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MQA on all iFi devices. AND on ANDROID!


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28 minutes ago, Norton said:

 

No I'm guessing you are fine with the iFi.  Audirvana should be doing the first "unfold" to 96KHz (which is what your midi setting is telling you) then your DAC is doing a second "unfold" to 192kHz.  Your Audio Midi doesn't  tell you this because it doesn't know what happens subsequently in the DAC.

 

 

 

Slowly it gets clearer to me. Thanks!

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6 hours ago, AMR/iFi audio said:

 

No, this is not how MQA works on a firmware level in XMOS. Not at all.

 

6 hours ago, mansr said:

That's terrible. Either they're plain incompetent, or they've intentionally made it as difficult as possible to avoid their meddling.

 

Yikes. No MQA DAC for me, then. (And appreciate iFi offering the non-MQA firmware option.)

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iFi,

 

Have you not been paying attention to the MQA article on the CA Home page?  Seems your MQA implementation decision was not well thought out in light of recent findings.

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/reviews/mqa-a-review-of-controversies-concerns-and-cautions-r701/

 

On 3/31/2018 at 12:53 AM, AMR/iFi audio said:

Enjoy the MQA magic like never before.

 

“MQA magic”?  Could you please explain?  Feel free to post your response to this question in the MQA article comments section linked above.  Your definition of magic would be a helpful start.

 

On 3/31/2018 at 12:53 AM, AMR/iFi audio said:


iFi first introduced MQA into its product mix with the nano iDSD Black Label in November 2017. Since then, iFi customers across the globe have been asking when this option would be available in other iFi products.

 

Are you certain that these “iFi customers” were not just MQA shills/affiliates making such requests?  It’s well known that there are a number of active MQA shills infiltrating various forums and pressuring manufacturers.

 

On 3/31/2018 at 2:52 AM, AMR/iFi audio said:

 

The MQA filters are in use ONLY run when MQA files are passed through and vice versa.

 

Are you absolutely certain about this?

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On 7.04.2018 at 3:57 PM, rickca said:

That doesn't answer my question.  

 

Please review MQA's website for more details.

 

On 7.04.2018 at 8:15 AM, Norton said:

It's good that you are providing the option of MQA, but as a potential customer, I'd feel more reassured if the engineering department had deemed measurements necessary, prior to release.

 

 

R&D does not divulge all their measurements to the Marketing Dept. and even if they did, not all measurements are for public consumption. So rest assured we do conduct measurements - the Audio Precision 2 is not cheap so we do like to amortise the heck out of it!

 

But the fact that we are one of very few audio companies that write our own XMOS code should suggest we have knowledge of what we are doing rather than just implementing a turnkey solution. Few offer a steady stream of multiple firmware versions for a range of products spanning several years.

 

Last and not least, one cannot measure pleasure. Hence AMR/iFi always audition, internally and externally extensively prior to release. For us, measurements are useful but not the end all and be all. It's a little akin to one buying a car based upon the fastest 0-60 and not taking it for a test drive.

 

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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On 8.04.2018 at 3:03 PM, mansr said:

That's terrible. Either they're plain incompetent, or they've intentionally made it as difficult as possible to avoid their meddling.

 

Dear mansr, before judging competence or incompetence of anyone, it would probably be a good idea for you to learn how to write software for Xcore processors and how audio and MQA integration works on these. 

 

As a software developer you can sign up with MQA to integrate this into your sample rate conversion libraries.

Past that MQA are quite open about how their system works and what it does. There are multiple patents filed and extensive material available on the MQA website. 

 

It is true that specific details are not made publicly available, however these affect neither the understanding of the operation principles nor the relative impact on software including MQA, it's merely an insurance that it is not possible to build an MQA decoder/renderer or MQA renderer without obtaining these details from MQA. 

 

Past that, given all the information available freely about MQA, the amount of disinformation presented as fact is surprising to us. We do wonder if there is truth after all in the 'those who know the least talk the most' truism.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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1 hour ago, rwdvis said:
On 3/31/2018 at 10:52 AM, AMR/iFi audio said:

The MQA filters are in use ONLY run when MQA files are passed through and vice versa.

Are you absolutely certain about this?

I checked the behaviour of the Nano (silver). The DAC chip is configured exactly the same as with firmware 5.20 for non-MQA playback. I don't have any other iFi products, but I have no reason to believe they'd be different.

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13 hours ago, mansr said:

Ugh, the MQA impulse response clips for several of the filters.

 

This has nothing to do with MQA.

 

99% of DAC's out there using digital filters will clip when presented with a full scale signal that does not conform to the strictures of the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem. 

 

This holds specifically true of square-wave signals and one sample long impulses used as test signals. This has been known for many decades and isn,t actually a problem, except for test-signals that are not in compliance with the strictures of the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem. This sort of thing is usually covered in year one or two EE Courses. 
 
Real musical recoding's are low-pass filtered before the analogue to digital recording process in order to comply with the strictures of the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem. 

 

Thus, unless severely clipped in the digital domain to start with (in which case what sort of fidelity are we talking about in the first place), they do not contain any signal components that can trigger these "digital filter" overs.

 

So just to recap, this has nothing to do with MQA and is not an issue outside the lab.

 

13 hours ago, mansr said:

There are, however, some slight differences, probably unrelated to MQA, in the configuration sequence sent to the DAC chip. 

 

The end-result of how the chip is configured is the same.

 

13 hours ago, mansr said:

 Watch out for pops when starting DSD playback.

 

We did.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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7 minutes ago, AMR/iFi audio said:

This has nothing to do with MQA.

The MQA resampler clipping has everything to do with MQA. I have never before encountered a resampler that clips on a single-sample full-scale impulse. It may not be likely to occur with music, but why take the chance?

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11 minutes ago, AMR/iFi audio said:
13 hours ago, mansr said:

There are, however, some slight differences, probably unrelated to MQA, in the configuration sequence sent to the DAC chip. 

The end-result of how the chip is configured is the same.

Yes, the end result is the same. However, with the new firmware, the headphone amp is unmuted before the DAC is configured as opposed to after with firmware 5.20. This sometimes results in a pop or click.

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I was looking at buying one of your DACs that is MQA compliant and has an SPDIF out, for use as a USB/SPDIF converter and for MQA playback. 

But now it appears the MQA update also disables the SPDIF out on your DACs. Is this true for all your MQA compliant DACs with an SPDIF out? 

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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On 4/6/2018 at 8:12 PM, rickca said:

What is the nature of this required digital processing?  It's hard to imagine that it is so resource intensive that you had to drop DSD512.

Thanks for actually answering my question @AMR/iFi audio.  Much better than your original response

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/38962-ifi-audio-mqa-all-across-the-board-its-here/?do=findComment&comment=801586

 

Pareto Audio AMD 7700 Server --> Berkeley Alpha USB --> Jeff Rowland Aeris --> Jeff Rowland 625 S2 --> Focal Utopia 3 Diablos with 2 x Focal Electra SW 1000 BE subs

 

i7-6700K/Windows 10  --> EVGA Nu Audio Card --> Focal CMS50's 

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Thanks for the answer.

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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On 11.04.2018 at 4:25 PM, firedog said:

I was looking at buying one of your DACs that is MQA compliant and has an SPDIF out, for use as a USB/SPDIF converter and for MQA playback. 

But now it appears the MQA update also disables the SPDIF out on your DACs. Is this true for all your MQA compliant DACs with an SPDIF out? 

 

At this point in time we cannot offer S/PDIF out and MQA together. But feel free to select between the different firmware versions. Past this, S/PDIF out on MQA does not exist.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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