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MQA arrives on Tidal

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i bought a Mytek Brooklyn and MQA wasn't a factor in my purchase choice at all. I knew little about it, honestly. I have to say, using MQA files has been easy and on my Mac/iTunes. I thought I'd have to do more configuring to get that MQA light to light up.

I have had no luck with DSD. Can't figure out how to play a DSD file on my Mac, but I also haven't spent a lot of time trying.
 
This ?

MQA is still in pending status for AURALiC due to technical conflict with Lightning streaming platform.
 
misterdog said:
This ?

MQA is still in pending status for AURALiC due to technical conflict with Lightning streaming platform.
Click to expand...

Well they write:

"[...] the MQA process is end to end and the DAC has to be optimized for MQA playback, so any digital output of fully decoded signal is unacceptable."

(emphasis added)

I assume that the digital signal coming out of the Aries is still MQA *en*coded, not *de*coded as they say they cannot/will not do this. Thus an MQA capable DAC following afterwards should be able to *de*code the signal.
 
vln said:
I have a Mac and I have connected it to the MDAC as well. However the MDAC just displays whatever I define in Audio Midi Setup.

Thus, when I play locally stored 16bit/44.1kHz music via iTunes, the Mac upsamples it to 24bit/96kHz if I have set it at that in Audio Midi Setup and the MDAC displays it as such.

Not sure how I can get my Mac to output whatever the source is?
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Same here - The output is resampled (apparently) to whatever I set Audio Midi to. Sounds ok, but I can't really tell if I'm getting higher resolution than the standard offering. Overall, I think 16/44.1 via my RPi is probably better, but I don't normally listen via my Mac, so too many unknowns to make a sensible conclusion.
 
JemHayward said:
Same here - The output is resampled (apparently) to whatever I set Audio Midi to. Sounds ok, but I can't really tell if I'm getting higher resolution than the standard offering. Overall, I think 16/44.1 via my RPi is probably better, but I don't normally listen via my Mac, so too many unknowns to make a sensible conclusion.
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I have an MDAC and I too have this problem, but from Widows. The Tidal program insists that I set Windows to 16/44.1kHz. But this is not an option for me in Windows - only 24bit options appear in the drop-down. I suspect this is because the MDAC is not advertising itself as a 16 bit DAC?
 
via the Tidal app on the MAC I think that the master versions sound better than the 16/44.1 versions, but comparing the MQA version of Natalie Merchant's Tiger Lilly with my 24/96 copy (presumably from same "master") via the RPi the local version is much, much better. So, I'm now wondering if the Tidal app is actually decoding the MQA or just playing it at 16/44.1 - and my Mac is obscuring what the actual stream is.
If I create the MQA as a playlist, then play it back via the RPi then the MDAC reports it as 16/44.1 which is what it should do. The 16/44.1 from the MQA sounds ok, but not a patch on the local 24/96 version.
If MQA can be made to work as a way of streaming higher resolutions I'll be very happy, but its got to be easy, and at the moment it is't.
 
I'm listening to T-Rex Electric Warrior in what my Hugo reads as 24/192. This is using the Tidal app. Hopefully in a few weeks we can have Roon doing the decoding.

It's all positive as far as I'm concerned as I'm getting MQA "free" with my Tidal.

I'm yet to be fully convinced by hi-res, but I don't mind getting them for nowt.

SJB.
 
JemHayward said:
Same here - The output is resampled (apparently) to whatever I set Audio Midi to. Sounds ok, but I can't really tell if I'm getting higher resolution than the standard offering. Overall, I think 16/44.1 via my RPi is probably better, but I don't normally listen via my Mac, so too many unknowns to make a sensible conclusion.
Click to expand...
Are you setting your dac to exclusive mode and selecting your dac in the settings option in the Tidal Mac app/
All the master albums I have tried so far are showing 24/96 from my MBP into Chord Mojo apart from one .
Should be no need to mess with audio midi settings.
I don't think I'm getting the full MQA as I don't think the Mojo is capable but most sound very good probably due to remastering in 24/96.
 
With the Brooklyn I selected the DAC, checked exclusive mode as well as checked passthrough MQA/disable software decoding of MQA. That lit my blue MQA light

Currently listening to Schmilco
 
Something I found on Goggle
Here we must remember that an MQA-capable DAC is NOT required for basic playback of an MQA file.

According to Stuart, those without an MQA DAC should still find that MQA-encoded or MQA-processed source material sounds better than its Redbook counterpart.

“You can take an MQA-encoded file, play it anywhere, and it will sound better than CD”, he said (according to this Stereophile piece).
Click to expand...
 
I have tidal but use iPad app and Aex then optical into an mf dac. To hear mfq I need to plug my laptop into my stereo . How do I best do that ?
 
Is there any way to configure NOT to unfold from 96k to 192?
Otis recordings are very unlikely to contain 50kHz plus content
 
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