You are correct MM, except that MQA encoded masters of non-hi-res native digital content can sound better through their reduction in time smearing. It is not the frequency response of human hearing that is what hi res content > 44.1khz is about. It is about ultrasonics and timing. Psychoacoustics is beginning just now to first really appreciate how sensitive human audio perception is to subtle timing issues.

B

Still - if it wasn't captured in the first place, it won't be there, when delievered to the listener.

MM

Those, who are interested in digging deeper into the MQA-thingy, I can highly recommend reading 

Archimago's posting here:

Barry Santini wrote:

You are correct MM, except that MQA encoded masters of non-hi-res native digital content can sound better through their reduction in time smearing. It is not the frequency response of human hearing that is what hi res content > 44.1khz is about. It is about ultrasonics and timing. Psychoacoustics is beginning just now to first really appreciate how sensitive human audio perception is to subtle timing issues.

 

B

Un huh...and let me know when Elvis gets here.

Paolo is referencing what Tidal has stated in their press release and on their site (quoted below) - that MQA files will only play through their desktop app - which is why the question was posted about how to go from a computer to the B&O speakers..  While you can stream Tidal (and many other streaming statins/serfices) through Bluesound, the Tidal service in Bluesound is not streaming MQA files at this time - at least not in the USA.  . 

"All you need is a TIDAL HiFi membership to access thousands of master-quality albums only through the TIDAL desktop application."

It is still not the same.

If MQA could be decoded to it's full potential, Meridian would not be able to license their technology to hardware companies like Bluesound or sell their own Explorer USB-DAC:

link

 

From the MQA website

Millemissen wrote:

Still - if it wasn't captured in the first place, it won't be there, when delievered to the listener.

MM

There is a tv - and there is a BV.

But one of the tenants of MqA is that the steep-pass filters typically used in digital recording can/will introduce subtle but audible signal timing issues that MQA processing...even if not decided can shift/reduce to allow these timing issues to be less impactful on the "air" of the sound.

B

Barry Santini wrote:

Millemissen wrote:

 

Still - if it wasn't captured in the first place, it won't be there, when delievered to the listener.

 

MM

 

There is a tv - and there is a BV.

 

 

 

But one of the tenants of MqA is that the steep-pass filters typically used in digital recording can/will introduce subtle but audible signal timing issues that MQA processing...even if not decided can shift/reduce to allow these timing issues to be less impactful on the "air" of the sound.

 

 

B

I think this claim has as much validity as the claims of the high end wire manufacturers, its marketese. 

Thank you to everybody for your interest in my question.

The bluesound solution sounds quite interesting to me, but I think that at the moment I would not be able to stream mqa music from Tidal using the bluesound device. Apparently, at the moment the only way is using a desktop pc and connecting it to my system with a cable, which is not really what I want to do.

I think I will go for the bluesound solution, when Tidal will allow it to stream mqa music directly from the device. In that case I would be able to use the bluesound app, and operate the bluesound device from my iPhone sitting on my sofa. This is what I aim at. I don't want to have notebook and a cable to the TV set... I like all this stuff to be hidden from my view...

Quality is important but my other two priorities are design and usability. I always need a combination of the three elements in the solution I choose.

Thank you again for the precious information provided!! 🙂

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paolomariano wrote:

Quality is important but my other two priorities are design and usability. I always need a combination of the three elements in the solution I choose.

If you (still) want to dig deeper into this, this article from Archimago (as always) might be helpfull: