2. tech-talk
  3. 151126-123258

How many of you believe in MQA?

I have recently purchased a Bluesound Node 2i.  The dealer suggested I connect the Bluesound by way of digital coax to a Pro-Ject S2 DAC by way of RCA anologue to my ARCAM AVR550.  However, I found out I will not be able to control my Bluesound with an iPhone, iPad or PC notebook.  The only way to hear MQA completely unfolded is to plug in a computer USB.  This would mean I would have to get up from where I am sitting, go to the computer to change songs and albums.  I believe the Pro-Ject RS2 DAC would work, but not sure what the sales price is or if this is a good option.

The dealer asked me why I wanted to even bother listening to MQA completely unfolded when the DAC sounded better than the DAC inside the Bluesound.  He thinks MQA is way over rated and it may not be around a year from now.  If I hook things up with the Pro-Ject S2 DAC I will be able to hear one unfold which would be at 24 bit/88.2 kHz.  If I do this, I will be giving up the opportunity to hear MQA recordings recorded at 24 bit/96 kHz or 24 bit/192 kHz.  

How many of you are enbracing MQA?  
128x128larry5729
gdnrbob
4,452 posts
 
I agree with your dealer. I think of MQA as the Dolby of the 21st century. Though it sounds nice on paper, why do I have to buy equipment to fully extract the beautiful sound? - Oh yes, money...
I will take either a high resolution track, or use my Memory Player Mini, thank you.
Bob
erik_squires
16,235 posts
 
I think MQA is terribly over rated.

I have a Mytek Brooklyn which was one of the first fully MQA compatible DACs out there. I've disabled it and never looked back.


As I've written before, MQA is to my mind, about 20 years too late. 20 years ago DACs playing Redbook just did not sound very good. Now that has greatly improved to the point where the best DACs make high resolution files a lot less important to me. I spent time with an older ARC DAC 8 and the Mytek, but other DACs I've heard more casually confirm this. Something about new DACs, perhaps better and cheaper clocks, perhaps better jitter reduction, has shifted things.
With the ARC 8 I had to use high resolution files for it to sound good. The red book did not. With the Mytek, this delta in performance really disappeared.

I talked to a few audiophiles at the SF audiophile society and they basically concurred, they could not find an improvement. 
And yes, I agree, the performance of the DAC in terms of it's output stage is FAR more important to me now than MQA or even the original file resolution.

Go with your ears.


Best,

E
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
I cancelled Tidal as a result of my disillusionment with MQA.  Opted for Qobuz hi-res.  MQA just isn't sonically pleasing to my ears.
More to discover