Streamer MQA Question

To get the full unfold an MQA DAC would suffice with any streamer with a digital output OR a streamer with RCA outs that has an internal DAC.

https://www.mqa.co.uk/playback-devices

I'm assuming that USB-A is considered digital out?

So as long as the DAC can do MQA, I should be good to go?

Only a DAC can perform the full unfold. Streamers without an integrated DAC, or software like Roon can do the first unfold only, also called the “core decode”.  

What I'm looking to do is build a hires system a piece at a time due to $$$ constraints. Starting with the Bricasti M5 with the Audioquest Dragonfly Red (which I already have on hand) plugged into the M3's USB-A Output. The AQDR would then be plugged into Genelec 8030Cs using a Mogami 3.5mm to 2-XLR Male cable.

I would trigger playback from Audirvana which would do the "1st unfold". 

Sounds feasible?

Down the line I would replace the AQ with another better DAC (hopefully under 2K).

I meant the M5's  USB-A Output.

I settled on doing the innuos pulse mini (should be here in a week or so) with output over usb to an r2r dac for some types of music, and a toslink (24/192) to a delta sigma dac for other types of music (loud rock, aka AC/DC). Both dacs do full mqa unfold..  More instrumental through r2r..

I can feed the pulse mini from qobuz/tidal/NAS..

I didn’t go with Aurender simply due to my laziness where I would have to move the usb between dacs..

Sounds doable, yes.

nevada_matt,

May I ask which dacs you’re using?

 

I was wondering if in order to stream TIDAL (which I have a sub to) do both the Streamer AND the DAC need to be MQA compatible/capable?

Just to answer the original question. No - you don’t need to use MQA through tidal you can happily stream music at lower resolution, which is still better than CD. 

The SMSL-9 streamer fully unfolds MQA, and I’m using it to do the MQA unfolding to feed a Musician Pegasus DAC. This streamer is a major steal and should be on your list to consider. Here is a quote from SMSL.

Full MQA Support:-

S.M.S.L SD-9 brings you the support for high-tech MQA files. MQA is the latest technology where high-resolution data is folded into the empty bitrate spaces on the files. This technology enables the writing of high-resolution files while keeping the file size small, suitable for streaming and storing locally. Only MQA certified devices are capable of unfolding these files and bringing the true output to their users. SD-9 is one of these devices, it fully unfolds the MQA recordings and brings a truly immersive experience for its users.