![]() It's certainly worth noting too that Tidal's reliance on MQA is about to come to an end, as the service has announced that it “will be introducing hi-res FLAC for our HiFi Plus subscribers soon. Deezer announced a partnership with MQA back in September 2017, though all has gone quiet on that front since. But Apple Music and Amazon Music found alternative ways to offer hi-res streaming. With major music labels such as Universal, Warner Bros and Sony Music offering music in MQA, there was a time when we thought more music streaming services would get in on the action too. Unsurprisingly, many MQA-supporting hi-fi brands are now supporting Tidal Connect. Essentially Spotify Connect for Tidal, it allows the native Tidal app to be a controller for connected devices – like Chromecast can, only Connect supports Tidal's MQA and Dolby Atmos Music catalogue. Tidal HiFi Plus subscribers can now easily 'cast' MQA Tidal Masters from the app to compatible kit, too, thanks to a new feature called Tidal Connect. However, the only way to entirely unpackage an MQA file for playback, and therefore give you a more accurate representation of the file, is by pairing the app with an MQA-compatible product (as listed above) that takes the decoding process away from the software (the Tidal app). These apps can complete the first 'unfold' of MQA file decoding, outputting streams to a maximum of 24-bit/96kHz. If Tidal Hi-Fi Plus subscribers don't have MQA-supporting hardware, they can still play Tidal's "millions" of Masters tracks through the Tidal desktop, Android and iOS apps, which can decode and play them through, say, your phone or Macbook. See the full list of MQA's hardware partners and products.Notable omissions on the hi-fi brand front include Linn and Chord. Meridian, iFi, Arcam, Bluesound, dCS, Moon by Simaudio, Mark Levinson and Audiolab are also among MQA's product partners. MQA-supporting products include desktop and USB DACs such as AudioQuest's DragonFly Black, DragonFly Red and DragonFly Cobalt, Cambridge Audio's DacMagic 200M and iFi Zen DAC V2 music streamers like NAD C 658 and Technics SL-G700 and hi-fi systems including Dali Oberon 1 C and KEF LS50 Wireless II. The Pioneer XDP-100R and Onkyo DP-X1 were among the first MQA-compatible portable audio players, and that's since been expanded to include various players from Pioneer, Onkyo, Astell & Kern and Sony – including the Award-winning Astell & Kern A&norma SR25 MkII.Īs for hi-fi kit, MQA compatibility is only going one way – up. Now we're several years into its existence, there's plenty of it. Many digital hardware manufacturers have licensed the technology, so it can be found on the spec sheets of many digital products – DACs, streamers, streaming systems and the like. You will need compatible hardware, such as a music streamer or portable music player, or software such as the Tidal desktop app, to decode the MQA files. Maybe later this year.Rather than being a new file type to sit alongside FLAC, WAV et al, MQA files can instead be packaged inside any lossless container such as FLAC, WAV or Apple Lossless. It looks very interesting, but unfortunately I'm between jobs so I can't justify the expense at the moment. That makes upgrading the DAC much easier down the road for anyone wanting to look further ahead. Gives the option for something like an Aries, Lumin U1 mini, or Zen mini. At that $3K-ish mark, it really brings separates into the mix. No big deal for some, big deal for others. If you're mostly streaming Tidal, Cambridge now has the advantage of Tidal Connect. Auralic's DS is often preferred, BUT is iOS only. The Cambridge StreamMagic app is fine, but ultimately a little meh. If you use an external hard drive to stream your own library of music, you need to lean on the units software. It makes it more of a straight $1500 vs the total initial investment of $2600 + shipping two ways. If you already have owned the CXN for awhile, I think it's easier to justify the Modwright upgrades. Click to expand.It looks very interesting, but unfortunately I'm between jobs so I can't justify the expense at the moment.
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