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In Reply to: RE: Whatever happened to MQA? It's still here posted by Jeff Starr on May 06, 2017 at 09:56:28
What is really funny about this post is that of the 5 or so Blu-rays that I own, Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott's is one of them! A friend tells me that not only does Eric Clapton play on it, Jimmy Page is the guy that walks in at the back.When I got the Oppo I thought it sounded better than my Monica tube dac, so I sold that. But overall I was only satisfied for a while before they all just sounded grating. It's a shame I don't have USB output from the Oppo, I would try it with my Dragonfly. I guess I could put the CDs on a hard drive and listen through the macbook and the DFB.
I'm not sure I agree that true hi-rez will be superior to MQA. There are still questions about just what MQA is. Maybe there is something to the "time domain" processing it does that corrects something that was always wrong to my ears about CD, and makes most hi-rez hard to listen to for long periods. It sounds good when you turn it on but listening fatigue always sets in, at least for me.
Edits: 05/06/17Follow Ups:
Both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are in the audience, along with a couple of others.
The real highlights are Imogen Heap and Joss Stone. Also the bass player Tal Wilkenfeld is really impressive.If you like MQA you should buy the Meridian Explorer for $199, it has USB input. If you are judging hi-rez based on your Dragonfly, you need to try a better DAC. There is nothing in DSD or 24/88 and up that should make it hard to listen to. Every recording is different, if it was poorly recorded or harsh, it will be that way no matter resolution. If you are satisfied with the single unfold in the Tidal player, then there are lots of good used DACs with multiple inputs.
Check out the Beck disc, it is good.
Edits: 05/07/17
I didn't see Robert Plant. I'll have to watch again. Agreed that Tal Wilkenfeld is impressive.
My judgement of hi-res is based mostly on my Oppo. I've only used the DFB for MQA on Tidal.
Yes, Jeff Beck was always one of my favorites back in the 70s, that he is still so good now is an eye opener. My son the guitarist was also very impressed. Jeff Beck has a unique style.
I prefer CDs played on my PS Audio transport to my DAC, to the SACD layer on my Oppo.
And DSD files or PCM 24/88 and up, output to the Benchmark Dac2 HGC, over the Oppo. The Benchmark is not overly bright, but it certainly isn't warm sounding, detail is quite good. It has a very good USB input.
The Lindemann doesn't do DSD, but those files converted to 24/176 sound good. I don't find hi-rez to be fatiguing, unless the music was recorded that way. I like to listen to the Tidal MQA files of Greenday and the Ramones in the morning, pretty loud too, not fatiguing. The Lindemann does upsample CDs and 16/44 files to 24/96.
It has to be the Oppo. Although glare which is what I find fatiguing is not the problem with my Oppo, it just doesn't compete with better DACs. When your budget allows it, you should audition some DACs, the Oppo is an ok transport. I did use a HDMI audio extractor for a while, the problem was that with DVDs it down sampled most of them, defeating the whole purpose of using it.
My friend has a much newer Oppo, we listened to the Beck concert on his system, an Arcam pre-processor, Chord amps for the back, sides, and center, with an Audio Research 75 amp to Vandersteen 5As in front with all Vandersteen rear channels. He liked the Beck Blu-ray so much that he ordered his own copy. I don't know if you like Leonard Cohen, if so the Live in London 2009 is an excellent concert video. Also I would recommend the Cowboy Junkies 20th anniversary of The Trinity Sessions.
I was lucky enough to see Jeff Beck a few years ago. He had a different woman on bass who was a little flashier than Tal, and unfortunately the vocalist from, I think it was Wet Willie. He was bad. Beck doing a "Day In The Life" was spectacular. On the video, I was so impressed with Imogen Heap.
Don't give up on true hi-rez and DSD files, the best of them are better than MQA.
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