I have Tidal HiFi subscription (not plus) which I access via Roon, then through ND5XS2 into nDac.
I’ve noticed only recently (and it may have been doing this before) that on some albums Roon is doing what I assume is the first MQA unfold. When this is available there is is a definite improvement in SQ.
I only noticed this when playing with the Roon app on my phone that now shows the signal path. Screenshot attached.
I have no axe to grind either way, just thought it might be interesting to see.
I’ve barely dipped my toes into streaming.
Last year I bought a Blusound (N130) Node for the bedroom system, comprising Nait5i and CD5i. I really liked it. So much so that I’ve played only a handful of CD’s since it’s arrival. It’s used for non critical listening and most of the time it’s playing Radio Paradise.
I connected it up to the main system (NAC252/SCDR, NAP300DR/NAP300PS) expecting it to be shown up but it wasn’t. It obviously didn’t compare to my Xerxes or my CDS3 but it was very listenable.
I’ve since bought a 2nd Node for the main system to listen to Radio Paradise and I also audition potential vinyl purchases on Amazon Music.
Knowing nothing about MQA until I bought the Node, I’ve been surprised at the vitriol directed at MQA on here by some people. I found I liked to listen to Radio Paradise in MQA as opposed to CD Quality - it just sounded better to me. It was an unbiased preference. On Amazon Music I find the HD quality is very good but I still prefer the MQA output from Radio Paradise.
I’m fully aware my streaming set up is very much at the lower end of the spectrum and through better stuff I might hear things differently, but at Node level I think MQA is very good.
Yes.
Jolly good that you’re enjoying it as a radio though.
Have you had a chance to compare MQA with 24 bit flac?
No. I’ve heard 24 bit at a dealer demo but not in my own set up.
I’m very much a vinyl man and have no real desire to explore digital music further than I already have. After trying the Node in my main system it seemed the perfect solution for the the loss of my NAT05, after a SCDR took its place on the rack and a storm brought down the Ron Smith Galaxie 24.
My only comparison of MQA is against Radio Paradise at CD quality and Amazon Music in HD.
MQA is simply an attempt to squeeze hi res into less bandwidth, not bit perfect, but apparently pretty close, which may have made sense when it was being devised originally, however the ancient online streaming bandwidth limitations have effectively disappeared, at least for the majority of listeners – and those with limitations may struggle to stream online anyway. As you can stream hi res online, and bit-perfectly, MQA has become an anachronism, hence its current state of gradual demise following winding up of its producer.
If you were to desire best quality from streaming (and realise all it’s benefits over vinyl), which I understand don’t), then indeed there are better ways than MQA with a Node.
Some FLACs served on Tidal’s “non-plus” subscription tier are in fact MQA files, but MQA decoding is not turned on when played via Tidal app. I assume Roon doesn’t care and decode whatever is served to it.
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