Bryston will not support MQA

[Walcascar]

I have just contacted Bryston asking them whether they plan to implement MQA in their products (DACs) and this is what they replied: "We have no plans to implement a signal changing type feature in Bryston products. We will leave that to other audio companies. [...] Brian."

 

Too bad. I really like their products and I was contemplating buying their BDA-3.

[photonman]

This will nuture a new crop of products and add on boxes requiring more cables and cords and wall-warts and power supply tweaks.

 

The MQAC (MQA Converter) that goes before your DAC.

[Walcascar]

Yes! This reminds me of when DACs started to incorporate USB inputs... Some refused to do it, which led to the proliferation of USB converters. Fortunately, that's part of history.

[witchdoctor]

I have just contacted Bryston asking them whether they plan to implement MQA in their products (DACs) and this is what they replied: "We have no plans to implement a signal changing type feature in Bryston products. We will leave that to other audio companies. [...] Brian."Too bad. I really like their products and I was contemplating buying their BDA-3.

I wouldn't buy a new dac until 2018 after napster and pandora start their hirez streaming this year. There should be more NQA and whatever else is coming dacs availabel (at lower prices)

[audio.bill]

This will nuture a new crop of products and add on boxes requiring more cables and cords and wall-warts and power supply tweaks.

 

The MQAC (MQA Converter) that goes before your DAC.

It has been explained elsewhere that such a 'universal MQA converter' is not possible since the final stage of MQA decoding takes into account details of the specific DAC being used. Of course that may change in time, never say never...

[photonman]

It has been explained elsewhere that such a 'universal MQA converter' is not possible since the final stage of MQA decoding takes into account details of the specific DAC being used. Of course that may change in time, never say never...

 

Somebody will figure out a Universal MQAC driver just like a Universal HP LaserJet driver

[Allan F]

I have just contacted Bryston asking them whether they plan to implement MQA in their products (DACs) and this is what they replied: "We have no plans to implement a signal changing type feature in Bryston products. We will leave that to other audio companies. [...] Brian."

 

Too bad. I really like their products and I was contemplating buying their BDA-3.

Nothwithstanding that comment, if recent history is to be our guide, the demand for MQA or the lack thereof will ultimately detemine whether or not Bryston adds MQA capability to their DACs.

 

For years, James Tanner of Bryston openly bashed DSD. Lo and behold, the BDA-3 not only includes DSD capability, but also does so up to DSD256. Perhaps, Bryston should have said or meant to say, "We have no current plans to implement..."

[sdolezalek]

Actually, to quote James Tanner directly, here is what he has said yesterday, in writing, online:

 

Q: "Will Bryston support MQA at some point?"

 

A: "Not sure, I want more time to investigate things further."

 

james

[TubeLover]

The reason that I feel MQA will ultimately fail (aside from the many knowledgeable people including some industry experts who find it to be of little or no value in terms of sound quality) is this DAC issue. Far too many people have spent a great deal of money on high quality DAC's in the past couple of years. They are simply not going to sell these off at a big loss and reinvest this kind of money for MQA. I was at a gathering of audiophiles recently and, of the 30 people in attendance, when this subject came up, no more than a handful were even willing to consider junking DAC's that they had paid up to $10k for!

 

Honestly, Meridian should have more carefully considered this before bothering with MQA. As noted above, there is no technical possibility of a "universal MQA converter to make it workable on current DAC's. I just read that even the Tidal version just now becoming available downscales the MQA files to standard cd quality if you do not have an MQA compatable DAC. That would include about 99.9% of people in the world.

 

JC

[mansr]

I just read that even the Tidal version just now becoming available downscales the MQA files to standard cd quality if you do not have an MQA compatable DAC.

 

Where did you read that?

[ecwl]

I just read that even the Tidal version just now becoming available downscales the MQA files to standard cd quality if you do not have an MQA compatable DAC. That would include about 99.9% of people in the world.

 

JC

 

Except I've been playing MQA files using the Tidal app to my non-MQA DAC at 24/88 or 24/96...

 

 

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