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So taking that, why its not possible to hear MQA on a 861 without MRC ?
The output card of the 861 is MCh , 808/818 are stereo.I think there is no difference in the hardware .So bypass MRC, thats it. ...
I'm not saying you can't bypass MRC or even EBA; I'm saying that I don't want to.
I have the 861 because I need the MRC to control a couple of boundary standing waves in my well-treated room. Without controlling the bass with MRC, I get some blooming that masks the lower mid range. I'm sure many people have this issue. So, unless you have been able to control the bass region with treatments, you have to give up good bass to hear MQA? It seems to me that we shouldn't be in a position to have to make that compromise.
And what about EBA? IIRC, it came out of all the MQA research so it should work. But, it messes with the bits so maybe it shouldn't work.