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AudioQuest adds MQA Support to Dragonflies via firmware


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Interesting discussion on Audiostream.com today.

 

Apparently, there are 1) MQA "renderers", which require the player to do the first "unfolding", whereupon the renderer will do the final processing and 2) "decoders", which will play MQA files without any additional software required.

 

The DragonFly will apparently be a "renderer", not a "decoder" - which means the only software it will work properly with for MQA playback at this time is Tidal.

 

Not something I understood at all until today - maybe others were already aware.

John Walker - IT Executive

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Can someone with an Explorer2 do the following experiment please?

 

Play an MQA file with passthrough selected - the blue light should light up.

 

Does the blue light come on when you set Tidal to decode?

 

I am guessing the answer is no.

 

Actually, according to the article at Audiostream, the answer s/b "Yes". i.e., for a full decoder, the first "unfold" can be in software without disrupting the ability of the decoder to perform the rest of the decoding. Or it can be direct to the DAC.

 

Will be interesting to see the answer to this one, though.

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It's an 80 MHz CPU with 32 KB RAM. You won't be doing a lot of processing with that.

 

You keep stating that, but AudioQuest have confirmed it *will* support higher resolutions using MQA.

 

I guess we'll see when the update comes out.

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When the update arrives and someone measures the sample rate at the DAC pins.

 

Of course! I know you won't trust the little lights ;) LOL

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  • 1 month later...

It appears this announcement was a bit optimistic - "available end of January . . . " which has come and gone by over two weeks now.

 

Anyone hear any updates on this?

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Quote from Head-Fi

 

Emailed them today and got this reply. It seems we'll never get it :/

 

"The software update will be available to download for free via the Desktop Manager app on our website: DragonFly Series. The MQA update will not be launched until Tidal has a resolution for their buffering issue. People simply aren’t buying hi res MQA files, they’re streaming them. With so little material to choose from, this delay should not cause any issues. We want to be a good partner to Tidal and not put any additional pressure on them. As soon as they’re ready, we’ll make the update available.

 

If you registered your Dragonfly, you will receive an email when it's available.

 

Please note: you will need to use a suitable media player to play MQA files. This is because MQA requires a decoder and a renderer to play a file. The renderer is built into the Dragonfly and the decoder is built into the media player's software. Once updated, your Dragonfly will glow a beautiful shade of blue to let you know you're playing an MQA file.

 

Our apologies if this delay causes you any inconvenience.

 

Best regards,

 

Alasdair Patrick

AudioQuest

2621 White Rd., Irvine, CA 92614

AQ Main: 949-585-0111

www.audioquest.com"

Thanks for that - I wonder what "buffering issue" he's talking about? Never seen a problem here . . .

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  • 2 months later...
2 minutes ago, GUTB said:

 

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).

 

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.

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3 hours ago, GUTB said:

 

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.

 

Yes, I'm sure - I use it every day, with both my iPhone 7 Plus and my iPad Pro.

 

If you haven't tried it in an while, you might try again - I seem to recall being prompted for an iOS software update the first time I plugged it in, and it's worked ever since.

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45 minutes ago, DarwinOSX said:

I don't think anything has a special MQA decoder chip even the Meridian 2 but that they work with whatever processing power and software they have.

I've read various things about how much of an unfold the Red will do.  Some say the full unfold, others not, but maybe someone here knows for sure.  Or we won't know for sure until Audioquest releases it.  It does seem like they jumped the gun on pre-announcing it.

Plenty of people use the black and the red for laptops too so not sure mobile is a limiting factor.

 

 

Audioquest have stated that the Dragonflies will be "MQA renderers", which means they require an external software / player (like the Tidal desktop software or - soon, please - Roon) to perform the first "unfold", after which they will perform the internal DAC "fine tuning".  That is, unless there is an external MQA player / decoder, the Dragonflies will not be MQA capable at all - unlike the Meridian Explorer, which will do all the necessary processing with or without an external player.

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16 minutes ago, new_media said:

I am not able to get this to work. Just tried with both iPhone 7 and iPad Pro, both with newly upgraded iOS. I get the "insufficient power" message whenever I connect the ME2, even using the USB Camera Adapter attached to an external power supply.

 

Edit: Correction, I am able to get it to work with an external power source, but as soon as I unplug, the ME2 disconnects. Not a great portable solution.

 

Right, you *must* have power.  

 

Works great on an airplane (for instance) with the power cord plugged into the USB charger port, or in your car if you have  USB port, etc.  The Dragonflies work without external power - but only up to 24/96 PCM, and no MQA without an external decoder :P

 

Choices, choices.

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  • 5 weeks later...

The firmware upgrade (and associated desktop management software) is now available:

 

http://www.audioquest.com/digitalupdates

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13 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Which brings up the question... Is there an indicator, such as the colored sample rates on the DF (which are super useful), that would indicate MQA rendering is ON?

 

As far as I can tell, no :/  It only uses the same lights already defined:  

 

Red: Standby Green: 44100.0 Hz Blue: 48000.0 Hz
Amber: 88200.0 Hz Magenta: 96000.0 Hz 

 

I'll be spending some time later today to see how it works with the various desktop playback sources (e.g., Tidal, Audirvana, Roon, etc.) on known MQA material and at various sample rates.

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Here's a screenshot of Audirvana playing with an upgraded DragonFly Red (firmware 1.06) - clearly shows input and output both at 352.8:

 

 

Audirvana Plus 2017-05-17 14-08-47.png

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2 hours ago, jhwalker said:

 

As far as I can tell, no :/  It only uses the same lights already defined:  

 

Red: Standby Green: 44100.0 Hz Blue: 48000.0 Hz
Amber: 88200.0 Hz Magenta: 96000.0 Hz 

 

I'll be spending some time later today to see how it works with the various desktop playback sources (e.g., Tidal, Audirvana, Roon, etc.) on known MQA material and at various sample rates.

 

I'll correct myself here - MQA content turns the light a *darker shade of* Magenta.  You can clearly see the difference when playing back normal 96k content, then changing to MQA.

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5 minutes ago, Wavelength said:

Plissken,

 

No the metadata is not sent over USB in a wrapper. It's also not decompression, what ever that means.

 

Applications can send MQA material to any DAC for playback. The output just will not benefit from the MQA decoding if the DAC and application is not MQA enabled.

 

Thanks,

Gordon

 

 

Guys, I think we owe Gordon - the guy that writes the code for DragonFly - a bit of respect in letting him answer questions about the DragonFly :/

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2 minutes ago, Wavelength said:

JHWalker,

 

Thanks, I did the hardware too if that counts for anything :)

 

Gordon

 

Of course.

 

PS - I think it sounds great - glad we finally got the update!

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58 minutes ago, mansr said:

It's the baseless accusations and general rudeness I find unbecoming.

 

WOW - speaking of the pot calling the kettle black . . . 

 

Really, Gordon came in here to answer questions and comment on his *personal* knowledge of the code and hardware behind the DragonFlies, only to be met with hostility, accusations, and rudeness by people on the outside looking in.  No wonder he is a bit miffed.

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20 minutes ago, plissken said:

 

Did he listen or did he make an analysis.

 

I saw a video once of AQ HDMI cables making a difference that you could hear....

 

Oh, come on!  These are his own recordings, and he prefers the MQA versions to the originals.  No "analysis" is needed.

 

FWIW, I like analyses as much as the next person, but sometimes you just need to accept that people can have opinions (especially about their *own work*) that should be given credence, analysis or not.

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14 minutes ago, plissken said:

 

You could take the originals, bump them by .75 dB and may end up with the same result. 

 

So do I need an MQA DAC or simply an application that decodes MQA and send it to my existing DAC...

 

What is the effective way for me to evaluate on my current gear?

 

Well, you couldn't, not completely.

 

Both Audirvana and Tidal desktop apps will decode MQA files / streams up to the first "unfold" (i.e., as high as 96k) and send them to your existing DAC.  Tidal has many titles both in Redbook and now in MQA, so it's pretty easy to switch between them and compare.

 

But to get the purported full effect, you'd obviously need an MQA-enabled DAC.

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1 minute ago, plissken said:

 

Great. Is Meridian offering a DAC that I can order and trial out and return if I don't care for it?

 

Pretty sure you know how to use Google to find current available devices, but to be helpful . . . 

 

You can get the Meridian Explorer2 on Amazon for $199:

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Meridian-Explorer2-Digital-Analog-Converter/dp/B00Q6VQGS2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495326966&sr=8-1&keywords=meridian+explorer2+dac

 

Standard Amazon terms apply (which includes return privileges).

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