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MQA’S UNEXPECTED TWIST
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/mqas-unexpected-twist/ I also read from a different article that other services beside Tidal will soon be streaming MQA. |
I've been communicating with Robert Harley from The Absolute Sound. The "MQA's unexpected twist" means that the MQA company has loosened up the requirement that the "unfolding" be done in the DAC hardware. So, if you uncheck the "MQA passthru" option on Tidal, the desktop app will "unfold" the MQA files and present an up to 94/24 file to your conventional DAC. But apparently that will not provide you with all the benefits of MQA, specifically the reduction in digital "blur", which seems to only be able to be done in the (MQA certified) DAC. In my case, when I've compared albums on Tidal which are offered in MQA and "regular" FLAC versions, playing thru my PS Audio DirectStream DAC, the MQA versions which are "unfolded" by Tidal sound a bit "dull" compared to the "regular" FLAC versions. I've tried that with about a half dozen albums, same result. I wonder if there's something with the FPGA design that causes that? So, with the news that Universal has joined Warner and Tidal, I'm wondering if that's the news the DAC manufacturers were waiting for, to incorporate MQA into their future hardware designs....or, could it be that DAC chipset companies like ESS will put that feature into their future offerings? |
I'm not surprised that virtually all music providers or transmitters will jump in. They are forever looking for some 'magic' to boost sales. DVD-A, SACD, were supposedly leaps better than CD. They had a run. Now it's this new 'thing'. I admit to being cynical about this process. "Ultra refinement" when most consumers listen on $20 'buds' ??? |
