goofyfoot, I have a Hegel H590 with streaming built in. At least -some- streaming. You can do Spotify connect, airplay, etc. But you can't hand off Tidal or Qobuz to it. For that, you need something streaming those services into one of it's digital inputs. It will unfold MQA over USB from Tidal. They're going to be rolling out an update soon (I heard 30 days?) that turns it into a Roon endpoint. I have high hopes for that.
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
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
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- 41 posts total
- 41 posts total