbish!
DANOFDANGER
pfm Member
Read a little bit about it, not interested. Seems messy and not ideal.
JemHayward
pfm Member
If the license allows software decoding (which may be the case with Tidal) it becomes a bit easier, though I can't see Meridian donating a MQA license to the Squeezelite community, which is what I rely on for streaming.
Maybe the music industry needs to face up to the fact that the war was lost ages ago, and they will need to find another way to monetise their product.
Yes is seems messy and it is not cleare what is required.
I got a mail from Tidal saying that you can play MQA only from the desktop App.
On the Roon forum those that have DACs that have official MQA support can play MQA tracks from Tidal with Roon because Roon will simply send the stream untouched to the DAC.
So apparently you do not need special hardware to decode MQA this can be done in software which I suspected all the time. But marketing imply that you need special hardware.
So I will only try MQA if Roon is allowed to make the decoding on the server so it will work with any DAC.
I got a mail from Tidal saying that you can play MQA only from the desktop App.
On the Roon forum those that have DACs that have official MQA support can play MQA tracks from Tidal with Roon because Roon will simply send the stream untouched to the DAC.
So apparently you do not need special hardware to decode MQA this can be done in software which I suspected all the time. But marketing imply that you need special hardware.
So I will only try MQA if Roon is allowed to make the decoding on the server so it will work with any DAC.
Yes there is better chances that you will see Roon do it.
Edit:
Just read on Roon forum that Roon MQA decoding is going to happen in a later release, but not in the imminent 1.3
So no need to implement anything on the DAC
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