MQA is still PCM. Basically, once all the MQA "magic" is applied, you're left with a hi-res PCM stream, that can, then, be DSPed to your desire.
What is the bit rate of this PCM stream?
MQA is still PCM. Basically, once all the MQA "magic" is applied, you're left with a hi-res PCM stream, that can, then, be DSPed to your desire.
What is the bit rate of this PCM stream?
What is the bit rate of this PCM stream?
Lets see.
-Sales of CD's have been plunging.
-Sales of Digital files are plunging.
-Sales of Streamed material is skyrocketing.
-No one (Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Tidal.......) yet has a viable long term streaming business model that isn't supported by their other businesses.
Audiophiles have always propped up niche markets by paying exorbitant prices for vinyl, tape, and high Rez (PCM or DSD) material because they "believe" those sources sound better than CD's or take your pick. Most individuals who have compared MQA (either partially or fully unfolded) to their CD's or streamed material also believe that MQA sounds better. That is all that matter to them just as that is all that matters to the vinyl, tape and hi-rez crowd.
-No one (Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Tidal.......) yet has a viable long term streaming business model that isn't supported by their other businesses.
It'll be the same as the original source file. If you MQA-encode a 24/88 file, you'll end up with a 24/88 file
At least with the MSB DACs, it'll show you that bit rate on the display, along with the "MQA" flag, when appropriate.
Lets see.
-Sales of CD's have been plunging.
-Sales of Digital files are plunging.
-Sales of Streamed material is skyrocketing.
-No one (Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Tidal.......) yet has a viable long term streaming business model that isn't supported by their other businesses.
Audiophiles have always propped up niche markets by paying exorbitant prices for vinyl, tape, and high Rez (PCM or DSD) material because they "believe" those sources sound better than CD's or take your pick. Most individuals who have compared MQA (either partially or fully unfolded) to their CD's or streamed material also believe that MQA sounds better. That is all that matter to them just as that is all that matters to the vinyl, tape and hi-rez crowd.
The compression is applied to everything above 44khz (the hi-res content). Everything below 44khz is lossless.
And AFAIK if you play a 16/44 MP3, the DAC will "see" 16/44 content, and you'll only know it's an MP3 if you look at the transport (or more likely by the artifacts.)
Alex, I'd love some feedback on Rush/Moving Pictures MQA
It's always been album that is super dense and textured in the mids/upper bass, but harsh at freq extremes
Does the treble really lilt now, and the bass truly breathe?
It is why I asked for bit rate. When we have MP3 we have 96 to 320 kilobytes per second (Kbps). What happens with MQA?
You'll have to ask them I only see the bit depth and frequency, which is what the DAC/transport shows me.
You see my point - how can we debate a format if we do not have answers even for the very basics?
But I hope that our WBF experts can help us!
Well, we can debate subjective impressions. I, for one, don't need to know the bitrate in order to appreciate how much better some of those MQA albums sound...
Surely - I do exactly the same comparing redbook and DSD layers in SACD, most of the time DSD is a winner by a good margin.
My point is that unless we know the exact technical details we risk comparing apples with oranges. For a long time we criticized redbook mostly because of the poor quality of the CD mastering.
Back to thread - as far as I am understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) you can either listen to MQA using Tidal to decode or using the MSB Sellect II decoder. Did you compare both modes?
This can only be true if the MQA is completely decoded by software, which is not how I understand MQA works. The MQA patent states that the final filtering takes place in the MQA-certified DAC, and exactly how the filtering is implemented applies only to that specific DAC, and only recovers the "MQA" audio as analog after the D>A performed by that particular DAC. This is the whole point of MQA certification, otherwise there would be no need, one could use any DAC.MQA is still PCM. Basically, once all the MQA "magic" is applied, you're left with a hi-res PCM stream, that can, then, be DSPed to your desire.
Surely - I do exactly the same comparing redbook and DSD layers in SACD, most of the time DSD is a winner by a good margin.
My point is that unless we know the exact technical details we risk comparing apples with oranges. For a long time we criticized redbook mostly because of the poor quality of the CD mastering.
Back to thread - as far as I am understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) you can either listen to MQA using Tidal to decode or using the MSB Sellect II decoder. Did you compare both modes?
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