That's my conclusion. Happy to be proven wrong. My Setup. KEF LS50 (Non-meta) Schiit Aegir (Running non-mono) Pre Box S2 Digital (using optical and ifi power supply) Tried Tidal vs Amazon HD MQA = 8 megs minute lossy (supposedly 384khz?) Amazon HD = lossless (24/192) - 600 megs All I could gauge from MQA is they sound louder and the biggest gimmick is one hardware unfolds MQA it's noticeably louder - (the oldest trick in the book). Also requires USB Type-B - which introduces added voltage distortion. My logic is Source = lossless (MQA is lossy) Source Transport = fiber to DAC DAC->Audioquest to Aegir-LS50(cheapo speaker wire) The only thing I didn't hear anything about was the ifi power supply. But $50 whatever. Argue this is the cheapest Stereophile "Class A" you can get away with a market price of $2500. What's better for the money? Tell me where I"m wrong, ready to learn.
Paul, Lot of folks on https://www.whatsbestforum.com/forums/ in the digital and computer sub forums would agree with you. Most no longer have discussed MQA in quite some time (years?). I had Tidal but did not have a DAC at the time to perform both levels of MQA unfolding... so I can't speak to the quality through my system. The one thing I liked a little better on Tidal than Spotify was the user interface and recommendations. One of the listening tests / experiments you should perform is a heads up comparison from a well recorded CD or Redbook ripped to lossless Flac against Tidal MQA and then to Amazon HD. I would be curious to hear what you think. In my system, the 16 bit / 44.1 ripped FLAC recordings, in general, still sounds, to my ears, better than Amazon. My system Mac / Roon server (or my Sota Saphire/ ET2 air bearing arm / Shelter 901 mark 3 cartridge) --> Wavestream Kinetics tube preamp --> Nelson Pass / Linkwitz all analog JFET tri amp crossover --> 3 amps (two Moore Franklin Associates D200c tube amps and solid state Audio Research D100; all Class A amps) --> Linkwitz LX mini speakers (Seas full range and mid range) and the cross over matched Seas woofer. I used to have Magnaplanars and Acoustats...I really like the "dipole" front to back and side to side staging....those are gone after I heard the LX minis at the Burning Amp conference in San Francisco. I have this system in my music room where our music instruments are (piano, synth, alto sax, marimba, and violin; the entire family plays an instrument); I play piano. When I listen to piano pieces, through my system, I prefer the 16 bit / 44.1 flac recordings. To my ears, the higher resolving sound tires my ears when I listen to the same song relative to 44.1. I repeat listening because I am trying to better my timing or embed a better feel during difficult piano measures / passages...such as "The Man I Love" by Gershwin. I got rid of Tidal and stayed with Spotify. I use Spotify to only explore new music. If I like something I hear, then I will first attempt to buy the vinyl album. If not, then the highest quality CD I can get. I will subsequently rip the CD and upload to my music server. Schiit is getting excellent results with well respected musicians / audiophiles who have gotten together to do heads up comparisons. I will be buying the Yggy and that will wrap up my DAC search days marked as done; a lot of the guys who I respect their ears and are musicians (and who use almost all tube gear) like the Yggy. Of course everyones system and ears are different...so your mileage will vary. -stu
I have magico s3 mk2 driven by pass amp/ pre. I drive with bluesound 2i then into d to A . I previously had ls50s myself. So I bought my son kef powered ls50s.... not magicos of course but in many ways = to > superior esp in his room. I want them - they sound fantastic!!! Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Thanks Stu for such a great background. I did Spotify vs YouTube vs Amazon vs Tidal. The biggest difference was between 256 (Spotify & Youtube) vs Amazon/Tidal. I couldn't tell a difference between Amazon and Tidal. MQA would be louder every time I turned it on, but when equalizing for sound, I really can't hear a difference.