? MQA got some splainin to do

Everything Else
21

Hey JimT, welcome aboard. One question: it sounds like you’re using a DAC in conjunction with the Sony DSD player. Is that right? I’ve heard that you can only get the normal red book output from CD players. That’s one of the standout features of PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport; you can get the Raw DSD to send to the DirectStream DAC. Did I misunderstand what you’re doing or how it works?

I’ve got an Opportunity BDP-105 (I think that’s the model). It’s got SPDIF out, but I thought that wouldn’t send the DSD layer out. Can anyone confirm?

22

We all like what we like. Our systems, rooms, and ears are different. If you are happy with MQA, don’t let anyone make you feel bad. I believe in measurements as a guide, but in the end I listen to my system (not sit there admiring specs). So my ears are the final judge.

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23

When I signed up for Tidal, I had a 5Mb/s DSL broadband connection. It couldn’t reliably stream anything higher than 44/16. So having MQA pack higher res into that same bandwidth was a good choice. Now I have 25Mb/s, and I prefer the sound of hi res flac to MQA. So it was helpful for a while.

24

Please do not confuse streaming with MQA. Streaming high bit rate FLAC from Qobuz, with or without Roon is really quite good.

Streaming MQA is another topic completely.

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25

MQA needs to be considered in the context of UK broadband services, because MQA was launched in the UK by a UK company (Meridian) in December 2014. I have been using Qobuz since it was launched in the UK, around 2012 or 2013, and it was only 16/44 streaming, but you could download HD formats. For a lot of people HD streaming would not have been possible, but a lot of our system has since been upgraded from wire to fibre. Qobuz started streaming HD PCM in early 2017, and I had no problem streaming it, at which point the data compression of MQA became an irrelevance.

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26

I am NOT using the outboard dac for DSD/SACD out of my disc spinner. It is only for improving the quality of PCM files. My 2nd DSD capable DAC is for my computer using JRiver and the Tascam DSD playback software for playing DSD files.

Sadly Sony and many others have given up on SACD. Denon and Yamaha are the only ones who offer players under $2K and those are about $1200. There is no I squared S of the them. Luckily my Yamaha S-1800 still plays SACDs, but I’m sure the quality is not up to the current players. Sony has a $600 bluray player that has stereo analog out for SACD, but a review I read said it did not sound very good.

The problem with some SACDs is that we don’t know what master was used and many are just remixes of low res. PCM or master tape transfers. Some like the Norah Jones early release were caught as just using the redbook master for the transfer. I’m glad I found out before I bought it.

The PS Audio DSD’s are great.

27

Well, I. guess you aren’t on Bob Stewart’s Christmas card list then. Tsk, tsk.

28

With a DVD player which the Son’s and the Yamaha are, including SACD, they can play PCM up to 2496 and so a new DAC can help them since they are very old and DACs have seriously improved since then. Somewhat sadly, even the $99 Schitt DAC improved the Sony players which tells me a lot. It takes the Project Audio S2 to improve the Yamaha in PCM.

If I decided again a Tascam DA 3000 DSD recorder than I might look at the $1699 PSAudio DAC. This pandemic has kept me from recording anything for over a year, sadly. I really miss that.

29

Well, I was going to try Qobuz at some point anyway and this video has prompted me to cancel my Tidal subscription for now and sign up to Qobuz. Will have to see if it’s got enough of a catalog that I can find most of what I need. If not, it’s going to be back to Spotify, now that they have lossless.

Those who are sticking with Tidal might want to know that Tidal offered me 20% off for 3 months if I continued.

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30

I started with Tidal about 8 months ago when I bought a Strata, and got a Qobuz subscription about a month ago. Listening to both for a month I’ve decided to cancel my Tidal subscription and got that same 20% discount offer for 3 months. So far Qobuz’s catalog has only disappointed me a couple of times as I recreate my favorites and playlists in Qobuz.

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31

What I don’t like about Meridian, Bob, and MQA, is how they made a concerted effort to silence and censor anyone who challenged the validity of their secret sauce. If what you’re pedaling is true and legit, you should be open and willing to allow those with opposing viewpoints to challenge you.
Only those who are lying and pushing snake oil go out of their way to silence their detractors, but in the end the truth always comes out.

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32

If I had a new technology that I believed in, I’d be doing all the testing I could get done, and if tests are good, I would want every magazine, online or print, and anyone else who could spread the word with tests and listening to review it. If you truly believe in your product, why in the world are you not proud enough to have everyone in the world test it along with listening to it and analyzing it?

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33

A flim flam man is all he, Bob and those peddling MQA, are. Charlatans. The worst part is it’s spreading list a virus.

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34

If it ain’t open source…

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35

FYI. I don’t streaming and don’t know MQA at all.
But Hans Beekhuyzen is one of the channels I follow.

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36

Hans didn’t say anything worth listening to. He basically said “MQA sounds good to me”. The Golden video never discussed how MQA sounds or any other subjective traits. The Golden video focused specifically on technical analysis showing that MQA does not do what it claims to do. Not how it sounds.

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37

Curious on MQA, so I did google / YouTube search. Wow. Indeed this is a “hot” or “heat” topic, even Paul has something to say about it.

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38

I bought DSD files encouraged by Paul Mac Gowan as well as a Stellar Gain Cell DAC. Unfortunately the electronics of the SGCD gave up on me after just 1.5 years of normal operation.

Being locked down, losing the possibility to listen to music in my home office for weeks, having to ship or take the unit to my dealer I gave up on all the DSD, PCM, CD, MQA discussions.

I did not want the SGCD back as I expect reliable equipment when I pay so much money.

Now I play CDs, stream lossy AAC music from Apple Music which sounds better than many CDs as Apple seems to have an edge on remastering, convert the DSD files to FLAC and play vinyl.

My new NAD system with BluOS is fully MQA certified. I do not stream from Tidal, because I am perfectly fine with Apple Music and don’t want to pay for another subscription.

I do intend to buy MQA sampler CDs though.

MQA does not require a 6000 dollar SACD player to try and get enhanced sound, it works even with my 30 year old Technics CD player, via optical Toslink as long as the DAC is MQA certified.

That is the coolest thing I ever heard of!

A MQA CD costs 4 Euro more than a regular, the samplers are available in Europe and I am happy to import other MQA CDs from Japan if I hear the benefit.

At the end, it is the music that matters. The file format discussions are a Internet forum phenomenon.

Edited, I wrongly stated that PS Audio did not license MQA. Should have done my homework better.

I would like to encourage you to listen to the back end of every Hans Beekhuyzen video “whatever you do, enjoy the music”. I love that statement.

39

I thoroughly enjoy my music, now that I cleaned everything MQA off my system. To my ears, MQA is the musical equivalent of fingernails scratching across a blackboard. But, if you like it, GO for it, and I wish you the best listening experience possible.

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40

Well you hear what you hear, I respect your opinion.

I will try MQA like I tried DSD, which sounded fantastic like so do many other formats. I am curious if I get to hear improvements or the