I wish I understood MQA better. The way I understand it is it was designed to fold the files 7 times in order to pass the data through slower internet speeds. Now with internet speeds being 1 gig this is no longer necessary. I have a BlueSound Node 2i. The guy from The Cable Company convinced me to hook up my BlueSound to my ARCAM via an expensive digital cable. I told him this would reduce MQA from 7 unfolds to 1 and reduce sound quality. He told me by using a digital cable, I would be able to use the DAC inside my ARCAM which was better than the BlueSound. Maybe QObuz sounds better because you don't have to fold files and because of faster internet speeds this helps QObuz to sound better. The rep from ARCAM cane to my house and conducted a blind test and I picked QObuz every time. I am a afraid to change because I do like the layout of Tidal and don't know how QObuz would look in comparison. It would help if QObuz showed how their graphics look in comparison. I feel kind of stupid about this. This group is far more knowledgeable.
Why is everyone so down on MQA?
Ok. MQA is a little bit complicated to understand without doing a little research. First of all: MQA is not technically a lossy format. The way it works is very unique. The original master tape (Holy grail of SQ) is folded or compressed into a smaller format. It is later unfolded through a process I don’t claim to understand. The fully processed final version is lossless! It is the song version from the original master tape. FYI, original master tapes are usually the best sounding, they are also the truest version of any song- they are painstakingly produced along with the artist in the studio during the recording process. Ask anyone, they are the real deal. For some reason most people hate the sound quality! One caveat, the folding/unfolding process is usually carried out at one time by a dac. But some dacs only compress and do not unfold….I think Meridian should explain dac/ streamer compatibility issue. When your hardware supports the single step the sound quality is pretty amazing. They should have explained in more detail what the format is all about.