Who are 99% of remastered tracks on tidal so annoying both as a listening and sound stage experience. What exactly is the point.? Some tracks I actually don't even recognize the original production.
A lot depends on your playback system , and you also need a device that can decode MQA.....would be interesting if you provided som examples so people could take a listen.
Streaming via Lenovo yoga tab pro to Bluetooth 4.0 with a Texas Instruments TI PCM5102A 32bit to an Audiolab MDac plus via Stereo RCA, or Digital RCA or Glass fiber Tosslink. to pair of Audiolab 8200mbs Monoblocks driving a pair of USHER Audio Mini Dancer II. This set up is very good with std E Tidal tracks but I feel like I'm missing something huge with the Master E tracks which a lot of my favourite music seems to be converted to. Some are superb I will admit. For eg. All the Fleetwood Mac, Hillary Hahn, Dire Straits, Etc. But.. Beatles, Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Beach Boys, Tom Scott, First Aid Kit, Neil Young, aso are best kept on Std E or vinyl.! Maybe I need a better streamer.! Or play around with the filters. Or run TIDAL via pc or iMac
It's the Bluetooth link. Need to get that stream to the MDAC by wire or WiFi. Most of the benefit of MQA is lost using Bluetooth. Maybe in the future but not with 4.0
I checked the review of your DAC. I did not see MQA mentioned in the review. Tidal Masters is MQA coding. I don't believe your DAC will properly unfold MQA coding.
Did I misunderstand, or are you trying to play MQA files (Tidal Masters) on a DAC that does not support MQA?
MQA file can still play through non-MQA DAC as 44.1kHz/16bit, or do 1st unfold to 48Khz/24bit (on PC). If you have a MQA capable DAC, you can either let DAC to do both unfold (to 96kHz/24bid) or let PC do 1st unfold and let DAC to the 2nd. I prefrer direct wired (no Wifi, No blue tooth)
Is this another one of those threads ‘I love vinyl and everything else is crap’.
Does all of your recordings sound awesome on Vinyl? I think not. Regardless of the format, the sound quality of any recording depends on the original master.
Whatever you do please don’t run TIDAL via pc or iMac. Get a all purpose built audio streamer and run it hardwired to your modem.
Toslink is not the last word in resolution ,I tried the best multi glass $$ cables and they could not match the resolution of my Nordost Heimdal USB cable.
Shadorne - not a chance MQA sounds worse than cd. Do you also think dsd and hires sound worse than cd? You might need a better setup to take advantage of MQA
please don’t get shadorne started on MQA. He never warmed up to MQA and currently owns the ‘perfect’ non-MQA DAC in the world, his ears and the DAC both are completely immune to any digital imperfections 😉
I find non-MQA has less distortion on both Benchmark and Directstream Sr DACs than MQA. MQA doesn’t image quite as well due to the added distortion from the minimum phase filter. The apodizing filter adds some audio compression which while pleasant to many ears, it is simply less faithful to the original than other formats.
You can hear the imaging issues on most tracks but the audio compression is very slight and almost imperceptible unless you know what to listen for. (It changes the timbre of transients)
Tidal has updated its APP so its "Master" MQA files are fully decoded in android device now. They're saying one doesn't need to get a specific MQA dac.
However, there isn't any graphic to confirm the actual source quality so one can only use one's ear.
I accept that Bluetooth 4.0 32bit may not be nirvana but if so why is there a definite 'difference' in the sound stage and image between HiFi and Master.. and to my ear often negative impact.
Unless perhaps Tidal has not actually put a top mqa decoder in its app. Or my 17yr old ears are now 30 yrs out of date.
Shadorne - you might be right with the benchmark dac, I always thought it was a terrible dac, but with the DS, I don’t agree. I also have the PSA DS dac and I think MQA sounds better than an equivalent cd or even vinyl. Since cd gets converted to dsd on the DS, everything sounds great out of the DS
I suppose it is akin to the difference between an original 1962 Chevey Impala that still drives perfectly and a customized rebuild with an ultra reliable high performance modern Audi V8 engine.
There's just something about the original (perhaps a smell) that forever seems to satisfy some folks.
My dac reading from Bluetooth input is saying 48khz as opposed to 44.1khz I get from cd (digital coax) There's no argument that Tidal hifi is cd quality lossless audio. There's also no argument that Tidal MQA is "a very clean detailed reproduction" .. however there's something about it that makes some recording seem bit dead or clinical, lacking warmth or something.
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