Tidal and MQA

Anytime I have heard Tidal, it sounded noticeably "compressed" when compared to taking a hi-res (24-96k or 24-192k) WAV/FLAC right from a HD into a decent DAC.

Hey @audiofreak32

How old is your DAC?

I ask because a number of modern DACs handle Redbook a lot better than they used to.  Schiit, Mytek, etc.

I simply don't have this problem at all.

Best,

E

My DAC is about 2 years old I think... Eastern Electric tube DAC, last/latest version.  I would never stream Tidal (or stream anything for that matter), on my system, but the multiple times I have heard Tidal playing on various systems, the sound was disappointing.  The majority of these systems were many times more expensive than my rig.

just Tagging in as I’m curious about this TIDAL business too.

I’m irritated Tidal won’t work on XP OS.
Is it supported on Apple? IOS? Apple TV?

I hate my Win 7 PC. Worst box I’ve ever had for general use.

Setup is everything IMO. As was said, a switch here or a box ticked there and violin! Its all better. Cables do make a diff as well.

Its nice to be able to listen to a really upscale stereo now and then but I gotta keep my expectations in check. The rap sheet for factors affecting sound is very long. And, everything in someone else’ rig was tuned by their ears to their preffs…. And on their budget. Dirty power lines can really affect the sound tremendously.

So can oxidized terminations…. Connectors…. IEC prongs. Etc.

I have started some tentative steps with tidal - I just wanted to see the music that it had that is available. I was astonished that it had some great rare groove music that is hard to get hold of on vinyl so it has me hooked. That said at present I have a CD player that takes PCM up to 384 KHZ - it is not MQA enabled. I have a MacBook Pro and some have recommended Amarra although I understand Audinirvana plus is the more stable platform.
HAs anyone tried first fold MQA enabled music software on a MacBook Pro with tidal? If so is it any good?