Tidal MQA w/o a computer?

[dschamis]

Is it yet possible to be able to stream Tidal MQA to a compatible DAC (e.g. the Mytek Brooklyn) without a computer attached?  It would be really nice if a DAC had MQA streaming built in.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

David

 

[wklie]

Roon Bridge (you still need a computer or powerful NAS for Roon), or network transport such as Lumin U1 with native Tidal that is known to be able to retrieve the 24-bit Tidal MQA stream, etc.

[oneway23]

You can get Tidal MQA without a computer out of a device from Bluesound.  They are MQA certified devices that do a full unfold by using the internal DAC of the device.  Using an optical out to another DAC from a Blusound device currently has issues from the digital output, though, even to another MQA-enabled DAC.  Using the analog outputs from the Bluesound device itself is the only means of getting full quality right now.

[AudioDoctor]

You want to stream something from the internet, without a computer?  You're very narrowly defining the term "computer."

 

You could use an Aurender device, but they are purpose built Linux computers...

 

This McIntosh Streamer will stream Tidal, but I don't know about MQA.

 

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Products/pages/ProductDetails.aspx?CatId=lifestyle&ProductId=MB50

[jcn3]

On 4/17/2017 at 5:07 PM, oneway23 said:

You can get Tidal MQA without a computer out of a device from Bluesound.  They are MQA certified devices that do a full unfold by using the internal DAC of the device.  Using an optical out to another DAC from a Blusound device currently has issues from the digital output, though, even to another MQA-enabled DAC.  Using the analog outputs from the Bluesound device itself is the only means of getting full quality right now.

 

+1.  Certainly a simple cost effective way to take advantage of MQA.

[dschamis]

On 4/17/2017 at 5:07 PM, oneway23 said:

You can get Tidal MQA without a computer out of a device from Bluesound.  They are MQA certified devices that do a full unfold by using the internal DAC of the device.  Using an optical out to another DAC from a Blusound device currently has issues from the digital output, though, even to another MQA-enabled DAC.  Using the analog outputs from the Bluesound device itself is the only means of getting full quality right now.

 

Why can't you stream optical from the Bluesound Node 2 to a DAC or pre/pro?  Does the Bluesound not just convert the MQA to LPCM?

 

[oneway23]

7 hours ago, dschamis said:

 

Why can't you stream optical from the Bluesound Node 2 to a DAC or pre/pro?  Does the Bluesound not just convert the MQA to LPCM?

 

 

I'm sorry, I'm not entirely comfortable with my level of knowledge here.  All I know is that the optical output is currently limited with regard to a full MQA rendering.  For more technical details as to the issue, I'd advise checking out the Bluesound forums.

 

https://helpdesk.bluesound.com/discussions/

[dschamis]

I contacted Tidal support and asked the question - they responded (pretty quickly over the weekend) with this not quite clear answer - I think the short answer is NO:

 

Hello David,

Thank you for contacting TIDAL Member Support.

In order to listen to the MQA format to its fullest extent, your equipment needs to be MQA capable. Otherwise, you will not be getting the full MQA experience but you will still have better quality than HiFi.

If you do not use a DAC at all, the TIDAL client will decode the MQA in 1x unfolding. A DAC which is MQA capable will do 4x MQA unfolding. With the desktop and/or a non-MQA DAC you will get 24bit/88.2 (96) kHz . The stream quality of each album depends on the labels’ engineering of the album. Please ensure that the "passthrough MQA" is not enabled if you do not have an MQA DAC.

Please visit the MQA website for all MQA-enabled devices http://www.mqa.co.uk/customer/our-partners.

Further information on TIDAL Master with the desktop app can also be found at https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000397069-TIDAL-MASTERS.

Please refer to this article as it is informative. http://audiophilereview.com/cd-dac-digital/mqa-master-streaming-on-tidal-rules.html

If you have any further questions concerning this, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Have a nice day!

Best Regards,

Kassandra
TIDAL Member Support

 

 

[miguelito]

On 4/16/2017 at 11:53 AM, dschamis said:

Is it yet possible to be able to stream Tidal MQA to a compatible DAC (e.g. the Mytek Brooklyn) without a computer attached?  It would be really nice if a DAC had MQA streaming built in.

Any form of TIDAL streaming to a full decoding MQA DAC (such as the Brooklyn) will give you MQA decoding. So your question is really how to stream TIDAL without a computer. 

[miguelito]

10 minutes ago, dschamis said:

I contacted Tidal support and asked the question - they responded (pretty quickly over the weekend) with this not quite clear answer - I think the short answer is NO:

 

Hello David,

Thank you for contacting TIDAL Member Support.

In order to listen to the MQA format to its fullest extent, your equipment needs to be MQA capable. Otherwise, you will not be getting the full MQA experience but you will still have better quality than HiFi.

If you do not use a DAC at all, the TIDAL client will decode the MQA in 1x unfolding. A DAC which is MQA capable will do 4x MQA unfolding. With the desktop and/or a non-MQA DAC you will get 24bit/88.2 (96) kHz . The stream quality of each album depends on the labels’ engineering of the album. Please ensure that the "passthrough MQA" is not enabled if you do not have an MQA DAC.

Please visit the MQA website for all MQA-enabled devices http://www.mqa.co.uk/customer/our-partners.

Further information on TIDAL Master with the desktop app can also be found at https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000397069-TIDAL-MASTERS.

Please refer to this article as it is informative. http://audiophilereview.com/cd-dac-digital/mqa-master-streaming-on-tidal-rules.html

If you have any further questions concerning this, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Have a nice day!

Best Regards,

Kassandra
TIDAL Member Support

 

 

Useless (and incorrect, specifically the 4x) answer. 

[dschamis]

3 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Useless (and incorrect, specifically the 4x) answer. 

Yup - that was my impression as well

[miguelito]

One simple way: Aries mini. Bluesound might work too. iOS or Android app with phone connected to DAC over USB would prob work as well. iOS over Airplay will not work, I don't think, as Airplay limits bit depth to 16 bits, possibly does not support 48KHz sample rate. 

 

As I said, forget about MQA for a minute, any reasonable config will just work with your Brooklyn. Your question is about TIDAL. Options without a computer are limited to Aries devices or similar or obviously more expensive server/streeamers such as Aurender, Lumin, etc. I don't think you can do TIDAL with a microRendu alone. 

[miguelito]

On 4/17/2017 at 5:40 PM, AudioDoctor said:

You want to stream something from the internet, without a computer?  You're very narrowly defining the term "computer."

I think they mean an appliance-like device, ie one that just works and does not need maintenance.

[dschamis]

Just now, miguelito said:

I think they mean an appliance-like device, ie one that just works and does not need maintenance.

Yes - an appliance like device is exactly what I mean.

 

Here would be the perfect thing for me.

 

I have a Google Chromecast Audio connected to my Anthem AVM60 pre/pro via a digital optical cable.

 

It would be great if I could stream hi-res from the Tidal app on my phone (which supports Chromecast) to the AVM60.  

 

If this didn't work I agree with Miguelito - an appliance (Bluesound, whatever) that would connect to the AVM60 digitally and pushed hi-res LPCM (or the like).

 

I don't think this exists yet - I'm going to play around with the Chromecast later.  It is capable of hi-res, but I bet that this won't work - I'll report back.

[miguelito]

11 minutes ago, dschamis said:

It would be great if I could stream hi-res from the Tidal app on my phone (which supports Chromecast) to the AVM60.

Looking at the Chromecast specs:

https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6279377?hl=en

it seems to indicate that 24bit/96KHz is supported. If your phone's TIDAL app is outputting an MQA file untouched (which means 24bit and either 44KHz or 48KHz) to the Chromecast device, then this might actually work just fine. I have no way to try this.

 

The cheapest surest way to make this work for sure today is to use an Aries mini or Bluesound streamer into an MQA DAC.

 

I think it would be really cool if TIDAL developed a Spotify Connect type of setup, but I would deem that to have zero probability.

[dtc]

You can use BubbleUpNP on an Android device to stream Tidal and have it send to a Chromecast Audio, which then connects to your DAC. That will provide full Tidal playback, alhough I am not sure if BubbleUpNP will see the Masters files.I have used BubbleUpNP for Tidal streaming to a CCA, but have never tried it with a MQA files or a MQA DAC.,

[dtc]

I just added a Masters album to a playlist from the PC Tidal app and BubbleUpNP on my Android phone sees the tracks and plays them.  Unfortunately, I have no way to tell if it is seeing a Masters file or not.  Since it is just looking at a Playlist, I think it might be seeing the Masters file. The PC Tidal app definitely sees the tracks in the playlist as MQA. So using BubbleUnNP may be able to cast the Masters file to the CCA.

 

Not sure if this will work, but it may be worth investigating.

[miguelito]

22 hours ago, miguelito said:

Looking at the Chromecast specs:

https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6279377?hl=en

it seems to indicate that 24bit/96KHz is supported. If your phone's TIDAL app is outputting an MQA file untouched (which means 24bit and either 44KHz or 48KHz) to the Chromecast device, then this might actually work just fine. I have no way to try this.

I can confirm that the iOS TIDAL app streams an MQA file originally at 48KHz/24bit (Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now") to a USB-attached Dragonfly at 44KHz. So the TIDAL app is touching the PCM stream, which means it will not preserve MQA if it is connected to a full MQA DAC. Sad!

[dschamis]

2 minutes ago, miguelito said:

I can confirm that the iOS TIDAL app streams an MQA file originally at 48KHz/24bit (Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now") to a USB-attached Dragonfly at 44KHz. So the TIDAL app is touching the PCM stream, which means it will not preserve MQA if it is connected to a full MQA DAC. Sad!

 

Yes - I also tried to stream an MQA both via the Tidal app and via BubbleUPNP from my phone to my AVM60 and on both occasions it came in at 44.1.

 

The next question I have is if I attach the Chromecast Audio directly to my Brooklyn DAC via optical digital cable, will that pass the MQA signal?  I'm actually not sure that it matters much for my setup but I'm still kind of curious.

 

[miguelito]

38 minutes ago, dschamis said:

 

Yes - I also tried to stream an MQA both via the Tidal app and via BubbleUPNP from my phone to my AVM60 and on both occasions it came in at 44.1.

 

The next question I have is if I attach the Chromecast Audio directly to my Brooklyn DAC via optical digital cable, will that pass the MQA signal?  I'm actually not sure that it matters much for my setup but I'm still kind of curious.

 

If the TIDAL app did not touch the stream as it gets rendered to the chromecast device then there would be hope. However, given what I just observed this is probably not the case. If you want MQA decoding, I think you're stuck with a computer and either TIDAL, Audirvana, or Roon (your Brooklyn does full MQA decoding so Roon would work, assuming you turn ALL DSP off).

[intensemojo]

Bluesound Node 2 can pass through MQA now with the latest firmware update. So a Node 2 Brooklyn combo would work.

[Gonzbull]

I didn't think Tidal on iOS has the MQA ability. You can't access the Masters category. 

[franz159]

On 22/05/2017 at 4:02 AM, dtc said:

You can use BubbleUpNP on an Android device to stream Tidal and have it send to a Chromecast Audio, which then connects to your DAC. That will provide full Tidal playback, alhough I am not sure if BubbleUpNP will see the Masters files.I have used BubbleUpNP for Tidal streaming to a CCA, but have never tried it with a MQA files or a MQA DAC.,

I have been running BubbleUpNP on my raspberry (on top of Moode) for a long time in order to stream Tidal.

However, neither the Lumin App on Ipad or Linn Kazoo on my Mac/iPhone/iPad are able to access the "Masters" album in Tidal.