The MQA debate is finally over

@kota1 

As for minuses I can give you an example. If you listen to violins in an orchestra in FLAC they sound rich, harmonious, they ebb and swell with the tempo, its wonderful. But they sound like a group of violins, not individual violins.

When I listen to a good MQA master I hear more of the individual violins standing out from each other while playing together as a group. If you weren’t able to compare you might never notice, but once you hear the difference you notice it when it isn’t present. I find 24/96 PCM to offer "more" of everything but still doesn’t get that rich sound of each individual instrument the way I get with MQA.

You are describing my exact experiences with quad DSD vs PCM (24/96 and greater).

@kota1

+1. That’s an excellent test case (assuming the recording is up to it) whenever doing an a/b comparison. Thanks for reminding me about that. I may have to give Tidal a trial run now finally. My Cambridge Evo 150 is supposedly equipped and ready to handle MQA properly, which seems to be the key.

Here we go. I remember hardware companies refused to sign up for MQA licensing simply because they had to hardwire an increase in volume for the decode process. And that’s the difference folks are hearing. I have heard both formats through both MQA (a Meridian dac no less) and non-MQA dacs. Violins certainly sounded more like individual violins with the non-MQA format via a non-MQA dac.

You are describing my exact experiences with quad DSD vs PCM (24/96 and greater).

+1

For those of you who like DSD (as I do) Sony has both streamers and DAC’s that include their proprietary DSD remastering engine. I think it works great, really adds that DSD smoothness to whatever you are listening to. According to Sony:

DSD Remastering Engine

PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) audio is resampled into an 11.2MHz DSD (Direct Stream Digital) ultra-high-frequency 1-bit audio stream. The single-bit stream delivered to the DAC has a character far closer to that of analogue, giving you even more ways to enjoy your music.

Their new Walkman has both features (MQA and DSD Remastering):

https://www.sony.com/en-cd/electronics/walkman/nw-wm1am2/specifications