Today MQA Audio

Could someone give me a list of sings or albums that sound great with MQA that you would save ! Then play on Naim app. Thank you 

spurrier sucks posted:

Not sure if this trick has been posted so instead of reading through the thread I'll just post it. A work around to get MQA files via Naim streamer or any other streamer is add MQA files via desktop to favorites then you should be able to use Naim app to play. Hope that makes sense. 

I figured it out! Interesting . Trying to figure out if I like the way MQA sound!  

spurrier sucks posted:

Not sure if this trick has been posted so instead of reading through the thread I'll just post it. A work around to get MQA files via Naim streamer or any other streamer is add MQA files via desktop to favorites then you should be able to use Naim app to play. Hope that makes sense. 

And do you then get the unfolded MQA file in high res or just the lower res version?  I was under the impression you either need an MQA dac or the decoded software and the Naim streamer has neither? 

As we all know, Naim streamers are not able to decode MQA so it is interesting to know this "heck". I am thining you may not get MQA but instead would be the "regular" FLAC of the same album/track.

spurrier sucks posted:

Not sure if this trick has been posted so instead of reading through the thread I'll just post it. A work around to get MQA files via Naim streamer or any other streamer is add MQA files via desktop to favorites then you should be able to use Naim app to play. Hope that makes sense. 

This so called 'trick' is definitely not a good idea. The Naim streamers and DACs have no MQA filters. Therefore playing back an MQA optimised file will be less performant than the equivalent 44.1/16 PCM file... why? because all the HF encoding is added to the least significant bits of 'base band' samples in the MQA file , and this will result on playback a noisy rendition as all that HF encoded info will appear as digital noise with no benefit at all. The MQA format is designed to still allow playback on what they call 'legacy' devices but SQ, nueatrality and realism take a dive... therefore not relevant for Naim unless they include filters. Currently Naim are watching progress of MQA and the state of the libraries for possible future inclusion. I understand it is considered the MQA libraries are too immature at this time for Naim quality and standards.. but that may well change.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

spurrier sucks posted:

Not sure if this trick has been posted so instead of reading through the thread I'll just post it. A work around to get MQA files via Naim streamer or any other streamer is add MQA files via desktop to favorites then you should be able to use Naim app to play. Hope that makes sense. 

This so called 'trick' is definitely not a good idea. The Naim streamers and DACs have no MQA filters. Therefore playing back an MQA optimised file will be less performant than the equivalent 44.1/16 PCM file... why? because all the HF encoding is added to the least significant bits of 'base band' samples in the MQA file , and this will result on playback a noisy rendition as all that HF encoded info will appear as digital noise with no benefit at all. The MQA format is designed to still allow playback on what they call 'legacy' devices but SQ, nueatrality and realism take a dive... therefore not relevant for Naim unless they include filters. Currently Naim are watching progress of MQA and the state of the libraries for possible future inclusion. I understand it is considered the MQA libraries are too immature at this time for Naim quality and standards.. but that may well change.

Good to know! Thank you for the info! 

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I just downloaded Audirvana trial, and playing Tidal through that.

It sounds more engaging now. How does a software player achieve this with the same data from Tidal?

Anyone else using Tidal and Audirvana?

analogmusic posted:

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I just downloaded Audirvana trial, and playing Tidal through that.

It sounds more engaging now. How does a software player achieve this with the same data from Tidal?

Anyone else using Tidal and Audirvana?

Not sure if you mean the new Audirvana v3 (is a trial version now available?) on TidalMQA, or just Audirvana on music music streamed from Tidal generally? I have no experience withTidal, but Audirvana is widely considered to be better than most, if not all, other rendering options on computers, which is why I tried it and stayed with it for playing my own stored music. I use a dedicated Mac Mini, with optimised USB output direct to Dave. 

As for MQA, apparently when Audirvana v3 is released soon it will include decoding capability. 

just audirvana on music streamed from tidal generally

what do you mean optimized USB output to dave? are you using audiophilleo or something like that?

analogmusic posted:

what do you mean optimized USB output to dave? are you using audiophilleo or something like that?

No, only Audirvana: I just mean following all the guidance on optimisation given in the Audirvana manual, including a dedicated USB bus, and I connect to Dave from USB.

spurrier sucks posted:

Not sure if this trick has been posted so instead of reading through the thread I'll just post it. A work around to get MQA files via Naim streamer or any other streamer is add MQA files via desktop to favorites then you should be able to use Naim app to play. Hope that makes sense. 

It is not possible to play music offline with the Tidal desktop application.

cat345 posted:

spurrier sucks posted:

Not sure if this trick has been posted so instead of reading through the thread I'll just post it. A work around to get MQA files via Naim streamer or any other streamer is add MQA files via desktop to favorites then you should be able to use Naim app to play. Hope that makes sense. 

It is not possible to play music offline with the Tidal desktop application.

I don't think he is suggesting they are played offline, just that they can be saved, and identified/played later through the Naim app Tidal input (or the Tidal iOS app). From what I can see, there is no advantage to this, as the music still appears to play as 16/44 FLAC.

analogmusic posted:

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I just downloaded Audirvana trial, and playing Tidal through that.

It sounds more engaging now. How does a software player achieve this with the same data from Tidal?

Anyone else using Tidal and Audirvana?

I've found Audirvana's integration of Tidal to sound superb, easily good enough for serious listening and audibly better than Qobuz.  Looking forward to V3 to see what Damien has been able to do with MQA. If your question is why does Tidal sound better through Audirvana than straight from the Tidal app then the answer would be that Audirvana optimises your Mac for best quality play back.

Sloop John B posted:

Just listening to Dr. John, Gris Gris MQA, certainly is sounding better than earlier today, non - MQA but it may be simply down to a different master. 

SJB. 

It shouldn't be, Meridian state that they start from the highest resolution master from the label/artist i.e. the original master is NOT from MQA. They then subsequently encode this master into a resulting MQA file.

I don't think records will be specifically mastered for MQA - highly unlikely.

My post was just showing a way to play them. A friend has a Mytech Brooklyn DAC and it lights up as playing the correct bit rate but it is MQA compatible too. I had read, from DAR I believe, that even if your DAC is not NQA compatible he felt the SQ was still improved. Haven't tried it myself just passing along the knowledge. Some may benefit while others may not. 

No, without the right filter whether software or hardware the SQ takes a drop - a whole load of digital noise will appear on the least significant bits that an unsuspecting DAC won't know what to do with. Lesser equipment might not be able to resolve this and effectively filter it as it doesn't have the resolution - but using typical Naim equipment this will lead to a substandard rendition compared to the unadulterated PCM. Put in another way that people might understand this will become very NON bit perfect.

Simon 

A niggling worry...

if MQA encoding comes encapsulated in a 44/16 .flac file, how does the user know it is MQA? If they become downloadable rather than just neing online streamable, there would appear to be a risk that  such files could get mistaken for standard red book files and thence played on a non-MQA enabled system, with resultant reduction in quality.

indeed... 

To put it simply in a layman term, MQA audio is streamed as 48/24 in which 48/16 can be played back by a non-MQA compatible DAC.

Peter Dinh posted:

To put it simply in a layman term, MQA audio is streamed as 48/24 in which 48/16 can be played back by a non-MQA compatible DAC.

I thought it was hi res, e.g. 96/24 (possibly even 192/24) encapsulated in a 16/44 flac file? Or maybe there are various options?

if not decoded it will play sort of like a 16/44 but either more compressed (somewhere I read it was like 13bit) and/with HF noise, while when decoded it would be back to original resolution.

Nope, the MQA decoder unpacks the 48/24 stream to a 88.2/24 or 96/24 depending how it is coded.

No the native MQA file is transported as  48/24 

S

Simon, I am sure it is 48/24.

Innocent Bystander posted:

Peter Dinh posted:

To put it simply in a layman term, MQA audio is streamed as 48/24 in which 48/16 can be played back by a non-MQA compatible DAC.

if not decoded it will play sort of like a 16/44 but either more compressed (somewhere I read it was like 13bit) and/with HF noise, while when decoded it would be back to original resolution.

Correct.