VientoB
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I am 48Ah...
May I ask how old you are VientoB ?
Regards.
I am 48Ah...
May I ask how old you are VientoB ?
Regards.
Hi,I am 48
Back when MQA was a new thing, I had a Tidal subscription and I listened very carefully with headphones. I was able to hear differences between MQA and CD quality playback and, indeed there were differences. However, They were not beneficial to the music and sounded more like unnecessary manipulation of the sound source rather than any improvement in fidelity or detail. I subsequently cancelled my Tidal account and switched to Qobuz because MQA sounded like a scam/gimmick.Is your statement proven or just "heard through the grapevine"? ;-)
Hi,Is your statement proven or just "heard through the grapevine"? ;-)
And yet @NTTY has measured a number of CD players from that era which show basically audibly perfect results.even the Linn KARIK III CD player that was considered about a jewel in it's time just sounds really bad compared to a device of today !
I listened to my Rotel RCD 970BX CD player recently from 1996 so I know.Hi,
48 years old ?
I would have said that you're a lot younger.
Because as far as I remember, there is no way devices I got MANY DECADES AGO (meaning at least 30 years ago) would sound anywhere the same as the devices I own now.
Mind you, even the Linn KARIK III CD player that was considered about a jewel in it's time just sounds really bad compared to a device of today !
And I think (I cannot tell for sure) that the difference will probably be measurable because if it is not, then there is a problem. YOu can double blind test me any time and I'll for sure tell the difference between a device from that ime a "good enough" device from taday...
But maybe our experiences differ ?
Identical sound.Just wondering how this would compare to my Topping D10s
Much obligedIdentical sound.
This was quite the same point of view, they (MQA) should have presented it as a method to reduce bandwidth needs of hi-res materials without affecting the overall result, by the use of a partially lossy (just ultrasonic part) encoding and not insist on a miracle and mystic thing.Back when MQA was a new thing, I had a Tidal subscription and I listened very carefully with headphones. I was able to hear differences between MQA and CD quality playback and, indeed there were differences. However, They were not beneficial to the music and sounded more like unnecessary manipulation of the sound source rather than any improvement in fidelity or detail. I subsequently cancelled my Tidal account and switched to Qobuz because MQA sounded like a scam/gimmick.
So, my decision was based upon my own subjective experiences not corporate marketing mumbo jumbo. YMMV
by the use of a partially lossy (just ultrasonic part) encoding
How did you test that? Or was it based on hearing a (subjective) difference?it's hardly to catch any difference when MQA decoder is off, whilst when activated, a very thiny one can be sometimes heard and generally something better.
Unfortunately, just subjective and as far is related to MQA 44.1KHz 16bit, produced from redbook masters, there shouldn't be ultrasonic content added, they are just upsampled and antialias filtered in decoding process. Even on some standard dac's it's possible to choice if upsample in the process. Anyway in this specific Tidal case they sound quite the same, even without MQA genuine decoding. It's a sort of "much ado about nothing".How did you test that? Or was it based on hearing a (subjective) difference?
“Something better”. Please expand: how adding ultrasonic content made MQA better?
I compare from memory because of the stark contrast. I've never heard anything as good as some recent products. I enjoy digital music more than ever. Back in the day, I didn't believe digital was better than vinyl but I do now.Many reasons could explain, but you can’t compare from memory indeed. The only way is blind comparison with matched levels. Digital sources (with good engineering) have been good enough to remain undetected to our hears for decades.
Even in ASR there are few who know it, like those who "hate" itI don’t think many people even know what MQA is.
Yeah no reason to pick this SMSL DAC over that Topping, more better of everything!For anyone looking for additional features (display, remote, preamp, volume, mute, filter options) & similar performance, I highly recommend the Topping E30 II Lite. It was $84 on Black Friday.
Wiim mini or pro, and don't look back.Just ordered mine. Are there any cheap streamers to pair with PS200?