I listened to all of the 2L free downloads, via Roon, my Explorer², and Etymotic ER•4PT IEMs. Blue light on for everything.
My initial reaction: totally underwhelmed. I commented to another HH: "Listening to 'Ubi Caritas' by Ola Gjeilo. MQA unfolds to 88k. Sounds no better than CD."
This started me thinking about what might be wrong.
- Was it the Explorer²? No, because I'd heard it sounding great at the MQA launch.
- Was it that the 2L recordings simply weren't in the class of the recordings I'd heard in the Meridian R&D listening room, or at Meridian Oxford? No, because the Carl Nielsen freebie sounded very nice via Explorer² and my high-end Stax at home.
- Was it my Etymotics? I'd always felt that they were very good, but doubts were creeping in...
Then I decided to up the volume, and it was a *revelation*. To put this into context, I've been listening at work and I tend not to listen particularly loudly anyway. But in upping the volume, everything came to life - all that MQA realism appeared - and the timbral clarity, accuracy, and richness I'd expected were all there. The dynamics are also superb!
I wonder if, psycho-acoustically, if something is too quiet, your brain recognizes that something is not right. In other words, the impact of everything is reduced; if you are hearing a piano, it needs to be “piano loud” [or should that be piano forte
].
As a footnote, the 'Ubi Caritas', at higher volume, sounds very high res indeed…
Final comment: normally, I would find listening at higher volumes with headphones "uncomfortable", but not with these MQA tracks.
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