Hi everyone I am new here and a proud owner of the new Muso qb2.
My question might be a dumb one but I was hoping someone could help me out.
I have only recently found out that Tidal masters downloads do not stream the “high resolution” directly from the app and that a DAC is required. So what I understand is that ill need a DAC and an iPhone camera connector. So my plan is to buy the Cyrus soundkey DAC and hook it up with the iphone via the camera adapter and then finally plug it into the qb2 via USB and this will finally allow me to play high res music from the Tidal app? or will I need to run that combination from my laptops Tidal app? Any help would be much appreciated and sorry again if its a dumb question.
Hi, I tried that with an Audioquest Dragonfly Red which I use with my iPhone, and it works fine, but I didn’t hear anything to get excited about with MQA files, so I don’t bother with them.
Note that the output from the DAC is analogue, and you would connect it to the 3.5mm jack input on a QB rather than the USB port.
Thank you very much Chris.
Just to confirm, by doing what you said, the naim app will then tell me that the music would then be playing at 24bit 96? or is it there truly no noticeable difference than CD quality streaming compared to ‘high res’.
Thanks again for the response.
Bjorn,
The difference between standard 16 bit Tidal albums and their Tidal Masters hi-res equivalent (or indeed standard hi-res files from Qobuz) is fairly subtle even when using quite expensive replay gear.
I have the ability to play hi-res and MQA files on my main systems, but I would never dream of attempting to play hi-res files on my Muso Qb. I am pretty sure I wouldn’t notice any benefit.
As a matter of interest, my Muso Qb plays 16 bit files from both my NAS and Tidal perfectly via Wi-fi with no buffering problems whatsoever. However, when I attempt to stream hi-res files to my Muso Qb via Wi-fi I get occasional drop-outs. I would not attempt to stream hi-res files on my Muso Qb without a direct ‘hard wire’ connection.
The Naim app will not know what is playing, as it will be using the analogue input. You would control it from the Tidal app.
The sound quality will be different, not just because because of MQA, but because you will be using a different DAC.
As it’s only a Qb it should be fine playing standard Tidal through its inbuilt capability. It seems a bit OTT to get additional equipment just for the MQA.
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I see…
thanks for the in-depth reply, well with Black Friday coming up I may or may not give it a try with the ‘hard wire’ connection of course. I might as well give MQA a try seeing as that it is there and just curious about it.
Going with what the others have said im starting to agree with all of you but if i can get the DAC im looking at for a good price on Black Friday i might as well. Could use it for my headphones as well.
I only bought the Dragonfly because I got an iPhone with no headphone socket, so I had to get something. It does sound pretty good for the money, though,
If you want to go the MQA-into-Qb route I suggest the AQ Dragonfly Cobalt ( see John Darko’s site for an extensive test of the Cobalt’s MQA and Red book capability ).
The method I personally use to get the ‘first unfold’ of Tidal MQA into my Qb2 (Wi-fi ) and ND5 XS2 (wired) is via Roon from a laptop (wired Ethernet) - this definitely works.
I have a Cyrus soundkey, which I bought for playing Tidal from my LG V20 phone or iPad into the excellent Campfire Atom IEMs when travelling. I am away again this week and I haven’t found the need to bring the Cyrus away any more…
How would you compare the first two ways?
a) MQA - laptop (Roon or Audirvana) - Dragonfly -jack - Qb
b) MQA - laptop (Roon or Audirvana) - wired ethernet - Qb
Which would sound better?
Thx
IPad screen shot of Naim app addressing the Qb2 playing out a stream sent to it by Roon and received by WiFi. The Qb2 is using it’s own DAC.
The Roon Core is currently a MacBook Air, linked via Ethernet and a Switch to the Router which has wi-fi enabled.
This is the signal path from the Roon App:-
thx, in your opinion sound is better vs the alternative of using dragonfly + jack?
Hi,
I am travelling at the moment - I can only test the Cyrus Soundkey into the 3.5mm jack on the Qb2 at the weekend. My biased opinion is that using the internal DAC into the Qb2 is likely to be better as it is fully integrated.
Whether a Cobalt/3.5mm would work better again you would need to test yourself in a dealer or friends demo.
Did you check out John Darko’s youtube channel for his testing of the Cobalt and of the internal DAC’s to the LG V-series phones feeding into a high-end amplifier (Hegel from memory) ?
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