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Tidal MQA vs Qobuz hi-res

My brief experience.. for posterity.

Comparing Tidal MQA to Qobuz hi-res, you -will- hear degredation/loss in the high frequencies (violins in an orchestra etc) on MQA... assuming you have reasonably resolving equipment. For me, that’s Macbook USB to a $150 Audio Engine D1 DAC going to a $600 used Parasound A23 going to used $600 Kef LS50’s, $100 Transparent speaker cables and cheap USB and RCA cables.

The Audio Engine is surprisingly good for it’s price BTW. Over the years, trying different DACs in audio stores when I had an opportunity, I feel like you’d need to spend close to $1,000 to get something significantly better.

The A23 and LS50’s are really good too for today’s used prices. New, they would’ve been $2,500 a few years go

bataras
goofyfoot
1,314 posts
 
bataras, not sure what your saying but I believe the Bryston software allows users to sign in to Qobuz or Tidal from dashboard and stream directly via an internet connection. Mine will be hardwired to my router. I will then run the Pi to my Ayre QB9 Twenty DAC via USB. Connecting via USB will allow me to transport with high resolution. I’m thinking that I should find a router with a ground type power plug.
bataras OP
12 posts
 
Any thoughts on power conditioners?
goofyfoot
1,314 posts
 
I’ve been thinking about buying a rechargeable battery powered, power station. My amp already runs off a battery.
bataras OP
12 posts
 
yeah if the Bryston is signed into tidal/qobuz and streaming without you needing to keep your phone or computer connected, then you're "handing off" the streaming to it.
vinylshadow
395 posts
 
Couple of thoughts:1) if you're going to buy a power conditioner, look into Richard Gray's Custom 1200. Or their 400's....I have a 1200 and Jeff Rowland amps. I contacted Jeff as I was wondering same as you and the RG is a power conditioner he approved of...He wrote " The advice to not use added power conditioners is a general statement because there are some types that can limit current or regenerator types that do not work well with the power factor correction circuitry in some of our products. They most likely will not affect the performance in any way and likely improve the overall performance. You should be fine with the Grays."

Onto TIDAL. Ironically, I tried TIDAL MQA in my home system last night. I don't like it at all. It changes the music and not for the better. Yes, it compresses. And it magnifies certain frequencies while minimizing others..I played Amazing Journey from Tommy. A song I know well. There a sort of a backward played synthesizer or something that is in the forefront all along. With MQA it is buried.

In my car, TIDAL HiFi 16/44.1 is fantastic.

I'm going to try Qobuz soon at home for hi rez and in the car. If it sounds great in the home system and as good as TIDAL in the car, I'll drop TIDAL.

By the by, my home hook up is an interesting one. My Android that has UAPP>OTG cable> Douk Audio U2 USB Converter XMOS XU208 Digital Interface TOSLINK COAX DSD 192KHz>Digital coaxial cable>Classe processor digital input(and its DAC).

That $45 device is my network bridge and I can send MQA 24/192 through my phone. But I must go through UAPP(Google Play $8), Not TIDAL itself. Same with Qobuz.
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