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
I’m not completely sure about operations to be honest. It’s only been a week since I placed the order so I have another week until it arrives. Anyway, I’ll try operating it with the Bryston software at first and then give the Roon trial a chance. I will use my iPad to connect to the Bryston.
MQA sounds great most of the time, same goes for dsd. Get a good dac and you will hear a difference.
Good luck on getting the Hegel supporting Roon. I have had 3 Hegel integrated amps and for a couple years now, Hegel was promising to support Roon. I gave up and went another direction 
It’s hard to know what sounds good if one cannot here it matched with one’s own system. People insist on a particular DAC chip as being preferred above all others but implementation is key, filtering, power source, etc... Most people will buy over the internet, especially those living in smaller towns. A good DAC is essential but how that DAC functions with the other components is just as important. Most brick and mortar stores are struggling and may only carry a hand full of companies so we Audio lovers are at a disadvantage.