Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music MQA listening impressions (without a MQA decoder)

Not really surprised, the upsampling and apodizing is there to fix problems that MQA already fixed. Using MQA should remove the 'artifacts' that the upsampling/apodizing stuff tries to mitigate. Having a clean input treated might not be beneficial.

I wondered about that too. However the 5k2s still upsample, so what accounts for the difference?

I was puzzled that I was not hearing the same quality in undecoded MQA files as some others have reported. I came to them with huge expectation bias given the reputation of 2L and the vastly more sophisticated mastering claimed for MQA. I then remembered that I had not upgraded to the latest USB driver (v1.68.19, November 2015). With this installed there did seem to be an improvement in scale, sweetness and focus (although focus could still do with improvement).

Was this just more expectation bias? Try it for yourself and see what you think.

Maybe this is altered by the delivery hardware. I was very impressed via my MS200 into G61R. Analog active speakers.
Chris

Need to buy a USB a-b before I can try. One on order.

I have tried undecoded 2L MQA Files vs 96/24 counterparts on MS600 direct into 5ks and could fairly reliably pick out the difference. Just the sharpness of sound gave it away for me. I also only had one fully functional ear owing to a horrible cold. Interested to know whether anyone else has experienced this on equipment limited to 96/24.

Matt

I downloaded 2 tracks from 2L of violin concerto no 4:

1..The MQA version
2.. 24/96 version

I was blown away by the MQA version played undecoded thru my system.

The 24 bit version just lost the sense of realism of the UNDECODED MQA (24/44)... Not subtle differences either... the MQA one sounded real ... the 24/96 like hifi.

I would be amazed if the reproduction was even more improved once decoded... as it's amazing right now.

I agree, the track you have downloaded gave me the most noticeable improvement out of the three I compared. Looking forward to the full fat version.

Matt

Rodney, if you are able to get an MQA decoder in there, do it!

The difference is sound is significant.

T

Have you now had a chance to listen?

I am disappointed that so few people have posted their impressions here. And only one of the four mods has posted their impressions.

Nobody wants to sip thin gruel when full fat is "just round the corner" (or should I say "on the horizon")?

That is true. However, there may be many situations when you have access to MQA files but not MQA decoding, so the quality is still important.

And I would have thought that many Meridian owners would be curious to hear what these files sound like, having waited so long, even if they have yet to hear them at full resolution. This might be especially true for those who have not been to any of the Meridian demonstrations.

And I think that impressions of these files undecoded is still of serious interest. Has the "better than CD" claim been vindicated? This is surely something worthy of debate or does this forum not do that kind of thing any more?