MQA Supported Dacs

[Quadboy]

With my Tidal subscription I can now access all their Hi-Res files Master Files including MQA . Interested in a DAC / Streamer that can play MQA files , and I would buy second hand . Any ideas ?

 

[Yank]

There are several Topping DAC models that do MQA and should be found cheap on eBay.

 

[Sonority]

Do yourself a favour and Google MQA & Tidal.

Basically, they are no more.

 

[manicatel]

I would think you will get most people replying here say “don’t bother”, MQA is
1…. A bit of a con, &
2… dead in the water.
Most DACs that are MQA compatible will be advertised as such.
I’m not sure but I think any streamer these days can stream MQA, it’s the DACs that decode it.
My opinion (& it is only that) is that MQA was a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

 

[krenzler]

Don't bother as Tidal are in the process of converting their entire library to (lossless) hi-res FLAC. You will still currently find MQA files in their library but they will be gone soon enough.

For a while quite a few DAC manufacturers worried about getting that MQA certification on their product (because of Tidal being popular with audiophiles) but no need to worry really. 24/96 or 24/192 is all you need really.

 

[colasblue]

There is still a lot of MQA stuff on Tidal and some of it does seem to sound better than the 44.1 KHz PCM cd rip if you have it to compare. Some sounds worse though!

MQA definitely has a "character" to its sound.

Given how cheaply you can get a really good used Topping DAC that handles it why wouldn't you? If you spend a bit more and go for a D90SE or D90III it might well become your only dac. Check your particular model supports MQA though because not all of them do.

 

[Fitnessed]

Run two of these in different systems and they are superb with wiim minis.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/S-M-S-L-MQA-CD-Decoder-AK4493S-768kHz/dp/B0C1Y7C9HH?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Not sure which wiim supports your needs but used as a transport with the above dac ,i think it is unbeatable vfm....

 

[martin clark]

Give MQA a wide berth.
You'll not be missing anything - as done to death here since its inception as a money-maker, proven, ahem, 'unqualified, baseless, land-grab'.

 

[colasblue]

Not so sure actually Martin. If an MQA encoded file is your only option, then replay on a non MQA dac is limited to 13 bit I thought.

I'm finding this hard to test though since there doesn't seem to be any way to actually defeat MQA on my DAC irrespective of Tidal settings.

 

[Quadboy]

Thanks to you all . I seemed to have missed the boat concerning MQA, I'd never really thought about it till I subscribed to Tidal , and there was me thinking I missing out on something good .

 

[Fitnessed]

Thanks to you all . I seemed to have missed the boat concerning MQA, I'd never really thought about it till I subscribed to Tidal , and there was me thinking I missing out on something good .

Your biggest uplift will be, not using the internal WIIM Pro Dac (same as a mini).

Wiim later addressed it with a better dac in the WIIM PRO Plus..

Buy the smsl su1 for a bargain price,it also supports MQA if u want to give it a bash

 

[Peter Stockwell]

For a while quite a few DAC manufacturers worried about getting that MQA certification on their product (because of Tidal being popular with audiophiles) but no need to worry really. 24/96 or 24/192 is all you need really.

And some will argue that 16/44.1 is just fine, too. I know that some so-called hires files sound no different to the rebook version.

Thanks to you all . I seemed to have missed the boat concerning MQA, I'd never really thought about it till I subscribed to Tidal , and there was me thinking I missing out on something good .

Didn't miss out on anything, and paid a premium for the privilege (?) of MQA decoding (Topping DX5 vs DX5 lite, for example).