AudioQuest adds MQA Support to Dragonflies via firmware

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Pathetic. The Red is actually a very nice DAC for what it is. But I bought it specifically for MQA support. Unfortunately the Explorer 2 just will not work with iOS.

 

Maybe I should just get a Brooklyn.

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47 minutes ago, DarwinOSX said:

 

Why would that be necessary?

The Meridian Explorer 2 works fine on its own although it is a more powerful device and bigger.

The Dragonfly is also used for laptops etc.

 

I believe it's because the Explorer 2 either has a decoder chip built into it, or it's controller is powerful enough to run the software decoder without the need of the application to unfold it first. The Red has a very low-power, low-performance controller that will need to work with the software to unfold the stream first. The Red does NOT have the space for the decoder chip.

 

But, also, I don't believe the Explorer 2 can be used with a mobile? I know for sure it won't work with iPhones/iPads (I tried it).

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1 minute ago, jhwalker said:

 

The Explorer will work with mobile devices *if* you use the Apple USB3 camera connection device *and* you have the Lightning connection plugged in providing power.  Chris posted an article about this sometime back, and I use it this way both at home and on flights long enough to need a little audio distraction.

 

Are you sure? I tried exactly that configuration, and it won't work. I may have gotten it to partially work once I think but never properly. As I recall, if you plug in power it detected the Explorer, but still said there was insufficient power. Or it would not say anything at all, nor detect the device.  I used with with an iPad Pro if that makes any difference.

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Okay, the adapter firmware update may be the key -- I tried out the Explorer 2 before that update was released.

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Okay, so based on the comments from this thread:

 

1. MQA is unfolded to 88/96 (i.e., first unfold) by the MQA-enabled player.

2. The MQA is streamed to the DFR's controller.

3. The controller sends the stream into the Sabre with some DSP values.

4. The stream goes into the Sabre's SRC stage for SDM conversion.

5. DSP values are applied before the output stage.

 

So, BASICALLY, the DFR ***DOES NOT*** unfold the the MQA stream to the master resolution.

 

Assumptions:

• The controller doesn't perform any further unfolding of the MQA stream.
• The Sabre doesn't perform any further unfolding prior to SRC.
• DSP values are related to master ADC corrections.

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OKAY GUYS.

 

I just compared two tracks from the same album: Led Zeppelin (Deluxe Edition), VOLUME 1 TRACK 6: Black Mountain Side.

 

I have this album in 96/24 from HDTracks, and it's available as a Master in Tidal.

 

It seems clear to me that, playing the track from Roon (streaming from my dedicated audio PC, connected to the same router as my broadband modem), is clearly INFERIOR to the Tidal version. Since the DFR supports 96/24, the Master version shouldn't be any higher resolution. But it seems like the MQA version has more micro-details present, just a deeper insight into the guitar. It's as if a veil had been lifted, and it sounds more like I would expect high-resolution audio to sound. Is this the MQA source correction magic at work? Or am I just falling for a cheap EQ trick?

 

Here's the 96/24 file. What do YOU guys think???

 

06-Black Mountain Side.flac

 

 

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Just did another MQA vs non-MQA comparison through Roon with a DFR+Jitterbug to a TH900.

 

https://tidal.com/album/78913887

 

If you can't hear the MQA version is better I don't know what to tell you.