Last week, I subscribed also to Tidal (previously, I used only Qobuz), and went about hearing some MQA files.
Immediately I thought the SQ dropped by a huge margin. Sound stage was narrower, the dynamics more compressed. So I enabled mqa core decoding in Roon and all the life came back to my system.
With the MQA decoding enabled, my upsampler is reporting a PCM stream, and I can select among the upsampling and filter options (I use DSDx2 upsampling). So I am wandering what is really going on here.
Is the Vivaldi receiving a “standard” PCM stream, and so the original MQA encoding plays no longer any part regarding the audio file?
There’s something goofy going on here. Check the audio settings page in Roon for the Vivaldi and make sure that MQA capabilities is set to “Decoder and Renderer”.
Have a question….using ROON and network connection to a Bartok. Just downloaded my first MQA recording, Eva Cassidy’s “Live at Blues Alley” and have the ROON settings as “decoder and renderer”.
The signal path shows the 44.1 file as authenticated to Studio 44.1 and the decoder the same, Studio 44.1.
I had expected a second unfold to some larger multiple of 44.1 and do not see any light, blue or green, on the Bartok.
Is this correct? Have always read of this infamous light indicating the veracity of the signal. I see there is an M1 filter and the manual states it is the preferred filter for MQA but surely it isn’t intended that we switch filters for MQA specifically. How would this work when using a mixed playlist?
So no light and no further unfold beyond the base sample rate….is this correct or am I doing something wrong?
Any assistance would be welcome.
MQA, expanding to 24/44.1kHz (orange juice made from concentrate)
The MQA version will not expand beyond 24/44.1, as the 25th anniversary master they used is 24/44.1kHz. In fact it is unclear to me whether the MQA file unfolds at all during playback. MQA files are usually 24bit and in this case it is probably 24/44.1kHz, which would only require authentication but not unfolding to any higher sample rate.
You can check bitdepth and samplerate of your downloaded file with mediainfo MediaInfo (mediaarea.net)
A lot of modern recordings are mixed and mastered in 24/44.1 or 24/48. The best thing to do would be to leave well enough alone and deliver these as plain FLAC. That wouldn’t involve MQA though (with its authentication), so they’ve come up with a scheme whereby the encoder compresses the low 10 or so bits into 8 which are put into the bottom bits of the MQA stream. Above this they add some noise so the file played without a decoder becomes a little lower than CD quality. The decoder removes the noise and unpacks the compressed data, yielding a file that is almost as good as the original. In these cases, the FLAC-compressed MQA comes out a little larger than using FLAC directly without MQA.
Gents, my thanks for your replies. I have followed the very long MQA thread on Audiophile Style so am aware of some of these issues concerning the format but thought this remaster would be an opportunity to compare the FLAC to the MQA. (Bought both files)
Am I correct in setting the Bartok, in ROON, to become both “renderer and decoder”? Is the M1 filter useful for this playback?
Both yes. Roon is recognising your Bartók and “renderer and decoder” is the default setting. The Bartók will automatically switch to its M1 filter when a MQA stream is recognised as such.
