Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Re: MQA status?

Bad news from TIDAL. They have too much internal problems and changes in top management. I hope the new CEO makes MQA a top priority and we will soon be able to stream MQA.

Now I wait for news from Meridian! When I read the last posts must it ensure a simple and economical solution for us veterans device users, as I and my 861v4.

Meridian must offer an MQA decoder for this equipment to be possible - or I'm missing here to know more?

Stefan

As Bob Stuart said in the CES 2015 (MQA) Q&A:
In short, there will almost certainly be a standalone MQA --> MHR decoder which can be used with 96/24 loudspeakers. What the feature set (ethernet input, USB input, SpeakerLink input, SPDIF input) of such a device or devices might be, we simply have to wait and see.

The more difficult question will be whether or not such a device can be connected to a legacy processor. Is MHR "just MHR" and any existing processor will work with a *decoded* MQA input? Will there (need to) be new firmware which can handle the decoded MQA signal (in MHR format)? Will there be new firmware which recognises (or can be programmed to recognise) an MQA decoder output and automatically apply a bypass mode? Etc. We have no idea at this time.

In a Meridian system, what "decoding MQA and transmitting the result as MHR" means is a very complex question.

The 818v3 "decodes" MQA and transfers the result to the SE speakers over MHR, and the speakers show 352 or whatever as the input rate.

BUT we know that stereo 352 cannot natively be sent down a single SPDIF/AES cable.

So what exactly is the 818 sending to the SE speakers? It must in fact still be packed (or "folded") in rather a high-tech way, to fit down the SL cable.

This then begs the question: what will come out of the SPDIF outputs of the Auralic device? Surely not 352! Not possible. So there is immediately a limitation there which the Meridian equipment doesn't have.

(Presumably any other firm's equipment which is a closed system of MQA In/Analogue Out, can also work to full 352 level, because SPDIF/AES doesn't come into it. I note that the sample decoder board the MQA has developed appears to have only analogue outputs.)

Thank you very much for the detailed information. So it only remains to wait whether Meridian intends or whether our previously a foreign product offers a solution.
Regards
Stefan

The Auralic also has a USB output; however, I find it unlikely that anything other than vanilla PCM will be output, which means no ADC compensation in the DAC.

Aries spec:

Output
USB 2.0 High-Speed for compatible DAC**
AES/EBU, Coaxial, TOSLINK***

** 'compatible DAC' means a DAC do not require a driver for Mac OS X
*** Sampling rate limited to 44.1K - 192K and DSD64 only

Wilson Audio too? Where did you see that?

Soundserge

This makes me worried about the availability of MQA music "The library of MQA music is set to expand further during 2016 with 7digital, Onkyo Music, HQM (Japan) and Jay Z-led TIDAL all aiming to bring MQA music to the masses."

That's it?

There is more,

I saw MQA is going to be demonstrating MQA via Wilson speakers; probably just to demonstrate it in the context of an analogue downstream system. Not sure that Wilson are "on board" so to speak.

Agreed. At this point I'm a lot more concerned about what's available to decode rather than how the decoding is done. Where are the major labels?

Ken

Something appears to be holding the major labels back from announcing MQA content. Possibly wishful thinking on my part, but lots of clues point to there being a much larger catalog of MQA content based on several years of work with the labels. Clues such as:

• The attendees at the MQA launch in 2014, including representatives from Sony Mobile and Warner Music
• Bob's statements in the recent joint interview with Pål from TIDAL as well as statements in other interviews.
  
• statements from Mike Jbara from Warner
• anecdotes of a senior Sony Legacy music executive tracking down a specific analog master tape for a Bob Dylan recording
• the range of demo tracks mentioned, including Dire Straits and Steely Dan in this week's Techhive article. As far as I can tell those tracks must have come from either Warner Music or Universal Music's vaults
• Also the (Columbia Records/Sony?) Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga Cheek to Cheek album demonstrated on a Pioneer device
• The interview with Craig Kallman from Atlantic Records and Bob Stuart

What is holding back the labels from announcing? If experience is any guide — lawyers.

Soundserge

The Stereophile article also refers to Peter McGrath enthusing about the sound quality - the first post of the article referred to "Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio" but the current version of the article just refers to him in a personal capacity as a recording engineer. They won't be "on board" in the sense of the other partners as they do not make anything other than conventional speakers, but I still think it's good to see one of the most respected individuals in the industry in supportive mode.