MQA listening evaluation 2

MQA was fiercely attacked for what it it, or at least, for what some think it is. In the mean time I get more and more listening hours on the clock. Measurements that seem to proof MQA sound poorly. My ears tell me different.....
(English and Dutch subtitles available)

[ImMuzikmaven]

The Audiophile is to music what the Oenophile is to wine.
The ability to taste differences and declare "good, better, and best" is scientifically objective and simultaneously objective emotionally.

In audio, knowing the "numbers only" is comparative to knowing only the grapes and locale of the vintner without having tasted the result of the passage of time and chemistry of the grape which creates the final miraculous sip.

Music is for listening pleasure as wine is for tasting pleasure.
For those who KNOW---no explanation is necessary.
For those who DON'T know---no explanation is possible.

Audio and Audiophile aren't automatic bedmates.
Discernment and a fine palette are not gifts lavished indiscriminately by the gods.

The pinpoint blotches of Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" mean nothing to the eye IF YOU STAND TOO CLOSE to the canvas!
The viewer must have the right amount of light, stand at the right distance, open the eyes and mind to a phenomenon which is both exegesis and eisegesis simultaneously.

The MEANING of ART is NOT PRESENT---it is wholly within the mind of the viewer!
The Audiophile is the knowing listener whose mind assembles the constituency of waves in air and thereby creates the auditory verdict which Musical meaning.

If a man gazes upon a grilled cheese sandwich and sees the image of the Virgin Mary, he may well have a numinous frisson which is nothing more than a delusion or hallucination. But the Audiophile depends on the accuracy of his perception, purity of transmission of the equipment, and neutrality of his Listening space.

Without the "phile" (i.e. love) of the audio---all the other elements are meaningless.

Those who are agnostic about MQA are merely "ignorant" in the purest sense in that they "don't know" what they need to know to declare, like priests of the Inquisition, whether it is witchcraft or a wonder of wonders, a miracle of miracles.

Thank you, Hans Beekhuyzen for holding the Torquemada's at bay!

[warrengeorge]

Hello Hanz...Thank you for your very informed videos on MQA, I operate a very high resolution system (a modded Oppo UDP 205 /MIT XLR interconnects into a pair of Adam S3H powered studio monitors)and have recently acquired my first MQA files ....everything you say about the sound of MQA is right on the money with what I hear as well, and at 352k the sound system disappears and you are left with the most 'natural' presentation of digital audio I have ever heard.Vocals and instruments sit naturally in the mix with a definable acoustic space between them even when the mix gets 'busy'.. At the lower sample rates of 44-96k the difference is still fantastic, the only down side is...I now wish my entire collection was MQA...thanks again Warren George NZ

[juanmorelli]

Thank you for the review. For having the time to share your knowledge with us. Thank you I learned a lot.

[wiredsound]

I have Dragonfly Red and Tidal. I have listened to over a dozen albums on what I consider to be a system with a great deal of resolution. For the most part, I'm a fan. As with any other medium, results vary by title.

[nasskhan]

Thanks for the review. Does it sound better than vinyl? The reason I am asking is I use a Gyrodec as a tt & Audiolab m dac plus on my Denon/Marantz & Meridian players wired with atlas ascent cable. The tt sounds excellent & only bettered by a super deck like Kronos Air Force etc but the Cd m dac reply is very close to my deck. Right now I am picking up Cds for as little as £1 to £4 in charity/2nd hand record
shops .

[brucepeterson]

Hi, Hans
I appreciate your cautious review of MQA. MQA has been extremely polarizing since first announced and you have to be careful when you stick your head above the parapet! I've been enjoying MQA since I could access MQA on 2L and now on Tidal and my ears tell me that it is more natural, less fatiguing, more relaxing - the best of analogue and digital. And now MQA to be delivered by CD to satisfy the non-streamers. All the best with your health. Cheers

[danh]

I’ve been using a NADC368 amp with new Bowers and Wilkins speakers and my old Dual turntable for a couple of years now. I’d been wondering for a couple of years whether to upgrade the turntable to a Michell Tecnodec, but most of my records are decades old, I still love the Dual and I’ve found I’ve been listening pretty much non-stop to Apple Music (particularly 1950s and 60s jazz). When my daughter demanded a family subscription I thought I’d consider upgrading my amp with Bluos (£400), and buying her a Bluos speaker (300) for her room. Bluos is NAD’s sister company so I just slotted the module into the back. I settled on Tidal as the streaming service, and cancelled Apple Music. Well I am completely blown away. I’ve never liked PCM — harsh, unnatural and limited. It’s made me very unhappy over the years. MQA has brought back to me the great joy of listening to music that I had with vinyl in my youth. Watching Hans’ channel has helped me understand why MQA sounds so good. Thank you! Be warned: you will now start concentrating on the limitations with the underlying master tapes!

[wolfgangbauer]

Does the Blueaudio Node2 linked to TIDAL Source provide a Full MQA decoding?

[jacobskomager]

Hi Hans, Great and informative channel you have here. Took your review into account before buying a Bluesound Node2. So far, running the 30 days trial of Tidal hi-fi streaming I must say that music in Mqa really impress me. Listening on non high end active speakers, it clearly opens up the stereo perspective and makes the music more dynamic in my opinion. Keep your great videos coming, cheers from Denmark 👍🏻

[janjacobsen]

Hi Hans
I have enjoyed your videos on MQA (and the others videos of course) and am considering to different approaches to the “Nyquist problem”. Either MQA with Audirvana+ and a Mytek Brooklyn Dac OR Audirvana+ with DSD512 upsampling everything to a T+A Dac8 DSD. Do you have any experiences or opinion on these two different approaches?

[ejr]

Thank You Hans,

I hope you are feeling better these days!

I like your characterization of some of the negative comments about MQA being "partly political or monetary driven". Since Tidal has streamed MQA I have purchased a Meridian Explorer2 DAC to see what all the buzz about MQA is all about. And I just took delivery of a Mytek Brooklyn DAC.

For the last 2 1/2 years I have enjoyed using a DAC from a company in Colorado who builds an FPGA-based DAC, which sounds awesome decoding "regular" AIFF & FLAC files, but not so awesome streaming MQA files, where the "unfolding" is done by the Tidal Windows app. I have a lot of respect for this DAC manufacturer, eventhough they have pushed back on MQA for quite some time. I see that they now will be offering a software update to do the first stage of MQA decoding, the "unfolding" (I presume that's a lot like what the Tidal app is doing), but don't seem to be willing to work on updating the DAC hardware to support end-to-end MQA decoding, therefore not benefiting from the "de-blurring" that MQA offers. I strongly suspect that there is something about an FPGA-based DAC that would make it difficult (if not impossible) to do end-to-end MQA decoding, though I must admit, I am not an engineer.

I suspect that with Universal Music joining Tidal & Warner Music that the economics of MQA for DAC manufacturers may be changing soon. Rewind to when DSD hit the market; though there are probably only about 1000 DSD/SACD titles, high end DAC manufacturers pretty much must decode DSD to have an "economically viable" product.
I find the same benefits listening to MQA that you and Robert Harley from TAS have described...I think it's a "game changer" and am excited that it's gained so much traction in the marketplace.

[ESL-Plus]

I listened to Tidal MQA. Sounds like equalizing to me. Some tracks sounded very dull like a very steep high roll-off. Some tracks different, but I can't do an ABX compare. Overall I'm not impressed with MQA. Have no MQA DAC so only listened to software decoded tracks.

[stephencosta]

You are truly fantastic on the site explaining everything so simply your comments are very true and I will listen to whatever you say lol when it comes to sound replication

[arthurwatts]

Hans, I'm more than happy to accept that you can hear more in DSD/MQA etc than I have to date, but there's no question that Meridian put a whole lot more into that DAC than its ability to decode MQA tracks. I have to side with the Hydrogenaudio crowd, but I really need to see the results of blind tests conducted on a range of musicians, studio engineers and others who *have* to listen iintently to music for a living.

Even if it IS a marked improvement, am I prepared to pay more money for albums I already own ? The assumption that we all have the 24/7 internet access needed to really get VFM from Tidal is an interesting one - great for Europeans like yourself and many in the US but at 100AUD per month for our National Broadband Network its not going to happen for me anytime soon. I dont sprint from one forum to another posting Archimago's tests as proof that the Emperor is wearing no clothes, but nor do I automatically accept that I would have the same happy experience as you, particularly given the high cost of Meridian gear. Thanks for the vid.

[orbea]

No matter how much explaining you do in your first video about MQA you said that MQA first advantage is that it will deliver 24/192. Can you explain what problem MQA solves? What stops us from distributing 24/192 files?

[cougar]

Please, where do you check every morning for new MQA releases?
Thanks

[CWChandler]

Hans, Thanks for all of your efforts. I have been watching your videos and purchased and I am reading your book. I am putting together a second system with Omega speakers and a 4 watt Decware tube amp. I have my vinyl front in waiting but I want to add a digital server to the system. Many hours of research and I am no closer to deciding. Bluesound vault is a contender, but it lacks a digital out, I want to be able to upgrade the DAC (don't I)? The Auralic aries mini looks good once I put a 2tb drive in it and use my outboard DAC. I know you liked the Elac Discovery, but it "needs" to be connected by an ethernet, where I want my setup I don't have the router there. The Auralic Altar is a budget buster, but if it makes me happy and keeps me from upgrading it would be worth it. I don't have a NAS, I have my HD tracks files on a traditional Windows computer and 1, 000 CD I would like to rip. MQA just adds another layer for my decisions. Guess the answer is compromise. I know you don't recommend components but any guidance in helping my thinking would be appreciated. I am really enjoying your videos and book, thanks for the education.
Craig

[DJMikeron]

Im just using the node 2 with Tannoy aktive Studio Monitors. No external DAC and a high speed internet connection

[Oneness]

Hans, can you do some research, if you can, and maybe find out how the Big 3 labels are creating their MQA files?  I have heard some people saying things that I don't honestly think are true or even technically possible and they are trying to trash talk MQA and it sounds like it's highly politically motivated for what ever reason.

So, I think if we find out how the major labels are creating their versions.  

I know that companies like 2L start with a DXD file and that's probably the ultimate way of doing things. but there's a variety of formats, conversions from analog to DSD archive back to PCM 24 bit at various sample rates, etc.  Are the Big 3 doing anything that might cause proper or improper methods of conversion?? Are the Big 3 only using un-molested masters or are some of the masters having some audio compression, etc. being used to make it not as good as it could?