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DSD vs. PCM vs. MQA - Group listening experiment

Hi everyone,

So I just re-discovered the 2L website which has free samples of high resolution music.

I thought it would be worthwhile to ask the fans about the tracks here, specifically if there are any you feel are really good exemplars of why encoding scheme X is better or different than Y.

I just downloaded a bunch of Vivaldi and will share my own observations (and lack thereof) here.

As for me, file size matters so I'm going to try to stick to relatively similar file sizes when possible.

Best,


Erik
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,554 posts
 
Couple of notes. MQA should sound it's best when the ADC is known and adjusted for. DSD should be at it's best when there has been no modifications to the original, which is nearly impossible due to post processing needing to occur in the PCM or analog worlds.

Or so these are the claims I have heard.
erik_squires OP
16,554 posts
 
So far I've been listening to a Vivaldi Contata, about 70 Megs at 24/96 in FLAC and 44.1/24 MQA FLAC.

I hear no difference, though my DAC indicates the MQA file is playing at 24/352.8kHz.

However, though I hear no difference, the MQA recording makes my ears hot, and uncomfortable. More on this later.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Does anyone know what type of dac was used to compare these group listening experiments with??

Cheers George
ahendler
416 posts
 
Shouldn't the MQA file be 24/44 or 24/48?
Alan
erik_squires OP
16,554 posts
 
@georgelofi

Sorry, the idea was that we would all listen at home with whatever we have.  The "group" part was that we can use the same library of files.

@ahendler Nominal 44khz is really 44.1kHz, so same deal. :)

Best,


Erik
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