Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music MQA decoding in Tidal App

I was thinking something similar. For non-SE DSP owners, to get the most of MQA right now, there might be some decent alternate option going the active analogue route - at least more economical than a 20k SE upgrade. ATC, Genelec, etc.

Rodney, were you using Dirac or any other DSP in the comparison?

Ken

I use Explorer2 for MQA and have listened to many titles from Highresaudio Audio, 2L and Onkyo. The sound on passthrough on Tidal is excellent via Stax 009 and Martin Logan electrostatics ( minimal phase timing errors on Electrostatic panel). I was interested to compare that setup with Tidal software doing the MQA conversion passed on to my Moon 750D DAC...... Big difference in favour of the Explorer2 conversion and DAC tailoring. Sweet engaging and detailed.... hallmarks of MQA ... and vinyl. Well done all involved with MQA and Tidal. Buy an Explorer2 if you don't already have one!!

Yes, I was using a hardware implemented dirac (miniDSP) , but that doesnt really matter as it is at the end of the chain. I can turn it on or off.. same results of test whether DIRAC is enabled or not.

Does anyone know if Meridian is planning an MQA update of its Director DAC?

This is the frustration. Meridian won't say either way and so we don't know. We have the same questions for MQA on the MS 200 / 600.

I thought MQA on the MS600 was definitely a non-starter? I mean, I'd be overjoyed if this was not the case - as a happy MS600 owner - but given the relatively new Explorer 1 couldn't be upgraded in firmware, I am a bit of a pessimist about an older hardware design making the cut.

Having seen how things like Tidal app are operating (ie appear to be decoding/rendering to 96/24 generic DAC which this time last year we thought was a nono) I'm wondering if there is now a chance that the XMOS equipped Sooloos endpoints will get an MQA decoder/renderer too and feed 96/24 to legacy speakers.

Not sure what would happen with MHR equipped endpoints and how the decode/render split would happen with more capable speakers.

Could someone correct me if I'm wrong but with legacy DSPs and an 818v3 Dirac or other DSP room correction won't work with MQA because the SPDIF out on the 818 is MMHR which would have to be defeated in order for the Dirac to use the digital out. That would kill MQA, right?

Ken

Kent, sooner rather than later, Roon will stream 96/24 decoded MQA to the MSx00 devices. Your MS600 is not obsolete, nor do you need an upgrade to it (which I'm pretty sure isn't on the cards anyway).

Will Roon cap out MQA decoding at 24/96 or will it be user selectable depending on DAC capability? For example, if a user had a 24/384 capable DAC will Roon unfold to the full 24/384 (assuming the original master was at this level, as some of the 2L recordings are)? It would be cool if the user could select the level of unfolding depending on their DAC capability.

Unfold is at 2x now.