Mahler123.
No it does not. When I use it with non-MQA files I think it sounds better than the internal Node 2 DAC. When I play MQA files with the Node 2 (via Tidal) I think the Node 2 edges out the older Benchmark playing the non-MQA files. I really did not expect MQA to sound good at all, so I was surprised that the $500 Node 2 playing MQA files took the streaming signal quality up a couple notches. Though to my ears, not all albums. But even some older material, like Ray Charles, the sound from MQA increased dynamic range, made the soundstage bigger, made tonality ( tones of different instruments seemed more true and believable) smoother across the freq bandwidth and made the music more involving. I know many people have compared MQA to DSD and Hi-Res downloads (thinking FLAC files) and I have not compared these to MQA (so I would not be surprised if they sound better than MQA) but when I stream music....the best sound has come from Tidal MQA on the budget Node 2.
If I were to upgrade to another streaming device or DAC, I might invest in a DAC that would unfold the MQA signal and see if that would make MQA and non-MQA sound better. Something like Ayre DACs. I have heard good things about the Ayre Codex.
