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Tidal MQA vs Qobuz hi-res

My brief experience.. for posterity.

Comparing Tidal MQA to Qobuz hi-res, you -will- hear degredation/loss in the high frequencies (violins in an orchestra etc) on MQA... assuming you have reasonably resolving equipment. For me, that’s Macbook USB to a $150 Audio Engine D1 DAC going to a $600 used Parasound A23 going to used $600 Kef LS50’s, $100 Transparent speaker cables and cheap USB and RCA cables.

The Audio Engine is surprisingly good for it’s price BTW. Over the years, trying different DACs in audio stores when I had an opportunity, I feel like you’d need to spend close to $1,000 to get something significantly better.

The A23 and LS50’s are really good too for today’s used prices. New, they would’ve been $2,500 a few years go

bataras
tom8999
153 posts
 
To answer the questions posed - the Sabre DAC is more revealing and creates a better Soundstage than Lumin’s D1 or the D2 - I have owned the D1 (Wolfson DAC) for over 5 years, and just sold it on Audiogon6 months ago. I have a second system I use in my Mancave - just added the LUMIN D2 to that system 3 weeks ago - 

IMO - the Wolfson DAC is ‘warmer’ than the Sabre’ - vocals on my Mancave system are amazing - this system is as follows- 

Source - Tidal HiFi thru a LUMIN D2
Integrated - Krell S550i
Speakers - Maggie 1.6qrs that I had ‘Gunned’
cables and Speaker wire - Anti Cable

IMO - I like both the Sabre and Wolfson DACs - it all depends on what you like to listen to - Mancave System is best with Jazz vocals, Sabre is best for complex orchestrations and Classic  Rock. The LUMIN T2 creates a HUGH soundstage and instrument separation is bigger so you hear more detail.

people underestimate the benefit of a dedicated Streamer / DAC - note I do not work for LUMIN.

referencing cost - Lumin D2 is $2300 and the LUMIN T2 is $5200.

both systems cost under —$15,000 each all in - Love the quality. 

i have never tried Qbuz - happy with streaming Tidal HiFi with MQA - like I said earlier - retired my Thornes turntable - not cost effective.

goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot
1,368 posts
 
Tom899, I understand your point of reference where the comparison of the two different Lumin components are applied however, the Wolfson and the Sabre DAC chips would sound entirely different when implemented by other companies.Then you have companies who build everything in house and will charge whatever they can get given there is no point of comparison. And there is no point of comparison for most given most are unable to take that niche streamer and implement it into there own stereo.
chinook9
68 posts
 
Tidal may it easy for me.  They give a 40% military discount.  
goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot
1,368 posts
 
chinhook9, Tidal should give a better discount for veterans than 40%.
headphonedreams
527 posts
 
A good reason to stay with a high-def streaming service is to support them. If you can afford it you can even use more than one (I don't use any, yet). I don't think Tidal has started making profits. Not sure about Qobuz. Amazon can of course afford to lose money for years but may give up if they don't reach some target they have set for themselves. 

This was from last year.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2019/12/09/jay-zs-return-to-spotify-could...
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