Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Can I play Non-decoded MQA files on MC200

Greetings,

I just updated my Control:PC to the latest version (2.494).

Can I import/play MQA files in their "Non-Decoded" state?

My understanding is that the MQA process removes timing errors in the original recording and yields sonic benefits even if played back as a ordinary FLAC file on conventional gear.

I downloaded a couple of MQA encoded tracks from the 2L website but am unable to "import" them into my MC200.

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers

Curious. I was able to import (to our Sooloos system) and play MQA encoded test bench files I downloaded from 2L. Formed an "album" from the separate tracks I downloaded and made a second from the companion 24/96 versions of the same pieces for comparison. Waiting for the promised upgrade to the 861 for full fat MQA

John

I'd be curious what the import error was reported to be? I imported quite a lot of music into my Sooloos before Roon (predates MQA).

Were the albums you made mixed rates (44/24 & 88/24) ? The 2L files were different rates undecoded IIRC.

Sooloos used to always spit those out as unsupported.

No idea if that limitation was ever lifted.

An MQA file should behave like a normal 44.1 or 48 kHz 24 bit file and should playback on any system that can play red book CD-rips. And they do in the equipment I have. An MQA file has the artifacts of the A/D conversion corrected and thus should sound better than the identical file without MQA at 44.1 or 48 kHz.

That limitation was lifted. Just confirmed by re-importing a mixed bitrate album.

Soundserge

Hi Hans

Agreed. My experience using the 2L downloads in different formats confirms this.

Not sure this is conclusive as we need more MQA material to make a valid judgement.

Hector

Yes you can. I have done this with the 2L files on my MC200.

From memory once imported, I added them to an album. I added CD quality files to one album. I added MQA to another (with MQA in the album title). That way when doing some A/B comparisons of CD and undecoded MQA I could see in the Sooloos queue which files were which.

If your issue is that you cannot import from file, then I'm confused other than to suggest the usual power cycle and try again. Presumably the downloaded files play on your computer OK?

I used a Mac to import them, not a PC, but I'd be surprised if that made a difference...

Note I did this before the latest release of Control:Mac/Control:PC ... If I get chance I'll try importing MQA files again.

Thanks to everyone for their input & suggestions.

I downloaded 2 files from the 2L website. Both files end with xxx.mqa

The issue is that I'm unable to import the files into Control:PC

I've tried several times to import them as individual files as well as a folder. Every time I attempt the import I get the same result. A status bar appears with the title "extracting tags" and then almost instantly disappears.

I've tried rebooting several times but still no success. If anyone has any ideas I'm keen to try them.

I downloaded a few 2L test files as well, here is how they look now:

2L-106_04_stereo_DXD_FLAC.mqa.FLAC

You might have to add .FLAC to the filename to enable import. They are 24bit FLAC files, after all.

In Sooloos settings, you probably have it set to ignore duplicates. Untick that and try again.